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Strategies & Market Trends : The Epic American Credit and Bond Bubble Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: I_C_Deadpeople who wrote (12412)	4/22/2004 2:52:58 AM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110194

I guess my personal experience has been a statistical anomaly. I guess I've almost always purchased that rare well built mid-sized GM product. And every Japanese car I've rented over the last 8-10 years just happened to be a lemon since they really weren't much different than the American cars I owned or rented. My my wife & I both have several hundred thousand miles experience with mid-sized GM's - our biggest problem we've had - rotors. Most of them needed a new set at some point. That might explain why we kept buying them. We were so disappointed that we got great mpg's & effortless power in a real mid-size car that never rusted or broke down. <ggg> Yup my personal experience that just happens to coincide with the extensive findings of Consumer Reports was simply a statistical anomaly too - 20 years ago Japanese cars were superior in overall quality & worth the extra few thousand in price. However, over time, American makes have closed the gap such that it is only a slight advantage for Japanese cars, although the price difference has widened - & made wider still with the current rebate/deep discounting on American makes. But hey! It's only money. No doubt Consumer Reports & my personal experience are just part of a vast statistical anomaly. <ggg> Oh, & a good friend of mine has been a mechanic since he was a teenager, has worked at a Toyota dealership for several years (Mario Andretti Toyota in Coraopolis, PA). Before that he worked in a garage where he worked on everything. He thinks that most Toyotas are fine cars, even though they are a bit pricey. His biggest complaint is that repairs are considerably more expensive than most American makes & they still tend to have some problems with rust, at least more so than American makes. And his shop does plenty of repairs covered by the warranty, from serious power train problems to fit & finish fixes. He doesn't see any huge difference in overall quality. I guess he is experiencing his own statistical anomaly too. And he drives an old Dodge Omni to work every day. It has nearly 200k miles on it. He bought it used & has only had to perform routine maintenance on it. And he has a Camry that spends most of the time in his garage. Go figure.