Chrysler group to post $1.5 billion loss in third quarter (Breaking)

Autonews ^ | 9/15/06 | Mikey_1962

[Hoodlum91]

You lucked out. NO SUV rollover problems but MAJOR tranny proeblems with every Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth I've ever had experience with. It's the only car maker every person in my family and all my friends have sworn off completely. Frankly, yours is the only decent story I've heard ever about a Chrysler product.

[BW2221]

The A604 transmission on Chrysler minivans plagued Chrysler (and its minivan owners) throughout the 1990s.

[antiRepublicrat]

I have 4 and I'm trying to talk my wife into a SUV and out of the minivan.

Seats seven:

[Ole Okie]

I think Dr Z's commercials have gone downhill since the first one, where he was showing a reporter the advantages of Cherman engineering and ran an SUV into a wall at about 35 mph.

He asked "Any qvestions?"

Reporter says "No, I'm good."

The rest of the ads seem sort of insipid after that one.

[Hoodlum91]

Unfortunately all their problems led to virtually everyone I know vowing to never own a Chrysler product.

The merger was the only thing that saved them (briefly) IMO. The Chyrsler Group will chut down completely in the next 5 years is my guess.

Then Daimler and the Mercedes group can focus on semi-decent cars again.

[Ole Okie]

Front springs have given out.

[CholeraJoe]

Serves the Kraut's right.


Oh and it was Bush's fault.

[antiRepublicrat]

Mercedes has really done an exceptional job engineering this little car.

A friend of mine has one, and I would have bought one if I hadn't left Germany. They are very well engineered and safe. I saw a staged offset head-on with a normal small car (VW Golf size). The other driver would have been in the hospital, while the Smart driver may have gotten a headache. There was actually damage on the Smart's rear-end due to the design routing the force of the accident around the passenger compartment.

It's like an egg shell, special alloy, not regular steel.

[newgeezer]

One of the reasons Toyota has been so successful is that experiential events are such an important part of its marketing.

Ford did that with the Fusion; one such event was written up in Car and Driver.

I haven't heard how well the Fusion is selling. Regardless, when they start building cars that drive and feel and work like Hondas and Toyotas, they'll see some success.

Oh, and as for Chrysler, I've purchased four of them since 2000 (one new, two used, and one very used) and I've been quite pleased. Fifteen years ago, I wouldn't have considered owning one.

[antiRepublicrat]

Front springs have given out.

It just looks like that from that view. It's horizontal on the bottom.

[BW2221]

The perceived quality difference between Asian and "Big Three" models today is much greater than the actual difference.

[newgeezer]

The perceived quality difference between Asian and "Big Three" models today is much greater than the actual difference.

Perhaps that's the price of too many decades spent resting on their laurels.

[ASOC]

There is a couple of them driving around town now, I will wait to see how well the heater works in the cold and ice.

[moehoward]

[BW2221]

The U.S. manufacturers made a number of mistakes.

One was not improving quality sooner.

A second was building cars that all looked alike with minor cosmetic changes.
- A Ford looked exactly like a Mercury
- A Dodge looked like a Plymouth
- During the 1980s GM had the same car for all it's lines (Chevrolet through Cadillac) - Cavalier, Sunbird, Shyhawk, (I forgot the Olds name) and Cimarron

[newgeezer]

(I forgot the Olds name)

Firenza, I think.