Daniel J. Stern wrote in rec.autos.tech
Anybody who doesn't think that long warranties are a sales tool only needs to look at Kia's advertising. They make a major point out of the length of their warranty, while usually ignoring what are major selling points on other cars.
-- Dick #1349 Damn it . . . Don't you dare ask God to help me. To her housekeeper, who had begun to pray aloud. ~~ Joan Crawford, actress, d. May 10, 1977 Home Page: dickcr.iwarp.com email: dickcr@comcast.net
very
slip.
I am not saying Chryco has quality built in, but some of their trucks, etc are doing fairly well on the road... However, in comparison to a Kia or Hyundai, I would take a Chryco any time!!!
Acutally, the average now is closer to 6-8 years. Few people have money to burn, and buying a new car every
3-4 years is just giving money to the auto company.
Nissans are unreliable? Since when? Friend of mine has a '93 Altima that's just clicked over 200K, all he's done is basic maintenance.
And one thing about Nissans is interesting - they use timing chains, not belts.
How many miles? 5 years is short for a transmission - at least most. Chrysler makes transmissions that are dreadful lately. As in mid 80's GM bad.
Yes, it does have a bit higher compression ratio. Other than the windshield wipers, it's all minor stuff that most cars today have. Consumer Reports lists how many defects it finds in every car it tests. So far I've never seen one vehicle without some defects form the factory. My guess is that the ones on your Durango were'nt as noticeable.
Mechanically, it will wear like iron compared to the Durango. Q: did you get the V6 or the V8?
Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth all suffer from the same sorts of problems Ford does. Take the 80-90s Escorts. Just a dreadful car. Ford Tempo? I took a new Contour out and the transmission had a full second lag time between me hitting the gas hard and it downshifting. Then it went into gear with a loud "thunk". New from the factory. (this exercise almost got us run into, btw - the lag time was in the realm of a hazzard)
Toyotas and Hondas have good engines and transmissions. For me, that's 3/4 of the car right there. Who cares if the window stops working. Trim is for looks. What I want is to have it start and run well.
Then there's VW that has one of the best factory certified programs and a 10/100 drivetrain warranty but does virtually nothing to notify customers about it. Transferrable, too, unlike the KIA/Hyundai one which drops in half if it's resold(even as a factory certified vehicle).
The smart money walks across the street from the Hyundai dealer to the VW or Toyota dealer. Want sporty? Get a Golf - just stay away from the turbo engines. Want economical? Get an Echo.
Don't confuse JD's 90 day quality measurement with LONG TERM quality. That's where the Japanese manufacturers shine and the domestic ones falter.
Like what? We see Focus' with over 100K on the clock and we don't see anything in particular in the power train that has gang bad. Specifically, what went bad in your Focus that was not covered?
mike hunt
Chris Philip wrote:
DUH! Unfortunately short of dying I have no choice but to become one year older every year. I run two cars, buy a least one new car every year and sell the the one that is two years old, do the math dummy. I own six older cars as well as a 2003 and a 2004 which takes me over severity vehicles, I don't expect to see 100 however. ;)
mike hunt
Chris Philip wrote:
Check the reliability of the PT Cruiser in Consumer Reports. Same as Honda and Toyota.
by
You have an exceptional dealer. My Toyota dealer doesn't tighten the oil plug properly and I drive away with oil gushing from the engine. Lucky for them I lived pretty close to them at the time so I discovered it at home before it was dry.
Triple the price, equal unreliability.
brands)
I quantified Nissan. I was not too sure. I am seeing and hearing a lot of negative stuff on them, although I love the new Altima and Maxima looks! I would be worried about buying a car from a company that just went through a bankruptcy... but yea, they are ok but not as good as Honda or Toyota... but that's just my opinion.
Once again you are wrong. That may be you opinion but the facts. The facts are available to anyone willing to do the research. The fact is, as I posted, that the average new car buyer in the US replaces their vehicle in three to four years with 30K to 45K on the clock. The average use car buyer replace their vehicle in two to three years. Even those that are considered long term owners, replace their vehicle in ten year with 150K to 180K on the clock. In your circle of friends people may not be able to buy new cars, but the rest of the country sure does. The average number of new cars sold in the US has exceeded 16 million for at least the last six years. New 'cars' my be the wrong word since
54% of the new vehicles sold in the US in 2003 were actually 'light trucks' Twenty five years ago the total annual number of new cars sold was only 9,000,000 and less than 20% were 'light trucks.' The environuts efforts of using the government to force buyers into small, underpowered, unsafe FWD, cars began to fade in the nineties when buyers discovered they could still get the roomer, safer, more powerful, better handling RWD vehicles they rally wanted, by buy a 'light truck.' The rest is history.mike hunt
Joseph Oberlander wrote:
mike hunt
Joseph Oberlander wrote:
Lame. I didn't know that...
Heh. Like the Rusty Jones rust-proofing scam?
I respectfully disagree, but you knew that. Besides, a VW is about as nice driving a car as you can find without going to RWD.
nate
-- go dry to reply. http://www.toad.net/~njnagel
Yeah. You now why? Because they buy crappy, boring vehicles. I have two vehicles, each about 5 years old, and there's nothing out there on the market that I would prefer. Well, I wouldn't mind a 545i, but I'm not in the $60k market...
See above my comments about people who buy crappy, boring, cars that do not satisfy, thus the need to constantly buy different ones.
AT least a smart buyer knows not to buy extended warranty. We have no choice with basic warranties. They do nothing but add to the 'base' price of the vehicle, period. I don't remember every having a single warranty claim on any of my vehicles, foreign or domestic, in the past twenty years or more. I wish I had the choice of buying a car for the thousands of dollars less that it costs to provide a 'free' warranty. It is not too many years ago that the warranty on the new cars I bought was 1,000 miles or thirty days. For the longest time the warranty was 90 days or
4,000 miles and it only covered the power train, not bumper to bumper. The problem today is buyers expect the manufactures to baby-sit the car for its lifetime. Nobody wants to do the maintenance and then they expect the manufacture to fix it for free if it ever brakes down. The result is we pay a hell of a lot more to buy new cars.mike hunt
"Philip" wrote:
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