Finally got rid of my 2005 EX.......

[Fox Fader]

Being a wholesaler for a long time, I've owned (for myself) over 60 cars and trucks. I've had problems out of most, but the Ford Taurus, '93 was one of the best. Jeep products, cheap to fix, all the Honda's, Toyota's and Nissan's I had were so darn expensive to fix it was ridiculous. Mazda, IMO the best Japanese car made and parts were not expensive. This includes the later Mazda's that are made with Mazda parts.

In short you just got a bad truck, but that doesn't make them all bad. Mine drives very well, I'm on the road often and I appreciate the comfort, size and mileage, even over my Grand Cherokee I had. You get a bad Nissan, expect to pay even bigger. How about 4k to replace a Nissan tranny, vs 1.2k to replace a Jeep tranny. Your choice.

 

[mhartson]

Being a wholesaler for a long time, I've owned (for myself) over 60 cars and trucks. I've had problems out of most, but the Ford Taurus, '93 was one of the best. Jeep products, cheap to fix, all the Honda's, Toyota's and Nissan's I had were so darn expensive to fix it was ridiculous. Mazda, IMO the best Japanese car made and parts were not expensive. This includes the later Mazda's that are made with Mazda parts.

In short you just got a bad truck, but that doesn't make them all bad. Mine drives very well, I'm on the road often and I appreciate the comfort, size and mileage, even over my Grand Cherokee I had. You get a bad Nissan, expect to pay even bigger. How about 4k to replace a Nissan tranny, vs 1.2k to replace a Jeep tranny. Your choice.

Why do you think the parts cost more? Because you have fix them less often. The price of the parts is not the worst thing about these problems. It is the time and aggravation of constant problems. It is a well know fact that japanese imports are built to better standards than their american counterparts. I have seen many toyotas beat and abused and still run many more miles before major problems. There are not many american vehicles that can take the same abuse and keep ticking. I wish this were a perfect world where I could say the opposite but it just isn't true. "the big 3" made a choice long ago to try to compete and still make an inferior product. This lasted a while but it has finally caught up with them. Besides why defend companies that send jobs to mexico just because they are american based? In fact the japanese imports are mostly assembled in america now. They probably employ more american citizens than "the big 3".

 

[Fox Fader]

What's your point, I've seen Cavaliers, beat up and running. There's two Chevettes in my town still running.
The honda CRV I had was more of a problem than it was worth, get my point, the grass isn't any greener, I've been there many, many times. But good luck though.

 

[k2sb2003]

It seems the last time i drove by a honda, toyota or any car dealer ship i do seem to remember a large REPAIR shop attached too all of them... huh wonder why that is?

 

[Joe Dirt]

Honestly guys- all cars are built with the same nuts and bolts, and many of the parts come from the same parts suppliers. We just hauled a bunch of machinery out of a plant in Loves Park, Illinois, and there were parts (latches, etc, etc...) being produced for Ford, GM, Chrysler, Mazda, Nissan, Honda, and Toyota. So what's the point? They're not any better than the other one, they're coming out of the same place.

One more time- Toyota has "Toyota City" built. All profits from the cars they sell go back to Japan, no matter how many employees they have in the US. Ford and GM profits come to the US. (When they have them) The big three have pumped incredible amounts of money into the American economy since they began building cars, they have contributed to the growth of the US more than Toyota, Honda, and Mazda did, or ever will.

Some of the money LEAVES the US.

Here is a simple example in forum currency. Company "F" starts with 1,000,000 hootus dollars. 100,000 hootus dollars went to pay the employees in Mexico assembling the car. 500,000 hootus dollars were spent in our USA economy building the parts for the car and shipping them to Mexico. We profited 400,000 hootus dollars that we put in the bank of Celly, we have kept (for the sake of simplicity not counting what we may have spent on foreign trips) 900,000 hootus dollars circulating in our economy, and 100,000 into the exican economy.

Company "T" has the exact same formula, but the profits go back to Japan. They have the following totals: 1,000,000 hootus dollars. 100,000 went to pay the employees in the USA. 500,000 spent with American suppliers. They profit 400,000 hootus dollars, and they go to Japan to the bank of T. They leave 600,000 in the USA economy, and 400,000 goes to Japan, transferring a large amount of country wealth and GDP.

The math is simple, read through it. Buy from the company that spends AND saves here, not in Japan. End of story.

 

[bex]

Not that I would ever drive a civic over an explorer unless I was forced to, I still think explorers (at least my gen) have more problems than they should have.

Just going off my observation: One side of my family lworships those little import cars, their main stay being camarys. If I asked them now when is the last time any of them was in for a major repair, I don't think they could even remember.

My explorer has been in for the transmission twice, and the wheel bearings, all of this under 70k, ridiculous. The thing is a highway queen, it is just poor quality that my explorer, and many others, have had the kind of repairs they have had.

My other car, a 1997 F-350, has not had hardly any maintenance on it. It had a trans at 130k miles, which I guess is pretty good considering all the towing and off-roading I did. It also had a wheel bearing go out after heavy mudding, the other three are still good many miles later.

Also a battery, and two sensors in 220k miles since I have owned it. Now why can they not build the explorer like that?

I love my explorer though! Just disappointed Ford did not put a bit more beef into these things. I think they were banking on the assumption that the people who buy them would trade them in before problems ever occurred.

 

[South.East.Beast]

-_-

 

[Bajadoggie]

my $34,000 '03 EB seems to be outlasting my dads $60,000 '05 VW Touareg, given not everything is as nice, its pretty damn close.

 

[alexk]

Well Toyotas offer one features ford doesnt, they accelerate by them selves.

Remember, Toyota: Moving foward, whether you like it or not!

 

[Joe Dirt]

^ :d ^

 

[Joe Dirt]

moving foward, whether you like it or not!

lol!