At the end of 2011 I fell for the Ford hype. On one hand I had Leo Laporte in my ears slinging the Ford line on his sponsored podcast network, on the other was my besieged wallet as gas prices continued their northerly trend; the 20 miles per gallon my Toyota Tacoma was delivering just was not enough.
Failing to pay attention to the little voice inside my head, I traded in my Tacoma for a 2012 Ford Focus. Oh! the praises I sang as it delivered its thirty five miles plus miles to the gallon. The blue tooth! The SIRIUS satellite! The leather HEATED seats!
I justified my trade by quoting, no, bragging about my gas mileage. I convinced myself that made up for the lack visibility and loss of towing and hauling capacity. I ignored the cosmetic defect in the rear window where the foam covering the firewall line disintegrated. I even convinced myself it was OK that the trunk was not deep enough to carry any of our decent sized coolers.
Well thirty eight thousand miles later the honeymoon is over. Why thirty eight? Two words. Shitty tires. Apparently Ford is not afraid to cheapen its brand by selling subpar tires. First my passenger front, then four days later my passenger rear. Continental ContiProContact 60,000 mile rated pieces of sub performing rubber.
To put into perspective, my old Tacoma, on BFG tires rated for forty thousand miles routinely lasted well into the the sixty thousand range. One year on nearly bald tires we vacationed outside Moab, Utah navigated Chicken Corners and subsequent trail roads with ease and not a care or worry.
Today at a seventy five mile an our clip BOOM! Passenger rear is no longer physically capable of holding air. Emergency dive to the side of the road during rush hour, never fun. Changing my first. Repeat for emphasis. Changing my first tire as a result of a blow out while driving, meh. I guess after 15 years of commuting up and down the I-15 corridor it was finally time to check that box.
In honor of Ford and Continental I offer this feeble and unimaginative haiku titled Not as Advertised:
sixty thousand miles
conti pro contact lasted
only thirty eight
