Japanese cars are the best

On 3/1/07 9:34 AM, in article 45e6f2d1$1@kcnews01, "C. E. White"
> wrote:

>
> "E Meyer" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>> I have found their reliability ratings to be dead on with every car
>> I have
>> owned in the past 20 years, both good and bad.
>
> Depends what you mean by "dead-on." They gave Cressidas like one I
> owned high marks - mine was an unreliable piece of crap not fit to
> haul pigs. They gave the 1986 Sable I owned a good review but the
> little circles they like to show indicated it was unreliable. I only
> drove mine 140k miles and sold it to a friend who drove it almost
> another 100k before stuffing it into a tree - I suppose that makes it
> unreliable. They give the Nissan Frontier I bought last year a check
> mark, but it has been back to the dealer more times already than the
> last 3 Fords I owned combined. They don't recommend a Ford Mustang,
> but my son's has been perfect - no problems at all. They gush all over
> the 2007 RAV4, but I find my SO's new 2007 RAV4 to be merely OK -
> certainly nothing special - noisy at highway speed, mediocre gas
> mileage, strangely arranged controls, uncomfortable seats, but at
> least after 5 months it has been reliable (no better than my Son's
> Mustang though, despite costing $6k more).
>

When I say reliability, I mean the listings they put up with the problem
areas marked with red and black dots (red is good and black is bad). My
experience has been that if a black dot showed up in a particular area on a
particular car that I had, it eventually developed a problem in that area.

I didn't mean to connote that I agree with everything they say. To agree
with their "driving experience" discussions, I think you have to be a middle
aged housewife somewhere in New Jersey.


> For non-car items, I find CR's recommendations to be almost 180
> degrees opposite from my experiences. In his latter years, my Father
> put a great deal of faith in the CR recommendations. I can't think of
> one appliance he bought based on their recommendations that worked out
> well.
>
> Still I am a subscriber. I like to read other people's opinions, even
> if I don't find them credible all the time. But I never forget, CR is
> only printing their opinions. And the often touted auto survey is
> still just a poorly organized opinion survey. It is sort of like the
> Republicans surveying just Republicans and claiming that GWB's
> approval rating is rising.....
>
> Ed
>

"Gohan Ryu" > wrote in message
...
>
> The Consumer Reports survey isn't about the opinions of their writers,
> it's a survey of the general public. \


I think this is true, and I also think that, although I dont put a lot of
credence in CR,
there must be some degree of truth linked to their choices. Some of their
picks are
for newish cars, but I am not the kind of person who buys a new car every
3-4 years.

If you trade every 3-4-5 years, chances are you will not have too many
problems.

How many American name brand American built old clunkers do you see
still being driven around compared to foreign name brand vehicles
regardless of where they are built.Nothing beats American Iron.
cuhulin

On Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:18:01 -0600, Ray >
wrote:

>bob zee wrote:
>> On Mar 1, 1:59 pm, Steve > wrote:
>>
>>> At 59k miles, its not even broken in yet. The car I mentioned above
>>> currently has 247,000 miles on it. It's now had a few repairs, but
>>> nothing huge. Call me back in 10 years and tell me how that Honda is doing.
>>
>> I will. You can guarantee it. While you are at it, give me your
>> phone number, your home address and your bank debit card number!
>> What do you consider a few repairs that are nothing huge?
>>
>> Only an idiot would give me that information! Some would say only an
>> idiot would buy an american car!
>>
>> bob z.

Tell you what Boob, when you've got 20 years and 291K miles
on your Honduh, let us know. Just remember, the first time
you run into something at over 10mph, they'll write the damn
thing off...

>to quote George Carlin, some people are f*cking stupid.
>
>Buying a car based solely on reliability scores is like buying a house
>based on square footage alone.
>
>I bought a Trans Am because I WANTED one.
>I bought a Subaru wagon because I needed a family car with 4wd.
>
>Cost to buy, Cost to repair, Cost to insure are all parts of the car
>ownership experience. So's utility and "grins-per-mile."
>
>And, fwiw, I'm stuck with the wife's old car as a winter beater until it
>dies. It's a 90 Beretta with 150k miles, and the damn thing just won't
>die. (I used to wish it would, now I'm hoping to make 200k miles on it.)
>
>I do wonder, who around here has the oldest/highest mileage vehicle that
>they're still using as a semi-regular daily driver?
>I have a 90 Beretta with 150k.

Strangely enough, I have a couple for 20+ year old cars that are
driven daily, an '86 F150, at 291K miles, on the original engine, but
the second tranny, and the wife drives an '87 Merkur XR4Ti, also on
it's second tranny (C3) at 206K miles. Why buy a new car, when the
old ones work just fine??

SteveL

> wrote in message
...
> How many American name brand American built old clunkers do you see
> still being driven around compared to foreign name brand vehicles
> regardless of where they are built.Nothing beats American Iron.
> cuhulin

Easy to say, but not easy to support. The Asian iron is entering the market
as
a prime mover...The American iron is suffering rejection right now.

This is a complicated issue...There are perceptions and misperceptions.

I dont want to say that imports have beaten the American brands. But they
are winning a VERY strong market position.

American technology is no longer revered.

The truth lies somewhere in between.

On 1 Mar 2007 13:17:37 -0800, "
> wrote:

>Somewhat off-topic question:
>Are any high-quality products made in the USA?
>
>The "american" computers are actually made in
>the far east. The american cell phones are
>horrible. (This problem is due in part to the
>lack of cell phone standards.) The american
>rocket launchers are less reliable than russian
>rocket launchers...
>
>Americans surely make the best computer CPUs,
>the best nuclear bombs, the best movies and music.
>Not much to brag about...

What did you have for dinner tonight??

Numbnuts

SteveL

wrote:
> > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>How many American name brand American built old clunkers do you see
>>still being driven around compared to foreign name brand vehicles
>>regardless of where they are built.Nothing beats American Iron.
>>cuhulin
>
>
> Easy to say, but not easy to support. The Asian iron is entering the market
> as
> a prime mover...The American iron is suffering rejection right now.
>
> This is a complicated issue...There are perceptions and misperceptions.
>
> I dont want to say that imports have beaten the American brands. But they
> are winning a VERY strong market position.
>
> American technology is no longer revered.
>
> The truth lies somewhere in between.
>
>

He's got a point. But the truth is, I'd rather have a 50 year old
American car than a 10 year old American car.

oh wait... I really do.

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

I bought my 1978 Dodge van second hand/used.It had over 285,000 miles on
it when I bought it.Since then I have put about 78,000 miles on the
van.Nowadays though,almost all of my driving is a three mile round trip
to the food store and back,once each week.
cuhulin

wrote:
> "Gohan Ryu" > wrote in message
> ...
>> The Consumer Reports survey isn't about the opinions of their writers,
>> it's a survey of the general public. \
>
>
> I think this is true, ...

I believe it's the opinions of their members (subscribers), which is
considerable different than the 'general public'.

A car or other vehicle of the same make and model or a coffee pot or
vacuum cleaner,whatever.You won't hardly ever find Consumers Report
agreeing on the same item twice in two consecutive months,I read that
somewhere in another news group a few years ago.I never read Consumers
Report anyway,mainly because I don't think they know anything (Fort
Bragg is Bragging every day.I can brag too,can't I?) more than I know.If
I say a certain make and model of a car,or whatever,is the best (in my
opinion) there is always someone who will disagree.

By the way,my old buddy's wife bought a 1991 Chevrolet Lumina car brand
new.About two years ago,she bought a brand new Chevrolet car.She let him
have her (that's the way it usually goes,the wife gets the new
vehicle,her hubby gets her cast off vehicle) 1991 car.(he also own a
2000 Chevrolet pickup truck that he bought a few years ago) I have asked
him before when he gets ready to get rid of his 1991 Chevorlet Lumina
car to let me know.The car is like new inside and out,except for some
minor paint fading on the rear section of the car.I know those cars are
worth about $1,600 and up.He will let me buy it from him (when he gets
ready to sell it to me) for about half that price.He and I are the same
age (65 years old) and we went to school together way back in the
1950's.
cuhulin