Respectfully, you need to dig a bit deeper on that cost thing. As I'm painfully finding out, my Infiniti G35 is proving enormously expensive to keep on the road. Things that $75 at a domestic dealership cost $300 at Inifiniti. A pair of drive belts, worn out at only 40,000 miles, cost almost $200 to have replaced -- sorry, not covered by the wyt, it's a "wear and tear item". Air filter, $25. And my favorite so far, as mentioned above, Automatic Trans Fluid at $12 per quart (yes, twelve dollars). Any one of those items can be had, along with a pretty nice car, at a GM dealership for far less.quote:
{snip}I'll stay with the cars that for the past 45 years have continually been less expensive to operate,{snip}
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By GM standards Toyota is doing everything wrong. Toyota is opening plants in the US. GM is closing them. Toyota is building quality into cars. GM is building stylish cars. Toyota pays cash for new plants, GM finances everyting. Toyota does not know that it's impossible to make cars in the US and that you can't possibly make a profit making small cars. In fact Toyota is so stupid that they only have three lines of cars, cheap, regualr and expensive. They are so stupid that they don't even make models that compete with each other. And the worst mistake of all. Toyota is going to make big pickups and sell them to Americans. Why, they are even building the pickup plant in Texas. You know, if Toyota keeps on making these stupid mistakes GM executives will be in the same unemployment lines
Labman, deceptive is too strong a word, as I think you just misunderstood my intent.quote:
''1. We really have to rethink what is "domestic" and "foreign". What is more "domestic" a GM car assembled in Mexico where 35% of the parts were made in Korea, or a Toyota assembled in Ohio using more than 65% parts made in the US. I have two "Japanese" cars. A Mazda made in Japan and an Acura made about an hour's drive from my home.''
Bong, bong, bong, bong! Deceptive statement.
GM's average domestic content is 85%. The best foreign company is Honda at 49%. Of course there was the 6' statistician that drowned in a stream averaging 3' deep. It does vary from model to model. Perhaps we need percentages on the label like fiber content of clothing.
Funny that you say that. My wife has decided that she no longer needs all the space in her 2001 Sequoia (that has only 40k miles on it), and has further decided that she just loves the look of the new Buick Lucerne. She wants trade. At this point, I've got half a mind to trade in the G35, and take the Sequoia off her hands. In four years, the only non-routine expense we've had on the "Tree" has been roughly $350 for a redo on the rear brakes (partially wife inflicted). The G35's new belts and a couple other "small" things have cost almost as much in ~16 months. When you factor in gas prices (Sequoia burns 87, G needs premium) and mileage, the fuel cost is, believe it or not, almost the same. Hmmmmmmmm. I'm suddenly seeing myself driving a leftover SUV. . . Oh, and it's an early Sequoia with the 4-spd auto which uses good old Dexron ATF -- none of this hypercost ruby juice that for which my G thirsts.quote:
If I didn't like small sporty cars I'd probably drive a Buick with the Series II (or III?). Good mileage, durability, parts prices, and a perfectly decent car.