[DeTomaso] NPC - Consumer Reports on Cars

[Jar]

Crazy how German cars, formerly bulletproof, have declined in quality  
over the years.  Last weekend I saw a brand new Audi TT stalled in the  
middle of the freeway with no one in it.
My cousin has a Mercedes she'd like to ghost-drive off a cliff after  
spending about $10k in repairs before the odo hit 100k.  I spoke to a  
BMW mechanic once who said that their engineers had designed certain  
parts to fail at precise intervals in order to keep the service shops  
busy.  Haven't heard any horror stories about Volkswagen or Porsche  
these days....

As for Toyota, in 2001 I bought a V8 Toyota Tundra after having loved  
their smaller pickups and it turned out to be a money pit with the  
front brakes failing entirely at 30k, the starter at 40k and the  
throttle body failing entirely at 60k.  It cost me $800 to replace the  
starter because they had to remove so much junk before they could even  
get at the bolts. No wonder they completely redesigned it.

I avoid new cars like the plague these days.  The newest car I have is  
30 years old, I drive the hell out of it and it remains incredibly  
reliable:  a 1978 Datsun 620 pickup 5spd King Cab.

In my opinion, new cars are a racket and have been for a good long  
while.  Mfg's exploit people's desire to have something new and zippy  
to keep up with the Joneses and build quality has suffered.   I'm not  
shedding any tears watching these companies eat their own doodoo.


On Mar 4, 2009, at 7:31 AM, JJD1010 at aol.com wrote:

> Consumer Reports Magazine just released their annual car issue in   
> which
> their subscribers report on problem areas for cars going back 5   
> model years. Not
> to beat a dead horse, but GM and Chrysler cars have really bad   
> results.
> Ford's aren't the best but they aren't bad and some models are  
> pretty  good. As
> usual, Honda, Acura, Toyota and Lexus are unbelievably good. The  
> German  cars
> aren't as bad as GM and Chrysler but they aren't really very good.
>
> As much as everybody talks about buying American, this really paints a
> pretty dismal picture of the American manufacturers. Quality is an  
> engineering  and
> management issue. It's no wonder they are failing in the marketplace.
>
> Jeff
> 6559
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