Ford Nationwide Employee Pricing - America’s 250th Anniversary

[Jim Oaks]

Kinda wish I was in a position to reconsider my thoughts on buying a new Bronco… I was considering it and life got in the way and here we are again…

Your Bronco II will probably outlive a new Bronco.

New vehicles are made cheap and the electronics worry me in the long term.

I've had thoughts about someday replacing my 2021 Ranger with a 4.0 OHV or 5.0L Explorer that would be easier to fix and maintain. Just have that for my daily and my '96 Ranger for trips to the home improvement stores.

There's so much electronics and integration in my 2005 Jag that I've even thought about replacing it with one from the 90's as well.

Being Gen X I'm lucky to have had cars with no computers, sensors, and trouble codes.

 

[Rick W]

The computerized everything is absolutely insane. Not being able to buy rolldown windows and stick shifts, I think it’s political to keep us all under control, especially since they can now shut them off from afar.

Occasionally, I still want something new, but not because of any of that. It would be nice to have something with drink holders and those little pockets that can hold stuff.

 

[racsan]

Really like my ‘89 F150, had a issue a few weeks ago that ended up being a map sensor. was about to go rusty on it & convert to a carb but I figured it out finally. Still gonna drive the escape in the winter & as long as these gas prices are high it will still be my work driver. Got to keep a eye on those rear trailing arm mounts, a freind from work had the left side separate from the body over the weekend at speed, bad but could of been much worse. dumb design.

 

[djfllmn]

The computerized everything is absolutely insane. Not being able to buy rolldown windows and stick shifts, I think it’s political to keep us all under control, especially since they can now shut them off from afar.

Occasionally, I still want something new, but not because of any of that. It would be nice to have something with drink holders and those little pockets that can hold stuff.

I was talking about this very topic at work last week. If i could walk into a dealer and buy a new truck with crank windows, manual locks and a stick. the F150 would be gone in a heartbeat

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Power windows/locks and a slushbox isn't the end of the world

I don't like how they all have to talk to each other now.

They may have fixed it by now in newer vehicles, back when can-bus first came out my brother had a Fusion come in that wouldn't start. He chased his tail figuring it out, came down to a cracked headlight with water in it which shorted out and caused a proton torpedo to a Death Star exhaust vent style chain reaction that crashed the network and bricked the car. It was really fun to explain that to the customer...

 

[Rick W]

Seems like an appropriate time to mention my 1956 Dodge Bell Tel phone truck again. It was a three-quarter ton with an unusual Aluminum service bed, with a flathead six under a winged hood, and three on the tree. 6 volt.

I drove that thing around when I needed to haul something for about three years. There was absolutely nothing to it electronically, it even had vacuum operated wipers. The only electrical problem I had was that the wires in that thing where the old-fashioned cotton coated wires. I did my last bit of school in the wet snow and and slush in upstate New York, and something wouldn’t work about every week. I got pissed off and that motivated me to rewire the truck.

I don’t mean, I fixed it, I literally ran every wire in the truck with modern wire from the source to the switch to the end unit. It was about 10 or 15 feet of wire total. The whole truck took about an hour and a half or two hours, and I think that included going to the hardware store and getting the wire.

When I was young, I had several trucks like that. I had a bare bones 66 Chevy, a 62 Chevy, and I don’t know what else, but the way they were made, not only were they very durable and didn’t break down much, when they did break down, you could usually fix them with what you found on the side of the road. I literally did that several times.

OK, nostalgia time is over…

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Your Bronco II will probably outlive a new Bronco.

New vehicles are made cheap and the electronics worry me in the long term.

I've had thoughts about someday replacing my 2021 Ranger with a 4.0 OHV or 5.0L Explorer that would be easier to fix and maintain. Just have that for my daily and my '96 Ranger for trips to the home improvement stores.

There's so much electronics and integration in my 2005 Jag that I've even thought about replacing it with one from the 90's as well.

Being Gen X I'm lucky to have had cars with no computers, sensors, and trouble codes.

This is unfortunately probably true.

My whole thing is I’m tired of always working on rust buckets and I wanted something that I wouldn’t have to worry about for a few years. If I had my garage up and a lift in it, that desire for something that I don’t have to work on all the time would fade. Realistically, that’s probably at least a year or two out at this point and possibly more than that.

I’m giving a bit of thought to wanting to start stockpiling certain things for my aging fleet and looking at trying to move towards a certain level of cross-compatibility like ditching all of my D-28 and 7.5” stuff (which also means when I get to finishing my 88, swapping those axles for D-35/8.8”). Less stuff to keep on hand that way.

 

[Jim Oaks]

This is unfortunately probably true.

My whole thing is I’m tired of always working on rust buckets

My whole thing is I’m tired of always working on rust buckets and I wanted something that I wouldn’t have to worry about for a few years.

Buckets as in more than one?

We are sometimes guilty of having multiple projects that prevent our funds from going to one nice project.

I've spent a lot of money modifying my 2021 Ford Ranger FX4 that I'm making a $580 a month payment on when I have a solid 1996 Ford Ranger 4x4 parked next to it that's been paid off for a very long time.

I could easily rebuild the 1996 and put a fresh engine in it for a year of those 2021 payments.

My 2005 Jaguar is paid for as well. I got it cheap and a little maintenance here and there is cheaper than a new payment.

At 58 years old I should be financially smarter.

Vehicles are like puppies. I see them and have to have them. At least I have fewer vehicle projects than I used to.

As far as "something that I wouldn’t have to worry about for a few years." That sounds good now, but what's it going to cost later to fix that new Bronco compared to maintaining a Bronco II or early Explorer?

I'm not saying people shouldn't buy a new Bronco. If you can afgord it, go for it. Everyone should know the pleasure of owning a new vehicle.

But as I get older and start thinking about retirement, cost of vehicle ownership, maintenance, and reliability is becoming more of a consideration.

I've had a car payment my whole life. Kind of ridiculous. My son-in-law is in his early 30's and still drives the Ford Escape his parents gave him in high school.