WHY I BUY IMPORT AUTOMOBILES
I hear a lot of whining by these Union hymies about we have an obligation to buy American cars. We should buy American cars to help our economy, and fellow American workers. We also hear this bull about how our money goes overseas to the parent company, and they have a problem with that. They also whine insistently about how buying a foreign car hurts American workers. It figures. These narrow-minded brain dead dolts are so full of crap their eyes are brown. Lets look at the facts:
Today, foreign carmakers employ far more American workers than American car makers do. The root of this issue is really that foreign carmakers in the US do not have Unions. They pay their people a fair wage, and offer fair benefits and those workers are happy to do a good job and are happy to have a job. Unlike American Union whiners who are over paid, unfairly paid, and are given way too much for free because they blackmailed the automakers into some insane contract by going out with their little cry baby signs and pouting and crying like a bunch of 5 year olds on a picket line.
For these jackals to stand there and say foreign carmakers are not good for American workers is bullcrap. They have obviously never gone out to places like Marysville Ohio where an entire town grew out of the farmlands because a Honda factory was built there. That factory not only employs thousands of Americans, but it also greatly affects the local economy. By being there and employing those people it brought work to the carpenters, plumbers, roofers, electricians, masons and a whole slew of workers who built the surrounding housing developments, shopping centers and other businesses. There is now a thriving economy where there once was nothing. The Unions have a problem with this because they are not in control.
What type of person is so pathetic that they have to join a union? If you don’t have enough backbone to tell your boss and managers what you want and need, or to walk out and get a different job, then you sound pretty gutless to me. Why would anyone agree to pay some Union their hard earned money, and then have the Union dictate where they can live, what products they can buy, and who they can vote for? All the American public ever sees from Union members is greed. It’s always about them. They come off with this crap about their better trained, their product is better, that they care more about America. Bullcrap!! Many Americans are not that stupid. We see the shoddy work on our homes, highways, products and roads. We see how much you care when just at the beginning of the school year you go out on your little sign toting tantrums because some jackal somewhere got a raise and you didn’t. They obviously could care less about the kids. The same thing goes on with sports. These idiots are so over paid it’s sickening. Then they have the gall to turn around and have a tantrum walk out in the middle of the season. Oh yeah, they really care about the fans who are paying insane amounts for tickets because these idiots are already over paid. These are just two examples, there are many more.
When it comes to American car manufacturers, they just don’t get it. They can advertise all they want about quality is job one, and we make the most reliable cars and trucks on the planet, and it makes no difference because the American people know its all bull. Only the gullible Union idiots are stupid enough to keep buying their junk under the premise of loyalty. You’re wasting your money idiots.
This is what I know about American vs. Foreign cars. This is based on each car or truck that I have owned in my lifetime. Starting with my first car:
1.) 1972 Vega. Could not get out of its own way. Blown motor at 56/K miles. Rebuilt motor, burned oil profusely until scrapped.
2.) 1969 Chevelle SS 396. Blown motor at 68/K miles.
3.) 1975 Vega. Didn’t learn my lesson from the first piece of crap. Could not get out of its own way. Worse power than the 1972 model. Seats tore open after a few months. Motor had issues at 5/K miles that were never resolved. Electrical problems.
4.) 1976 Monte Carlo. Nice car, drank gas like mad. Had to trade during mid 1970’s gas crisis.
5.) 1978 Chevette. Better power than the Vegas, but not much more. Car died repeatedly during the first few months of ownership due to electrical problems. Trim constantly fell off, poor fit and finish.
6.) 1980 Monte Carlo. Nice riding car. Got 80+/K miles on original tires and brakes. Engine blown at 96/K miles.
7.) 1985 Mustang GT. Fast car, sounded good. Black body trim faded and changed colors within the first year, made the car look horrible. Shifter linkage broke twice stranding me. Ignition cylinder collapsed on me disabling the car and stranding me. Fuel pump seized costing me $300 to get repaired and stranding me yet again.
8.) 1986 Ranger Super Cab. Good size for family chores. In shop repeatedly for intake gasket problem. Gasket kept burning through and needed to be replaced. A two-day job requiring me to rent a car at my expense. Third time I got stranded, it was trade in time.
9.) 1988 Mustang GT. This was my first American car that lasted a while without major problems. Sold it at 89/K miles after I moved to Florida to get the down payment for a house.
10.) 1989 Honda Accord. Smooth running car, lots of power, very nice ride, smooth, and quiet. Also very good on gas and a pleasure to drive. Foolishly traded in on a Jeep Eagle van at 189/K miles.
11.) 1992 Jeep Eagle. It was not my idea to get this van; it was my wife’s. She wanted a van for the dog. This van was based on the Mitsubishi Expo and it had decent power, and ride, but it was obviously cheaply made. I have to say that we never had any problems with it though. Traded it in on a Honda Del Sol for her. To this day she still owns the Del Sol with 90+/K miles on it and no issues.
12.) 1993 Ranger. Ok truck for small household projects. Could not get out of its own way however as the 4 cylinder was a waste of metal. Did not own long enough to have problems as it was traded with the Jeep Eagle van to get the wife a Del Sol.
13.) 1992 Honda Civic. This car was purchased second hand with 69/K miles. It was a fast little car that ran smooth as silk. Never had one issue with this car the whole time I owned it. Traded with 112/K miles to get a truck so I could do work on my house.
14.) 1995 Ranger. This time I purchased the six cylinder and the truck had plenty of power to spare. The only issues I had with this truck was the valve cover gaskets leaked. I replaced them once which was an all-daylong job, and after a few months they started leaking again. Had a leak in the windshield on the driver’s side that always flooded the floor and carpet there during heavy rains. Had it back to the dealer for repair but they never fixed it. Forced to trade it in when divorce came around.
15.) 1994 Honda Accord. I have to say that this was the best car I ever owned and the best value I’ve ever had in a car. I purchased this car as a 1-year-old lease trade in with 18/K miles. I still own this car and it runs like new with 220/K miles. Everything still works on her, and she sits and idles smooth as glass. No rust on the body either. The only thing I ever spent money on was new tires and brakes. I just put a new exhaust on it last month. My daughter drives this daily.
16.) 1998 Ford F150. This truck could haul a house. It had a long bed and you could fit anything in there. It had the 6 cylinder automatic, which in previous years had been blowing up on people. On cold mornings this thing would scream from under the hood. Something having to do with the power steering pump. The big issue with this truck was the handling issues. It was horrible to control especially on damp roads. I almost died in this thing twice before I came up with a plan to trade it in. Traded after a little over 1 year along with a dead 1994 Camaro my wife’s son had on a drag it in deal. I found and purchased a 2000 Ranger 4X4.
17.) 2000 Ranger 4X4. This truck had issues from day one. When putting in reverse it would not engage and make a wining sound when you pressed the gas. You would have to put it back in drive then reverse and hope it engaged. After a short period of time the windows started bobbing when you raised or lowered them. The belts in the electric window drives stretched over time and made the operation sloppy. Service at the local Ford shop to get the windows and tranny fixed was horrible. Never called me to say the truck would not be done, then called and promised it to me one day and when I arrived they said I could not take the truck as the parts had to be ordered. The brakes ground constantly like there was sand in them. The 4X4 did work very well; I will give credit for that. Each morning after getting a mile or two up the road, the motor made a horn like sound. It was embarrassing so sit at a light and have this truck making horn noises. It was a poorly designed Idle Control Valve. This was cleaned and/or replaced several times and never resolved the issue for more than a few days before it came back. Finally, one day on the way home from work the cabin filled with acrid smoke. I had to pull over and get out of the vehicle. It eventually cleared out without a fire and the truck appeared to run fine. The next day the gauges went ballistic, and the motor began to overheat. Trade time
18.) 2005 Honda CRV. So far this vehicle is very nice. I wish it had a little more power, and a tad more legroom. But it for a SUV is very good on gas and these days that is a plus. So far I’ve had no issues with this vehicle.
19.) 2005 Honda Accord. We decided to let my daughter drive the 1994 Accord, but the wife would then need a fuel efficient car for work. The Accord was our first choice hands down. Smooth, quiet, powerful (4 cyl), and good-looking. So far no issues at all with this vehicle.
20.) 2002 Trans AM CE. My wife has this car. It was her dream car, as she loved Trans Am’s. She had a White 1998 one but it was not a WS6 package and this was that in addition to being a collectors edition. I think it’s a U boat, but she loves it and that’s what counts. It is basically a garage queen with only 18/K miles on it, but it has issues. It idles rough and always did from the first day she drove it. A new car should not do this. It also has a deep knock you can hear when it’s idling. For me, headroom is non-existent, but the wife is short so it’s not an issue with her. The park brake has never worked right and always slips off the ratchet when pulled hard.
It should be noted that I am a nut about taking care of my vehicles. I do ALL maintenance on schedule either by myself or at the manufacturers dealership. So raising that issue will be moot. So you can see from this history that the American cars in almost all cases were traded due to blown motors or other constant major issues. Where as the import vehicles all ran like tops, had no issues, and when they were traded it was due to events other than problems with the vehicle. If I am going to spend my hard earned money on a vehicle today, at the prices they have the gall to ask for today, it had better be reliable to a fault. In this regard, the imports win hands down. All manufacturers have a lemon once in a while. I find that with American cars and trucks the non-lemon is the exception rather than the rule. Tell me then why I should waste my time and money on American cars and trucks? I will NOT buy anything just because it’s made here. I’d love to, and do so as often as I can, but I’m not dropping 24/K on a vehicle just because some Union idiot has a crying fit. Fix the quality issues!
Alas, the quality issues are still not the root of the problem. American car makers have been touting for years that quality is job one, quality this, quality that. I see some improvement, but it’s not nearly enough. There is also another element. Value. I laugh my butt off when I hear a Ford or Chevrolet dealership advertising and saying that we cannot beat their value. HA! Not in a million years would that be true. Value is a key factor and American made cars aren’t even close. They’ve tried the lip service about value, but the American people are showing they know its bull by the sales numbers. The import manufacturers have the value thing dialed in. Value is more than a better price, a better deal, better fit and finish. Value comes from within. It’s the engineering that goes into the lifeblood of the machine. It’s that element that translates into the monetary value, and the two are intertwined.
I already knew the difference in quality between the two. The first time I drove an import vehicle I was so impressed with the quiet ride and the power I was feeling from a 4-cylinder car. I’m not a stupid man, in fact I’m a very sharp man who keeps his eyes open and knows what to look for. I had always been a staunch supporter of American made cars. I had family who had lost their jobs at steel mills due to the import of steel and steel products from abroad. I recall getting all over some co-worker on a repeated basis about her love for Toyota Celica’s. But I am not so vain as to sit there when the truth is staring me in the face and make stupid statements like these Union idiots do. Get over it, face the facts. I discovered value after I was forced to move from Florida to get a job. I brought my 1994 Accord with me. I spent a year finishing college courses I needed, and working with the career counsel to land a good job. By the time all of this happened, I had paid my 1994 Accord off. I needed furniture for my new apartment, but had no spare cash. I decided to see if I could get a loan and increase my chances of obtaining one by securing it with the 1994 Accord. This was 1999, and my 1994 Accord was now 5 years old. I had purchased it for $18/K. I was hoping to obtain a loan for $5/K if the car was worth enough to cover that. I was shocked and surprised when the lending officer at the bank asked me if that was all I needed. I said yes, why do you ask. He told me that I could borrow up to 80% of the cars value. I asked how much that was and he said $12/K. I almost fell out of my chair; my 5-year-old $18/K car was STILL worth around $13,500???? Yes! Now that is value. My mother was dropping $38/K on Cadillac’s, she owned a 1992 Deville Coupe, and about this same time she had, you guessed it, a motor that was going at a mere 96/K miles due to a cracked water jacket. We debated whether or not to get a new motor put into the car at a cost of $5/K. We looked up the value of that car, which was only 7 years old, and it was a pathetic $1,600 if it was mechanically sound! I was now enlightened as were many Americans. No idiot in their right mind would drop $25/K to $35/K on a new car knowing that in 5 years that vehicle would only be worth around $1/K to $2/K. They certainly are not going to do this just to help their greedy overpaid fellow American Union worker keep their job when the overwhelming opinion is that they don’t deserve to have that job, and they are overpaid and deserve what they get.
So we are asking, where did this value come from, what are its origins? This is a tough question because it comes from many different sources. Lets start with the least important as I see it, and work our way up.
Having a good looking and exciting vehicle is a good start. I find some imports ugly as sin, but more importantly, I find most American cars boring. One of the reasons I had switched to Ford from GM was that their cars (GM) were so plain. They gave you as little as they could get away with. Ford at least had some styling and design to their vehicles. But you look at a Honda or Toyota, and you see vehicles that are designed to impress. They are designed with the family in mind, even if it’s a sporty model like the Del Sol or Prelude, they are still conservative and well thought out.
Fit and finish. These are important, and American manufacturers have tried hard to improve in this area. The problems I see though are that I see far too many American vehicles with paint issues. Flaking clear coat, and flaking paint are two along with trim that falls off or fits poorly. I never see this on an import vehicle. More importantly, is the quality that goes into the parts. The import paint is better, the prep is better, and the component parts, sheet metal, rubber and plastic trim components. They are better quality materials, and better engineered on the imports.
Creature comforts. Again, American manufacturers have tried hard in this area to make improvements. The problem is that they still attempt to get away with as little as possible. They also focus too much on the gimmicks as opposed to the quality of what they have. I see far too many American manufacturer commercials touting needless gimmicks like retractable roofs on SUV’s and 4 wheels steering. Here is a hint American manufacturers, focus your already limited resources on improving the quality and reliability of existing systems.
The drive train. Bluntly put, American made engines with little exception for motors such as the Ford high performance engines suck. These engines should not be blowing up at 50/K to 100/K miles. Aside from the motor problems noted in my own vehicles I can name two more. My brother owned a Pontiac Grand Am GT. This thing sucked. It could not get out of its own way. He replaced the motor in that heap of junk within 2 years of buying it. His previous car, a Chevrolet Celebrity was traded because of a going motor. My current wife not long after we met was driving a Ford conversion van. She was stranded on a local expressway after the motor exploded. What the heck is it with American vehicle engines? You don’t hear of honest stories like that coming about regarding Honda’s or Toyota’s unless there was some sort of owner abuse involved.
Herein lies your biggest problem American manufacturers so listen up. The Unions have blackmailed you for decades. They demand idiotic pay for meaningless jobs. They complain that their worker is entitled to make a fair wage so he/she can support their family. On the surface this is true, but a fair wage is not what is happening. Far too many are way over paid. A grommet installer should not be getting paid $18 an hour. They should also not be getting paid the same as the engine installer just to make things “fair”. That’s bullcrap. The pay should reflect the skill and difficulty of the work being done, not this bullcrap that everyone on the line gets paid the higher of all of the salaries because they see that as fair. It’s not fair. If these jackals want to support their family with one job, they need to go to college and earn a degree in a field that justifies the type of pay they need. That’s what I did, I hated the field I was in, and its pay sucked. I got tired of living paycheck to paycheck, and struggling all the time. Did I go out and pout and cry and stomp my feet with my little signs of rhetoric like a sissy, no I got my butt into a college and did my penance and got the education and skills to get into a better paying job. That’s how it is done, not this sissy cry baby picket crap.
What this has done is drain the American automobile industry of its cash flow. They are now overburdened with this labor debt they were blackmailed into by the Unions. They should have nipped this in the bud decades ago, but they did not. Now they have nothing to lose, so I say go for it. Fire every damn one of these ungrateful losers. Take a hint from the import manufacturers non-union business model. Open your doors only to those who truly want to work. Those who would be grateful to have a paying job. Those who would do outstanding work for a fair days pay. Workers who care more about the product than they’re selfish needs. Then, the American manufacturers can channel that extra cash into engineering. They can build the type of motors and transmissions and parts of such superior quality that these negative value trends are reversed, and they would rival those of the imports. Then and only then will people be willing to spend their hard earned money on an American made vehicle. They will perceive that value that would be there. They would be happy to support the American worker because they know they would not be a bunch of overpaid crook cry baby whiners who have no ones interest in mind but their own.
There is the truth. The hymies at the Unions will cry bloody murder that this is unfair, and this is lies, and that this is all bull. Fact is, it is them and their Union that is full of bull. The Unions need to be eliminated, and the sooner the better. Now, the question is, do the American automobile manufacturers have the balls to toss all of their butts out and do what needs to be done??
Today, foreign carmakers employ far more American workers than American car makers do. The root of this issue is really that foreign carmakers in the US do not have Unions. They pay their people a fair wage, and offer fair benefits and those workers are happy to do a good job and are happy to have a job. Unlike American Union whiners who are over paid, unfairly paid, and are given way too much for free because they blackmailed the automakers into some insane contract by going out with their little cry baby signs and pouting and crying like a bunch of 5 year olds on a picket line.
For these jackals to stand there and say foreign carmakers are not good for American workers is bullcrap. They have obviously never gone out to places like Marysville Ohio where an entire town grew out of the farmlands because a Honda factory was built there. That factory not only employs thousands of Americans, but it also greatly affects the local economy. By being there and employing those people it brought work to the carpenters, plumbers, roofers, electricians, masons and a whole slew of workers who built the surrounding housing developments, shopping centers and other businesses. There is now a thriving economy where there once was nothing. The Unions have a problem with this because they are not in control.
What type of person is so pathetic that they have to join a union? If you don’t have enough backbone to tell your boss and managers what you want and need, or to walk out and get a different job, then you sound pretty gutless to me. Why would anyone agree to pay some Union their hard earned money, and then have the Union dictate where they can live, what products they can buy, and who they can vote for? All the American public ever sees from Union members is greed. It’s always about them. They come off with this crap about their better trained, their product is better, that they care more about America. Bullcrap!! Many Americans are not that stupid. We see the shoddy work on our homes, highways, products and roads. We see how much you care when just at the beginning of the school year you go out on your little sign toting tantrums because some jackal somewhere got a raise and you didn’t. They obviously could care less about the kids. The same thing goes on with sports. These idiots are so over paid it’s sickening. Then they have the gall to turn around and have a tantrum walk out in the middle of the season. Oh yeah, they really care about the fans who are paying insane amounts for tickets because these idiots are already over paid. These are just two examples, there are many more.
When it comes to American car manufacturers, they just don’t get it. They can advertise all they want about quality is job one, and we make the most reliable cars and trucks on the planet, and it makes no difference because the American people know its all bull. Only the gullible Union idiots are stupid enough to keep buying their junk under the premise of loyalty. You’re wasting your money idiots.
This is what I know about American vs. Foreign cars. This is based on each car or truck that I have owned in my lifetime. Starting with my first car:
1.) 1972 Vega. Could not get out of its own way. Blown motor at 56/K miles. Rebuilt motor, burned oil profusely until scrapped.
2.) 1969 Chevelle SS 396. Blown motor at 68/K miles.
3.) 1975 Vega. Didn’t learn my lesson from the first piece of crap. Could not get out of its own way. Worse power than the 1972 model. Seats tore open after a few months. Motor had issues at 5/K miles that were never resolved. Electrical problems.
4.) 1976 Monte Carlo. Nice car, drank gas like mad. Had to trade during mid 1970’s gas crisis.
5.) 1978 Chevette. Better power than the Vegas, but not much more. Car died repeatedly during the first few months of ownership due to electrical problems. Trim constantly fell off, poor fit and finish.
6.) 1980 Monte Carlo. Nice riding car. Got 80+/K miles on original tires and brakes. Engine blown at 96/K miles.
7.) 1985 Mustang GT. Fast car, sounded good. Black body trim faded and changed colors within the first year, made the car look horrible. Shifter linkage broke twice stranding me. Ignition cylinder collapsed on me disabling the car and stranding me. Fuel pump seized costing me $300 to get repaired and stranding me yet again.
8.) 1986 Ranger Super Cab. Good size for family chores. In shop repeatedly for intake gasket problem. Gasket kept burning through and needed to be replaced. A two-day job requiring me to rent a car at my expense. Third time I got stranded, it was trade in time.
9.) 1988 Mustang GT. This was my first American car that lasted a while without major problems. Sold it at 89/K miles after I moved to Florida to get the down payment for a house.
10.) 1989 Honda Accord. Smooth running car, lots of power, very nice ride, smooth, and quiet. Also very good on gas and a pleasure to drive. Foolishly traded in on a Jeep Eagle van at 189/K miles.
11.) 1992 Jeep Eagle. It was not my idea to get this van; it was my wife’s. She wanted a van for the dog. This van was based on the Mitsubishi Expo and it had decent power, and ride, but it was obviously cheaply made. I have to say that we never had any problems with it though. Traded it in on a Honda Del Sol for her. To this day she still owns the Del Sol with 90+/K miles on it and no issues.
12.) 1993 Ranger. Ok truck for small household projects. Could not get out of its own way however as the 4 cylinder was a waste of metal. Did not own long enough to have problems as it was traded with the Jeep Eagle van to get the wife a Del Sol.
13.) 1992 Honda Civic. This car was purchased second hand with 69/K miles. It was a fast little car that ran smooth as silk. Never had one issue with this car the whole time I owned it. Traded with 112/K miles to get a truck so I could do work on my house.
14.) 1995 Ranger. This time I purchased the six cylinder and the truck had plenty of power to spare. The only issues I had with this truck was the valve cover gaskets leaked. I replaced them once which was an all-daylong job, and after a few months they started leaking again. Had a leak in the windshield on the driver’s side that always flooded the floor and carpet there during heavy rains. Had it back to the dealer for repair but they never fixed it. Forced to trade it in when divorce came around.
15.) 1994 Honda Accord. I have to say that this was the best car I ever owned and the best value I’ve ever had in a car. I purchased this car as a 1-year-old lease trade in with 18/K miles. I still own this car and it runs like new with 220/K miles. Everything still works on her, and she sits and idles smooth as glass. No rust on the body either. The only thing I ever spent money on was new tires and brakes. I just put a new exhaust on it last month. My daughter drives this daily.
16.) 1998 Ford F150. This truck could haul a house. It had a long bed and you could fit anything in there. It had the 6 cylinder automatic, which in previous years had been blowing up on people. On cold mornings this thing would scream from under the hood. Something having to do with the power steering pump. The big issue with this truck was the handling issues. It was horrible to control especially on damp roads. I almost died in this thing twice before I came up with a plan to trade it in. Traded after a little over 1 year along with a dead 1994 Camaro my wife’s son had on a drag it in deal. I found and purchased a 2000 Ranger 4X4.
17.) 2000 Ranger 4X4. This truck had issues from day one. When putting in reverse it would not engage and make a wining sound when you pressed the gas. You would have to put it back in drive then reverse and hope it engaged. After a short period of time the windows started bobbing when you raised or lowered them. The belts in the electric window drives stretched over time and made the operation sloppy. Service at the local Ford shop to get the windows and tranny fixed was horrible. Never called me to say the truck would not be done, then called and promised it to me one day and when I arrived they said I could not take the truck as the parts had to be ordered. The brakes ground constantly like there was sand in them. The 4X4 did work very well; I will give credit for that. Each morning after getting a mile or two up the road, the motor made a horn like sound. It was embarrassing so sit at a light and have this truck making horn noises. It was a poorly designed Idle Control Valve. This was cleaned and/or replaced several times and never resolved the issue for more than a few days before it came back. Finally, one day on the way home from work the cabin filled with acrid smoke. I had to pull over and get out of the vehicle. It eventually cleared out without a fire and the truck appeared to run fine. The next day the gauges went ballistic, and the motor began to overheat. Trade time
18.) 2005 Honda CRV. So far this vehicle is very nice. I wish it had a little more power, and a tad more legroom. But it for a SUV is very good on gas and these days that is a plus. So far I’ve had no issues with this vehicle.
19.) 2005 Honda Accord. We decided to let my daughter drive the 1994 Accord, but the wife would then need a fuel efficient car for work. The Accord was our first choice hands down. Smooth, quiet, powerful (4 cyl), and good-looking. So far no issues at all with this vehicle.
20.) 2002 Trans AM CE. My wife has this car. It was her dream car, as she loved Trans Am’s. She had a White 1998 one but it was not a WS6 package and this was that in addition to being a collectors edition. I think it’s a U boat, but she loves it and that’s what counts. It is basically a garage queen with only 18/K miles on it, but it has issues. It idles rough and always did from the first day she drove it. A new car should not do this. It also has a deep knock you can hear when it’s idling. For me, headroom is non-existent, but the wife is short so it’s not an issue with her. The park brake has never worked right and always slips off the ratchet when pulled hard.
It should be noted that I am a nut about taking care of my vehicles. I do ALL maintenance on schedule either by myself or at the manufacturers dealership. So raising that issue will be moot. So you can see from this history that the American cars in almost all cases were traded due to blown motors or other constant major issues. Where as the import vehicles all ran like tops, had no issues, and when they were traded it was due to events other than problems with the vehicle. If I am going to spend my hard earned money on a vehicle today, at the prices they have the gall to ask for today, it had better be reliable to a fault. In this regard, the imports win hands down. All manufacturers have a lemon once in a while. I find that with American cars and trucks the non-lemon is the exception rather than the rule. Tell me then why I should waste my time and money on American cars and trucks? I will NOT buy anything just because it’s made here. I’d love to, and do so as often as I can, but I’m not dropping 24/K on a vehicle just because some Union idiot has a crying fit. Fix the quality issues!
Alas, the quality issues are still not the root of the problem. American car makers have been touting for years that quality is job one, quality this, quality that. I see some improvement, but it’s not nearly enough. There is also another element. Value. I laugh my butt off when I hear a Ford or Chevrolet dealership advertising and saying that we cannot beat their value. HA! Not in a million years would that be true. Value is a key factor and American made cars aren’t even close. They’ve tried the lip service about value, but the American people are showing they know its bull by the sales numbers. The import manufacturers have the value thing dialed in. Value is more than a better price, a better deal, better fit and finish. Value comes from within. It’s the engineering that goes into the lifeblood of the machine. It’s that element that translates into the monetary value, and the two are intertwined.
I already knew the difference in quality between the two. The first time I drove an import vehicle I was so impressed with the quiet ride and the power I was feeling from a 4-cylinder car. I’m not a stupid man, in fact I’m a very sharp man who keeps his eyes open and knows what to look for. I had always been a staunch supporter of American made cars. I had family who had lost their jobs at steel mills due to the import of steel and steel products from abroad. I recall getting all over some co-worker on a repeated basis about her love for Toyota Celica’s. But I am not so vain as to sit there when the truth is staring me in the face and make stupid statements like these Union idiots do. Get over it, face the facts. I discovered value after I was forced to move from Florida to get a job. I brought my 1994 Accord with me. I spent a year finishing college courses I needed, and working with the career counsel to land a good job. By the time all of this happened, I had paid my 1994 Accord off. I needed furniture for my new apartment, but had no spare cash. I decided to see if I could get a loan and increase my chances of obtaining one by securing it with the 1994 Accord. This was 1999, and my 1994 Accord was now 5 years old. I had purchased it for $18/K. I was hoping to obtain a loan for $5/K if the car was worth enough to cover that. I was shocked and surprised when the lending officer at the bank asked me if that was all I needed. I said yes, why do you ask. He told me that I could borrow up to 80% of the cars value. I asked how much that was and he said $12/K. I almost fell out of my chair; my 5-year-old $18/K car was STILL worth around $13,500???? Yes! Now that is value. My mother was dropping $38/K on Cadillac’s, she owned a 1992 Deville Coupe, and about this same time she had, you guessed it, a motor that was going at a mere 96/K miles due to a cracked water jacket. We debated whether or not to get a new motor put into the car at a cost of $5/K. We looked up the value of that car, which was only 7 years old, and it was a pathetic $1,600 if it was mechanically sound! I was now enlightened as were many Americans. No idiot in their right mind would drop $25/K to $35/K on a new car knowing that in 5 years that vehicle would only be worth around $1/K to $2/K. They certainly are not going to do this just to help their greedy overpaid fellow American Union worker keep their job when the overwhelming opinion is that they don’t deserve to have that job, and they are overpaid and deserve what they get.
So we are asking, where did this value come from, what are its origins? This is a tough question because it comes from many different sources. Lets start with the least important as I see it, and work our way up.
Having a good looking and exciting vehicle is a good start. I find some imports ugly as sin, but more importantly, I find most American cars boring. One of the reasons I had switched to Ford from GM was that their cars (GM) were so plain. They gave you as little as they could get away with. Ford at least had some styling and design to their vehicles. But you look at a Honda or Toyota, and you see vehicles that are designed to impress. They are designed with the family in mind, even if it’s a sporty model like the Del Sol or Prelude, they are still conservative and well thought out.
Fit and finish. These are important, and American manufacturers have tried hard to improve in this area. The problems I see though are that I see far too many American vehicles with paint issues. Flaking clear coat, and flaking paint are two along with trim that falls off or fits poorly. I never see this on an import vehicle. More importantly, is the quality that goes into the parts. The import paint is better, the prep is better, and the component parts, sheet metal, rubber and plastic trim components. They are better quality materials, and better engineered on the imports.
Creature comforts. Again, American manufacturers have tried hard in this area to make improvements. The problem is that they still attempt to get away with as little as possible. They also focus too much on the gimmicks as opposed to the quality of what they have. I see far too many American manufacturer commercials touting needless gimmicks like retractable roofs on SUV’s and 4 wheels steering. Here is a hint American manufacturers, focus your already limited resources on improving the quality and reliability of existing systems.
The drive train. Bluntly put, American made engines with little exception for motors such as the Ford high performance engines suck. These engines should not be blowing up at 50/K to 100/K miles. Aside from the motor problems noted in my own vehicles I can name two more. My brother owned a Pontiac Grand Am GT. This thing sucked. It could not get out of its own way. He replaced the motor in that heap of junk within 2 years of buying it. His previous car, a Chevrolet Celebrity was traded because of a going motor. My current wife not long after we met was driving a Ford conversion van. She was stranded on a local expressway after the motor exploded. What the heck is it with American vehicle engines? You don’t hear of honest stories like that coming about regarding Honda’s or Toyota’s unless there was some sort of owner abuse involved.
Herein lies your biggest problem American manufacturers so listen up. The Unions have blackmailed you for decades. They demand idiotic pay for meaningless jobs. They complain that their worker is entitled to make a fair wage so he/she can support their family. On the surface this is true, but a fair wage is not what is happening. Far too many are way over paid. A grommet installer should not be getting paid $18 an hour. They should also not be getting paid the same as the engine installer just to make things “fair”. That’s bullcrap. The pay should reflect the skill and difficulty of the work being done, not this bullcrap that everyone on the line gets paid the higher of all of the salaries because they see that as fair. It’s not fair. If these jackals want to support their family with one job, they need to go to college and earn a degree in a field that justifies the type of pay they need. That’s what I did, I hated the field I was in, and its pay sucked. I got tired of living paycheck to paycheck, and struggling all the time. Did I go out and pout and cry and stomp my feet with my little signs of rhetoric like a sissy, no I got my butt into a college and did my penance and got the education and skills to get into a better paying job. That’s how it is done, not this sissy cry baby picket crap.
What this has done is drain the American automobile industry of its cash flow. They are now overburdened with this labor debt they were blackmailed into by the Unions. They should have nipped this in the bud decades ago, but they did not. Now they have nothing to lose, so I say go for it. Fire every damn one of these ungrateful losers. Take a hint from the import manufacturers non-union business model. Open your doors only to those who truly want to work. Those who would be grateful to have a paying job. Those who would do outstanding work for a fair days pay. Workers who care more about the product than they’re selfish needs. Then, the American manufacturers can channel that extra cash into engineering. They can build the type of motors and transmissions and parts of such superior quality that these negative value trends are reversed, and they would rival those of the imports. Then and only then will people be willing to spend their hard earned money on an American made vehicle. They will perceive that value that would be there. They would be happy to support the American worker because they know they would not be a bunch of overpaid crook cry baby whiners who have no ones interest in mind but their own.
There is the truth. The hymies at the Unions will cry bloody murder that this is unfair, and this is lies, and that this is all bull. Fact is, it is them and their Union that is full of bull. The Unions need to be eliminated, and the sooner the better. Now, the question is, do the American automobile manufacturers have the balls to toss all of their butts out and do what needs to be done??
posted by John Q. Public at 9:15 AM
