Originally Posted By dshyates The worst car I ever owned was a GM. A new '89 Grande Prix. I owned it for 2 years and the engine lifted the headers off the block causing pieces parts to fall on to the road THREE times. The first 2 were under warranty. The third time it was at 63k, 3k passed warranty, and I had to pay for it myself. Also the paint was coming off in chunks larger than my hand. When I took it back and complained (during the warranty period), the service manager actually asked me "if I had left it in the sun?" I got rid of it and will NEVER buy another GM product.
Originally Posted By SuperDry I had a '78 Buick Regal with turbocharge option that was a total piece of crap. Under the hood, the turbo option had been engineered and installed in a way that made you think it was done in someone's home garage, not a Big 3 factory. It had a dashboard gauge that supposedly measured fuel efficiency (as if a '78 American car with turbo knew the first thing about efficiency). It had three possible readings, which were labeled something like "Economy, Moderate, Performance." My dad said that instead it should have read "Bad, Worse, Guzzle." This reminds me of another engineering wonder out of Detroit: who here remembers the Cadillac 4-6-8 engine?
Originally Posted By barboy The best engineered, built and styled affordable car I know is the new Honda CRV. That thing is masterfully built--- fine gas milage, solid as rock(sorry Chevy!) and its "fit and finish" is quite nice for an affordable type car. I very recently sold that poorly built Mercedes Benz pile of junk and bought 2 CRV's and still had $20,000 left over!(one blue for my wife and one green for me).--- Easily the best cars I have ever owned.
Originally Posted By jonvn I do. It was the thing that made people stop buying cadillac. Disaster after disaster. Remember how they tried to make diesel fuel cars? Instead of designing an actual diesel engine, they took gas engines and converted them. They did not work very good.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Personally I think Skodas are the best value cars anywhere, but sadly you cannot buy them in the US.
Originally Posted By barboy I never even heard of a Skoda until now. but I just did a quick check and I must say that that Fabia model looks a lot like my Honda Jazz(Honda Fit in the US markets)I drive when I am in the Philippines. That Superb looks pretty decent too.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo I have a 2.5 turbo diesel with an Audi A6 engine and transmission (tiptronic)- 46 miles to the gallon, integrated GPS, leather interior, more leg room than a Mercedes S class in the back. And it cost maybe 5% more than a top of the lin GM or Ford.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo I am afraid not, the only downer. It is a wonderful car though. It is similar to an Audi A6 or VW Passat, but for a much lower price.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo No, it's a Skoda Superb Laurin and Klement <a href="http://www.skoda.co.uk/skoda3g/content/showroom/superb/superb.aspx" target="_blank">http://www.skoda.co.uk/skoda3g /content/showroom/superb/superb.aspx</a> I've now had 3 Skodas from new - Felicia 1.6 GLX - started to malfunction age 10, afer 150,000 miles. Octavia Laurin and Klement Estate (station wagon) 2.0 Turbo - loved it and would still have it if Sarah did not hit a barrier at 70 miles an hour. Even bigger fan of skoda as my wife and 2 kids walked away with only psychological injuries, no physical sustained!!! Now have the Superb which is very luxurious and I love.
Originally Posted By barboy Yep, nothing wrong with the looks of that baby. And 46 mpg--- no way--- are you serious? Damn, those are some very impressive figures dave. Let's get those machines over here.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Yep - if I drive her easy. If I drive hard (e.g. 95 mph, or urban traffic jams), then more like 32.
Originally Posted By peeaanuut I want to back up here for a little bit <<I have heard a lot about bad Mac store people. One more reason to dislike mac owners.>> what does being a mac owner have to do with poor salesmanship at the apple store? That makes no sense at all. They have nothing to do with each other. Just like tattoos and crime. They have nothing to do with each other. You make some of the weirdest connections. Skoda makes some quality cars. I wish we had some of those cars here in the US.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< what does being a mac owner have to do with poor salesmanship at the apple store? >>> I heard this very argument made as an anti-iPhone comment recently. I wonder if this has made it to the list of anti-Apple talking points?
Originally Posted By peeaanuut its like saying that salesman at the Ferrari dealership are snooty (which they are) so that means that Ferraris are bad cars. One has nothing to do with the other.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <This was a couple years ago. I am totally impulsive and had the cash for the thing right then and there. Oh well. < this happened to me once when I 'got the urge' to buy a new Corvette-- was a saturday, I was like 25 or 26 ( was an 81 corvette, and I had on nice jean and a casual shirt. Stopped at a dealer ( who went out of biz a few years later) - and asked to drive the new one - and the salesman told me I couldn't afford one so not to waste his time. I went to another dealer same day - bought a black on black 81 vette - drove back to the first dealer with the paperwork and asked for the sales manager - the owner came out instead - and I told him - See that black corvette there - that couldhave been your sale- but your salesman - that fat clown over there - told me I couldnt afford it and not to waste his time. I will make sure everyone I know hears this story - gave me great pleasure when they closed
Originally Posted By jonvn "what does being a mac owner have to do with poor salesmanship at the apple store? " It is the aura of arrogance that permeates Apple and their products. It's palpable. I bought the iPod anyway, but iTunes is really very poor software, and the iPod itself is very expensive for what it is.
Originally Posted By peeaanuut so all Apple owners are arrogant? That makes no sense. If that is true though, than all windows users are idiots for using unsecure, poorly written software. See what I mean? The 2 have nothing to do with each other.
