Lets see, My car history has been '56 Pontiac, 62' Peugot, 68 AMC,
'67 Porsche 912, '68 Porsche 912 #1 (mine), '68 Porsche 912 #2
(wife's), '75 Ford F150 van, '80 Subaru station wagon, '90 Dodge
minivan, '93 Cherokee, '00 Chrysler Town & Country, and, as of last
night, '09 Grand Cherokee. Along the way various wives have owned the
aforementioned Porsche, Toyota pickup, Honda Civic, VW Bug, Nissan
something or other, Jeep Wrangler, and Eagle Vision. The '94 Vision
is getting a bit clunky at 170,000 miles, but runs fine. (And my 5'
wife has no problem driving it.) The T&C van I traded on the new
Cherokee had 150,000 and in that period had the muffler replaced and
the brakes replaced. Period. Well, tires of course. Oh, and I had it
tuned at 70,000 miles and oil change and fluid check every 3-5,000
miles. The Vision and the T&C have been far and away the most
reliable vehicles of all those I've owned or been associated with.
The Subaru lasted for 175,000 (and was the only smallish car at the
time that allowed me to sit upright, maybe even wear a hat.) But IMHO
for comfort, hauling/towing capacity, and low repair costs the T&C
(and I expect the new Jeep) put the current Subarus to shame.
Obviously, in this car love/hate thing, YMMV.
stan
On Jun 4, 2009, at 9:00 PM, Scott Loveless wrote:
On 6/4/09, paul stenquist <pnstenqu...@comcast.net> wrote:
Car research can be very misleading, because there's a lot going
on. But in
the states, the intelligentsia drive imports. It's part of their
calling
card. They won't be caught dead in an American made car. Their
prejudices
are based on bullshit, but they're powerful.
You can call it what you want, and claim one set of research backs
this and another backs that, and it very well may be that some people
are looking for a status symbol in their import, but I think for a lot
of people, including myself, it comes down to personal experience.
Mom and Dad bought one Ford after another from the mid-70s through the
early 2000s. Dad believes they could have bought a couple more cars
with the money they spent on repairs. So their latest vehicle was a
Chrysler Town and Country. It spent most of last summer at three
different dealerships because the first two couldn't figure out how to
fix the AC that wouldn't stop blowing hot air.
I've owned 2 Fords and 2 Dodge pickups. I've also had a VW, 2 Mazdas
and 2 Nissans. Pick one of the American cars. Any of them, doesn't
matter which. It needed more repairs than the 5 imports combined.
Either I've had probability-defying bad luck or someone's lying about
the quality of American cars. Couple that with the fact that they
can't figure out ergonomics for anyone shorter than average and it
adds up to I ain't giving them any more of my money. Period. And I
don't give a damn what the magazines say.
Bill nailed it with the bit about grand daddy's and daddy's and
whatnot. They're the opposite of Paul's intelligentsia.
--
Scott Loveless
Cigarette-free since December 14th, 2008
http://www.twosixteen.com/fivetoedsloth/
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