On Thu, Jun 4, 2009 at 10:54 PM, Bob Sullivan <rf.sulli...@gmail.com> wrote: > Cars I have owned: > 1961 Sunbeam Alpine: more often dead than alive as a used car. I > learned to repair it. Rusted away by '73 > 1971 Olds Cutlass: Drove thru 110K miles. Good performer, simple repairs. > 1973 Olds Cutlass: Again, a good performer - sold after wife was rear > ended in '78 (trunk leak) > 1980 Toyota Corrola: Reliable, quality car if a bit spartan. > 1982 Chevy Caprice: Comfortable car with minor problems. Drove the > Wife & Kiddies some 600 miles > per weekend for family visits while Grandpa died of panceatic cancer. > (Big car for the road) > 1984(?) Pontiac Parisian (=Chevy Caprice): Big comfortable car with > few problems. Had to get > out of the Toyota for the daily commute on Chicago's Tri-state tollway > & 18 wheelers. > 1988 Olds 88 Royal: Another fine performer, reliable, comfortable, mid-sized. > 1991 Olds Station Wagon: Comfortable touring on multiple family > vacations, very good > 1993 Buick Regal: Pretty car, but not very reliable. Dealership > couldn't fix it's problems. > 1995 Mercury Marque (used in '97): Big iron for the kids to drive, worked > fine. > 1997 Cadillac (used in '99): Neighbor insisted we buy his low milage > car - trouble always, dead by '03 > 1998 Ford Explorer (used in '00): Son drove thru 100K miles without > major problems. > 1998 Mercury Nautica Van: 18 inches too short, but best van we've had > - shared platform with Nissan Quest. > 2002 Ford Windstar Van: OK performer, but major engine issues at 60K miles > 2003 Olds Aurora (used in '05): Another problem car > 2005 Accura TL: very nice car! > 2006 Ford Freestar: OK, but mysterious brake problems - chatter > 2003 Corvette (used in '08): Only 7K miles and a pleasure to drive! > > Overall, the recent experiences with the 1st year Mercury van built in > conjunction with Nissan and the Accura TL have made a very favorable > impression for the foreign engineering. Ford has been OK by me, but > nothing outstanding. Meanwhile, the recent GM experiences with Buick, > Cadillac, and Oldsmobile have been problematic. I won't go there > again. > Regards, Bob S. >
Offhand it looks like you had your best experiences with the big Detroit iron (aside from the Caddy, which were known for problems in the late 90's/early 2000's models). Not all that surprising an experience, big iron is what Detroit spent their dollars doing right. The smaller stuff had more issues. -- M. Adam Maas http://www.mawz.ca Explorations of the City Around Us. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
