I think that a lot of the noise about the
unreliability of
Italian cars is hype -- and some of it is true.
Then again;
When, outside of this list, have you heard
people singing
the praises to British car reliability?!
I think that the big issue is in the
difference between
'maintenance' and 'service.' Americans tend to
take
the two terms to mean the same thing. They are
NOT
the same thing. Maintenance is what you do to
minimize
the need for service.
We are spoiled by <older> American cars that
go forever
just because of brute strength and by Japanese
cars that
are so well engineered for our style of
'maintenance'
(read: do nothing).
British cars in Britain are maintained on a
schedule
and that keeps them running great -- just as we
do for our
LBCs. Let a Triumph set in your driveway
unmaintained
and it will fall apart from entropy alone! They
HAVE to be
maintained and that doesn't mean that you must
make a career
of it. With the Alfas and Fiats more time may
be needed
for maintenance...but that is an arguable point.
My Ferrari
takes no maintenance other than keeping the
fluids and filters
changed.
To a Brit, 'maintenance' means making sure
the car is
up to date on all it's checks, fluids are topped
up, the
tune is assured, etc.. To an American,
'maintenance'
means "add oil when the light comes on!"
Why did I write this? Dunno. I guess I get
aggravated
at the people <and obviously not the people on
this list>
who take shots at European cars just because
they need to be
treated like machines, not rolling furniture.
Such is life.
best,
rick
3 American cars
5 European cars
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