Posted on 01/08/2007 6:15:51 AM PST by Flavius
'90 Taurus 3.8. Not only the gasket disaster, but the motor mounts weren't strong enough for the engine torque. Broke three mounts, plus collateral damage of two a/c manifolds while I owned it.
A 40,000 mile car at best. Nissan and Hyundai ever since for our family.
The problem with cars, is you get 1 chance to make a first impression....
Ford has been very good to me over the years.
Chrysler ... eh.
VW .... Supurb
Mazda .... eh
GM .... crap on a stick
Toyota ... good.
The only thing I say for certain about my next car purchase, it is very very very unlikely it will be a GM, I don't think all the marketing in the world will get me past a POS GM I bought... left me stranded at 2am in the middle of nowhere with an 11 day old son when its transmission dropped at 60k, after being in and out of the shop nearly weekly for 6 months... And yes this was a model that was supposed to be reliable according to the reviews.
I prefer to buy an american vehicle if I can, but due to that costly experience, about the only way I'd ever drive a GM is if they gave it to me, literally. If it proves reliable, I might buy another one in the future, but to date, I've learned my lesson on that one.
Call NAPA.
this is what the aftermarket takes care of...
All companies do this...
blanket statements...
I've owned many Mopar products over the past 10 years, all have treated me well.
The problem with "anything that costs over $10,000" is you get 1 chance to make a first impression.
Detroit took its customer base for granted...
While many blame the unions, it was management who agreed to their demands.
Mismanagement and attempts at quick fixes have caused horrible long term damage to Detroit and her brands.
Personally I think Detroits biggest problem has been mismanagement, across the board. Only at a place like GM could you be accused of sexual harrassment 8 times and still have a job in the same company.
It does seem that finally they are starting a turn around, GM rediscovered styling, at least partially... etc etc etc.
Time will tell.
You can thank the EPA for your paint falling off.
It took the the paint companies and the automakers years to get the 'enviro friendly' formulas right.
My wife just got me a Jeep branded LED lantern. I think I've seen JEEP bicycles.
Maybe they took it of the shelf?
You make it sound like you never kept any of them around long enough for them to treat you poorly. One good car will last a good driver 10 years or many more.
You said: I'll own a new 07 Chevy m900 pickem up in a week.
Best pick up ever made
***
You may be right, but how can you know, if you don't have it yet?
real pickup don't sport dana44 rear end's...
The titan is a joke of a pickup.
Maybe "Doctor Z" sobered up?
He bought a Ford Focus. What the heck did he expect? I dunno, maybe Ford Europe vehicles are built to a better standard, but here the Focus is nothing but a loss-leader that helps lower CAFE ratings, and as such Ford builds them as cheaply as humanly possible. Same for most other small cars sold by the Big 3.
I think you could get a co-branding deal with just about any manufacturer these days. What M-B had planned was really big.
or I have more than one or two...
I've got 3 in the stable now... a 97 Cummins Ram (look at that... 10 years and 246K on the clock), an 03 Hemi Ram and a 05 GT Cruiser... all have and continue to be good vehicles for me. Not perfect, (find me a vehicle that is and I'l buy it) mind you. but nothing about my 3 mopars will keep me from my 4th in 2009, the SRT-8 Challenger :)
Ah, but it's unfair to judge Ford based on a car they built 17 years ago. Hmmm, OK, let's try just 10 years ago. '97? No, most of them were still crap then (certainly the Taureses and Windstars were, anyway, although a friend's Explorer did OK). 5 years ago? No, they were still building Windstars with dodgy head gaskets. The annoying thing about Ford is that they seem absolutely incapable, or unwilling, to identify and fix design errors, instead continuing to produce the same failure-prone crap for years after they become aware of the problem. That's no way to keep customers. GM, while not as bad, is still prone to having decent designs crippled by poor quality parts specified by the bean counters. Chrysler? Let's not even go there.
"Auto industry analysts say many people have the perception that cars made overseas are built better than American cars. But the performance of American-made cars is now actually very close to those made in Japan and higher than many cars made in Europe, they said. Foreign cars do have an advantage in resale value, however."
Misleading. Most "foreign" cars are actually made in the US. OTOH, some "American" cars are manufactured abroad.
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