[hexagonal]

  For example, if a close friend goes on and on about how the Ford he bought 
  was a piece of crap, detailing how the transmission failed at 30k miles 
  and the rear-view mirror fell off, you’ll be wary about buying a Ford in 
  the future, even if Consumer Reports rates them highly.

Personal anecdote: I've got a '93 Ford Explorer. It has 237,000 miles on it, and has yet to have a single major component failure. I've been waiting for the goddamn thing to die for the last 70,000 miles, so I can buy a car that does better than 13 miles to the gallon, but no dice.

Don't buy Ford trucks. They're too reliable.