Boycott bad quality

Why don't you be like some of us who spend $5000 restoring a used car and drive it for another 1/4 million miles....instead of buying a new one and bitching about how bad it is for the next year...Hell, my family hasn't bought a new car since....1976! Where were you?

-rob

1974 Duster slant 6 (116,000 original miles on the OD) 1976 Feather Duster Hyperpak /6 (200,000+ on the OD but the last owner lost his record book...)

People want clean air so we have to load the engine down with emissions controls.

People want great mileage so we have to load the engine with comptuers to extract the last fraction from the fuel.

People want to just jump in the car and start driving without bothering with seat belts so we have to put in air bags and crap to cover their asses

People want to survive the accident that results when they drive their sport vehicle 100Mpg down a twisty road like they do in the commercials so we have to put in crumple zones, collapsable steering columns, and such.

People want stereo systems controlled from the steering wheel, and with speakers all over the car, and interconnected with their DVD player.

People want heated seats, air conditioning, electric door locks, and other crapola that makes the car easier to live in.

All of this violates the KISS pinciple (Keep it simple stupid) It has little to do with profit, people want all this stuff even in the cheapest cars. You put all the extra stuff in the car, you create many more opportunities for shit to break down.

Ted

I'll take fuel injection and electronic timing over a carburator and points any day.

anything else

always beef

Probably.

But you don't drive much. My 1996 Plymouth Grand Voyager already has

141,000 miles...

Matt

Sorry, I don't buy this at all. I didn't own or drive any 50's cars, but did drive several 60's cars. They needed tune-ups all the time, points and rotors in particular. Plugs seldom lasted even 30,000 miles. Front suspension parts seldom lasted 50,000 miles (ball joints, tie rod ends, etc.). Exhaust systems seldom lasted 50,000 miles.

My 1996 Grand Voyager has 141,000 miles and has the original front suspension parts and they are still nice and tight. Most 60s cars at this mileage on original parts would have 2" of play at the steering wheel. My exhaust system is still original. Spark plugs were replaced at 100,000. And the 60s cars typically had rust-through of the body within 6-7 years in my climate (northern PA), the worst being my father's brand new 69 Ford Falcon that had HOLES in the fender when it was only four years old! And it needed new ball joints at 25,000 miles and about every 25,000 after that.

Sorry, but my experience doesn't support your assertion at all.

Matt

It's nice to see other points of views. Our experience must be different. Different is ok. My 89 Horizon has only 140,000 km and is pretty much done. All city driving (less than 8 km to work). My first car was a 63 Chrysler Saratoga. Drove it until 87. It had little rust. It was subjected to similar if not worse climate (Toronto). Lots of salt in the city streets in winter. It broke down once - drive shaft snapped in half! Other than some inconveniences (I could fix myself) I could always rely on getting in my car and going. These cars just died of old age.

Having bitched and griped about old and new, sorry folks, I have bought a 98 Chrysler Cirrus LXI. Opinions anyone? Good and bad

Q: What is the main reason for failures of today's cars?

It would be interesting to read all your opinions and facts

In closing: (sorry for being off topic)

My postings are my experiences and opinions. I respect all other opinions because they are yours. There have been a few harsh responses that don't make me feel too good about posting to this group. Remember this NG is just about some friendly chat about cars, but that's just my opinion ;)

Phil

I won't... and I don't :-) But I do like electronic ignition. No points.

But the bottom line is very very few of us want to keep a car 35 years. Yes, you CAN drive a 30 year old car every day in 2003 and all the parts are still available and cheap (I know because I do it). And you probably won't be able to drive a 2003 car daily in 30 years because some part will be irreplacable because they haven't made that particular EPROM in

20 years and you can't get the required software build anymore. But so what? That won't affect many people, and those that it does affect will find a way to work around it if they're motivated enough (probably by putting a carburetor in place of the EFI) :-) :-)

73 Satellite 435,000 miles, '66 Polara 271,000 miles, '93 Vision 207,000 miles :-)

I can't agree with any of that. My '73 has electronic ignition (but so do my '66 and '69... now) and my plugs easily last 40k miles. The last time I had the air cleaner off the carb for anything other than a filter change was 2 years ago, and the original ball joints and tie-rod ends in the 73 lasted over 200k miles. The "sealed" ball joints and tie rod ends on my wife's 93 didn't make it that far. Oh, and the exhaust system on the '73 was last replaced in 1984. I have the receipt (and dang, I wish I could still get a custom dual exhaust setup for $150!) The exhaust system in the '69 is ORIGINAL except for the mufflers.

Bullshit. My wife had one of those her father got for her when she was in high school. She had it about 9 years. During that time it had to have major engine service every 2 years, where they would disassemble the top end and fuel system and replace all the gaskets. The shop that they took it to for this was the most popular shop in the city for Rabbits. I asked the mechanic about this once and he said all of the fuel injected models would spring gasket leaks about every 2 years.

The thing also leaked through the door and winshield seals and so when it rained the car would fill up with about 3 inches of water. There were no drains so the water would just sit there for weeks.

One time when she and I were driving we ran over a 3 inch deep chuckhole and bent the rim. The rims on these were cheap, thin steel.

It also stank inside, from the day it came from the factory.

Ted

My 1996 Chyrsler T&C LXi now has 166,000 miles on it and my 1993 Grand Cherokee Laredo has 186,000 on it. Now that my wife has the Pacifica, I have the T&C and my daughter gets the Jeep.......