|
Post by QueenGwen on Mar 30, 2006 22:08:55 GMT -5
Hank, from what I hear that is why people don't buy American. They want to, but the cars are just made poorly compared to foreign cars. I dunno. I will have to get a new car in the next year or so, and honestly I am lost as to what to get. I named a few American cars that I like and everyone one I know says buy a Honda. They are far superior and last forever. Although I hear that Honda's are made in America too...Iam so confused!!
|
|
|
Post by Sir Trevor on Mar 30, 2006 22:25:01 GMT -5
Nah. The foriegn stuff is just as hard to work on, and even harder to find parts for. They might be better made, but they usually cost even more to repair because of the cost of the parts.
|
|
|
Post by bunbun / Hank on Mar 31, 2006 5:04:48 GMT -5
Trevor is correct, FormerQueenG...You know who thinks foreign cars are better made? people who have never picked up a wrench and worked on them! that is who.
Ya gotta understand, I am a car nut. Between Bunnie and I we own 18 cars and 2 motorcycles, ranging from a 1940 Plymouth coupe (our oldest) to a 1987 Dodge Diplomat with over 250,000 miles on it. (our "newest") and 2 BSA motorcycles (British made, 1960's vintage) three of the cars are Japanese ( Subaru's) and one is German (Volkswagen). And over the years I think I have at one time or another worked on just about everything out there.
People have this false perception that the foreign stuff is better made. WRONG! Some of the stuff is, Maybe! the gaps between the doors and fenders line up better for example and a lot of the little annoyance things don't go bad right off the bat, like the glove box door won't open or the lighter won't work on a brand new car. But when something major takes a crap on your Honda or Toyota plan on spending a Kings ransom to get it repaired. Parts are outrageously priced, and a lot of it can only be gotten thru the dealer and is not available thru after market suppliers. So! they have the market cornered and can charge what ever they damn well feel like, cuz you ain't gettin' it anywhere else. And they do just as much "STUPID ENGINEERING" as the Americans. A buddy of mine just had to replace the alternator on his Honda not too long age, (I'm not sure of the year or model) and to do so he had to remove one of the front drive axles as the alternator was on the back side of the engine and would not come out the top because of the firewall being in the way, so to remove it you drop it out from the bottom. After you remove the axle of course. He's a "Do it yourselfer" like Trevor and I.
Subaru thought it was a GREAT idea to run all the fuel and brake lines thru the INTERIOR of the car. A great idea you say? it keeps them away from the salt and rust! WRONG!! They still have to poke thru the floor to the exterior at some point in order to connect to the fuel tank or the brake drum/caliber, and that is right where they rust. So now in order to replace them you have to gut your whole interior. Seats, carpet, all that stuff has to come out. Wait till you get the bill for that one. I had that problem on Bunnie's. So I just ran the replacement lines OUTSIDE the car. I had to make mounts and such, but the next time I have to replace them at least now they are accessible.
I don't know what to tell you QueenG as to what to buy. Different people look for different things in a car. Some like the color, some the style, some look for gas mileage, some look for performance. MY first consideration is "How easy can I repair this thing?" cuz sooner or later it WILL break down. And I don't care of it gets 200 miles to a gallon of gas, or can go from zero to sixty in one nano second, if I have to pull the engine out to add a quart of oil I AIN'T BUYING IT!
Truth be known. If money were no object. If I hit the Mega million Jackpot for a Gazillion dollars and could buy any car I wanted, I would probably be driving up to Faire in a nice restored 55 or 57 Chevy convertible. Nice looking, and easy to fix. HANK.
|
|
|
Post by BlackKnight on Mar 31, 2006 10:14:35 GMT -5
Hank, from what I hear that is why people don't buy American. They want to, but the cars are just made poorly compared to foreign cars. I dunno. I will have to get a new car in the next year or so, and honestly I am lost as to what to get. I named a few American cars that I like and everyone one I know says buy a Honda. They are far superior and last forever. Although I hear that Honda's are made in America too...Iam so confused!! Well....Christine...since you are not mechanically inclined like Hank is and if you can afford it, I would stick with either Honda or Toyota. They are, by far, the most reliable of the all the auto makes if you stick to the maintenance program. And make sure you get a factory warranty that lasts as long as your payment plan.
|
|
|
Post by bunbun / Hank on Mar 31, 2006 11:08:52 GMT -5
To add to SirGeoffrey's comment about Honda and Toyota being more reliable. IF YOU STICK TO THE MAINTENANCE PROGRAM. he is correct! but hell, most all cars are reliable if you MAINTAIN them. Yes, there are some, like the Chevy Vega that were a piece of CRAP no matter what you did to them. The problem is, most people only do BREAKDOWN MAINTENANCE! The car quits running, they tow it in some where and have it fixed, where as if the did some preventive maintenance before hand they wouldn't needed to have it towed.
My 87 Diplomat has over 250,000 miles on it. I have owned it since 1993. Now in those 16 years I have put a few mufflers and tail pipes on it along with brake shoes and pads and a few sets of tires. BUT! these items wear out no matter what kind of car you are driving. The basic engine and transmission are still going strong. I did have to replace a water pump and starter motor a few years back. But hey, nothing last forever and they were inexpensive to replace. Of course, by doing my own work I can save a fortune on repairs so I am maybe more likely to fix a "minor" problem before it degenerates into a full blown catastrophe, where the average person will neglect their car into a total pile of crap because as long as it runs they ain't gonna take it in to get fixed.
I just fixed a friends 96 Dodge Ram pickup recently. She tows a big horse trailer with it and neglected the brake system to the point I had to put over $500.00 in PARTS into it as she ruined the rotors, drums, calibers, everything! Had she caught it in time we might have only needed pads and shoes. Oh yes, she also had only a quart and a half of OIL in the motor, so she had not been checking that too often. Needless to say I did an oil change for her too.
It never ceases to amaze me how you folks can go out and spend 20 to 30 thousand dollars on a new car and neglect it into a pile of junk.
But I shouldn't complain. You know why I have 18 cars? cuz a lot of them were given to me free ( yes, free) because the owner neglect it to the point it would cost them too much to have someone repair it, so they just get another car and give me their old one. Of course I, doing my own work, can repair it for a few hundred dollars and either sell it or drive it myself. screw them gazillion dollars a month car payments. HANK
|
|
|
Post by Sir Trevor on Mar 31, 2006 11:20:36 GMT -5
Truth be known. If money were no object. If I hit the Mega million Jackpot for a Gazillion dollars and could buy any car I wanted, I would probably be driving up to Faire in a nice restored 55 or 57 Chevy convertible. Nice looking, and easy to fix. HANK. You sound like me Hank. If I hit the lotto, I wouldn't buy a brand new car. I would buy an older car (probably a 76 Nova, or another 79 Malibu) then I would send it to a garage. First of all, I would buy a southern car that hadn't seen salt, have the frame and entire body oil undercoated. Then I would have a brand new motor, trany, suspension, and drive train installed. The whole thing would probably cost me less than a new car, and with routine maintanence would probably last the rest of my life.
|
|
|
Post by bunbun / Hank on Mar 31, 2006 13:49:00 GMT -5
Trevor...Forget that oil undercoating nonsense. Waste of time in my opinion. the oil drips off after awhile and you have to keep doing it. Plus, it is messy as hell. What I would do is have it sprayed with that Rhino bed liner stuff they put in pickup beds. I have to replace the inner fenders on my Chevy pickup and I've been thinking about doing that as sort of an experiment to see how it hold up. HANK.
|
|
|
Post by Lady Catharine on Mar 31, 2006 13:51:18 GMT -5
Aw Christine, buy a Benz. then you 'll know what it's really like to repair them. 1) Mercedes Benz Dealer 2) Foreign Car Repair 3) Lastly,,,$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ They're fun toys whilst they are newer, 7-8 yrs old..Lookout! Oy Vey!
|
|
|
Post by bunbun / Hank on Mar 31, 2006 14:02:45 GMT -5
I have to second Lady C sentiments about German cars. My Volkswagen is the biggest pain in my butt car I have ever owned. As for an M Benz. Get one only if you can chew paper and poop money. They are just an OVERPRICED VW. I have a "dead" one sitting in my garage at this very moment. Ya, I work on them too. reluctantly! This one ain't mine, THANK GOD! it belongs to my neighbor. As soon as he can poop enough money we will fix it. I told him to put it in his front yard, cut the top off and make a planter out of it. HANK
|
|
|
Post by Sir Trevor on Mar 31, 2006 18:46:20 GMT -5
Hey Hank. Just found some good engineering. My son's turn signal was out in the 98 Century. The headlight assembly is held in with 2 plastic clips. Very easy to remove, then change the bulbs and put it all back to gether. Altogether, less than 5 minutes. And that was digging out the bulbs and figuring out how it all worked to start with. Usually on these newer cars changing bulbs is a major chore, but not on that car.
|
|
|
Post by bunbun / Hank on Mar 31, 2006 22:36:39 GMT -5
Trevor...Glad to hear ya got an easy one. Every once in awhile they screw up and do something right. The poor engineer probably got fired for that one: "Whats a wrong wit chew? we can't make things that easy for the customer, you're FIRED!!!"
Got the gas tank removed from the Grand Prix today. A somewhat easy job made more difficult by the fact some idiot put the exhaust pipe and the rear suspension right in the way of the bolts you need to remove in order to drop the straps holding the tank in place. There is nothing more fun than a rusted in place bolt that is inaccessible. Tomorrow I will glop about a pound of Anti-seize on the bolts and reassemble it, so we can put a DONE stamp on that one.
Then it is get my pickup in the garage and see why I have a fuel leak. Has to be a line as the leak originates where the door and front fender come together, along the frame rail. I did replace all the lines, but that was 10 years ago, so I suppose the rust monster could have eaten him. We will need the truck next week for cleanup, so I gotta get busy on him. Plus I still have that Explorer to fix. But that one is going to take awhile, lots of "bad things" there. Well, it's time to shower and hit the sack, this day started for me at 4:00 AM. Later gang. HANK.
|
|
|
Post by Kayenne on Mar 31, 2006 22:57:40 GMT -5
Actually, the line between foreign and domestic has become blurred over the last several years. There are American owned companie who have cars (tractors, and other products) made overseas. And there are "foreign" companies who manufacture their products here. Buying "American" has become pretty complicated. No idea how that affects who you blame for engineering and design.
|
|
|
Post by Hephzibah on Mar 31, 2006 23:25:05 GMT -5
I agree with you Jasmine. I think that is why alot of the guys that played with the 60's,70's maybe early 80's cars hate the cars today It was clear back then and not so damn complex. Not to say that the guys today don't understand I think it's more of this new kid thing of I'm smarter than you thing and I'm going to make your life hell because I'm upstairs.
I don't understand half of what is being said in this thread but it sounds like poopy about what the car people are doing. with the designing
|
|
|
Post by bunbun / Hank on Apr 1, 2006 7:11:02 GMT -5
To Hepz and Jasmine... You are correct about the lines between "furin" and American cars being blurry these days. The Ford Ranger pickup and the Mazda pickup are the same truck, as Ford and Mazda are partnered up, or else Ford just out right owns them, I not sure which it is. Some years back (mid 1980's) I owned a Ford Thunderbird that was made in Canada and a guy I worked with had a Honda that was made in Ohio. So who owned the foriegn car? beats the hell outta me! HANK.
|
|
|
Post by bunbun / Hank on Apr 1, 2006 7:17:23 GMT -5
speal chek. Hey Trevor, I notice a problem with the spell check feature. When I click on it, it just goes "BURP" and that is it. Don't know if the problem is my computer or something to do with the server. Anyone else having this problem?? HANK
|
|