Back in 1988, our family needed a new vehicle. Our 1978 Chevrolet Malibu wagon was wearing out, as can be expected on a daily-driven vehicle of that era.
My father had had a lot of problems with this Malibu wagon from the start. First few years had seen problems with the paint and transmission; and near the end, the engine ended up so carboned-up that it hardly ran at all.
My father was extremely bitter and angry that he had had all these problems with his GM, and felt that it was a general condition with domestic car manufacturers - they were staffed by lazy, ignorant, overpaid 'union joes' who didn't give a carp about doing a good job, and built garbage.
So he was determined he was buying an asian import, as they were just better-made and more reliable. My step-mom had gotten good, reliable service out of her 1977 Honda Civic, and he liked that car, so he was going with something like that.
So, in December of 1988, he drove home a brand-new 1989 Toyota Tercel 3-door hatchback. Money was tight, so it was a complete stripper - white, vinyl seats, no radio, and a 4-speed transmission(!). The ONLY option on it was a rear wiper(!).
The problem? We were a family of 6 at the time, and this was to be the family vehicle! Right away I pointed out this wasn't really going to work, but both my parents countered with the fact that we rarely all went out as a family, and for times we did, we would just make do. On a lot of trips, this involved my younger sisters sitting on our laps. After a while, I got fed up and went out with them less.
I knew that money was tight, and we couldn't get a big vehicle, but I thought that for about the same money, a Chevrolet Cavalier wagon made more sense. But that just got my dad off on a rant about how I didn't understand what garbage ALL domestic cars were, and it was thinking like that that saddled people with junk cars. He was on a crusade, one he never got over.
I have to admit, that Tercel was very reliable - it even survived being driven around all day after the drain plug fell out from a 'Toyota oil change' at the dealership. It ended up doing about 80k miles, until my step-mom wrecked it soon after my father passed away. She replaced it with a Toyota Previa van - the type of vehicle we should have bought years earlier. She never saw the irony.....
Anyone else have a story about a vehilce purchase/choice that didn't really 'fit'?
My father had had a lot of problems with this Malibu wagon from the start. First few years had seen problems with the paint and transmission; and near the end, the engine ended up so carboned-up that it hardly ran at all.
My father was extremely bitter and angry that he had had all these problems with his GM, and felt that it was a general condition with domestic car manufacturers - they were staffed by lazy, ignorant, overpaid 'union joes' who didn't give a carp about doing a good job, and built garbage.
So he was determined he was buying an asian import, as they were just better-made and more reliable. My step-mom had gotten good, reliable service out of her 1977 Honda Civic, and he liked that car, so he was going with something like that.
So, in December of 1988, he drove home a brand-new 1989 Toyota Tercel 3-door hatchback. Money was tight, so it was a complete stripper - white, vinyl seats, no radio, and a 4-speed transmission(!). The ONLY option on it was a rear wiper(!).
The problem? We were a family of 6 at the time, and this was to be the family vehicle! Right away I pointed out this wasn't really going to work, but both my parents countered with the fact that we rarely all went out as a family, and for times we did, we would just make do. On a lot of trips, this involved my younger sisters sitting on our laps. After a while, I got fed up and went out with them less.
I knew that money was tight, and we couldn't get a big vehicle, but I thought that for about the same money, a Chevrolet Cavalier wagon made more sense. But that just got my dad off on a rant about how I didn't understand what garbage ALL domestic cars were, and it was thinking like that that saddled people with junk cars. He was on a crusade, one he never got over.
I have to admit, that Tercel was very reliable - it even survived being driven around all day after the drain plug fell out from a 'Toyota oil change' at the dealership. It ended up doing about 80k miles, until my step-mom wrecked it soon after my father passed away. She replaced it with a Toyota Previa van - the type of vehicle we should have bought years earlier. She never saw the irony.....
Anyone else have a story about a vehilce purchase/choice that didn't really 'fit'?
