Looked at several new mustangs today - sad reality...

Monster5.0 · Nov 16, 2016

So on my lunch, I stopped at a local Ford dealer. They had like 15 mustangs of various trim levels. And Im sad to say that most, if not all of them had some sort of body panel alignment issues. The Grabber blue one I had my eye on was a mess. There were corners of the bumper that were touching the quarter panel, and the paint was already rubbed off on that corner. The hood gaps were all over the place. There were paint issues on the roof I could see, and trim pieces everywhere were misaligned or looked malformed. If this is how mustangs are now, then I may take a pass on them all together.

And not only those issues, but this dealer had roush mustangs too, and they were ordered not to sell any of them. Not sure why, but Im sure there is some sort of recall killing them. So sad to see how quickly Ford quality has slipped away. I was blown away on how bad most of those cars looked. Not one of them had matching panel gaps. What is going on here. These were mostly 2016s with a few being 2017s.

That poor grabber blue car just came off the truck too. Looked like it was totalled and put back together.

Thoughts?

hand-filer · Nov 16, 2016

I was at the dealership a few weeks ago getting my airbag replaced.

I was in the showroom checking out a Shelby. The driver door and fender made contact when I opened the door.

I mentioned it to the GM and his comment was "that and several other issues on that one"

Pretty sad.

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Monster5.0 · Nov 16, 2016

Wow that is very troubling. And know that they will probably leave it and hope the new owner doesnt ask about it. Once the car is down the road, its the owners problem. Unless they catch it before the car gets delivered. I'll bet it will need that door repainted and blended across that fender too. No way I would touch that car.

offroadkarter · Nov 16, 2016

Yeah this has been pretty normal since the car came out. I was checking out a 2017 at my local dealer that is a 100% carbon copy of my 2016, the Hood alignment was bang on but the trunk was still misaligned the exact same way as my car. The bumper corners were a little out of whack as well.

The 2015 S2 Roush I drove at that dealer before I bought my car, the hood alignment is so far off towards the drivers side its almost touching.

I hope for the 2018 refresh they get it together but I know they won't. It seems like every US manufacturer is at a race to the bottom for QC right now (Check out Camaro6, the black paint fades to brown, torque convert shuddering, gauge clusters going out, interior panels don't line up, so on and so on). I don't even need to mention FCA, that speaks for itself.

I do enjoy driving my car a whole hell of a lot, and I think it looks great, but between the panel alignment and the driveline vibration that has now returned after a new driveshaft, what the hell is going on over in Dearborn?

blackbeast12 · Nov 16, 2016

Its pretty pathetic Ford has expressed no desire to fix these issues even after 2years + of production...just terrible

R.D.P. · Nov 16, 2016

Damn I knew the '15's were a mess, especially in the beginning, but shocked to hear new '17's are being loaded off the truck like that.

heatsoaked12 · Nov 16, 2016

I know someone who works at a Ford assembly plant. If they drop a screw in the door during assembly they laugh,look at each other and say "some assembly required" others watch movies in the trench when they are supposed to be checking brake lines for leaks.When hinges are tight or don't fit well they laugh and say" it just needs break in". A lot of them actually sleep on the job with NO supervisers that actually give a shit. Some making up to 80$ per hour on certain weekend overtime situations for doing a job a thirteen year old girl could do. Please don't be surprised when the car rolls into the dealer looking like shit and when the entire plant moves to another country, where it will be built better for far less, by people who won't complain when their plate full of roast beef isn't spilling over with gravy. Trump my friend, two terms isn't anywhere near enough to fix this pile of garbage. Power in numbers = Auto unions = people getting paid way to much, then getting government grant and tax relief,only to want more of everything and do less while getting spoon fed=bad panel fitments........ and then some.

Monster5.0 · Nov 17, 2016

heatsoaked12 said:
I know someone who works at a Ford assembly plant. If they drop a screw in the door during assembly they laugh,look at each other and say "some assembly required" others watch movies in the trench when they are supposed to be checking brake lines for leaks.When hinges are tight or don't fit well they laugh and say" it just needs break in". A lot of them actually sleep on the job with NO supervisers that actually give a shit. Some making up to 80$ per hour on certain weekend overtime situations for doing a job a thirteen year old girl could do. Please don't be surprised when the car rolls into the dealer looking like shit and when the entire plant moves to another country, where it will be built better for far less, by people who won't complain when their plate full of roast beef isn't spilling over with gravy. Trump my friend, two terms isn't anywhere near enough to fix this pile of garbage. Power in numbers = Auto unions = people getting paid way to much, then getting government grant and tax relief,only to want more of everything and do less while getting spoon fed=bad panel fitments........ and then some.

Its funny because if I had not seen all those cars at that single dealer in shambles with my own eyes, I would not believe what you said. But seeing how bad most of those cars looked, I can see this all might be the case. Its very troubling. I have had mustangs since 2000, and the quality has gone down with every new generation. This newest gen car is a mess. I'll make sure when I go looking again seriously, I nitpick every panel, gap and moulding to make sure its perfect. And if its not, I will not allow the dealer talk me into the deal by saying "it can all be fixed". Sure it can, but paint and body work on a new car is dangerous.

Budwise · Nov 18, 2016

Yep, no improvement at all from my 15, maybe even worse. I noticed even the GT's they had on Top Gear from 20+ feet away on camera I could tell the hood and fenders were way off. Sad...

SKMCOBRA · Nov 29, 2016

Geez guys...you've got me rethinking buying a 2015+! I just sold my 2014 GT because I want the track/performance pkg. Maybe I should find another 2014 with the pkg...?

GNBRETT · Nov 29, 2016

guess ill keep lookn for a 13-14 then. the new cars jus seem to be piles of shit!

I watched a utube video of a guy complaining about his 2015 and showed all the issues with poor alignment and how the paint was coming off from closing his trunk I believe.

I honestly thought it was some dude that got a car built of Friday vs. Monday or somthn but wen I went to a car show over the summer there were two guys with 15 GT's and they BOTH said the same thing about fit, finish and quality and both actually called them a rolling POS.

I still think they look Hot tho but I guess ill wait till the 18's roll out cause the 17's don't seem to be any better.

Budwise · Nov 30, 2016

Still no regrets trading my 2013GT for my 15 GT PP.

SID297 · Nov 30, 2016

blackbeast12 said:
Its pretty pathetic Ford has expressed no desire to fix these issues even after 2years + of production...just terrible

That's the part that really bothers me. It's not like they don't know this is an issue. The lack of will to fix it is staggering.

heatsoaked12 said:
I know someone who works at a Ford assembly plant. If they drop a screw in the door during assembly they laugh,look at each other and say "some assembly required" others watch movies in the trench when they are supposed to be checking brake lines for leaks.When hinges are tight or don't fit well they laugh and say" it just needs break in". A lot of them actually sleep on the job with NO supervisers that actually give a shit. Some making up to 80$ per hour on certain weekend overtime situations for doing a job a thirteen year old girl could do. Please don't be surprised when the car rolls into the dealer looking like shit and when the entire plant moves to another country, where it will be built better for far less, by people who won't complain when their plate full of roast beef isn't spilling over with gravy. Trump my friend, two terms isn't anywhere near enough to fix this pile of garbage. Power in numbers = Auto unions = people getting paid way to much, then getting government grant and tax relief,only to want more of everything and do less while getting spoon fed=bad panel fitments........ and then some.

The Focus RS is built in a union shop in Germany and it has none of the issues mentioned in this thread. Could it be that German factory worker care more about the quality of their work than Americans? All I know is park an RS next to an ST and start comparing the build quality.

351stang · Nov 30, 2016

German work councils operate very different from American Unions. It is a false comparison, although I understand why it was made.

SID297 · Nov 30, 2016

351stang said:
German work councils operate very different from American Unions. It is a false comparison, although I understand why it was made.

I would say the fact that they work much differently with different results is what makes it a great comparison.

Looked at several new mustangs today - sad reality...

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