Happy F'in New Year To Me- Update-

[LilCerberus]

ulthar Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Zapranoth Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I've always owned Hondas and Toyotas.  Not
> buying
> > any Fords, GMs, or other premature obsolence
> > engineering... nope, nope, not gonna do it,
> not
> > gonna do it, nope nope nope...
>
> FWIW, I've got a '86 Ford Ranger with over 300,000
> on it.  That's probably more my force of will
> making it last rather than superior engineering on
> the part of Ford.

I've got a '92 Taurus LX that runs pretty good. Albeit, that first month, I wound up having to bum $1000 off my mom for a new radiator & some transmission werk, but then she was the one who talked me into it. And of coarse, this is the third year in a row that the starter blew out while it was still under warranty. Yeah, the new starter was free, and I was reimbersed for the towing, but I still had to pay for the labor, not to mention it's always a pain in the ass.
Still, gimme a 3.8 liter V6 with feul injection & overdrive... Just color me GO!
Although it does have a squeaky serpentine belt, and I'm afraid to touch it because it was made after 1979.

But my '92 Taurus is way better than that '89 Escort I used to have, which was a bigger peice of crap than the '79 Courier that it replaced.

Now, considering Zapranoth's patiallity towards riceburners, I got this '75 Honda CB400F SuperSport that's held up pretty well over last twelve years, especially considering that it needs a hell of a lotta werk, and I can't find parts for it anymore. However, the two Yamahas & two Kawasakis that I owned before that were crap beyond crap. Maybe not as crappy as that '89 Escort, but definately crappier than that ''79 Courier.

Well, as far American Vs. Japanese goes, I'll say that my mom's been in the car insurance business for about fifteen years, and while she thinks riceburners are okay, she'd recommend a Ford or a Chrysler, but she would deffinately recommend against a GM or a Chevy.
You know what they say, "Momma knows best."

[Rombles]

Odinn7,  maybe you should consider moving to Australia? No need for anti-freeze here at all, so this problem wouldn't have happened.  Mind you the number of cars I've seen pulled over with boiling radiators in the last few days is another matter.... it has been 42+/- here lately - and I'm talking Celcius, not Farenheit!

[odinn7]

Every car manufacturer has their bad models that have problems. Examples off the top of my head are late 80's and early 90's Ford Taurus and Merc Sable with trans problems. 80's and 90's Dodge 4 cylinders with head gasket and warping head problems. Modern Dodge Neons with head problems. Chevy Luminas with cracking heads. Late 80's and early 90's Pontiac Grand Prix and Buick Regal (FWD) models with engine problems and rear disc brake problems. Mid 90's Jeeps with the 4.0 6 cylinder that had the wrong size rings installed from the factory. Many older Nissan and Subaru models that seened to have been made out of rusty metal with paint sprayed on them. I could go on...
What I'm trying to say is that this model vs. that model is really pointless. They're all crap in one way or another.  Through my time working as a tech, I had seen plenty of Toyotas and Hondas come in for routine maintenance with over 200,000 miles and still running like new. Collectively, they seem to be the most trouble free cars from experience.



Rombles...I would love to move to Australia except...they will not allow me to bring my guns ;)

[Menard]

I miss my Subaru. I abused that poor thing and still got 206,000 miles out of it.

I had a Chrysler LeBaron which falls into the category you mentioned. I barely got 60,000 out of it before a piston head developed a crack and left me stranded more than 100 miles from home.

[Mr_Vindictive]

I wouldn't mind living in Australia.  Then I'd be able to buy and drive a Holden Monaro.

[odinn7]

Well, I have a "new" car finally. I got it last week and it seems to be a decent buy.
It's a '90 Buick Century with a 3.3 V-6, low miles, good body, very monor things wrong (most of which I've already taken care of).
Two things I don't really like about it and will take some getting used to: 1) I always looked at Buicks as an old mans car. That's really not too bad though because the Metro I was driving I always considered a teenage girls car so at least I've gone to the correct sex. 2) The Metro got 40 mpg and had a 10 gallon tank. This one gets about 25 mpg with just about a 20 gallon tank. This will certainly take some getting used to considering I drive 70 miles a day round trip.
Hey, at least it's comfortable and rides nice.

[AndyC]

Don't forget Caravans and Voyagers in the early 90s, with their disposable trannies.

Around 2000 or 2001, I bought a '93 Grand Caravan from my Dad for $3,500 (what he was offered for a trade-in, plus the extra tax he'd have to pay). The old man takes good care of his vehicles, so it was in beautiful shape. And it was pretty good, for the first year or two.

But I probably spent at least twice the purchase price on repairs over the years I owned it. Hell, I think I came close to matching the purchase price the last year.

In 2003, we took it on a vacation to the east coast, and the tranny went in Halifax. Two days drive from home, already having spent a good bit of money, and we have to pay a $1,600 bill for a complete rebuild, then pretty much call our vacation finished. Telling that story to people we knew, you would be amazed how many had similar stories with Dodge minivans of that year.

That was also the first vehicle I ever needed to get towed -- and it needed to be towed three times in 18 months. Twice on the same street. Once, the belt tensioner popped right off, and I lost power steering, cooling and my alternator all at the same time. Next time, the clutch on the air conditioning compressor went and almost started a fire. Nice to be fixing the air conditioning in the middle of February. And there was the time the lock cylinder broke on the ignition switch.

And having always owned GM vehicles from 1981 or earlier prior to that, the cost of the very model-specific replacement parts was a shock. In the good old days, the same part served several models of several years. New ones were cheap and plentiful, or you could go to the wrecker's and get something off of any Buick, Chevy or Pontiac on the lot. And I'd sometimes put it on myself. These days, I won't touch anything under the hood.

Got rid of the old Dodge piece of crap last spring and bought a 2004 Venture extended, which still has lots of warranty left. Now, my wife's 97 Cavalier has started to act like the old van, starting with the tranny. We can't win.

So yes, I feel for you Odinn.

[trekgeezer]

Glad to see you are no longer automobility challenged.

[BeyondTheGrave]

My grandfather has a 92 Buick Le Saber that I drive around. Sure its a old mans car but I could care less. My granfather really took care of though because we had it since 92 and it hasn't give him or me any major problems that couldn't be easily fixed.

Plus my granps has a sense of humor. Theirs little small dents all  over the car and he put car magnet bullets holes over them. Its pretty funny driveing around with fake bullet hole that from a distance look real.