OT-Worst domestic cars of '06

What a crock of writing... They 'chose' the Dodge Sprinter van because it depreciates faster... (It's a commercial vehicle that will get used up 10 times faster...sheesh..) They 'chose' the Ford van because it pollutes, and is not 'environmentally friendly'.......sigh... They said people rated the Ford Ranger lower 'because the other brands had bigger engines'.....geez...

And worst of all, the w***es at MSNBC automatically send you to a Forbes Auto 'Find a luxury car link' to spam you..

"TomNoller" wrote..

Here is what one can do what some around here are doing with their Dodge/Freightliner Sprinters to 'increase' the value!! It is actually a Mercedes Benz and is sold over in Europe as such. There are sources such as Ebay and other internet vendors who sell all the MB trim to make it into one. If you lift the hood and look under that fat chromed plastic strip, you can see the half-circle in the hood itself that goes around the the MB tri-star that really belongs there. Not to mention all the other trim which is simply glued on, and is easily changed.

Craig.

Yep, its definitley not a vehicle you plaster with STP stickers to "bling" it up!

I get to see lots of customers' vans close-up in my business, and I have opportunity to compare the fit and finish of all of them. I would say that MB/Sprinter van has the best build quality, although the newest of the Ford Econolines do come close. Many of my customers have been having annoyance problems with their GM vans such as door handles falling off, and the inside plastic trim coming unsnapped. And the build quality isn't that good in the first place. The Sprinter incorporates some good ideas such as stand-up room in the cargo area, and this engine heater that comes on after eight hours or so when its extremely cold outside.

Craig.

Because Daimler in its infinite wisdom discontinued the well-amortized, profitable full-size Dodge van. Paul Johnson

many of the RV'ers I talk to with Sprinter chassis are unhappy with the fuel miliage and top speed of this chassis conversion.

Paul Johns> >I wonder how they get around trying to sell a Mercedes van with a Dodge

Did they realize they're buying a brick on wheels when they first looked at it?

Lee

Interesting. We have an '05 Chevy Uplander minivan. I'm fussy, and I've had some smallish irritants in the first year of ownership (first year for this model, also), but I'd be hard-pressed to think of anything about this van that would make it be included in THAT list!

For some reasons, minivans must be hard to make "reliable" according to CR. Even almighty Honda's rates an "average" for reliability, and I remember that in '05 the magazine said that Nissan's Quest was the least-reliable new minivan.

Bill Pressler Kent, OH '63 Lark Daytona Skytop R1

Equal time:

Toyota vows to step up quality amid rising recalls

Reuters / July 20, 2006 - 8:00 am

TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp., plagued with a rise in vehicle recalls and facing a legal probe into past recall practice, vowed on Thursday to step up quality efforts, saying this was imperative to ensure continued growth.

Japan's top automaker, which has built its reputation on offering safe and reliable cars at reasonable prices, has recalled more than 1 million vehicles in Japan alone so far this year, and on Wednesday, July 19, issued a recall of about 400,000 SUVs in the United States, its single-biggest market.

In a first for the company, Toyota is also being criminally investigated by prosecutors in Kumamoto, southern Japan, over whether its quality-control managers had wrongfully delayed a recall filing that could have prevented a road accident in 2004 that injured a couple and their three young children.

"The world-class quality that we've built is our lifeline," President Katsuaki Watanabe told a mid-year news conference dominated by questions over Toyota's recent quality woes.

"There will be no growth without an improvement in quality. This is the biggest task that this management team must undertake," he said.

Vehicle recalls have been on the rise at most automakers as they use common components across more models to save costs, and pile on advanced features requiring more electronics parts to add value to their products.

"Given our rapid expansion, there is a need to strengthen the various quality processes," said Masatami Takimoto, one of two executive vice presidents overseeing quality at Toyota.

At a separate briefing earlier, Takimoto noted that Toyota had last year set up a new division dedicated to gathering information on glitches from users more swiftly.

Another measure, taken in June last year, would enable the company to keep data on vehicles repaired after the period covered by warranty, he said.

Concerning the pending criminal case in Kumamoto, Toyota executives repeated the company's position that all decisions taken in that case were sound, but apologized for shaking up customers' trust.

Japan's transport ministry, which had summoned Toyota's quality officials earlier on Thursday for a briefing on its recall process, said it would issue the company with a business improvement order on Friday, July

21, after finding problems in its system of handling vehicle defects.

SALES ON TRACK THIS YEAR

Despite such setbacks, Watanabe said Toyota was on track to meet its group-based global sales and production forecasts for 2006, of 8.85 million units and 9.06 million units, respectively -- figures that could soon see it overtake General Motors as the world's biggest automaker.

In the United States, where Toyota was hit earlier this year by a high-profile sexual harassment lawsuit, sales were likely to outperform the

2.46 million-unit target by "a few tens of thousands of units", an executive said, adding the lawsuit had no visible impact on consumers' purchasing decision.

In Japan, where demand for non-mini cars has been especially weak, Toyota stuck to its target of 1.78 million units this year, betting on support from the redesigned Corolla sedan and the flagship Lexus LS model due this fall.

Last month, rival Nissan Motor Co. said it could fall short of its domestic sales forecast as consumers shift to 660cc minicars -- a market dominated by Suzuki Motor Corp. and Daihatsu Motor Co.

WANTS TO KEEP GM TIES

Commenting on a possible three-way alliance between Nissan, Renault SA and GM, Watanabe said Toyota was not studying ways in which it could join that partnership, saying only that it wanted to keep its current relationship with the troubled U.S. automaker.

"We view GM as a great entity, from which we have a lot to learn," Watanabe said, adding Toyota wanted to maintain its 22-year-old, California-based car assembly plant which it operates with GM. "We want to keep this relationship going."

"Dodge" Sprinters are shipped CKD from Germany and "assembled" by Daimler in a warehouse. There's absolutely nothing American about them.