haha i hear you. on the subject of fords, my brother has a 99' Taurus (undisputed UGLIEST CAR EVER, although the newer models aren't so bad) which has conquered over 270,000 miles and he has only ever needed to have some electrical stuff fixed (besides the regular stuff like brakes, etc). on the other hand, his first car was a volvo 850 that he acquired with 60k or something like that. once he got it over about 135k, it had a new failure or breakdown literally every month for like a year until he couldn't handle it anymore. also, my boss at the old farm has a 1990 Ford Ranger with 250k on the engine and he swears that he has only had to replace one engine component ($200 repair) during its entire life. he recently got a new clutch, but i mean... damn. that's some reliability. although i feel that ford trucks are built to a different standard than their sedans/etc...
i would still pick a saab 900 over all of them
to be fair fords probably aren't so bad but i still wouldn't buy one ever
it's interesting to read statistics of best/worst cars according to the testing authority (i don't know what this is called in english, they test cars once a year and make sure they're roadworthy)
it usually looks something like this (best 1999 vehicles):
1.Honda HR-V 3,03 %
2. Toyota Starlet 6,35 %
3. Subaru Legacy 6,57 %
4. Toyota Corolla 6,92 %
5. Toyota Yaris 7,15 %
6. Toyotoa Avensis 8,20 %
7. Subaru Forester 9,57 %
8. Mitsubishi Pajero 9,86 %
9. Subaru Impreza 10,77 %
10. Mitsubishi Lancer 11,18 %
100% japanese in the top 10, of course. sometimes germans; audi, vw. worst:
1. Fiat Marea 46,70 %
2. Renualt Kangoo 43,87 %
3. Peugeot Partner 38,62 %
4. Alfa Romeo 156 37,72 %
5. Ford Mondeo 37,59 %
6. Chevrolet Transport 37,50 %
7. Volvo V70 37,30 %
8. Renault Laguna 36,20 %
9. Chrysler Voyager 35,43 %
10. Fiat Brava 35,20 %
always italian, french, american. always. sometimes opels or cheap korean crap
ford, like saab, is usually in the middle. take care of the car and it will work ok, whatevs. just don't buy anything from italy or france ever.
why else do you have a manual? 
