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Yes, I would buy an American car. What is wrong with american cars?
Edit: This thread is strange, there is no initial post all of a sudden :S
Edit: This thread is strange, there is no initial post all of a sudden :S
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Yep, Toyota and Honda.chroot said:The best cars on the market almost inarguably come from Japan.
- Warren
Probably not.Would you buy an American car?
If an American car company wants to give me a free new car to drive for a couple of years to convince me they no longer suck, I might buy another one.FredGarvin said:I don't think that people don't necessarily think that they never want to buy American again. I think most will. However, the recent developments are exactly what the American companys need as a kick in the ass to get rid of the old mentality they have had for doing business. They are realizing (painfully slowly) that they don't have a captive audience any longer.
I don't know if that's the reason behind them. I think they messed up on their marketing strategies. Several years ago, when loan interest rates were up ridiculously high, people weren't buying ANY new cars...not just American, but were just plain avoiding car loans if they couldn't purchase outright. So, they started these promotions of 0% interest, or really low, like 0.2% interest to entice buyers back. It wasn't just the American manufacturers who did that. But, the American manufacturers kept it up a few more years as a promotion to get the leftover cars off the lot before the new model year came in (usually they arrive in August or September). They've now done it long enough that people won't buy a car any other time of year because they're waiting for the promotional deals with low or no interest loans. Even if you can afford to pay cash, why not sign up for a 0%, same as cash, loan and spread the payments out a bit while you earn interest on your money instead of paying interest on it?Kurdt said:I did hear recently that GM and ford and other american car companies were really struggling to stay afloat so I presume all these deals they're offering are just a gimmick to try and get people to be loyal to them again in light of flagging sales.
Holy crap, my Grand Prix (pontiac is american right? or am i not a guy) has like a ghost inside its electrical system. I think we've sent it into 3 people and the same problems keep coming up (and with the last "fix", i lost the ability to use cruise controlchroot said:Electrical problems that no one can solve?
I don't know about Nissan. My aunt and uncle had a Pathfinder, and it was nothing but trouble. I guess everyone has a chance of getting a vehicle with defective parts, and we tend to decide it's a problem endemic to the manufacturer of that vehicle than just that we got the one bad vehicle.turbo-1 said:I have bought only Japanese vehicles for decades. I bought my Datsun 4x4 pickup the same year they were introduced. The same with my first Pathfinder, and my 240 SX. I would NEVER advise anyone to buy an American vehicle in the first model year, but I trust Nissan. My Pathfinder lasted 17 years with not a single mechanical problem, just routine maintenance. I finally sold it because the winter road-salt had eaten a good percentage of the frame and my mechanic told me that he felt that it might be unsafe to keep driving it. I went out and bought a 6-year old Nissan 4x4 (2400 cc 4-cylinder) with about 70,000 miles on it and hope to get at least a 200,000 to 250,000 out of it.
My only American vehicle is a H-D Softail.
My wife's car is a 2002 Subaru Legacy. It is remarkably stable in all situations - better than my 4x4 in snow or dicey ice/rain conditions. It's an AWD with traction control and anti-lock brakes. The power-to-weight ratio is very good, yet you cannot make it slip a tire under heavy acceleration. Not a squeak. It just throws you back in the seat.
GM vehicles are notorious for bad electrical systems. My friend's GM Safari (minivan) has one tiny wire connecting the battery to the power windows, so if you try to close 2 windows at once they both slow to a crawl and you can smell burning plastic inside the vehicle.Pengwuino said:Holy crap, my Grand Prix (pontiac is american right? or am i not a guy) has like a ghost inside its electrical system. I think we've sent it into 3 people and the same problems keep coming up (and with the last "fix", i lost the ability to use cruise control). What a bastard! But no 34k mile transmission problems at least...