U.S. Automakers Battle Public Bias

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070108/autos_ap_poll.html?.v=2 ^ | 1/8/07 | Will Lester

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

Try the Duramax, Cummins is the only good thing about Dodge. Until they get Allison to make transmissions for them, they will continue to have problems.

My brother in law just lost the tranny at 80,000 on his. It sounds like Allison is going to build for Ford now, but Dymler/Benz is too proud to ask a British company for help.

[Ouderkirk]

I used to buy Detroit's cars. Not any more. The come up with a neat design and then "cost accounting" gets into the manufacturing processes and they become unusable junk. They cut costs and quality to pay those high labor costs.

I'll gladly pay more for a Toyota...because it's worth the extra money I'm spending up front. I have owned cars from Detroit as recently as two years ago, and will never buy another one. Have fleet vehicles from Detroit now, and they are absolute garbage.

My first Toyota 4Runner has been excellent. 1996...175K on her and still runs strong, no rust in rusty Western NY. Mantainence has been minimal. Consumables like tires (50K) and brakes (70K), 1 exhaust system (145K), oil (every 3K) and gas (24MPG). The interior is worn, but it doesn't squeak, tick or have wind noise.

I liked it so much I bought another one for the wife.

The number of times I have been stranded by my Detriot cars & trucks is too long to list.

Until GM, Ford, and Chrysler, break their unions I won't buy their vehicles.

[VRWCTexan]

I know, I own two Toyotas, and my daughter has a Honda...

[Dixie Yooper]

The late 50's Power Wagon only came in 4WD. I don't know if you could ever get the Apache in 4WD, but my Dad's uncle had a 4WD 62 C-10 that he kept around until 1980 when he was too old to drive.
No, I'm not going to suggest any Fords. Too many hostile thoughts from fist fights in elementary school. I was a big Chevy fan.

[Dixie Yooper]

After driving BMW's for 17 years, I finally broke down and got a new Tundra Ltd in 2003. Now we also have a 2005 Sienna and a 2006 Corolla. All three are trouble-free(knock on wood) and a pleasure to drive.

[advertising guy]

because I'm 51 and spent 1/2 my life in auto parts/machine shop work and also won the Chevy walk around and am privey
to the trucks details

[Don Carlos]

My last American car was an '84 Olds Delta 88 Brougham. POS from day one! By the time it was a year old, window lifts, radio knobs and exterior mirrors were falling off.

Happiest day of ownership was when it was stolen and partially stripped. Unhappiest day was when the insurance company would not total it! Second happiest day was when it was stolen a second time! You guessed it, insurance had it repaired! I immediately traded it on a Honda. Never looked at another American car.

Maybe if Olds would take care of some of their crappy assembly, I'd reconsider...oh yeah except for that little thing about the company's demise.

[Fraxinus]

I agree with you, the problems for the big 3 were caused by new emissions standards, because the auto makers dropped the ball on Quality control and customer expectations for reliability had changed from the 50's. In the 20's it was not considered unusual to be fixing some part of a car at least monthly, by the 60's this would have been considered unacceptable by almost all car buyers.

The loss of power was caused in part by engine downsizing and loss of compression due to unleaded gas. However the American cars were underpowered compared to imports with similar size engines and 500-1000 lbs less weight.

Then there is the disaster that was the 90 degree v-6, these engines could not be balanced and shook themselves to pieces. The engine would need to be replaced by 60K miles.

As for the problems with styling, they were not new, ever hear of five pound hood ornaments? However some of the ugliest cars built came out of Detroit, although I am sure that there are some real eyesores that never were brought to this country.

[Sam Cree]

I had a '72 Chevy Blazer, a great vehicle. Also, an '87 K-5 Chevy Blazer that fell apart at 75,000 miles...last GM product I've owned, except for my wife's Saabs, of which 3 were wonderful and one (the first design under GM management) wasn't very good. Her '04 Saab is wonderful, though.

[advertising guy]

gas hog too

[advertising guy]

read post 86

[Dixie Yooper]

If you hire someone to come into your house to do work for over $10,000 and you end up with a bad experience because of that person, would you ever hire them again to do anything for you? Of course not.
Cars are a big high cost item. Once you commit to one, only to find out that it's junk, how can American pride make enough of a difference to reward that company with another purchase? I can't tell you the number of times someone has sneered at me and said "what, American cars aren't good enough for you?"

[1Old Pro]

The big three only need to embrace three things.
QUALITY,VALUE, AND RELIABILITY.

QUALITY: Means just that, no rusting out, no mechanical problems,no "cheap" parts.
VALUE: People will pay for quality and reliability because it offrs good value.
RELIABILITY: Nothing is more bothersome than a mechaical malfunction in the first 10 years. Really well made cars should (and do) hold up for 10 years and 200,000 miles.

[Dixie Yooper]

I always liked the look of the old Saab 900 Turbo from the 80's. Our best friends have been driving them for years and last year bought the new Aero convertible and wagon.
Since Saab is on the military discount list, it drops about $5,000 off of the MSRP which helps them out nicely.

[lmailbvmbipfwedu]

Detroit, build a car that I want and I'll buy it. Leave off the following: Air conditioning, power steering, sound systems, automatic transmissions, power seats, power mirrors, air bags, digital instruments, alloy wheels, etc. I could go on and on. Make a simple, maintainable, and straight forward machine and I'll buy it. Other wise its a '53 chevy for ever................

[jalisco555]

'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.

My brother and I rented a Taurus in the early 90's at the airport at Ft. Lauderdale. The car broke down driving out of the rental lot. They replaced it with another Taurus which caught on fire while leaving the rental lot (no one hurt, luckily)! The third time we insisted on something other than a Taurus. Of course, as a former Escort owner you'd think my brother would have learned his lesson already.

You couldn't get me into a Ford dealership at gunpoint.

[hoppity]

I bought a '97 Windstar with 47K miles. By 83K, I had its 5th tranny put in. They told me they had plastic parts in the tranny that bent under pressure. Luckily, they were all warranty fixes. Traded it in for an '04 Honda Odyssey. No problems in 60K.

I owned only Fords up until that Windstar. Never had one problem with any of the others. Now my wife won't go near a Ford dealer.

[rbmillerjr]

Bias? BS, decades of poor prouducts produced by unionized employees and dinosaur management.

I'll take my American made Toyota.

[relictele]

Don't be confused, Americans still make the best cars and trucks, they just work for Toyota and Honda.

And when their co-workers fail to report for work, show up drunk, sleep on the job or commit crimes they actually do something about it - no "union brotherhood" to worry about.

[relictele]

because I'm 51 and spent 1/2 my life in auto parts/machine shop work and also won the Chevy walk around and am privey to the trucks details

Fair enough but I would think that any "best" award would have to take reliability into account.