Back when I was in college I had an 87 Chevy Sprint Turbo, a rebadged Suzuki. I believe it weighed 1800 lbs or so and had an intercooled fuel injected 3-cylinder turbocharged engine producing all of 70 hp. It was a crude little car but it was cheap to run, a blast to drive and surprisingly fast.
CRX was great basic transportation for a single guy or maybe a young couple. Very nimble, considering it was not really meant to be a sports car. And kind of cute, like the first series Civic (jellybean!).
Would still be a good basic commuter today, except if they have not rusted to bits they have been molested by ricers. Just try to find a clean example! sigh
Don
lol! the toyota legal team would probably want to hire you as an expert witness ;)
True, they made allot of them but even here in the rust free TX area, hadn't seen a pristine example in ages!
cd
99BBB
I watched my folks go through two Tauruses and in the really early
80's, a Chevy Citation; all three were just utter garbage.I've never bought or owned a domestically engineered/manufactured car and I'm pretty sure I never will. :-)
Chris
I had a 1968 Mustang. I thought it was reliable...but then the only cars I'd owned previously had been a Jaguar and an MG.
In 80k miles, that 6-cylinder Mustang only went through one clutch and two sets of spider gears. Oh, and it had begun using oil. Considering it was my autocross car and not very close to stock, that probably wasn't too shabby for the late '60s.
The '71 240Z that replaced the Mustang was certainly fun, but it wasn't any more reliable. A U-joint failed every couple of months like clockwork (there were six of them), by 50k the driveline lash was really annoying, it was using oil by 70k, plus it was the poster child for fender rust.
Other highlights for my well-maintained cars: Toyota Hilux, blew head gasket. Honda Accord, wiring harness shorted and fried from road salt. Other Accord, blew head gasket. Mazda GLC, broken spring, rod knock (at
178K miles); departed with its original clutch though.So far, the Miata is all original at 145k except for some upgrades, and the 3 has been trouble-free.
Of course, if Americans had reacted this way to Japanese quality of the 60's, they never would have bought Japanese vehicles in the 80's, right?
U.S. domestic auto industry quality improvements have been both faster and more complete than the journey that the Japanese underwent in the
1960's, but while that process seemed to be hailed as nothing short of miraculous by American consumers, the even more dramatic improvements by the domestics are barely even grudgingly acknowledged. At least, that is the overwhelming impression I get from talking to folks about cars.The Ford Fusion has a better three-year quality record according to (I think) Consumer's Union than either the Accord or the Camry, but that doesn't seem to create any kind of splash in the U.S. media.
Since I had a zero-defect, first-year, 1988 Chevy Beretta GT (bought new), a zero-defect, long-term family car in a 1987 Ford Taurus station wagon, my two boys owned and handed down a 1988 Ford Thunderbird that went almost 200,000 miles (I did have to put in a rebuilt engine after the older son drove the car without coolant until it warped the cylinder heads while he was in college) and my daughter gave her virtually trouble-free 2000 Ford Taurus (145k miles to date) to my middle son when she got her used Cadillac CTS-V two years ago, and I have owned five completely trouble-free Chevy and GM 1500 and
2500 pick-up trucks over the past 15 years, I think I'll just continue to buy the vehicle that suits my needs, choosing American as often as possible and settling for another country of origin when I have no choice, such as when I need another Miata.My Miatas (three in the family to date) have been trouble-free, but no more or less so than any of the domestic vehicles I have had.
Hell, my mom had a 1980 Dodge Omni, one of the most villified domestics in history, and it was just as reliable and almost as economical as my 1980 Plymouth Champ (a badge-engineered Mitsubishi) even though it was ugly as sin and no fun to drive. And it had an AUTOMATIC transaxle, to boot.
A good friend has a Chrysler T&C "mini"van with just under 300,000 miles on it that is is ONLY transportation. In fairness to the detractors of domestic vehicles, he did have to have the transmission rebuilt at 270k miles this past summer.
Ah well, I know these anecdotal references do no good, even though in my recollection of the 70's and 80's it was anecdotal references from consumer to consumer that pushed Honda and Toyota to their positions of preeminence in the U.S. auto market in the first place.
Ah well, I know these anecdotal references do no good, even though in my recollection of the 70's and 80's it was anecdotal references from consumer to consumer that pushed Honda and Toyota to their positions of preeminence in the U.S. auto market in the first place.
Tim, This Chris is with you on this subject. I had a great Omni 024 back in the day, and I loved the 1987 Ford Taurus that I bought in it's 1st year of production. Had a decent result with a Dodge Intrepid but even better results with several Accords. The bigger deal to me is the imports better seats and switch gear. American companies have traditionally been penny wise and pound foolish imho.
As for trucks, I've never been less than amazed with the quality of domestic mfr's trucks, even though very few are still built in the US! Does anybody beside Dodge build full size trucks in the US? Does Toyota?
Chris
99BBB
Tundra V8 engines are built in Huntsville, Alabama.
GM builds Sierras and Silverados in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Ford builds the F150 in Dearborn, Michigan and Kansas City, Missouri.
And final assembly of the Tundra is in San Antonio, Texas.
So they make the engines in the US and then do the final assembly in another country?
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