My knowledge base isn't huge, so I know my judgements are a little contrived..
I've said it in previous threads, and I'll say it again. My first car was a Ford (Mercury). It got terrible gas mileage (~10.5 to 11mpg pure in town driving). The whomping V8 under the hood had all growl and no bite (which ticked me off because it was weak, yet guzzled gas.) The transmission shelled the third and fourth gears on me, leaving me stranded about 40 miles from home. (Which I found to be a (quote) "..typical Ford problem." (Also sticking me with a $1200 transmission rebuild for a car with a KBB value of $1500 at the time.) The radio developed a nasty short in it that killed the battery, so I spent weeks disconnecting the battery whenever I got out of the car to prevent it from draning. (Until I traced the problem to the radio.) Big honking RWD sedan got stuck in a parking place at school a couple winters back because it was parked on a slight (and I DO mean slight) slope. I had to get three of my friends to sit on the trunk to back out of the parking spot. The car was NOT friends with regular gas. In the winter I could get away with it, but in the summer, super was required to keep the octane ping to a minimum, sometimes if it got hot enough, I had to go to Premium. (Woo! Nearly $2 a gallon at 11mpg.) (Also, I went through several bottles of Techron to try to clean up the problem, as advised. It helped for a tank or two, then went back to knocking away.) Transmission never knew when to shift. It would shift into overdrive too soon, the RPM's would drop off and it felt like the engine was lugging, then the only way to get the car to accelerate at all was to floor it until it would kick down to third and launch itself. Because of this, I kept it in drive except on the highways, which didn't help gas mileage. Turning on the A/C would cause far worse octane ping, and lower the gas mileage even further, so I kept it off unless absolutely necessary. A few months back, after I got the short tracked down in the radio, I had some electical work done at a local shop. After leaving, not even a mile down the road, smoke started pouring out from under the hood. The alternator had gone out, caught the pigtail on fire, and the insulation under the hood was going up in flames. (I made a thread about this as well.) I took the alternator back to the shop and tried to stick it to them, since they said they had tested the alternator. They conned it off as another "...typical Ford problem." and wanted to charge me $475 to replace the alternator + labor. Finally, over the past few months, the engine had begun misfiring. It wasn't too serious at first, only when the car would shift to overdrive and lug itself into the ground, or when the A/C was on, but it got progressively worse, to the point where the car was simply shaking itself down the road like a crack whore going through withdrawl. I replaced the fuel filter and went through some more techron to try to clean up any carbon buildup in the engine, but it just got worse. I got $500 off it on a trade-in for my new 2003 Toyota Matrix.
All in all, it's turned me against Ford. Hearing about all these wonderful "typical Ford problems" and hearing about how most Ford plants are in Mexico, (and there are plenty of "Made in Mexico" stickers plastered all over the innards of the car, including on the radio I pulled out it.
As far as domestics.. I don't hate them. I've got a bad taste in my mouth, and I'd love to drive one of these magical imports that just go on and on and on. (Which is why I bought a Toyota.) Sounds pretty good to me after spending over $4k (just for repairs/replacement parts) on a domestic to get it to grind along for 20k miles. And it still wasn't running well, or even in good condition when I got rid of it.
Like I said though, take what I say with a grain of salt. This was my first and only domestic, and I had tons and tons of problems with it. So this is all my opinion, based on my bad luck more than a broad range of experiences.
I've said it in previous threads, and I'll say it again. My first car was a Ford (Mercury). It got terrible gas mileage (~10.5 to 11mpg pure in town driving). The whomping V8 under the hood had all growl and no bite (which ticked me off because it was weak, yet guzzled gas.) The transmission shelled the third and fourth gears on me, leaving me stranded about 40 miles from home. (Which I found to be a (quote) "..typical Ford problem." (Also sticking me with a $1200 transmission rebuild for a car with a KBB value of $1500 at the time.) The radio developed a nasty short in it that killed the battery, so I spent weeks disconnecting the battery whenever I got out of the car to prevent it from draning. (Until I traced the problem to the radio.) Big honking RWD sedan got stuck in a parking place at school a couple winters back because it was parked on a slight (and I DO mean slight) slope. I had to get three of my friends to sit on the trunk to back out of the parking spot. The car was NOT friends with regular gas. In the winter I could get away with it, but in the summer, super was required to keep the octane ping to a minimum, sometimes if it got hot enough, I had to go to Premium. (Woo! Nearly $2 a gallon at 11mpg.) (Also, I went through several bottles of Techron to try to clean up the problem, as advised. It helped for a tank or two, then went back to knocking away.) Transmission never knew when to shift. It would shift into overdrive too soon, the RPM's would drop off and it felt like the engine was lugging, then the only way to get the car to accelerate at all was to floor it until it would kick down to third and launch itself. Because of this, I kept it in drive except on the highways, which didn't help gas mileage. Turning on the A/C would cause far worse octane ping, and lower the gas mileage even further, so I kept it off unless absolutely necessary. A few months back, after I got the short tracked down in the radio, I had some electical work done at a local shop. After leaving, not even a mile down the road, smoke started pouring out from under the hood. The alternator had gone out, caught the pigtail on fire, and the insulation under the hood was going up in flames. (I made a thread about this as well.) I took the alternator back to the shop and tried to stick it to them, since they said they had tested the alternator. They conned it off as another "...typical Ford problem." and wanted to charge me $475 to replace the alternator + labor. Finally, over the past few months, the engine had begun misfiring. It wasn't too serious at first, only when the car would shift to overdrive and lug itself into the ground, or when the A/C was on, but it got progressively worse, to the point where the car was simply shaking itself down the road like a crack whore going through withdrawl. I replaced the fuel filter and went through some more techron to try to clean up any carbon buildup in the engine, but it just got worse. I got $500 off it on a trade-in for my new 2003 Toyota Matrix.
All in all, it's turned me against Ford. Hearing about all these wonderful "typical Ford problems" and hearing about how most Ford plants are in Mexico, (and there are plenty of "Made in Mexico" stickers plastered all over the innards of the car, including on the radio I pulled out it.
As far as domestics.. I don't hate them. I've got a bad taste in my mouth, and I'd love to drive one of these magical imports that just go on and on and on. (Which is why I bought a Toyota.) Sounds pretty good to me after spending over $4k (just for repairs/replacement parts) on a domestic to get it to grind along for 20k miles. And it still wasn't running well, or even in good condition when I got rid of it.
Like I said though, take what I say with a grain of salt. This was my first and only domestic, and I had tons and tons of problems with it. So this is all my opinion, based on my bad luck more than a broad range of experiences.
JulesMaximus
No Lifer
- Jul 3, 2003
- 74,586
- 986
- 126
Yeah, but the problem you'll have with the Japanese car will be a rattle or the cup holder needs adjusting or a trim piece is loose and it will be in and out of the dealership in less than 1 day. The GM will need new brakes or a new engine or a new transmission and take weeks to fix and probably still have the same problem after it is 'fixed'.
No matter what: NEVER BUY A DSM!!!!
BEWARE YEE WHO BUYS A DSM WILL BE DOOMED FOREVER!!!!
Seriously, those sux @$$.
BEWARE YEE WHO BUYS A DSM WILL BE DOOMED FOREVER!!!!
Seriously, those sux @$$.
NFS4
No Lifer
- Oct 9, 1999
- 72,636
- 47
- 91
JulesMaximus
No Lifer
- Jul 3, 2003
- 74,586
- 986
- 126
No it isn't. A neighbor of mine had a brand new Firebird (couple years ago), he had that thing in the shop 5 times in the first year for a clunking noise along with a noticeable lurch after coming to a stop. Dealer replaced the rear end twice along with various other parts but never fixed it. This was a brand new car, never in an accident. He got rid of it because he was sick of being without it for weeks on end and feeling like someone had rear ended him everytime he stopped at a light. I remember him telling me that he had the car in the shop for more than 2 months during the first year he owned it.
Go over to Edmunds.com and read through the Chevy truck owners problems. Engines need to be replaced, transmissions and other major problems. Click on the Toyota Tundra and they're complaining of a dash rattle here or the antenna mast broke off. I think I'd take a broken antenna mast over a steaming POS domestic.
My friend's father just bought a brand new Dodge 3500 4x4 with diesel engine. He's had it a month and it already died on him on the road. He had it towed to the dealership. His son picked it up for him while he was getting a ding repaired on his G35 coupe and he said the thing wouldn't go over 70 on the freeway so it's going back in the shop. He paid over $45,000 for this truck and special ordered it. :roll:
Don't bother responding. You aren't going to convince me to buy American anyway. When I go car shopping I don't even consider American makes as a viable option. It basically comes down to which Japanese car can I get the best deal on and which one I like the most.
JulesMaximus
No Lifer
- Jul 3, 2003
- 74,586
- 986
- 126
The thing is thou the Japanese owe the consistant quality of their cars to an AMerican. I forget his name, but he worked at Ford or GM and said, if we make our parts with closer tolerances, they are less liekly to break. They will cost more upfront but we will save 10 fold in warranty repair. The laughed at him, so he took his idea to The Japanese and they took his advice.
Squisher
Lifer
- Aug 17, 2000
- 21,204
- 66
- 91
I have a '02 Z28 with 21K on it and the only thing I don't like is that the floor mats are too thin.
I have a '03 Trailbazer 24K on it and 0 problems.
Can't think of a problem with the '99 Tahoe I had (except the wife thought it was too big)
BTW-I have a '91 Dakota with 120K and a '96 Escort with 100K both 0 problems.
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