Originally Posted By: ZGRider
Originally Posted By: boraticus
If you do not believe that planned obsolescence is an integral part of our manufacturing sector's philosophy, you have much more faith in them than I do. That's for sure.
Well, I'd rather buy a auto or motorcycle made here than in say...Russia? or maybe India? I currently own 4 American-made cars or trucks and I haven't been unhappy with any of them. In the last 10 years, I have probably owned at least 10 American made vehicles, same story. Not saying they were perfect, but inexpensive to buy and keep, reliable, and decent running.
If they were built by some corporate "planned obsolescence" philosophy, all I can say is: Keep it up boys !
I see many Ford, Chevy, and Dodge pickup trucks on my roads that are well over 10 years old and seem to be good, serviceable vehicles that are giving their owners good value.
If they're that good, why so many vehicles?
In over forty years of vehicle ownership/operation, I've owned four. I had two Ford pick ups for ten years each which cost me at the very least, $500.00/yr. in repairs for every year of ownership. Both had less than 80K miles on them when I dumped them. Terrible vehicles. I owned a used Toyota tercel for five years then bought a new 1996 Toyota T-100 which I still own and is now 14 years old. I have not spent one red cent on repairs on the T-100. Everything is original except the tires, battery and windshield wipers. My wife has owned three Toyotas in the same period of time and spent approx. $800.00 in thirty years. The last car she traded in (1992 Camry) is still on the road and running well.
My T-100 gets pounded up and down at least 1500 miles of rough dirt roads every year as well as several thousand miles of highway/city driving. It frequently hauls 700 lb. ATVs, building materials, firewood, and other heavy loads. So, it's certainly not pampered.
Speaking of gravel roads, my in-laws were driving their Oldsmobile Omega the sixty miles home from our camp once and had to finish the last forty miles with their dash board on their laps because the washboard road vibrated it loose. When the father-in-law went to put the dash back on, he was really disappointed to see that the dash was made out of some kind of compressed cardboard and the fasteners had chewed through it! Nice.....
I plan to get twenty or more years out of my T-100. Twice the life of the Fords I owned.
That, my friend is durable quality. Do you see the difference?
By the way, it would appear that a few years back, Ford saw the writing on the wall and have made strides to improve quality. They're catching up to the Asians and, who knows? They might have as good a product as the Japanese very soon if they don't already. I'll never know for sure. It's very unlikely that I'll ever buy another domestic vehicle due to my bad experiences with them.
