[djmcmath]

I've had some experiences with domestics that have left me definitely but vaguely disgusted.

1 - Rented a Taurus on travel with the Navy. I don't know if it was sloppiness in steering, complete lack of tension in any suspension element, or just general Bad Track-Keeping, but it was more challenging to keep pointed in one direction at freeway speeds than my '70 VW. The ergonomics were stupid -- the steering wheel was placed smack-dab in the way of the speedo, so the only way to tell your speed was to crane your neck down. The seats weren't even comfortable, and no matter how much I dinked around with the electric adjustments, I couldn't make it fit right. Visibility? Couldn't see out the quarters to save my life -- I've driven better hatch-backs and station-wagons. Brakes? Nothing at all like the progressive smooth brakes that we all like -- either on or off, with no pressure zone, no consistency.

2 - One of my friends, an otherwise sensible person, bought a 2002 Taurus. At the time of this story, it was 3 years old, with about 30Kmi on the clock. We needed to change the oil (engine and tranny) and spark plugs, because the maintenance schedule seemed to require it (not sure if the schedule he was following was right, but that's beside the point). Anyhow, draining the oil requires the oil pan to be removed -- there's no drain plug. Now there are a lot of people making after-market drain plugs for installation, but some investigation revealed that Ford refuses to modify their ancient design because they feel that a drain plug cannot be added without adding leaks. That aside, we soon discovered that the case was made of a very soft metal -- in torquing the 20-whatever bolts to their spec (which was like 6ft-lbs), we stripped out three of them. Aargh. The spark plugs turned out to be a similar night-mare, as did the seeminly simple task of adding oil. We're both pretty capable with wrenches, but the simple afternoon task of "change the oil and spark plugs" turned into a multi-day project. Incredible.