Cars Mechanics Hate

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Whatever, those dealers still make lot of money on the regular service intervals (25k, 50k, etc).

Beauty about being a mechanic for Honda is that there's not that much difference among many of their cars -- huge platform sharing. That, and Honda's cars are engineered to be easy to work on and fix.
 
cut and paste
"You'll be lucky to sell their owners a set of brake pads or a muffler."

i like how they insinuate that these models don't wear their brake pads out!!!!

second point! they rag on the 99 grand cherokee for transmission problems then recommend the odyssey???? did they forget about the mass transmission failures in 99-04 odyssey's and the torque convertor "judder" in the 05 and up vans?

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"the ones on which we make the least amount of money — those would be the Toyota Sienna and Honda Odyssey"

this statement is false with the second gen odyssey trans costing $5000 out the door.

and the worst part about it is people take these little articles as gospel! mike
 
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Nissan Altima? Those have cam/crank sensor problems, pre-cats disintegrating which cause the engine to self-destruct, head gaskets and all sorts of small issues.

Prius? Inverter coolant pump.

Sure, not every car will experience issues but to say that all of the cars on those list are near flawless is stretching the truth. And to be perfectly honest, I don't believe that there is such a thing as a reliable car-- each has its weak spots and it's your luck as to whether or not you'll experience those issues.
 
That article is complete [censored]. The garage I worked at for the past year (an independent) made money on all of those cars except the hybrids (people always take them to the dealer) and the Fusion (hasn't been out long enough). Things break and normal wear items fail on all of them. Brakes, stabilizer links, control arm bushings, exhaust repairs (were in Canada lots of rust), brake lines, fuel lines. I don't see the huge difference in reliability between GM and foreign manufacturers except for the intake gasket failures on many of the V6's. When you compare the parts prices the imports almost always end up costing more for upkeep.
 
Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
It is a Tom and Ray piece and was provided for entertainment purposes only.


+1.

Money talks, is what I'm going to say.
 
ANother media drive by artlce from those two idiots.

BTW what are all those bays out back at the Honda and Toyota stores for if they never need anything.

More useless drivel!
 
I go to an independent garage when I need work that I can't handle. Because this guy is relatively low cost and honest he gets to see all the old cars in town that the owners need to keep on the road. I've noted before when I'm in there that is very rare to see a Toyota or a Honda in for anything except for brakes and an inspection. I've asked this guy, who I trust, what are the cars he sees the least, and he never hesitates to say Hondas and Toyotas. On the other hand, he says that Chryslers and old Fords pay his bills for him. Just about every time I'm there I see a Taurus (the older one) or two and a Chrysler mini van. I'm not sure how the newer Fords are doing for him--I'll have to ask.
 
Look how many older Taurus' and Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth minivans there are out there on the road, and its no wonder he sees a lot of them!

As a general rule, Ford and GM's quality is right up there with the best of them. I just traded in a 1999 Mercury with 310,000 miles on it, and I only did the routine maintenance on it, other than an alternator, no significant repairs. Still had the original coolant hoses and exhaust system. Just one set of replacement brake pads in its entire life. Never even had to change out a headlight bulb.
 
I haven't heard anything bad about Ford lately. Know some very satisfied Focus owners. Father drove his late 90s Lumina for 420,000 km before the cost of keeping it on the road became higher than the cost of replacing it (he went with another GM).

I trust reliability reports, but look for several different sources to minimize bias when I'm used car shopping. Its not a catch all method, but its a good tool to narrow the list of possibilities down by eliminating known lemon models or model years.

-Spyder
 
I would agree that GM vehicles were better than older Fords and chryslers. Fords are I think harder to work on too and sometimes have bizarre problems that can't be fixed. It never made sense to me why GM took the brunt of domestic flak. I think Ford is much better now and along with GM are as good or better than Toyota and Honda.
 
Chrysler had a really bad rep once upon a time, but they seem to have overcome that. Both GM and Ford products have improved a lot over the last 2 decades. Toyota is hurting on sales with the high publicity recalls, but I still think they are as fundamentally sound as they ever were; although I'll add that when I looked figures from last month, Toyota's sales here in Canada were down almost 30% from the same month last year. Honda, Hyndai, and the big 3 US all gained. The remaining makers were below these 6 in sales, with some having gained a bit and some having lost.

I would say that the public perception on Honda, at least here in Canada, as well as the big 3 US, is steadily improving. Toyota is hurting right now, but I think its a short-term bump, and not the beginning of a long term trend.

-Spyder
 
I don't think GM cars were technically "more reliable" than Ford and Chrysler. But they would continue to run with more things wrong with them than ANY other make.
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And when you factor in the HT4100-4.5 Cadillacs, GM actually becomes less reliable than Hyundai circa 1986-94

It's funny that the Fusion made the list. The Mazda6 is essentially the same car.(ironically the Mazda6, "import" is made just outside Detroit,MI in a UAW plant. The Fusion, "domestic" is made in Mexico) Early V6 Mazda6 models were plagued with transmission problems, PCV problems, pre-cat meltdowns etc... Mazda de-bugged the design and now Ford reaps the benefits of that work.
 
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IMHO, the cars mechanics actually hate are those that have horrible jobs, like spark plug replacement on a 3.0 Aerostar.
Replacing the plugs on a V-6 Aero is enough to make you cry in frustration, or with the many scrapes and cuts you'll get.
I've heard that the 4.0 is easier, although I don't see how.
Any routine job involving not enough room to work or impossible access results in a car mechanics hate.
 
Not being a mechanic, the ones I really hate are the cars that throw codes for inexplicable reasons, even when the car is running fine, and then you have to start replacing sensors that are buried under all sorts of things that require elaborate disassembly, and then when you have it all back together it still throws the code! I'd much rather face a good ol' mechanical problem that I can see what is wrong and can see how to fix it. I think the law in NY is that you have to throw $400 at a problem at the dealer that can be documented before they'll let it pass inspection anyway. My local mechanic says it happens a lot without actually clearing the code.
 
Originally Posted By: Spazdog
thumbsup2.gif


Alternator on a DOHC Lumina Z34.



Alternator on a Duratec V6 Escape....

Thermostat on a 3.0 SL300 Saturn wagon and almost any engine work on a full size or mini van...
 
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