Ford over Toyota?

North America is the only market where there are more automatics sold than standard transmissions AFAIK. In Europe and most countries, people are able to drive standard transmissions. In fact, I have never own a car without one.

Jeff

I see that you deleted lines from my post without indicating that fact.

That's intellectual dishonesty.

One would think you have a lot to hide.

Jeff

Well, duh, Jeff.

I don't know why you waste your time with him, but hey, it's your time.

Natalie

But survey after survey also show that, on average, the Detroit 3 average about 50-100% more problems per vehicle than Toyota and Honda do. Why can't the Detroit 3 do better?

I love Toyotas, and our next car purchase will be for one, but didn't Toyota make some design changes in their Camry engines to deal with the sludge and also lowered the maximum allowed interval between oil changes to 5,000 miles?

Toyota does think that it has too many quality problems, and I believe that's why they delayed the US introduction of the new Corolla by a year.

Dear Mike,

You are, of course, the typical American make car buyer. You WANT an automatic transmission. The only reason we bought the Corvair with Powerglide is that it was used, and someone made us an offer we couldn't refuse. All of our previous and subsequent cars up until the 93 Corolla were manual and we prefer them that way.

I'd rather have a small car with a good manual. The last American car with a good factory manual was probably either the Studebaker Lark or the Nash Rambler. . . .

Charles of Schaumburg

As I said, you are entitled to your own opinion, no mater how convoluted it may be. I'll not going to waste my time in a debate of semantics, what I said was factual. "They ALL make some on occasion that are not up to snuff, that is why they all offer a warranty. ALL of the warranties are becoming longer, as well."

Do your own homework, I gave you the information on Strategic Vision Inc., a San Diego-based market research company and primary consultant to all automakers.

Maybe after you mature you will learn some of the jargon of the automotive business like 'miles on the clock' LOL

mike

Has it ever occur to you WHY manual trannys and small cars are more prevalent in other countries? ;)

mike

Do the words irrelevant and redundant have any meaning to you? ;)

Since the average among all manufactures is less than 2% in that survey, and the difference between Ford and Toyota was less than two tenth of one percent, where do you come up with those numbers? ;)

mike

About what survey are you talking?

According to the JD Powers and Associates survey, the problem rate was

91 problems per 100 vehicles for Porsche to 170 problems per 100 vehicles for Land Rover. The industry average was 125 problems per 100 vehicles.

The last time I taught math, 91 out of 100 was 91% and 170 out of 100 was 170%.

Jeff

Toyota changed the head design, on engines that had the sludge problem, starting in October of 2003 and switched to synthetic oil for the effected engines.

The Strategic Vision Inc., a San Diego-based market research company and primary consultant to all automakers, survey of owners says the quality of the 2007 Corolla has slipped in relationship to it competitors cars, with the Hyundai, Civic and Focus out scoring the Corolla among owners of 2007 models. In that report to the manufactures, Toyota had the top spot in only one category, with one V6 Lexus model but Lexus maintain its number two spot behind Porsche in among luxury brands

Toyota spokesman Mike Michels said about their concerns about maintaining its historically high quality during a time of rapid growth.

"We're not used to seeing our vehicles go backward from a quality standpoint, and several of them obviously have," he said. "It's no big change, but when things go backward for Toyota, it's unusual."

Lincoln Town Car, which averaged only 35 problems per 100 vehicles, the fewest among all brands was the top model. Lincoln overall was followed by Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar then Toyota.

Hondas with the fewest models with problems per 100 vehicle over all, among non-luxury brands, improved in the ranking to fourth from sixth in 2006.

mike

The highly rated 2007 Fusion and Milan offer a five speed manual and automatic, with the 4 cy engine. The V6 models have only the double OD six speed automatic. The same Japanese six speed automatic found in the V6 Camry and V6 Lexus

The Studebaker Lark and the last Nash Rambler both used GMs three speed manual, as I recall, but added a bolt on S.W. overdrive unit, effectively offering 'six speeds' to an accomplished driver. After the war I bought a '47 Champion, with which I often won $20 bets by doing 60 MPH in 'low gear' using the OD. LOL

mike

Isn't that 35%. But didn't you say the problem rate is around 2% for all vehicles?

Don't forget that in trucks/SUVs, the Michigan 3 only got three of the awards, while Toyota/Lexis got four. Honda got the last one.

Jeff

Because those people aren't as fat and lazy as we? Because they're thrifty and hard-working? Because their auto manufacturers make stickshifts that are enjoyable to use; that don't feel like they're connected to the gearbox with rubber bands?

That reminds me - my Dad bought a Citation with a stick. Some sort of clip kept springing off somehwere in the linkage and whenever that happened, his four-speed Chevy transmission became a two-speed Chevy transmission. He said he liked the 2-4 configuration better than the 1-3. He was always careful to park it pointing downhill, just in case first wasn't available when he wanted to leave for work in the morning.

Or maybe someone else will learn some manners. When I converse with people who aren't in my line of work, I don't use jargon from my line of work. It's impolite to do so... bordering on obnoxious.

And your "Strategic Vision" reference is far from clear (to start, you've spelled it two different ways).

Yes. They describe your posts.

No wonder you kids all failed the class on percentages. LOL

mike

Try again. LOL

mike