Actually, no, I wasn't talking about you.
I was talking about the guy who seems to post in every thread like this just how awesome the Mustang is compared to every other car or how awesome his F whatever is to every other truck.
As a former Ford tech, I'd dispute most of that, but what the hell. I love Ford. Ford made me a ton of money over the years. And while my sig needs to be updated to take out the Ramcharger and add the same year F150 you'll notice three are two Fords on the list, bringing the total owned to three. You'll also notice none of them are modern. There's a reason for that. As a matter of fact, if I had the money to spend on a new car (which I wouldn't any way, there's no return on the investment) it would be a Hyundai parked in the driveway.
The point is, they all have their weak points and there's a difference between being brand loyal and brand blind.
I work with a kid who's so stuck on his 6.0L diesel he'll tell you it's the greatest diesel engine every built and the truck is the most awesome truck ever made. While he's driving his Subura because some thing on the 6.0L broke, again. It's a weekly occurrence. But he'll brag about that truck to the point where he won't shut the f*** up about it and it never dawns on him that it's sitting in his driveway - broke - more than it's on the street. This kid is college "educated" in diesel, but he's so damned blinded by the Blue Oval on the grille that most of his "education" must have went in one ear and out the other because he absolutely refuses to believe there's a damned thing wrong with the 6.0L, that the new 6.7L's from both Ford and Cummins are junk compared to his 6.0L.
Kinda like the band of brothers I used to work for. All Chevy guys. The one wouldn't shut up about how great Chevy is, even as he's standing there talking about how his had the trans out at 40,000, a new transfer case put in at 50,000, and a new rear at 55,000. This kid even went so far as to saying his fat ***, four door Silverado would go anyplace that a Wrangler could go on a trail. You know, Wranglers, that are a third of the size, a third of the weight, and steer like they have all wheel steer. There's so much wrong with his statement I don't even know where to begin.
Sure, there are those on here who believe the same thing about Chrysler. They all need to take the rose colored glasses off, no matter what the brand. Maybe it's because I've worked on just about every brand out there (including the high end, high dollar Euro-trash) that I feel that if I have to put a wrench to it, then it's a piece of s***. If you try to tell the brand blind about the weak points of any given thing they don't want to hear it. The brand loyal knows those weak points and works to improve them.
As far as bailout money and Fiat owning Chrysler, some seem to think that's a bad thing for those of us in the aftermarket end of building cars. It brings about the obvious question of, oh, I don't know... when's the last time you picked up brand new sheetmetal for your Studebaker? Or your Packard? When the brand dies, eventually support for that brand dies with it with it. History has proven it over and over again. It's not new, it's not present, and if the badge is gone it doesn't generate interest in what came before.
One of the reasons I like the idea of the Hellcat (though I'd never own one I'd rather take the money and build what I have into what I want), is that when Fiat first took over the Chrysler brand I remember reading some of the naysayers make the statement "there goes any chance of Chrysler ever building a performance car again! What the hell does Fiat know about performance?" Guess 707hp and a 204 mph sedan answers that question, doesn't it? (Especially if you forget - or ignore - the fact the Enzo was given the green light under Fiat's orders.)