It’s a great question. FWIW, I specifically posted this review by Doug DeMuro after watching a couple others that were clearly just PR regurgitation. I personally consider him a competent and neutral reviewer after having watched his reviews of other vehicles.
I clicked comments first curious if this would be Doug's video. His reviews and retro reviews are so well constructed and thorough and, as with the cars, his "quirks and features" really shine through.
I just watched the review and he says he has only positives to say about. That makes me already skeptical. A review with only positives? Would he get other cars to review after a negative review?
Doug has his personal biases (as does everyone else), but does make an decent effort to be neutral (within his capabilities) while hitting his main points and remaining entertaining.
This [1] is a fairly great conversation with him which covers a lot of topics including the incentives [2] many other YouTubers/Car Journalists have (from getting flown out to launch events and the general pressures to not lose access to press cars by being too negative in a review)
That said, while I trust Doug far more than many reviewers he still has many relationships with car dealerships, often gets access to preproduction cars that he can't drive yet (but almost always does a full review when he can), and does have a car auction business so there's still room for that to have an effect on his judgement even if he's trying otherwise.
Not saying it isn’t possible but someone like DeMuro is making so much money just from subscribers that it is likely harder to throw cash at him for a positive review.
It’s the smaller youtubers that are more worrisome since they have less money and influence. So the power dynamics are different.
It’s absolute garbage. But so are normal Fords. Whether it’s the body panels thinner than a pop can, the mushy steering and road feel, or the tacky cheap interior, Ford finds a way to make quality their last job.
Ford also fought and lobbied against electric vehicles for ages. You’d have to be a moron to buy an electric vehicle from a company which officially not only hates them, but which has actual FUDded the Internet against them.
Ford and GM are good for making fleet vehicles for the government. Well, not even “good” but the government chooses them because of mutually beneficial kick back schemes. They are not good for consumers to own.
It's pretty hard for me and maybe some others to take you seriously when you are knocking a product that sells well at a wide spread of price points and which will last decades if maintained properly.
So, for the record, what do you personally drive and what manufacturers have produced vehicles you personally owned? What is your favorite vehicle, the one that you wish you had never sold and would buy again? How old are you and how long have you been driving? Where do you live?
Of the eight vehicles I currently own, 5 of them are Fords, one is a Nissan, one is a Mazda, and the last is a Chevrolet.
I own two Broncos - (the early Bronco needs a full resto since I completely wore it out in the first 325k miles), an F150 single cab (the only 2WD of the group), a Ranger, and an Explorer. With the exception of the early Bronco these are all daily drivers. I would have no qualms about taking them on a road trip of any length or duration.
I have owned a 96 F250 Crew cab diesel that I traded years ago and instantly regretted since it was my only pickup at the time, and a 95 F150 supercab and 85 single cab F150.
Our experiences obviously differ. I bought the early Bronco with ~100k miles on it and added ~235k before the drivetrain was worn out. The OBS Bronco, the F250 and the F150 I no longer own were all bought new. We have logged more than 550k miles on those three.
The OBS Bronco is now 30 years old. I replaced the original transmission at 247k miles and the original engine at 273k miles. With suspension and drivetrain maintenance I recently completed it runs and drives like a new vehicle. I do the maintenance myself. It isn't hard. Parts are relatively cheap and widely available.
It's too bad you hate Ford. I have had minor issues with the ones I've owned.
Good luck with your Dodge.
EDIT: Of the vehicles I've owned, the Nissan Pathfinder has probably held up the best. It has 260k miles on it over 21 years and the interior looks lightly used and has never had a part break or fail. The 90's Bronco and F-series trucks I have now and have owned did have broken plastic (door panels, dash bezel, console lids) usually from normal maintenance at dealerships where techs break something and never tell you. That's why I do my own work. Ford switched plastics to more flexible plastic in the 2000's and now things bend instead of breaking. Even if Ford did have shitty plastic interior parts they are still miles better than anything VW sold in the US. Their plastic is half the thickness of Ford plastic and ABS so it will break before bending. Their gussets are literally less than 1 mm by caliper measurements.
The Focus and Fiesta were good cars, except the interiors were garbage. (Why Ford can't match something like an Elantra in interior quality, I do not understand.) But they drove well.
Then they canceled both, because they could get bigger margins on trucks and hausfrauenpanzers.
It's an astounding number. In order to afford an "average" car you're going to have to put down $20k (cash + trade-in) and/or get a 7 year loan (ouch).
I knew the average sales price in the US would be pointed out. It's still ridiculous because you have most of these people financing these cars with 5-7 years loans but also the whole "half of Americans don't have $1k in their bank account". Spending $40k when the median personal US income is $36k/yr means this car is not actually "for the masses" making a financially prudent decision.
For the 50% masses of Americans making $36k/yr or less, the people's car should actually be a used reliable economy car getting 30+ mpg (Prius, Civic, Kia, etc.)
GP qualifies this as a price of _new_ cars. In the US, ~1/4 of car sales every year are new cars.
New cars are primarily bought by comparatively wealthier people or fleet sales. Less well off people might occasionally buy newer cars, but it’s more common to buy them second hand after 5-10 years of careful ownership. The $40k truck has historically depreciated by around 40% during that 5 year period, by which point it’s worth about $24k. Better examples may be worth more, worse examples less (although perhaps a poorer buy). Large examples of this come through age - in the US, the median new car buyer is in their 50s, whereas the median American is in their 30s.
Put simply, yes, the average new car is unaffordable for the average American, but how much of a problem is that?
Out of buyers in the market for a new car, this is clearly close to the affordable side of the range, no matter how ridiculous that might sound.
People make such a big deal about this, but there was a Ford F-150 HEV [0] released in late 2021 (2022 model) that no one seems to talk about. It used the Ford Hybrid PowerBoost V6 engine (3.5L F150 FHEV), and seems to be more than sufficient. Though I haven't driven it myself.
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[ 246 ms ] story [ 1562 ms ] threadThis [1] is a fairly great conversation with him which covers a lot of topics including the incentives [2] many other YouTubers/Car Journalists have (from getting flown out to launch events and the general pressures to not lose access to press cars by being too negative in a review)
That said, while I trust Doug far more than many reviewers he still has many relationships with car dealerships, often gets access to preproduction cars that he can't drive yet (but almost always does a full review when he can), and does have a car auction business so there's still room for that to have an effect on his judgement even if he's trying otherwise.
[1] https://youtu.be/pFGh-YqHT4Y [2] https://youtu.be/pFGh-YqHT4Y?t=5155
With a larger organization there is at least peer review and multiple people that would have to keep quiet.
It’s the smaller youtubers that are more worrisome since they have less money and influence. So the power dynamics are different.
The game is you love it or you dont get special access anymore from us.
What about cost of repairing and more.
Ford also fought and lobbied against electric vehicles for ages. You’d have to be a moron to buy an electric vehicle from a company which officially not only hates them, but which has actual FUDded the Internet against them.
Ford and GM are good for making fleet vehicles for the government. Well, not even “good” but the government chooses them because of mutually beneficial kick back schemes. They are not good for consumers to own.
Their cars might be junk, but their F150 truck has been the top-selling vehicle in the U.S. for 45 years.
So, for the record, what do you personally drive and what manufacturers have produced vehicles you personally owned? What is your favorite vehicle, the one that you wish you had never sold and would buy again? How old are you and how long have you been driving? Where do you live?
LOL
It's hard for me to take that seriously as a FORMER Ford owner.
I own two Broncos - (the early Bronco needs a full resto since I completely wore it out in the first 325k miles), an F150 single cab (the only 2WD of the group), a Ranger, and an Explorer. With the exception of the early Bronco these are all daily drivers. I would have no qualms about taking them on a road trip of any length or duration.
I have owned a 96 F250 Crew cab diesel that I traded years ago and instantly regretted since it was my only pickup at the time, and a 95 F150 supercab and 85 single cab F150.
Our experiences obviously differ. I bought the early Bronco with ~100k miles on it and added ~235k before the drivetrain was worn out. The OBS Bronco, the F250 and the F150 I no longer own were all bought new. We have logged more than 550k miles on those three.
The OBS Bronco is now 30 years old. I replaced the original transmission at 247k miles and the original engine at 273k miles. With suspension and drivetrain maintenance I recently completed it runs and drives like a new vehicle. I do the maintenance myself. It isn't hard. Parts are relatively cheap and widely available.
It's too bad you hate Ford. I have had minor issues with the ones I've owned.
Good luck with your Dodge.
EDIT: Of the vehicles I've owned, the Nissan Pathfinder has probably held up the best. It has 260k miles on it over 21 years and the interior looks lightly used and has never had a part break or fail. The 90's Bronco and F-series trucks I have now and have owned did have broken plastic (door panels, dash bezel, console lids) usually from normal maintenance at dealerships where techs break something and never tell you. That's why I do my own work. Ford switched plastics to more flexible plastic in the 2000's and now things bend instead of breaking. Even if Ford did have shitty plastic interior parts they are still miles better than anything VW sold in the US. Their plastic is half the thickness of Ford plastic and ABS so it will break before bending. Their gussets are literally less than 1 mm by caliper measurements.
America needs things that are cheap and cheerful. Not all this bloated garbage. That applies to everything.
Then they canceled both, because they could get bigger margins on trucks and hausfrauenpanzers.
> $40k MSRP
Good one
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a38748092/new-car-average-...
It's an astounding number. In order to afford an "average" car you're going to have to put down $20k (cash + trade-in) and/or get a 7 year loan (ouch).
For the 50% masses of Americans making $36k/yr or less, the people's car should actually be a used reliable economy car getting 30+ mpg (Prius, Civic, Kia, etc.)
New cars are primarily bought by comparatively wealthier people or fleet sales. Less well off people might occasionally buy newer cars, but it’s more common to buy them second hand after 5-10 years of careful ownership. The $40k truck has historically depreciated by around 40% during that 5 year period, by which point it’s worth about $24k. Better examples may be worth more, worse examples less (although perhaps a poorer buy). Large examples of this come through age - in the US, the median new car buyer is in their 50s, whereas the median American is in their 30s.
Put simply, yes, the average new car is unaffordable for the average American, but how much of a problem is that?
Out of buyers in the market for a new car, this is clearly close to the affordable side of the range, no matter how ridiculous that might sound.
[0]: https://transportation.report/vehicles/2022-ford-f150-pickup...