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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!eagle!alice!wookie
From: wookie@alice.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: Re: Car problems...
Message-ID: <2083@alice.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 29-Jul-83 13:03:13 EDT
Article-I.D.: alice.2083
Posted: Fri Jul 29 13:03:13 1983
Date-Received: Sun, 31-Jul-83 20:41:13 EDT
References: <1239@tektronix.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Labs, Murray Hill
Lines: 37

Since I am involved with cars a great deal and have been an instructor for
auto maintenance and repair courses I get an awful lot of people passing
by my office for solutions to their car problems.  On the whole I would
have to say I have had more questions concerning foreign cars than domestic
varieties.  It seems that most of the American cars I have run across will
keep operating despite gross abuse and/or neglect by the owners.  The
foreign cars never seemed able to do that and so the ones that are carefully
maintained do keep running fine.  So I guess that is another observation;
if you want to buy and run a car for three years with absolutly no
maintenance (not even oil changes!) I think the American cars have been
able to do that.  Another observation I have made is that people who own
foreign cars seem to expect they will have to perform maintenance while
owners of American cars aren't sure what maintenance means.

The majority of the problems with the foreign cars seems to be that they
are not built to operate in all climates they encounter while the American
cars seem able to cope with the cold of Alaska or Canada or the heat of
Death Valley.  It seems odd to me that English cars with Lucas ignitions
won't run in damp weather, and people with Volvos are always asking me
why their car won't start when it's cold outside.

In defense of the foreign cars I have to say they are getting better while
the American cars of the 70's certainly seemed to be going downhill.  I hope
that the Japanese have scared Detroit back into building quality cars
that perform well.  I think this has been happening recently and so my
interest in American cars is rising back to old levels.

Note that I leave exotic foreign cars out of this discussion as they are
typically low production, very expensive and therefore bound to have some
odd and expensive problems.  That doesn't mean I wouldn't want a Ferrari
because I am sure if I could afford one then I would enjoy tinkering
with it to keep it going!!

Sorry for the long ramble.  Let us know your side!

					Keith Bauer
					White Tiger Racing