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Comments
Some of that is pushing warranty claims costs onto the suppliers, but mostly it's improving quality.
Being owned by Fiat in Italy, I don't. But I am liking the things that the merger has done and it seems that with Chryslers sales on a major upswing, others are as well. I am seriously shopping the new JGC for instance. :shades:
And I keep thinking about the Charger. Or, if I want to go more frugal, maybe the 2013 Dart when it comes out, if I find it big enough inside for my tastes.
If I wanted a brand-new pickup, I'd go with a Ram in a heartbeat!
Well honestly, that's going to depend on how much my Mom and stepdad want for their '08 Altima, or even if they still want to sell it. They haven't brought the subject up lately. And honestly, I think they're kinda dumb for what they want to do...replace their paid-off Altima and their '98 Expedition with something like an Escape. Their rationale is that while it won't get the economy of the Altima, it'll still get better mileage than the Expedition, still have some versatility, and they think it'll be strong enough to pull their boat.
If I were to get a truck, it would be a toss-up between a Silverado and a Ram.
I'm starting to like the style of the current Silverado less and less, as the years go by. I do like the GMC Sierra though. I think I'd pick it over the Silverado simply because I think it looks better! The F-150 does seem intriguing, with its new, high-tech, economical engines, but I worry about all that complexity as it ages.
As for the Dart, I found this page, which lists a bunch of preliminary specs. If these specs are correct, the passenger cabin is actually a bit roomier than a Cruze, or the outgoing Malibu, although it comes up short in trunk space.
That site lists it as having 58.2" of shoulder room up front, which if accurate, is VERY generous for a car in that size class. For comparison, my old '68 Dart only had about 56", as did my '89 Gran Fury, '86 Monte Carlo, and '82 Cutlass Supreme. My '80 Malibu coupe had about 57". I think my Intrepid had a little over 59", as does my Park Ave. And my '76 LeMans has 59.6"
So, maybe Mopar should dust off some of their old 60's advertising, which had the gist of quit playing around with kiddie car compacts and get a REAL car, a Dart!
Toyota makes the Camry in Kentucky
Nissan makes the Altima in TN
Honda makes the Accord in OH
Hyundai makes the Sonata in AL
But Ford is making the 2013 Fusion in Mexico.
This is what happens when you gut America's industrial sector so much nobody can even afford the cheap imported junk you offer!
One thing I've noticed is that cashiers at WallyWorld look more like "the people of Walmart" than they used to.
Too bad Walmart didn't figure out how to sell cars. That would lower the cost of living.
And to keep things on topic, my son was interested in finding a late '60s- early '70s vintage US musclecar to restore and cruise around in as a father-son project. Fortunately the same issue of T&CC also has an article on the Jensen Interceptor- and it took virtually no coaxing to convince my son that an Interceptor III would make a much more unique and entertaining semi-collectable.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
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How's that QA working for GM where they forgot to put brake pads on some new Sonics. That line sounds like it came from the 1990 Marketing Playbook of Chrysler. The more things change, the more they really stay just the same.
Why didn't Ford just pay VW/Audi for the DSG tranny they perfected 7 years ago, and be done with it? Here is another example of the Big 3 lagging behind and being unable to catch up.
Apple barely existed 7 years ago, and look where they are now.
No kidding. At first, I thought it was cool Ford was using dual clutch transmissions, but in the back of my mind, I figured it would have teething issues. This is an American auto manufacturer we're talking about. They always half [non-permissible content removed] it in one way or another.
That's a primary reason I haven't bought a new f150 yet. I really like the ecoboost on test drives, but even being a "Ford" fan, I'm not brave enough to be an early adopter. Hell, Ford finally just recently figured out how to properly design spark plugs and threads in the heads of the outgoing 5.4. That debacle cost me some coin, I can only imagine what kind of headaches direct injection and twin turbo chargers can create.
On a positive note, a friend bought one last summer and he's at 10k miles and zero issues. A few others I know in my boating/camping circle have recently traded in Silverados for Ecoboost f150s, so at least I'll see first hand if they stay happy or not.
In other words, a complete waste of money as you pointed out.
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Ahhh, the dreaded Auto transmission from HOnda that wasn't built for V6's with over 200 HP. I had that issue too, only mine was at 42K miles. I didn't buy the extended warranty, and Honda paid for it anyway. Honda is known for stepping up to the plate and providing excellent goodwill repairs.
Of course, I'm sure they take into account the type of customer, maintenance/service records, and other variables, but I know I'm not that only one that got a freebie "100K" warranty from Honda.
My theory is if I have to pay extra for an extended warranty you've already lost 99% of my business. I like things and brands that don't require extended warranties.
As it turns out, I never needed to use the warranty (don't faint, andres3 :P ) but it did give me some peace-of-mind. As it turns out, I ended up hitting 36000 miles after about 13 months. But, soon after, I quit my second job delivering pizzas, so the miles tapered off quite a bit after that. The 5 year mark came up on November 6, 2004, and I remember hit hit 100,000 miles on Christmas eve. In fact, I even took a pic to commemorate!
Anyway, I'm toying with the idea of buying a new Ram, which I believe has a bumper-to-bumper of 3/36K, but the powertrain is warrantied through 5 years/100K miles.
If I do buy it, I doubt that it'll get driven more than 5-6,000 miles per year, so I'm thinking about skipping on any extended warranty.
FWIW, when my buddy bought his 2006 Xterra, he got an extended warranty that I thought took it out to 8 years or 120,000 miles, but now he says it's only 6 years or 120,000 miles. If that's true, then it could be expired already, as the 6 year anniversary is sometime in April.
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I think you just cursed your friend into have a major problem in May. Report back in June on that Xterra please! hahahah. :P
Good lord, I hope I didn't just jinx him!
Anyway, it has about 89,000 miles on it now, and has been pretty good so far. No powertrain issues to speak of, but the extended warranty has come in handy. He's had two tire pressure sensors fail, and it's needed HVAC work a couple times.
Oh, my 2000 Park Ave dodge a bullet this week. It had to go in for emissions testing, with today being the deadline before a late fee kicked in. My roommate was off on Tuesday, and took it in for me. Yesterday morning, on my way into work, the check engine light came on! :mad: Thankfully it didn't come before the test, or the car would have failed! And, luckily, this morning, the light happened to go off when I went around a sharp corner.
I wonder if the emissions test triggered the light somehow? For instance, perhaps the attendant opened the gas cap while the car was running, and that somehow had a delayed effect? Or, God forbid, I hope my car didn't catch a virus from their OBD-II scanner! :surprise:
The 2004 Crown Vic had fewer problems than the 2004 Dodge Ram, which had some trips to the dealer and stayed for awhile...one problem was a wheel bearing problem on the right front that required the replacement of the caliper, two rotors (F & R), hub, and some other parts...I feel that the ext warranty was worth the money...
Like life insurance, where I bet $1000 I will die and they bet $500K that I won't, each year that my heirs don't collect I do not consider a waste of premium...
If I bought an ext warr and never had a problem, it is still not wasted $$$, simply because one or two major repairs after 60K miles can be VERY expensive if it is engine, tranny or A/C system, or even brake system, plus anything electronic or computer controlled...
Obviously it comes down to what you are comfortable with...
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Well, using those two DOMESTIC cars as an example, yes, I'd say an extended warranty could be useful and adviseable. Heck, I'd have bought one for my '95 Neon if I could go back in time.
But I'd never get one for a toyota or Honda.
It would be like paying the same for life insurance on a 70 year old 300 lb 5'9" tall man, as compared to a 20 year old woman who's 5'8 and 120lbs.
The life insurance is going to be a tiny cost for the woman as compared to the old fat geezer, and hence, so should the extended warranty costs on a domestic vs. foreign.
Total warranty repairs on that Accord ended up being over 10K, as the dealer messed up something else that had to be fixed soon after the transmission.
I wouldn't touch any midlife aged (maybe 5-10 years old - any older and you really can't get it anyway) German car without a warranty unless it was insanely cheap.
I think I'm going to wait until the new Ram and Silverado are out. The Ram definitely looks nice.
The problem (for me anyway) with the current Ram is it doesn't have enough payload capacity. A CrewCab 4x4 Laramie only has a max payload of 1278lbs (depending on equipment) with a tow rating of 9,850 lbs. I can equip an F150 Ecoboost SuperCrew Lariat 4x4 with a max payload of 1,900lbs with a max tow rating of 11,200lbs.
The problem is the tongue weight of my camper is over 1k lbs. The tongue weight is deducted from payload rating, so basically, with a current Ram equipped how I'd like would only have a 100lbs or so spare capacity for gear. That's way to close. I'm hoping the 2013 Ram has increased cargo capacity.
I have been throwing around the idea of buying a used 3/4 ton pickup. I certainly don't want a HD pickup as a daily driver.
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If the dealer caused damage during a repair, part of that 10K should be chalked up to negligence and incompetence rework-repairs, not warranty repairs.....
Sure, if you give me a blow torch, a flame thrower, and bolt cutters, I can do 10K of damage to your vehicle too! That is not a "WARRANTY" repair.
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Geez... I have an '06 Audi A3 that's now just over 6 years old. Should I start cashing out my 401K's now to prepare to pay for future repairs? :P It's nearing 90K miles... will hit before April is out!
I'm really not fearful. It's been pretty reliable, and it's holding up well under rigorous use.
I just got an offer in the mail to trade it in for almost $10,000 dollars from a car dealer (condition = good or better was the caveat). I wouldn't dream of selling it for that little, it's worth more to me now than it is in book value (plus I've put some upgrades into it).
The key to German cars is to find a qualified, competent, (and hardest of all, an honest) mechanic to work on it.
For Audis, I will just put it this way - I don't see many ~15 year old 200K mile models, but I see loads of BMWs and MBs with age and mileage. History has them aging very poorly, but maybe when the brand became trendy about 7 years ago, things started to change.
Certainly, as they get older, they shouldn't go to the dealer anymore. German dealers usually have such expensive service departments due to huge overhead, that anything out of warranty should go to an indy. There's enough demand for them that good ones exist.
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I would say the trend for Audi started to change in 2000, about 12 years ago. To be fair to Audi, they were nearly driven out of the USA by pedal misapplication drivers who tried to blame the car for their driver errors and crashes, and then the whole 60 minutes FIASCO. That is partly why you don't see many old ones; no one bought them new here. I do seem some old Audi's from time to time... the Audi Club in fact has a few people who track 80's and 90's Quattro coupes. My old mechanic whose gone AWOL now over a custom exhaust system issue owned an '81 Audi Coupe GT that ran well enough he lent it to me for a day as a loaner vehicle. Was in pretty good shape for being 30 years old, but he did say to be very delicate to it while driving it.
As with Toyota, all Audi Unintended Acceleration cases were proven to be driver error/pedal misapplication/floormat issues.
Most Audi 4000/5000 are long gone now, the 90/100 series cars are gone too, even early A6s and A8s are getting rare. Doesn't bode well, but I do think they became less troublesome in the middle of the oughts.
"Happy Birthday, honey! Look what I got you!" (Ducks when Chia Pet is thrown at head)
Yeah, those HVAC controls can be expensive. Had to replace them in my Expedition and Suburban.
With the Expedition, the blower was stuck on high, with the burb the heat was stuck on. Fine in the winter, but not survivable in the summer.
Universal averages for BMW's M54 I-6 are based on about 6,400 miles on the oil. You ran this oil 8,352 miles, and wear read at or below average across the board. That's the best indication we know of that an engine is in good mechanical shape internally.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
And I am sure it has to do with "regulations" and not bribes and labor costs, too.