I'd believe that. I've only ever seen one die - buddy's '69 Valiant threw a rod doing aboud 100km/h on the freeway. Thankfully the engine didn't seize on the spot... #6 had a lovely gaping hole with the bottom of of the rod sticking through about an inch below the sleeve...
But that is Saturn, which is crap to begin with. I believe I mentioned elsewhere that Toyota's 4-cylinders, for example have been chain-driven for almost a decade, and I am not aware of timing chain failures on those.
The manual doesn't mention the timing belt or chain at all, so far as I can tell.
I have never expected a salesman to be extremely knowledgeable about cars. It really isn't their job. That article is pretty good, but to be honest, this was my first time at a Honda dealership, and the salesan was the best auto salesman I have ever dealt with (from a buyers point of view). Didn't push anything, was helpful in every respect.
I wasn't able to bring the price down, but I didn't expect to considering it was a Civic Si in a year where they were named car of the year, and the Si has had so many favorable reviews. They don't last long at sticker, and true to my expectations, when I tried to negotiate a better price, they were more than willing to walk away from the sale.
That depends on the technicality of the questions.
Salesmen are not mechanics. A good salesman will often have you wait while he gets the answer for you, but there are very few of those in the world. Especially with the fear that you'll leave while waiting, or consider their need to seek help a problem.
In my industry (server/networking engineer), we find this all the time. Our salespeople often sell things that are damned near ridiculous, and rely on us to make it happen. We try to make them better, but the allure of the almighty buck is a great barrier.
As I said, this was the best sales experience I have ever had. And Honda's always had a belt before. So his not knowing off-hand about a single technical change, from a sales standpoint, is inconsequential. Especially since he got the sale, anyhow... ;-)
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