Posted on 08/09/2007 4:09:37 PM PDT by beancounter13
DETROIT (AP) -- Buick tied with Lexus as the highest-ranking brand in a closely watched study of vehicle dependability, marking the first time in 12 years that Lexus has shared the top award, J.D. Power and Associates said Thursday.
Cadillac, Mercury and Honda rounded out the top five brands in the annual survey, which measures problems experienced by the original owners of three-year-old vehicles. Both Buick and Lexus had 145 problems per 100 vehicles. The worst-performing brand, Land Rover, had 398 problems. The industry average was 216 problems, down from 227 problems in last year's survey.
(Excerpt) Read more at biz.yahoo.com ...
We bought one of the first “New Rivieras” with the supercharged V6 in early 95. There isn’t a better styled vehicle today. We are still driving it and people still ask “what is that car”...
I had one of those!
My 1990 Lexus LS400 was a dream to drive and never had a single problem until my wife totalled it. *sniff*
(she was okay btw)
I feel for ya, man. :)
I have two LS400s, a 2000 and a 1995. I bought each of them used, and they've been money well-spent - comfortable, stylish, fast, and I average about 24 mpg in the 2000. Love 'em!
They are extremely safe. In my wife’s accident, the car completely absorbed the impact and she didn’t even have a scratch.
China designed Buick Riviera concept http://www.motorauthority.com/news/concept-cars/china-designed-buick-riviera-concept/
“BTW, I traded in a 2000 Mercury Sable wagon on the deal. Now that was a great car.”
I know someone who *split* a guardrail in half in one of those - hit it headon at 85 mph by highway patrol estimates (they had fallen asleep at the wheel).
Three occupants.
Not a scratch on them.
So, I can assume that our 2001 Taurus wagon will be safe for my daughter.
The Aurora was a full-size car, so I don’t think it was a Saturn, but who knows. I looked for the Buick shields but didn’t see them anywhere. They also had a nice red Corvette on the floor, and on sale. Lifted the hood and saw the engine compartment packed full as a can of chili so the engine itself was not apparent. The sales staff never showed up so went across the street and bought a Toyota. This happened about 2002.
Sounds like the Aurora you saw was indeed one of Old’s last.
I’m sorry about the Toyota; if you had been a little more persistent on the Olds, you ‘could’ve had a V8!’. It may use a little more gas, but when Buick put the V8 back into the Lucerne, I knew I wouldn’t be able to not buy one. Nothing can make the heart pump like an eight-banger when you’ve gotten used to driving V6s.
We lost a big part of our heritage when Olds shut down. The Toyota is okay and will probably last a couple hundred years, it is really well made, but what can compare to a Quad Four with open throttle and the heater suddenly putting out enough heat for a McMansion while your hat flies off into the back seat?
Five star crash rating baby! Yeah!!
Best part about that story - a truck driver going the other way witnessed the crash and radioed highway patrol.
When HP showed up, he ran past my friend’s family standing on the side of the road and ran up to the vehicle, then started shouting back at them “where are the people who were in the car?”
He didn’t believe them at first that they were the occupants... based on the report from the trucker, he’d already called in for a medevac helicopter to be ready before arriving on the scene.....
You’ve gotta love modern crash protection engineering... :)
Any new Nigerian adventures?
Who ranked the highest on cars from 3-10 yers old? That’s the range that tells me more about quality and engineering.
I have never understood why their ratings and surveys carry any credibility whatsoever.
LEXUS may make a fantastic car, but their dealer network SUCKS. True story. I owned a 1996 LS400, and wanted to trade it in in 2001. I went to the same dealer who sold me the 96, found a car that I wanted on his lot, and asked to drive it. They REFUSED. Said I had to drive the demonstrator because they wanted to keep the miles low on the new ones. But I said I wanted to drive the ACTUAL car, and I would buy it if I liked it. They Still refused. I complained all the way up to the General Manager. Sorry, its procedure.so I never bought a Lexus again.
They were following a school bus on the first day of school last year and stopped correctly. The student behind them in a minivan failed to stop in time. My girls felt a little tap from behind. They got out to find the minivan had a crumpled grill but only a tiny scratch on the "land boat". Tough car.
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