Saw the new '07 Sebring Thursday

I don't know... we're being called "low IQ" by someone who drives the product of company that got *BETTER* when Renault took it over... :-p

Not even close. Heck, I don't know if the 300 ever even got a serpentine belt system before they pulled the plug. Last I looked, the water pump and fan were still driven by a good old V-belt.

The problem is too much emphasis on tight integration, light

Bill, Bill, Bill. You just don't Understand (tm).

Its good for the environment to get rid of all old cars and replace them with new ones every few years. Haven't you seen how all these new cars have SULEV and PZEV stickers in the windows? Your old one doesn't have THOSE, so crushing it down must be good! Besides, disposable cars make for more jobs. ;-)

Problem #1 - You bought a Chevy.

You bought a Chevy.

Problem #2 - you bouught a Dodge

You bought another GM?

You bought cars from the most unreliable of the Big 3....

How come I had an 86 Mustang 2.3 with 175k (original engine and trans) that would do the same. Too bad the body was shot and it wouldn't pass emissions anymore as I had ripped everything but the converter off as a poor college student. Amazing what good maintenance and 3k oil changes will do.

Or the '87 Escort with 102k that I traded in on a 97 Cobra that was still running perfectly?

Buy good cars and take care of them.

How come I had an 86 Mustang 2.3 with 175k (original engine and trans) that would do the same. Too bad the body was shot and it wouldn't pass emissions anymore as I had ripped everything but the converter off as a poor college student. Amazing what good maintenance and 3k oil changes will do.

Or the '87 Escort with 102k that I traded in on a 97 Cobra that was still running perfectly?

Buy good cars and take care of them.

I thought the issue was reliability, not boredom.

OTOH, a bit of unreliability makes for excitement...

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling

How can you say that as Ford wasn't mentioned!

Possibly. To be fair, the late 1970s were not the best time for quality control. I remember vaguely (I was quite young then) seeing misaligned pin strips on the sides, door panels, etc... not sure if any were off by three inches, but it would not surprise me.

SNIP

Quality control on US cars has come some ways since then....

DEP

Tell that to my '96 Mercury with the wrong engine wiring insulation (literally turns to dust), and they held a silent recall and now refuse to do anything (past the limits they set).

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Guess you and the many Toyota owners that have sludged engines even with

3k oil change reciepts that were told to take a hike have something in common then! :)