Fords are far cheaper to repair than other cars, a new pair of brake discs for a ford sierra was £40, a pair of brake discs for a same size honda civic was £260, ford parts are dirt cheap, though. as i saw rjwood saying above, that might be because they use cheap parts to begin with.
Personally i dont find fords too bad, the latest mondeos look pretty damn good, the black horse of cars round here is traditionally the skoda (cue many bad jokes), though theyve improved a lot in recent years.