I blame the United Auto Workers for all the industry problems.
I'd agree if the issues were assembly related.
Kenneth Waller
http://www.tinyurl.com/272u2f
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Sullivan" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Consumer Reports on "cool cameras"
I bought a Toyota Corrola in 1980(?) to replace our '71 Olds Cutlass.
It was the middle of the gas crisis and more fuel efficient made a lot
of sense. The dealer in Racine, Wisconsin gouged us on price, but the
car ran well for many miles. It was generally superior to the GM
products we purchased afterwards. After a while, the US auto makers
caught up in terms of my experiences with quality. The last two Ford
vans have had some problems (engine & brakes), but been pretty good
otherwise. My wife loves her Accura TL and I thought it was
relatively cheap. I blame the United Auto Workers for all the
industry problems. They became too powerful.
Regards, Bob S.
On Thu, Jun 4, 2009 at 8:14 PM, paul stenquist<[email protected]>
wrote:
J.D. Power does a variety of research studies. They measure initial
satisfaction three year satisfaction and long term durability among other
things. Initial Satisfaction tends to be a measure of dealership
schmoozing
more than anything else. The U.S. guys used to get killed on that, but
they
learned from the Japanese, and now many excel-- GM dealers in particular.
American carmakers always did fairly well in long term durability, in
spite
of what you might hear. These days they do even better. I believe that
three
of the top six brands in durability were American in the last surveys.
In terms of people defending their brand, other studies show that import
buyers are much more likely to do that than are American car buyers. It's
PC
to drive an import. It's uncool to drive an American car. I used to write
a
column for the service industry. It appeared in Hearst's Motor magazine,
and
it was called "Troubleshooter." The idea was to help service people with
problems they couldn't solve. I had access to all the engineers and
factory
bulletins and tried to sort things out for the guys in the field. Our
audience was largely domestic service people, but I got plenty of letters
from import mechanics as ell. I rarely got letters from consumers -- with
two notable exceptions. Honda and Peugeot. Honda owners were very
distraught
about recurring head gasket problems on Civics. But they always prefaced
their complaint with praise for their car and a profession of deep love.
They were all sure that they're car was an exception and all the other
Hondas were problem free. Peugeot owners had myriad problems, and once in
a
while one of them would search out my phone number and call me. They were
begging for help. Everything went wrong with those cars. But, still, they
loved them. Go figure.
Car research can be very misleading, because there's a lot going on. But
in
the states, the intelligentsia drive imports. It's part of their calling
card. They won't be caught dead in an American made car. Their prejudices
are based on bullshit, but they're powerful.
Paul
On Jun 4, 2009, at 9:00 PM, William Robb wrote:
----- Original Message ----- From: "paul stenquist"
Subject: Re: Consumer Reports on "cool cameras"
He had it completely wrong. Consumer Reports recommends all Toyotas and
no GM cars. For the most part, they're apologists for any car made
outside
the U.S. In my opinion J.D. Power is much more accurate. I worked with
them
over they years, and they were untouchable at any price. They gave very
high grades to GM cars.
I guess the questions are:
What are their criteria? Is it initial owner impression or is it long
term
reliability?
Are they testing the vehicles to failure or depending on consumer
feedback?
If it's consumer feedback, there is still a large contingent of people
with the "my great grand daddy drove a Ford, my grand daddy drove a Ford,
my
daddy drove a Ford, and by gumm, I'm not about to plunk my ass into the
drivers seat of a Sake burner" attitude around my neck of the woods,
though
it seems to be more of a half ton truck driver's mental illness.
I had an uncle in Montana who wouldn't have a Japanese car on his
driveway. He'd fought them as a marine in WWII, and as far as he was
concerned, the war wasn't over, it's just the shooting that had ended.
He was pretty uncomfortable when I showed up on his doorstep driving a
BMW.
Probably if he hadn't been standing on his doorstep at the time it would
have been better for him.
Around here, there are a lot more old Toyotas still on the road than old
GMs Fords or Chryslers, so I'm not sure what they would be apologizing
for
on Toyota's behalf. They seem to make a pretty long lived automobile.
William Robb
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