Have you noticed how cars are no longer fun? Four wheel drifts, tail-out
cornering and fancy gear shifts are not only gone but no longer part of
youth. No longer can you gaze at your engine and decide that you might
like a hotter coil, or different plugs. Instead you are faced with
incredible complexity, albeit, nicely packaged. My new VW Golf GLS is
great but it is characterless in that it does everything smoothly, quietly,
logically and boringly. And I hear terrible stories of replacement costs
after warranty. I think my next car after the VW will be an old
classic. I used to use Mercedes when I worked so I think I will search out
one born between 1960-1980. I was going to get one instead of the VW until
someone pointed out that now they were now just another make - and my
mechanic says the new ones suck!
At 01:22 PM 1/15/2005, Rocky Frisco wrote:
>Councill, David wrote:
>
>>I have only bought one brand new car in my life - a Geo Prism (1992?). And
>>with it, I actually spent more money on the GM "bumper to bumper
>>warranty." As
>>it turned out, there was a defect that caused the car to surge, particularly
>>at low speeds. The dealer and GM refused to fix it because so long as the car
>>got us from "point a to point b" (their quote), there was nothing really
>>wrong
>>with it because it got the job done (another indicator of the GM philsophy of
>>crappy engineered cars). So I had to go through Better Business Bureau to
>>force them to fix it which they did by replacing the computer, at a cost then
>>of about $750. They eventually found out the problem was with the throttle
>>position sensor which had to be replaced every 12000 miles - and each time I
>>had to argue and force them to honor the bumper to bumper warranty.
>>I will never buy a GM product again. Sure the Geo was actually a Toyota and
>>for the most part, it was a fine car. But the GM service was evasive and
>>poor.
>>Lately, I have bought a few Fords but I have returned to my old philosophy to
>>always buy used and let someone else pay the depreciation and debugging.
>>But I
>>am still seriously pondering replacing my faithful Ford Explorer with
>>something a bit classier like a Rover of some kind....
>
>I save about $2000 per year by having classic insurance on the Victor TF,
>Mini Cooper S, MGA and Mini Convertible. The thing that allows this is
>that I bought a 1991 Dodge Shadow along with an identical parts car from a
>friend for $500 three years ago. The classic insurance I got requires that
>I have a non-classic car less than 15 years old as a "daily driver."
>
>The old Dodge has working AC and heater and only requires oil, gas and
>coolant to work dependably. It starts in the coldest weather. I started
>out despising the car, but have come to respect it and its dependability.
>The only things I have had to replace have been the temp sensor (got one
>off the parts car) and a water pump (bought from parts store). I would
>consider having another Dodge some day.
>
>-Rock http://www.rocky-frisco.com
>--
>
Barrie Robinson
705-721-9060
MGB GT V8 in the making
Aston Martin DB 2/4 MkII in the wings
Purveyor of O-ring kits for Smith and Jaeger gauges
------- and of stainless steel mesh grilles for MGBs
------- and of bitumastic soundproofing
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