Good point! I guess you may think that I'm a bit anal about this but, I do preventative maintenance on my vehicles (and I always have). I worked on aircraft in the military and I did learn that pilots are very expensive to replace (besides, sometimes they buy the drinks) and road service is non-existent at 40,000 feet up. I came to realize the value of a good preventative maintenance program.
I've lost count of the things I've replaced that, while they hadn't failed yet, were well on their way. My vehicles may not be the prettiest on the road but they'll get me from point A to point B safely and with minimal problems.
Group: alt.autos.gm Date: Mon, Mar 27, 2006, 2:26pm (EST-3) From: snipped-for-privacy@mcpmail.com (Al=A0Bundy)
My main concern is reliability over time. If you are talking about paint or style or overall trendyness of the ride, that's one thing. However, if the poor looks are due to poor maintenance, it won't run good for long. It's OK if you never wash the vehicle, but you better be crawling under it to grease and treat everything or your feet may be dragging through the floor boards to stop the thing when the rusty brake lines give out.
Group: alt.autos.gm Date: Mon, Mar 27, 2006, 1:39am From: snipped-for-privacy@webtv.net (Rich=A0B) Which would you rather have? =A0 I've had many vehicles that looked bad but ran well and a few that were good lookers but were terribly unreliable. =A0 My current Suburban isn't the most beautiful thing on the block but with 196,000 miles and counting, I know that I can jump in any time and drive it to wherever I want to go without worrying about breakdowns. Years ago, I had a car that was really nice looking but everytime I drove any distance, I had to repair it (usually on the side of the road). A lot of people put too much stock in looks and don't think about the mechanicals. I had a neighbor once who used to wash his car every day after work and he would towel it off after every rain so that it wouldn't get water spots. The car didn't run very well but it sure looked good.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% "So why do I drive a big SUV? It's because I have to haul numerous people and things to places." ~ R. Lee Baxton ~