When a wife’s co-worker went to Iraq we watched his Toyota Camry. I hated driving the thing. There was no weight to it. A big gust of wind could have blown it over, and if it was hit the sheet metal would have ripped like cardboard.
I felt exposed driving that car. Given the choice I will gladly take my American boat over a foreign cardboard box.
:rolleyes:
Better make the adjustment. That is the way things are likely to go.
I had a huge van that would react to the wind. Big flat sides can do that.
Thats been Gm’s style/problem for the last couple of decades, but the cosmetic’s make all the difference. As you might have surmised from this thread I am a pontiac guy, however I am not immune to some of the weaknesses of the brand.
Back in the seventies with the F-body, the camaro beat out the firebird for looks. This mind you was when chevy had the short block 350 and if you wanted a street racer the camaro was the one to go with. I dont know anyone who bought a firebird specifically because it was a firebird. For the price you may as well have bought up and gone with the Trans-am which is the only thing pontiac should have sold in the sports car genre.
Ford had the same thing in the eighties with the Mustang/Capri platform which would have been better served if they had dropped the capri and concentrated solely on the stang.
While some people flat out dont like the platform , the J-body between pontiac and chevy is weird with cosmetic differences, and in my opinion the cavelier looks bland and blah while the sunfire (disclaimer , I own an 02) looks a better sculpted car in the sedan configuration, but looks chopped in the two door, like somethings missing.
I still think pontiac builds excitement , as the commercial says , and a lot of that is the cosmetics that I dont think that the bowtie boys know how to do well.
Declan
American cars suck. Whenever I drive one I notice how everything in the passenger compartment feels cheap and uncomfortable, like it will break before very long. And they certainly tend to have more need of repairs than the Japanese cars I’ve driven. The only American car I’ve ever liked was the Caddy CTS that my wife test drove before she decided to get a Lexus instead. I have to admit the Caddy was pretty stylin’, but I suspect the Lexus will last a hell of a lot longer. We had a Camry that lasted 9 years and almost 200,000 miles before the transmission gave out. My current car is a Mazda Protege 5 (predecessor to the Mazdaspeed) that’s up to 90,000 and still going strong.
I didn’t used to have any brand loyalty when it came to cars. Then I was out of professional work for an extended period and had to drive a cab for over a year to make ends meet.
I absolutely fell in love with the Ford Crown Victoria/Mercury Grand Marquis/Lincoln Town Car, which are all the same platform. Ultra reliable, fast enough to get out of its own way but a comfortable ride. Heavy steel. Solid construction. Decent, but not great, gas mileage.
As soon as I was making money again I bought a used, fairly low mile Crown Vic. When some idiot in driving an SUV at 45 mph through a parking lot totaled it, which takes SOME doing, I turned around and bought a used Grand Marquis.
Absolutely the best series of cars I’ve ever driven. So I guess you could say I don’t have a brand loyalty, but I certainly do have a loyalty to the Ford Panther Platform.
Seriously, until I saw the Vibe, I didn’t Pontiac still existed. They aren’t doing such a hot job of marketing.
I look for features and price. I have purchased a Toyota Tacoma (02) and a Nissan Versa (09) new.
I didn’t know what the Contour was, so I wiki:ed it. Apparently, it’s the same car as the Mondeo in other markets. Why Ford doesn’t sell the Mondeo in the US I’ll never understand. It’s a gorgeous car (the Mk4), has won lots of awards and sells quite well, from what I can see.
ETA: On topic - I have a little bit of brand loyalty, by proxy. I keep convincing friends and family to buy Saab. Everyone’s been happy so far.
They didn’t replace the Contour for quite a while. It was weird because they were everywhere on the streets during the late 90s.
I asked a salesperson why Ford didn’t make a replacement and he just got snotty and said the replacement was the Focus and didn’t I know that? Grr. My husband didn’t even fit into a Focus (and he’s not that big).
I just can’t see why they’d take it off the market. The Focus is certainly not a replacement as it’s sold in parallel over here. I’ve sat in both a Mondeo and a Focus and it’s like VW deciding the Golf would replace the Passat.
I would bet without hesitation that if someone made that vehicle, and made a commercial very similar to the Simpsons’, people would buy it and drive it.
Seriously. There are people in San Francisco who own and drive Hummers (which would be insane to do if gas were free).
I drove almost every American car I owned to at least 150,000 miles. I hate car payments.
Same here. I tend to ignore blanket statements like “American cars suck.”
I owned several '69 through '78 big Fords. Bought 'em all with around 100K miles and put 60-65K on’em myself. My favorite, a '77 LTD Landau coupe would probably still be running today if not for its being destroyed in a fire.
I would have stayed an exclusive Ford man if Ford had ever built a decent minivan. I switched to Plymouth/Dodge when re-marriage netted me 3 more kids. Never liked the Windstar; but liked the Aerostar’s interior and build quality better than Chrysler’s. However, I didn’t want to go to the expense of 4-wheel drive to get good winter traction. Having lived with a rented RWD Aerostar for 2 wintry weeks, I can say with authority, the RWD Aerostar sucks on snow and ice.
I have owned a '97 Ranger since it was new. At 131K, it’s still good. If tragedy befell and I needed to replace it, I’d go back to Ford for another Ranger.
I used to hate GM. A '77 Cutlass I owned had a “handling package” and thus kick-ass handling for something that big, and the genuine Olds 350 got 16 mpg in town–not bad for a carbureted car with goofy '70s emissions controls. But the body and interior sucked big time and the transmission gave out on one of the coldest nights of the year. several of my Dad’s old GM products of the '50s and '60s weren’t that good, either.
I acquired a 1985 Buick Skylark in 1995. I bought it for teenage boys to drive because it was fairly heavy for its size and slow. That was my 5-5-5 car. It cost me $500 to buy and in 5 years cost me $500 total parts and repairs, including a set of near-new used tires. Changed my mind about GM.
I’d still have my ‘87 Pontiac 6000 if not for a careless Expedition pilot. Another car that cost me nearly nothing in repairs in 3 years’ ownership.
I’m having good luck with the '02 Aztek I bought 4 years ago.
My sister had an '89 Accord that was nothing but trouble. I’d never own a car that required one to half-disassemble the front end to get at an alternator!An alternator rebuilder told me that the Honda alternator never goes out completely–a new set of $10 brushes every 8-10
years and you’re good for anothe 8-10 years–but he wouldn’t own the car it comes in because of the way they hide that alternator. This thing also had major AC and power window issues.
I’ve also seen several Civic bumper covers come completely off in minor parking lot crashes.
No Hondas for me!!
My sister went from bad to worse with KIA–not for nothing that the military uses those letters to mean “killed in action”.
The only Toyota I ever liked, my son’s 2006 Scion xB, was turned into a porky little Hummerette in '08. My limited exposure to the Corolla failed to favorably impress. Ditto Nissan Sentra. Would rather have a Ford Focus for thousands of $ less.