Friday May 25, 2012

JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

For car buyers, it's harder to end up with a loser

Commentary Feb. 21, 2012 - 03:02AM JST ( 3 )

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3 Comments

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JapanGalFeb. 21, 2012 - 02:13PM JST

The newfound emphasis on quality means fewer problems for owners. It also means more options for buyers, who can buy a car from Detroit or South Korea and know it will hold up like a vehicle from Japan.

From Japan? Not if you read the responses on that other article here on JT about how Japan has lost it. I am not really sure what to believe, but when I ride in new American cars in Florida I find them nice except for two things. The mirrors do not fold back, and they do not have those rain guards over the windows. I like to open my windows. Those plastic things come standard on cars here...so why not on American cars?
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Hunter BrumfieldFeb. 21, 2012 - 09:24PM JST

We have an 18-year-old Toyota Marino (basically a nice Corolla) that is virtually like new. In all that time it's had no repairs, other than to replace a sun visor once, the batteries twice, and the tires once. I have never been happier with any of the six cars I have owned.

That compares with two successive American cars, when I was younger, that were recalled a number of times; one had to be jump-started in its first winter by my then 13-year-old VW Bug. The other had an engine that leaked oil so badly I poured the dripped oil back into it every morning before heading for work.

So it is fantastic if Detroit has finally abandoned the "planned obsolescence" that used to be its obvious strategy that had Americans swapping cars every two or three years.

I personally listened to the head of GM tell a conference of newspaper editors in Detroit that "the American people simply do not want a smaller car." That was in 1975.

Toyota and Honda took away his business the next 10 years with those smaller cars.

BTW, there is not even one greasy stain in our garage parking spot.
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lostrune2Feb. 22, 2012 - 07:23PM JST

Competition is good. Everyone is making good cars now. Average age of cars on American roads is now 10 years.