Originally Posted By vbdad55 so as much as the 2009 Challenger just looks like a blast -- I will fight off the urge and pass.
Originally Posted By barboy Yep that ugly, ugly US styling I'm talking about. If it isn't huge unattractive gas hog SUV's like Chev. Suburbans, Ford Expeditions and Hummer then it's the stupid, silly and clumsy "retro" PT Cruiser, Mini Cooper and the like or the the outrageous looking Crossfire. Even the legendary Corvette feels poorly made. In '05 I sat in a new one on the showroom floor and I felt the lack of quality fast. You will know quickly about the lack of quality by sitting in the drivers seat and closing the door-- forget the test drive on the Corvette. And US logos or symbols--- are you kidding me! Every last one sucks royally especially Mercury; who came up with that? Actually Cadillac has a cool looking hood emblem but that is it.
Originally Posted By fkurucz <<I've heard that Buick is now actually a fairly reliable car. >> What is odd about this is that Buicks have the same powertrain components as Chevys and Pontiacs. And I'm sure that the component sharing goes beyond that as well.
Originally Posted By fkurucz <<in 1983 I bought my first BMW>> While BMW's are cool, it seems that everyone that I know who has one has had all sorts of problems with them. I also recall Consumer Reports panning Mercedes for poor quality these days.
Originally Posted By barboy Let me bring up PT Cruiser again. Contemporary US stupidity in car making at its zenith. *****Why is it that I see 9 out of 10 PT's say "Limited Edition"on the rear????**** Shouldn't the non limited edition be the real "Limited Edition" ???? Nicely done Plymouth/Chrysler/Dodge!
Originally Posted By barboy "also recall Consumer Reports panning Mercedes for poor quality these days." unfortunately I can attest to that. I recently bought a Mercedes sports car and it was built like crap. The thing didn't even have plates yet and 3 things hit: front headlamp, door weather stripping and dashboard lights.
Originally Posted By jonvn The one car I see broken down all the time is the BMW. They are always the one stuck on the side of the road.
Originally Posted By Moderation Not that I want to interfere with everyone's ranting, but the 3rd quarter loss has nothing to do with operations- they took a one time write off of 39 bil intax credits that they discovered they would never be able to use, and hece, had to come off the balance sheet. It had nothing to do with cars, quality or demand.
Originally Posted By barboy Yes, I know that this latest accounting announcement has no real correlation with poor car quality but I jumped on the opportunity anyway---- kind of a slimy and unfair move on my part.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <While BMW's are cool, it seems that everyone that I know who has one has had all sorts of problems with them. < well for me just the opposite -- In the last 8 years I would say I've made 2 unscheduled trips to the dealer -- one because I had a screw in the tire - the other a clutch fan motor went out -- also remembering that BMW gives you 4 years, 50,000 miles - all service and maintenance included in price of the car - your out of pocket expense is zero up to that point.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <The one car I see broken down all the time is the BMW. They are always the one stuck on the side of the road. < amazing as most reports would disagree with that - the biggest complaint is the i-drive system - and most of that is because some of the drivers are tech illiterate -- while it's a pain with the nav system - most complaints are operator error (much like home computers)
Originally Posted By vbdad55 Car & Driver has named the 3 series a best buy 16 years running - and not because they look good on the side of the road...
Originally Posted By vbdad55 The latest "not recommended" list from Consumer Reports: A company that is thought to be pulling itself out of the doldrums, DaimlerChrysler, dominated the "not recommended" list; Audi S4 Chevy Silverado 1500 Chrysler Pacifica Chrysler Town and Country Dodge Grand Caravan Dodge Durango GMC Sierra 1500 Kia Sorento Nissan Titan
Originally Posted By peeaanuut one save in Chryslers stable seems to be the 300. At least the newest rendition of it, which might sadly be going back to fleet car looks in a few years.
Originally Posted By jonvn I wanted to test drive a 300 once. They would not let me. Morons. SO much for me buying their precious car.
Originally Posted By peeaanuut must have gone to the wrong dealer. I have been to several and test drove several over the past few weeks. Still not sure if I want to spend the money yet though.
Originally Posted By jonvn This was a couple years ago. I am totally impulsive and had the cash for the thing right then and there. Oh well. We ended up getting a Toyota.
Originally Posted By Mr X **I am totally impulsive and had the cash for the thing right then and there. Oh well.** Don't ya just love when that happens? At least it makes for a good story. My friend happened to have a bunch of cash (he's just gotten paid 3 months salary after a payday mixup, and he was in a shoppin mood), and he went to the Mac store intending to buy a powermax with 8 gigs of ram, a gigantic moniter, 2 iPods (one for him, one for girlfriend), and around $2,000 worth of software... The salesman wouldn't give him 5% off the software (they've done it at that store many times that I've seen), so my friend, annoyed, left with nothing. Smart salesguy, huh?
Originally Posted By jonvn Mac stores are filled with really arrogant kids who are absolutely terrible salespeople. I went in there, to get an iPod, and was asking how it worked with PCs. The kid goes "I don't know anything about PCs." I said "Since it's 97% of the installed base, and these supposedly work with them, don't you think it might be a good idea to learn a couple of things?" Then bought it online. I have heard a lot about bad Mac store people. One more reason to dislike mac owners.
