Foo - Just crappy cars all around

Anything made by Ford, Chevy, Dodge...

fascinating. is this your High School english composition?

My understanding is that some of the newer cars from American manufacturers have seen an improvement in quality. Still, my honda has 282,000 miles on it with no significant work; I consider this the benchmark for all other cars.

I have a '95 ford aerostar with 210,000+ miles on it, doesn't miss, knock, or burn a drop of oil, just needs a bit of transmission work to fix a small leak and, best of all, it has plenty of room to haul bikes and suchlike around. ;)

Some leading consumer mags have said that the American car companies are catching up to the Japanese---but the perception of quality is still won by the people at Honda. I must admit that Honda engines seem to last forever--my brother had to be told by his wife to get rid of the Accord as it had over 300,000 miles on it...

I have a Ford F-150 and it has been really sound for the first 90,000 miles (knock on wood.)

Generally speaking, American car companies are catching up, but not quickly enoough.

Tim C.

fascinating. is this your High School english composition?

I have taught English for 31 years, and if it is, it is the shortest essay that I have ever read....not even worthy of a grade....:roflmao2:

fascinating. is this your High School english composition?

Actually its supposed to be Spanish...

Falta con todo otra vez

My understanding is that some of the newer cars from American manufacturers have seen an improvement in quality. Still, my honda has 282,000 miles on it with no significant work; I consider this the benchmark for all other cars.

You better start knocking on wood

Anything made by Ford, Chevy, Dodge...

Is there a point here?

East Hill

Is there a point here?

East Hill

Yup

They say a GM will run poorly for longer than most cars run at all

I believe that, too... I've seen some 3800 GM V6s that burn oil from 100 000 KM - 350 000 KM and just keep chugging...

That aside, buy a Subaru or Volvo or something

They say a GM will run poorly for longer than most cars run at all

I believe that, too... I've seen some 3800 GM V6s that burn oil from 100 000 KM - 350 000 KM and just keep chugging...

That aside, buy a Subaru or Volvo or something

make up your mind. a minute ago it was a VW or Smart and shut up:D

Oddly enough, I find people who drive GMC, Ford, and Chevy to have more back problems due to the seats of their cars than I find with people who drive other brands.

Just an observation from 4 years of massage therapy.

The winner for reliability goes to Toyota.

I knew a guy who had a 1980's Toyota Land Cruiser.

He'd put 750,000kms on it over 10 years and the only thing to ever go wrong was radiator leak. True story.

The winner for reliability goes to Toyota.

I knew a guy who had a 1980's Toyota Land Cruiser.

He'd put 750,000kms on it over 10 years and the only thing to ever go wrong was radiator leak. True story.

Put over 325,000 miles on my BMW Bavaria. No major repairs.

Worst of all, worse than even my MGB was a Peugeot 505 I had in college. What a POS. Most fun was the cruise control. It loved to self activate and then accelerate. You had to jam on the breaks and turn the car off to deactivate it. French engineering, woohoo.

Worst of all, worse than even my MGB was a Peugeot 505 I had in college. What a POS. Most fun was the cruise control. It loved to self activate and then accelerate. You had to jam on the breaks and turn the car off to deactivate it. French engineering, woohoo.The good news is that if you weren't fast enough in deactivating the cruise control, the whole thing would burst into flames sooner or later anyhow.

The good news is that if you weren't fast enough in deactivating the cruise control, the whole thing would burst into flames sooner or later anyhow.

I junked the car after the driver's side rear door started spontaneously opening; which it did when I was backing out of the garage. After that the back door and the garage door were never able to be shut again.

The good news is that if you weren't fast enough in deactivating the cruise control, the whole thing would burst into flames sooner or later anyhow.

Ah, sort of like a Ford. (http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/ford_fire_recall.html)

Ah, sort of like a Ford. (http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/ford_fire_recall.html)Look, if you're going to mention every huge, deadly problem with Ford products, you're going to have to start a new thread about it.

Look, if you're going to mention every huge, deadly problem with Ford products, you're going to have to start a new thread about it.

Out of respect for bandwidth costs, I shall refrain.

I dread the new line of compact cars domestic automakers will be putting out as gas prices climb. For the most part, US automakers think they can sell SUVs indefinitely, so being caught by surprise, they will either slap together something (think the AMC Gremlin) and try selling it, or beg some foreign auto maker (this time around, I would guess Chery or Hengtong Huatai) to make small cars that they can rebadge and call under their name. Perhaps they may do a small car line like what Chevy did with Geo, sell small cars under it.

Of course, other automakers will have moved completely to hybrid or electric cars that use a gasoline or diesel engine to charge the batteries as opposed to direct propulsion, and be getting 75-100 MPG without adverse handling.

Maybe it might be different this time. We'll see how well or badly Chevy does if/when they get the Volt into production. If its as good as the EV1 or the Aptera, much less the Tesla, they might just have saved the domestic auto industry.

beg some foreign auto maker (this time around, I would guess Chery or Hengtong Huatai) to make small cars that they can rebadge and call under their name.I'm pretty sure this is already in the pipeline. I seem to recall either GM or Chrysler being in talks with Chery at one point, though perhaps just as distributors of the Chery vehicles themselves.

I remember in 2006 that one of the big 3 was going to remarket Chery stuff here in the US by '08, but apparently that hasn't happend yet. I'm almost 100% sure that in a year or two, there will be vehicles on the dealer lots here directly from China. Heck, it seems like all the parts come from there, why not save time and have them assembled while they are at it.

Chery has come a long way. I remember the issue with the old QQ model that was "reverse engineered", but they have advanced (from what I've read) 20-30 years worth of automotive advances in 2-3 years, and are on par with any other auto maker in the world for basic transportation.

Anything made by Ford, Chevy, Dodge...

You couldn't prove it by me. My 1999 Mazda B2500 (a rebadged Ford Ranger) has 128,000 miles and runs beatifully with no major repairs having been done to it. I will buy another one when this one gives up the ghost.

I wonder if "maximan" even owns a vehicle. I just turned 250 K on the odometer of my S10, no major work.

I learned about this in a strategy class in business school. The prof had done a lot of consulting and had
seen first hand why this happens.

Its the culture of manufacturing.

In the US there is a division of a car factory that fixes any problems made by other departments.
In Japan the department that creates the problem must stay late after their shift and fix it themselves.

Family has owned Ford products for many years, with minimal issues. Recently traded in my '95 Explorer, only big issue was the left front wheel bearing, which finally went at 214,000 miles. Traded it in just short of 220k. Previous '91 Exploder was good to 147k when I sold it. '88 Ranger before that was sold with 230k on the ticker. Dad's '97 F-150 went to 140k with nothing ever going wrong (traded in on super-duty).

I could keep on going back to the 70's pickups we had on the farm. Some are running yet - brother has my dad's old 1977 F-150. After some restoration, it's still an awesome truck. That damn thing pulled so many wagons and hauled so much stuff it should not be alive...but still is.

But seriously, I think most of it all comes down to maintenance. Take care of your cars, they'll take care of you (unless you truly get a lemon - which you can get with any brand).

Its called planned obsolescence. American car manufacturers have been doing it for a while now. When Toyota and Honda started making automobiles for the US market in the early 70's there goal was to have a car run forever.

This caught up with the big 3 in recent years. Plenty of 70's, 80's, and 90's Japanese cars are running no problem with 200,000, 300,000 and 400,000+ miles while 70's and 80's American cars have all been sent to the junkyard and the ones from the 90's have hit there 100,000 mile mark (from the late 90's to early 2000's) where things start to go wrong.

Now when people think of American cars they think unreliable. Something they are trying to fix now but they did hurt their name big time.

make up your mind. a minute ago it was a VW or Smart and shut up:D

Hahaha I'm being followed on the internet!

My family has er... diverse taste.

A Miata, a VW Golf, Jetta (TDI), Volvo S40, S60, 240, Subaru Impreza and Chevrolet Pickup all sit in our driveway. I guess I don't really have to make up my mind?

Bear in mind, that's 6 people's cars but I'm the in house car guy when is comes to buying :lol: