Detroit auto makers try some new tricks

WTF are TE7x and AE10x and TE31?

 

My God - bottom line over lives. Whether they care or not, they should have
realized the consequences of their inaction.[/QUOTE]

But that's the point. They evaluated it like insurance actuaries, and
it came out that to fix it or acknowledge it was more costly than
letting it go.

Just like the Ford Pinto gas tank.

 

But Chrysler still dominates it, as it has done since inventing the
segment in 1994.[/QUOTE]

Let's talk profit on those, shall we?

I bet the Chrysler salesmen were drooling at the idea of what their
Honda counterparts were doing for five years--selling at list plus.

 

Horse shit. Don't equate "American" with "Cadillac."[/QUOTE]

No, I equate "traditional American" with "Ford LTD/Fairmont/Grand
Marquis". RWD, body on frame.

So now they do it with trucks. They're miserable with modern, compact,
efficient cars.

Really?

Funny thing--Honda came into the market with fwd cars. The only rwd car
they ever did was NSX.

Honda predated the GM small, efficient, fwd cars by eons.

And when GM came into the market with fwd, what was it with? Riviera.
Huge boat of a car.

 

"Elmo P. Shagnasty" ...

Oh dear - you'll really get the Pinto fans riled up with that one.

They swear it wasn't a defect, even to this day. I'm not talking about the
company, mind you - I'm talking about individuals who have posted that the
car wasn't defective.

Natalie

 

Oh dear - you'll really get the Pinto fans riled up with that one.

They swear it wasn't a defect, even to this day. I'm not talking about the
company, mind you - I'm talking about individuals who have posted that the
car wasn't defective.[/QUOTE]

Individuals also claim that man never walked on the moon, that it was a
hoax.

Individuals also claim that the earth is flat.

People are stupid. Go from there.

 

I, on the other hand, have only owned two non-GM cars in my 31 years
of driving, both were Chrysler products. My first was a 1983 Charger,
bought new, mostly because of the new 50000 mile drive-train warranty
they offered. I needed the warranty, many times over. This car was
LITTERALLY in the shop more than it was on the road. Threw a rod in
this highly-touted 2.2 four banger at 41000 miles, and that was it.
Guess I couldnt believe that the engine could be that bad, so I
foolishly bought another Dodge with the 2.2. Warped a crank-shaft at
30000 miles, at which time I returned to my GM roots, where I am still
working on destroying my first engine or transmission.

 

Been reading posts here for about a year, been responding to some for
a few months, and I seen several, that state EXACTLY that, or very
close to it. Probably the reason I started posting here myself. just
to add a little balance. Not very likely, but there MAY be someone out
there he reads this stuff and thinks "Japanese is great, American is
junk" and believes it. The poor soul has probably already been
negativly infuenced by articles he has read in Consumer Reports.

Naw, just the truth.

GM bugs me to death on recall notices if I dont return the car for
repairs. Guess I'm just special, maybe because I have bought more than
a couple of cars from them.

 

Couldnt resist, so I went out and checked the odometers of three Chevy
Cavaliers my kids and/or their spouces own. The three vechicles total
a little over 570000 miles combined, two of them are over 200000
miles. They run them to death almost every day. All three have
original engines and transmissions. I guess these cars qualify as
being "low-end". Chevy must have done something right with these
veheicles, as they sold a whole bunch of them.

I believe my kids could attest to that statement.

 

OK, how about the engine problems the Tundras have been having?

 

Absolulty brilliant!!!!

 

Individuals also claim that man never walked on the moon, that it was a
hoax.

Individuals also claim that the earth is flat.

People are stupid. Go from there.[/QUOTE]

It's been documented that Ford had a choice of putting a certain part in
the gas tank that they knew would prevent fires/explosions in case of a
rear end collision. IIRC, the cost of the part in the money of the day
was around $11 per car. They did a statistical trade study and
determined that they would be money ahead to save the $11 per car and
let the problem happen in the statistically probable number of rear end
collisions that would occur over the life of the vehicle (not sure how
they figured their costs for the results of the acccidents to compare
against the $11 per car). They knowingly decided to leave the part out
based on that trade study.

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

 

I rented a Fusion in Portland, Oregon a couple of months ago. It was OK
but it had terrible rear vision.
jor

 

Compared to what? I drive one daily and don't find it to be a problem.
It is much better than my Nissan Frontier or my SO's RAV4 but not as
good as my old F150 or the Expedition I used to drive. I'd rate it as
equivalent to my Sister 4 Door Civic, except the Fusion has
bigger/better mirrors.

Ed

 

I did not say Festiva - I said Fiesta. The Fiesta was from Europe. The
ones sold in the US were assembled in Germany. My sister got a new one
in 1978, and I bought it from her in 1984. I drove it for 3 years. It
was a great little car (the car had around 150k miles when I sold it).
As for the Festiva (they were built by Kia). I never owned one, but
one of my Mother's neighbors does. He drives about 120 miles per day
to and from his job. He has been doing this for years. His Festiva has
over 250,000 miles and has been completely trouble free. I can't see
how it gets the pile of junk rating. Did you have a bad experience
with one? As far as I am concerned it is no where near as good as a
Fiesta, but I think it must be pretty reliable judging by the one I
have knowledge of.

Ed

 

Yes, it was a typo. As you probably know "8" and "9" are pretty close on
the keyboard. The first minivan was the '84 Plymouth Voyager/Dodge Caravan.

 

Definitely a clue- but nitrogen cylinders are still second-fiddle to big
springs that never wear out

 

Wickeddoll® wrote:

Well, I *AM* an engineer.....

 

Let's talk profit on those, shall we?

I bet the Chrysler salesmen were drooling at the idea of what their
Honda counterparts were doing for five years--selling at list plus.
[/QUOTE]

He doesn't have to, when he moves 4 Caravans for every Oddity sold.