Posted on 12/02/2007 10:04:23 AM PST by Chi-townChief
I used to be a loyal “buy American”. After 3 cars didn’t live long enough to even be paid off I decided “loyalty” had too high a price. Two were Chryslers and 1 was a Pontiac. We now drive Volkies. The diesel gets 500 miles on a tank of fuel and runs forever.
Chevys and Pontiacs here for the last 18 years.
We had a company car that was a chevy and it was a good car. One of the Chryslers caught fire with my daughter and I in it, 15,000 miles on it. Not doing THAT again! :)
Beemers only.
Some of the best deals out there are late model cars that are otherwise good vehicles, but have less than stellar resale value.
Sometimes this means you get a perfectly good ugly vehicle at a very good price.
Having said that, I drive an ‘07 4x4 crewcab Silverado, a 1977 Jeep CJ5 and a ‘96 Cherokee.
I'm still waiting on the Camaro, I'm a Camaro-man. :)
I was a GM buyer - until I bought my first Honda in 1999. It was stil going strong and trouble-free when I traded it in this year for another Honda (which gets in the 30’s for freeway mileage and high 20’s in the city).
Well, I’m not totally sure how much this really means in the long run.
I own a 97 ram and a 05 ram. My complaint with dodge is they made the engines so small now that they still get horrible gas mileage, but dont have enough power to get out of their own way. My 97 had a 360 (5.9L) (its a 408 stroker now) and got 15 mpg from the factory and has pretty good pulling/hauling power. The 05 weighs over 1000 lbs more but only has a 4.7L. While it can get 16.5 mpg unloaded, if you put anything behind it (I mean a tiny trailer like you’d haul a lawnmower on) the mileage can drop to 10 or 11. I can pull trailers, boats and things like that with my truck (even have skidded trees down paths in the woods) but its a joke with my wifes 05.
Now I know a 318 would be a more fair comparison to the 4.7L, but I expect it would beat the pants off the 4.7 as well. What I find crazy about all this is that Nissan trucks are now coming with 5.6L v-8s and obviously can out do the dodges.
If our auto manufactorers were smart they would make two lines of pickups. Trucks for people who really just want to commute but not work with them and then trucks for people who actually want to farm with them. Ford could just break out the design for the early 90s F-150 (and probably should get out the early 90s 5.0 Mustang while they are in there). Chevy should do the same for the 1500 and dodge for the older style ram. Those trucks were made to work without all the froo froo crap that gets broken on new trucks. My 97 is a joke of a truck compared to the 90 Ram my dad owned. But the 05 is even less truck then that. I mean, they tried to replace the Jeep cherokee with the in line 6 with this liberty thing? Uuuhhhhhhhhh
Jeep doesnt even make the 4.0 in line 6 any more and ford quit making the 302/5.0. It makes me depressed just thinking about it. Both were more reliable then anything that replaced them will be and you got your moneys worth.
I’ve retired all my Hondas (new) and Datsun pickup (used) at 250k miles — except the ‘72 Coupe that was stolen at 170k miles.
We’ve had all kinds of cars in 37 years of marriage, Olds, Chevy, Dodge, Pontiac, some of them good. But the last 3 were lemons and one almost killed us. Someone gave me a free VW Dasher because they were moving. It was a tank. I was rear-ended by a large Chevy truck. It took out his radiator etc and I had a broken taillight. Hubby’s diesel VW has 400,000 miles on it. I won’t buy American again.
I drove a Ford Crown Victoria once, and that was a wonderful car, despite the mileage. However, Ford does not make them any more, and the rest of their product line has a bad reputation.
Folks, note that the branding does not matter so much these days. Toyotas, Hyundais, Fords, and others are usually made in American manufacturing plants.
Love VWs! Hubby drives a 1000 miles a week in traffic. He could never top that MPG. Really cool!
I like the new DeSotos.
That said, I don't think I'd have any trouble advising someone to buy one.
I have an ‘02 Camaro that I picked up after my ‘91 was totaled in ‘05. But I’m afraid the new Camaro will be very high-priced.
Chrysler ruined the Jeep brand. I was loyal for three straight new jeeps ‘til ‘04. Had to go to GMC.
. It makes me depressed just thinking about it. Both were more reliable then anything that replaced them will be and you got your moneys worth.
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I am an old Ford man (my dad had a Model A when I was born), I liked the 302 but the 4.6 liter seems to be a worthy replacement to me. I now own a ‘95 F-150 with a 351 but I would put a 4.6 in it if it could be done at a reasonable cost. We now have an ‘04 Grand Marquis which is our third car with the 4.6 engine and the worst experience was with one unit that had the infamous plastic intake manifold that split but otherwise they have been good engines.
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