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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:07:33 AM EDT
[#1]
So, aside from that, how's life going
 , man?
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:08:08 AM EDT
[#2]
Sorry, you had to find that out. I've never had a USA car go more than a 175,000 miles. I've owned a Old Cutlass Cruiser and a Dodge Aspen. My nieghbor bought a Honda with 150,000 miles and it is still going strong, and doesn't leak a drop of oil.
My wife's '71 Plymouth Valiant with the Chrysler Sland-6 lasted 271,000. USA-big3 car manufacturers don't build quality cars any more, they just build "excitement." USA-Big 3 cars have a rather dismal reliability record, check out Consumer's Reports regarding all of the black marks on vehicles up and down their lines. Not many with the white and red circles. |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:11:20 AM EDT
[#3]
The only US cars I would buy are trucks and maybe the Crown Vic.
Everything else, Jap. My Jap cars have all lasted at least 10 years. The truck is 19 years old and still runs strong. It ain't pretty, but it runs great. |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:14:09 AM EDT
[#4]
That's why I cruise around in a Toyota.
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:14:32 AM EDT
[#5]
My friend just traded in a 99 Jeep Cherokee that had 204,000 miles on it and was still running fine. |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:15:15 AM EDT
[#6]
Had a 1987 Cadillac that had 258,000 miles on it. Still running great when we got rid of it. I miss that car.
Work it had done on it: 2 tune ups about 10 oil changes. Yes, only about 10. 1 water pump a little trasmission work. |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:16:52 AM EDT
[#7]
Well my American cars have 97,000 miles, 120,000 miles, and 113,000 miles respectively, and are still running just fine, thanks. I think the real lesson here is don't buy a Ford Escape, which isn't really news to most of us. |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:17:15 AM EDT
[#8]
Torque converter at 43,000 Tranmission computer at 75,000 Power steering pump Window switch gear |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:17:35 AM EDT
[#9]
Most likely done when the timing belt was replaced, right? |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:17:54 AM EDT
[#10]
BTW - that's a joint venture with Mazda |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:17:59 AM EDT
[#11]
Jap cars for me!
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:19:44 AM EDT
[#12]
teg
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:20:47 AM EDT
[#13]
My best friends father had a chevrolet S-10 / blazer thing with over 400k on it IIRC
Still runs too! It sure as hell aint OEM though. However, it runs good. |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:22:47 AM EDT
[#14]
I hate all cars, no matter who makes them. 
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:23:25 AM EDT
[#15]
Ding ding ding!! Lots of the smaller cars produced "by" Ford and GM are actually retreads of Japanese vehicles. Lots of Ford SUV stuff is really Mazda with a different label. So much for the vaunted Japanese reliability!!! Hell, even the japs do it! A while back Honda was selling an SUV that was really an Isuzu.... |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:23:30 AM EDT
[#16]
Replace "Oldsmobile" and "my father who comes from an Oldsmobile family" and you sound EXACTLY like me. And even though I have been tempted (I worked for a Ford company for a while and we got pricing) by Ford, GM, Chrysler, and even Kia and Hyundai, I will STILL pay 20% more for a Toyota or Honda any day of the week. |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:23:31 AM EDT
[#17]
Its not everyone, its the "Dud" rate.
Maybe a 30% chance of getting a POS domestic. Maybe 5% with a jap. Probably 50% with German. I'll take the best odds. |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:24:04 AM EDT
[#18]
Nope. Done when we were driving back to Maryland from Florida and in South Carolina we started blowing white smoke. Pulled into a garage that towed us out in middle of bum fuck nowhere to a barn that had been converted to a garage. They also just happened to have a water pump for an 87 Caddy. Lord's hand was in that. They charged us less than half what the dealer back home said they would have charged for the same service. |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:25:02 AM EDT
[#19]
Probably true, but there are few choices for rear-wheel drive sedans these days. 
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:26:41 AM EDT
[#20]
Toyota or Honda.
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:27:55 AM EDT
[#21]
2004 Ford Expedition in 16,000 miles the turd went through 3 rear-ends and was on it's fourth. Replaced it with an X5 so I dont have to worry about my wife breaking down somewhere. My 2002 F350 is going strong though. Domestic cars seem to be VERY life limited these days, almost by design.
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:30:57 AM EDT
[#22]
Other than that, Mrs Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play? |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:31:12 AM EDT
[#23]
Hell, my Saturn had 217,000 on it and it ran great when I let it go. My daughters 2000 Saturn S class has 100,000 and it is all doing well.
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:32:57 AM EDT
[#24]
I found out the hard way myself.
My '92 Honda is over 200K now and running like a champ. Detroit made POSs so long they figured they could forever. And, technically they were right...since.gov will protect thier lazy, incompitant asses, why should the bother to compete? |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:33:15 AM EDT
[#25]
Ford Escapes have a dismal track record.
The big 3 needs to get their act together. BTW... I own Toyotas. |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:36:16 AM EDT
[#26]
Yup, American cars these days are the suck. Tis a shame but that's where this socialized labor union crap gets us.
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:40:08 AM EDT
[#27]
94 Honda Civic 200k
91 Nissan Hardbody 198k 95 Nissan Pathfinder 121k Not one major problem with any of them. The few GM cars I did have were fine biu did not last as long as I thought they shoud have. The two Fords I owned were very,very big pos. My dad used to be a big time jap car hater until he started to drive a few for the car lot he used to work at. After that, the only american car he kept was his 71 Chevelle |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:40:13 AM EDT
[#28]
I know that you will find cases where they will go the distance, but on the AVERAGE, the chances are against you. If you look at CU's report on repair records and reliabliity lots and lots of black marks. Maybe for a couple car lines it is anomoly, but these black marks are up and down the USA-Big3 car lines from the economy cars all the way up to the expensive lururxy class. 2nd, check out the resale value of the USA-Big3 verses that of the Hondas & Toyotas. I used to be a strong advocate of the USA-Big3, but I've had to eat crow in the 20 years or so. Remember USA-Big3 car makers build "excitement," and not cars anymore. |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:40:20 AM EDT
[#29]
Ford sold me a "reaquired truck that didn't conform to manufacturers standards" (aka. a lemon) without full disclosure. It was in the shop at least once a weak for the 1st month I owned it until they just replaced the engine. Despite my best efforts to rectify this deal in a satisfactory manner to myself, I finally took the bone they offered me and moved on.
Ford- never again! |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:41:33 AM EDT
[#30]
I went to the auto show in Fort Worth yesterday. Man, there is a lot of cheap shit out there! Not speaking on reliability obviously, but just looking at the quality of materials and fit/finish of interiors, how solid things feel, etc. VW and Audi were nice, although the new Passat was a little disappointing, and I was surprised to see a bunch of stuff in the Audi that looks like it was taken from a five year old Volkswagen. Infiniti and Nissan both impressed me. BMW was nice. Subaru was ok. Pretty much everything else looked like Fisher-Price to me.
I have a VW Golf right now, and was thinking I might start looking for something a little bigger, something at least big enough that I could put a rifle case in the trunk without folding the seat down, and something with a little better ground clearance. After looking at a LOT of cars yesterday, the only thing under $30k that I even remotely liked was a Nissan Frontier. But I can't handle going from 45mpg to sub-20mpg. After looking at all those cars, it felt DAMN nice to get back into my Golf. IMO, the handful of minor problems I've had with my Golf are far outweighed by the over-all quality of the car. My car is only a 2002, but the car has been on the market for about 6-7 years, and it's still ahead of most cars in its price-range by a lot. Looks like I won't be trading any time soon. Although a Saab 9-2x Aero might be alright... |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:49:16 AM EDT
[#31]
I figure that it's just as well at this point. I am going to get into something far more fuel efficient for the payment.
Toyota Matrix or a VW Golf maybe. We've got an old Pontiac Sunbird that is in decent shape and has been paid off for years. I think I am going to sell it and see if I can find an early 80s Toyota or Nissan small pickup to haul stuff around in. |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:51:41 AM EDT
[#32]
2005 Xterra Off-Road 4x4 brand new in September.
38,000 miles (4,300 in the last 8 days). Problems? Zero. 2 flats and got my trailer wiring connector bullseyed by a piece of tree in the road.  Pulled a FULL U-Haul trailer (6x12) TWICE from CA to MT (once with FOUR people and gear on board in addition to the full trailer). ~600 miles of off-pavement driving in that 38k too. Not a single vehicle related failure or issue for all that. All I've done is put gas in and change oil. Hell, I've got a total of ONE slight rattle in the steering wheel cover to show for all that hard use... THAT'S IT. |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:52:43 AM EDT
[#33]
I am a Jeep guy, and a 6 years back, sold my XJ with 205,000 on the clock. It still ran great, aside from needing a new O2 sensor. I sold it to a friend of a friend, and it is still running well as of 2005. It is an 1988, FWIW. |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 7:55:01 AM EDT
[#34]
Damn guy I had to replace the converter in my wifes vic at about 45K, and it has never been right. Slight vibration when you take your foot of the gas. Took it back to Ford that coundn't find the problem. I have been taking a look at Tacomas/VW Jettas but I can't bring myself to buy a non American car. I think I have a thread idea, |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 8:00:03 AM EDT
[#35]
Seems like jeep is the only one that could build a reliable vehicle, I guess only produceing a small number of vehicles helps, or when you have a bulletproof engine like the 4.0 Ive seen over 250,000 and 300,000k on a jeep 4.0 with out rebuilds. |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 8:00:41 AM EDT
[#36]
So you're $8k in the hole with it! Ouch! We had two Mazda Tributes (aka Escapes). We had constant problems with them, and everything we had trouble with was a Ford part. We ended-up just taking it to a Ford dealer since they knew more about the problems than the Mazda dealer. We replaced the two of them with small Toyota pickups. One of them goes to Atlanta, GA every day and the other to Durham, NC about three times a week. Both have over 80k miles and counting without a problem. Hopefully they'll make it to 400k like the pickup we had before we bought the Tribute/Escape. I want to buy American, but the amount of money we spend in repairs, parts, towing, lost time due problems with the vehicle, and customer ill-will is just too much to justify.z |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 8:02:06 AM EDT
[#37]
No issues, in 38,000 miles? I am so impressed.  I had 126,000 miles on my Dodge Stratus before I had my first car trouble. Fuel pump stopped pumping consistently, and starts were hard. $200 later, I had a perfectly good car, until 145,000 miles when a tie rod finally gave. I was warned about that one by the dealer when I got the fuel pump fixed. It took an additional 19k miles for the damn thing to give. Another $500 later, I had 2 new tie rods and a perfectly good car. This week I scheduled it for a tuneup. It has 150,000 miles on it, so what the hell. |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 8:04:05 AM EDT
[#38]
IBTUA/IBTDCMA
I'm probably going to be buying a used Accord w/ 155,000mi, and it runs better than my '88 Buick did w/ only 80,000mi (which has a toasted engine and tranny now). |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 8:06:28 AM EDT
[#39]
That would have been the Honda Passport. It was an Isuzu Rodeo rebadge. Even had Isuzu on the valve covers but honda buyers swore they were better than the Isuzu line. Funny. |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 8:08:09 AM EDT
[#40]
I would never buy a car or truck in the first 2 or 3 years of production. I believe the 2001 Ford Escape
was the first model year. The 2003-2006 Escape is rated average in reliability. |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 8:12:06 AM EDT
[#41]
For every American car horror story, I have heard a Jap car horror, and 2 German car horror stories.
My cousin has a VW Jetta. It is a decent car, except it needs $13,000 in repairs and she is $10,000 in debt on it still. Too bad for her the value on the car is $6,000. I am not joking. There isn't one system on the car, except maybe the airbags, that doesn't need major work. My Sister-in-law has a Honda Accord. She loves the car and thinks it is the greatest. She just can't figure out why we are suprised that she needs new transmissions in her car every 10,000 miles. If that weren't the least of her car issues, it would be also helpful if whe didn't have to replace the exhaust system every 2 years. The car is a 1994... My brother bought a 2004 Corolla, and had to replace the transmission at 40,000 miles. He wasn't too happy about that. I firmly believe that any car manufacturer can make a gem or a turd. |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 8:13:13 AM EDT
[#42]
ford bought out mazda YEARS ago. haven't seen a b-series pickup lately? it's a ranger, not the other way around! i used to sell fords/mazdas. hell, look at the old navajo, it's an explorer with a mazda badge. or, the isuzu hombre, it's an s10 with a different front end (read: grille). they're going both directions. |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 8:23:05 AM EDT
[#43]
I just bought a used 2000 Cherokee Sport with the 4.0 in it.....I bought it because of it's reputation, and I'm hoping to get many years of use from it. My American cars haven't done too terribly....I have had one or two "lemons" over the years...... I just junked a '91 Plymouth Grand Voyager with 270,000.....I got it with 170k, and the only 'major' work I did was a tranny rebuild & a rack+pinion for the steering......We still have an '89 Caprice with 110K, a '94Chevy Lumina van with 257k, and a '95 Chrysler Concord with 105k ...All of these cars have had the basic maintenance done on them, i.e.-oil, tires, belts, mufflers, shock absorbers, etc....I remember when they used to say if you got 10 yrs or 100K from your car , you did good.......nowadays, the numbers seem to have gone up......People want a car that'll last forever.....well, that just isn't going to happen.....and as much as Unions have done for this country, ( 40 hr week, health plans, pensions, etc), they are now ruining what their forefathers worked so hard for.......Shitty American work ethics, (the "what's in it for me" attitude) have killed our Auto/steel industries, not to mention all the free trade bullshit.....people work for a company for 20-30 years and get FUCKED when that company goes to China or goes under.......but I digress, I will shut up now because I am getting WAY off topic....
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Posted: 3/6/2006 8:23:22 AM EDT
[#44]
Last few US autos -
93 Ranger Extended Cab, V-6 - 165000 miles, had another 50k easy. Had the original clutch and exhaust when I traded it, and I wished that I had kept the truck. No significant repair costs. This is far and away the best vehicle I have ever owned; good corrosion control, excellent paint, excelletn interior, and so on. 2001 F-150 Super Crew - bought new on 1 April 2000. 152000 miles right now, who knows how long it will last. Repair costs - about $2000, I had a bad rear axle and the blend door assembly shot craps. 98 Mountaineer, V-8 - 165000 miles, still going strong. 92 Villager, V-6 - 135000 miles at trade, less than $1000 repair costs at trade. 90 Sable, V-6 - probably 65000 miles at trade - don't ask, it was the wife's car. No expenses beyond purchase. 83 Mustang 3 door, special ordered with V-6. A true POS in every conceivable way, I had to trade it at 72000 miles or walk. |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 8:26:39 AM EDT
[#45]
Ben, sorry to hear your horror story. That REALLY sucks.
Been there done that. In 1988, my three year old Chevy wagon blew its trans all over the place. That POS cost me $1700 to fix...and from that point on that unreliable POS drove me nuts as it sucked money out of my wallet. I've owned just about every marque and type of vehicle from mini-compacts to heavy Detroit iron from all over the planet: Dodge, Chevy, Ford, VW, Honda, Nissan, etc and several of each in some cases. After over forty years of car purchases, I will buy ONLY Jap cars. I try to get the ones made here in the USA...but if I can't, too bad. EVERY single American car I've ever owned was a money sink about the time the warranty ran out. My German car was even worse. Only my Jap cars have held up well and performed well into their expected lifespan. Relatively speaking, the Jap cars have been very economical for us. Their overall cost of ownership has been outstanding. I truly wish I could say that for all the American cars I've owned. I acknowledge the anecdotal evidence of American car/truck reliability by my fellow posters here...but that does not compare well with the national statistics which continue to show American makes still lagging the Jap cars in reliability and quality. |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 8:29:07 AM EDT
[#46]
Wait, you bought this in 2002 and you're still upside down 4k? What did you get, a 10 year loan? |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 8:34:28 AM EDT
[#47]
I drive a '90 Jeep Cherokee with over 250,000 miles on it. Still going strong!Everything works fine! Even the cig lighter. 
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Posted: 3/6/2006 12:12:50 PM EDT
[#48]
No... we bought it in Jan of 2003 but got $500 off on the last year model. We leased it originally because at the time, we lived near our work. Mileage wasn't an issue. Then we moved about 60 miles away from work and put 120 a day on the thing. Upside down at end of lease. Bought it outright and didn't put the cash in to make up the difference on the front of the loan. So, some of the $4K is my own doing on the financing side, but the reality is that it shouldn't matter. If I should be faced with anything, it should be the $4k in upsidedown financing -- not the additional $4k in shitty engineering costs on an integral failure at 130K on a meticulously maintained vehicle. That's $8K on top of the almost $3K that I put into it in January to replace the power steering rack and lines which had failed. $7K of repairs in 3 months? We're not even talking major mechanical yet. I'd call a power steering rack and an oil pump relatively medium-level repairs. The time bomb continues to tick on anything else.... what's next? Tranny? Drive? |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 12:22:43 PM EDT
[#49]
New Fords suck ass. My truck was made in 89, I've got about 200,00 miles on it, with nothing but oil changes, tune ups and a water pump change. My dad drives a 76 that has 300,000 miles on it, his work on his, while more than mine, has been minimum as well. My first new truck will be a Dodge, Ford not only messed up the way the trucks and cars look but QC isnt there anymore. I still want a new Mustang though.
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Posted: 3/6/2006 12:31:05 PM EDT
[#50]
What you guys are missing here is that the American auto industry has changed it's business model. They don't build them to last, they build them to lease. As long as the leaseholder can unload it, and the person they sell it to can unload it or drive it until the 100,000 mile mark they don't care what happens after that. Americans used to drive a car for 175,000 miles and expect it to go it with little maintenance. That's not the case anymore. We have a lot of disposable income on average and are conditioned into thinking we 'deserve' a shiny new car every 2 years in the same way we change cellphones.
Americans used to think of reliability in terms of whether an engine knocked, power steering pump squeeled or a trans slipped. Then we got superficial and worried about bodies that rust through, and good paint quality instead of caring that a car needed $1000 in front end work, a $2000 trans job, and a $1000 worth of niggling problems fixed in order to make it a 'good car again. Oh, that's right... The car's only worth $4,000 by the time it hits the 110k mile mark. Dave |
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