News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Driving the “Worst Car Ever Built” (2015). Parent comment

Re:Driving the “Worst Car Ever Built” (2015) by jacquesm on Saturday October 07, 2017 @10:44AM (#15423951)
They were crap in steel, I would be very surprised if they are any better in aluminum. I had one of these while I lived in Canada (longbox, 3 seater cab) and before the warranty ran out the support strut of the gearbox and the associated welds gave out. Ford refused to fix it because the vehicle was not rated 'heavy duty'. The heaviest we ever hauled in it was a load of firewood.

Welding aluminum properly is a lot harder than welding steel and aluminum is also a lot less forgiving than steel when it comes to constructing cars out of it.

I never bought a Ford after that wonderful, and I'm still amazed that they would not stand behind their product, good luck to anybody that buys an F150 made of aluminum.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Driving the “Worst Car Ever Built” (2015) by d-sc on Saturday October 07, 2017 @01:17PM (#15424642)
As long as we’re getting into anecdotal evidence. I’ve driven an F150 as a personal vehicle and ran it pretty heavily(80 MPH over steep passes, firewood hauling, heavy trailers, off-road on farm, etc) and haven’t had any problems. I’ve also used ford’s heavy duty trucks in construction and haven’t had problems.

It’s important to remember that Ford is a large company and with enough vechicles you are bound to have cases where they don’t meet standards. Without a statistically significant dataset it’s hard to make a judgement whether one manufacturer is more reliable than another.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Driving the “Worst Car Ever Built” (2015) by jacquesm on Sunday October 08, 2017 @05:18AM (#15427538)
I don't mind them having a production issue every now and then. I do expect them to correct those issues free of charge.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Driving the “Worst Car Ever Built” (2015) by dsfyu404ed on Saturday October 07, 2017 @04:40PM (#15425575)
x2. My anecdotal evidence is that 0% of the vehicle I have beat the living shit out of have been trouble prone in any way.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Driving the “Worst Car Ever Built” (2015) by unclepresent on Saturday October 07, 2017 @11:13AM (#15424064)
weight is probably a driving factor. When you save 100-150 pounds of weight by using some aluminium parts you can use this weight elsewhere. Not sure I am right. Just thinking.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Driving the “Worst Car Ever Built” (2015) by tyingq on Saturday October 07, 2017 @11:23AM (#15424098)
Ford cut 700lbs off the F150 by going to aluminum. Not to use it elsewhere, but to improve fuel economy.
[ Parent | on HN ]