30th Aug 2010, 13:43
You're right, pay all of your employees twice what their job is worth in profits from the product they build for you, pay them all until they die, even after they quit working, and see how long you survive. Oh yeah, GM has already done that for you. Look how good it worked for them!! As long as you think that is a step forward......
30th Aug 2010, 18:21
I disagree completely. Have you ever looked at the underside of an American compact car? The frames are usually far thinner than the import frames and they're almost always stamped together or simply tack welded in spots. The import frames also have far better engineering and possess full welds along the seams of the subframe. I personally have seen domestics simply bend under their own weight. I even owned one (a'95 Neon that simply bent under its own weight). I'll never forget the '91 Ford Escort we had... one of the welds in the unibody snapped and the whole car bent inwards almost immediately after purchasing it brand new. Choose to believe that if you want but it really did happen.
31st Aug 2010, 20:00
Having had three imports I can attest to the fact that all the structural members on imports are very frail and flimsy. The frame sagged on our 80's Mazda after only 84,000 miles. We were told it was a very common thing. It was referred to by our tire shop as "The Japanese flimsies". It was so common they had a name for it!
1st Sep 2010, 10:36
Yeah, because "tire shops" are the ends all when it comes to auto mechanics.
I have never, and will never hear of a car sagging under its own weight under normal circumstances. I had an old '80 Toyota Celica that the frame rail under the drivers door had completely rusted through. I was told by my good mechanic that it needed replacing sooner or later, as it could eventually compromise the integrity of the car. Even with that, it never sagged or showed any signs of weakness. If this was the case, millions of Mazdas would have been recalled for that failure as it would be unsafe. Since that is not the case, and I have never heard of this happening to anyone but you, I'd have to say it is false to assume that all Mazdas of the same time period suffered from this.
Your Mazda was surely dropped in transport, and probably had a weld seam snapped or something major like that, and they sold it as new. This would go undetected, as most people who buy new cars don't crawl underneath to make sure there is no damage. I have heard countless stories of wrecked cars being fixed up and sold as new. This is obviously one of those cases.
1st Sep 2010, 21:17
Having had almost 10 imports (you'd think we would've had more than that over a span of 30 years, but they just lasted so darn long) NONE of them suffered from any kind of structural weakness. Even our 1996 Honda Accord, which was rear-ended by a Buick Roadmaster going over 35 MPH, had no frame issues. In fact, it was the Accord that drove away from the accident while the Buick was written off by the insurance company (it was totaled completely and had to be towed). It wouldn't even START after the accident. I had my cracked rear bumper replaced, and continued driving my Accord.
1st Sep 2010, 21:32
"Yeah, because "tire shops" are the ends all when it comes to auto mechanics."
The tire shop charged us not ONE CENT for checking the car out, and they referred us to a very reputable frame shop that told us the exact same thing. We opted to trade the car for a Ford with 129,000 miles on it. It ran flawlessly for years.
2nd Sep 2010, 12:11
Seriously, you are the only one I have ever heard of anything like this happening to. I have owned many imports and known dozens of people with import cars and not once did anyone complain of any structural weaknesses or faults, not once. I really think you had a car that was damaged in some way without your knowledge. Like I said even new cars are sold after being nearly totaled in industrial accidents or in shipping. I suspect this was the case. As far as a shop telling you about the flimsy frames of Japanese cars? Well, I can find a dozen shops that will say the same thing about American cars so it is all up to what people prefer. Anyone will trash brands they don't like, even mechanics.
All in all this isn't the norm for any car line. Sagging frames would have caught up to any brand of car if it were the way they were built. Since there hasn't been any major recall for this supposed fault, I can only conclude it was an isolated incident caused by something other than the design of the car.
30th Aug 2010, 13:25
Ughhhh, the short warranty thing AGAIN. Please, unless you are driving a Hyundai or Suzuki, you have a warranty that is EXACTLY the same as Honda or Toyota or any other import... and even Ford!
And YES, I want to know who is driving the company into the ground as their CEO, because if they can't run an efficient business, then how in the world can they build a product that is as complex and expensive as a car with any real competence??? GM has proven they can't over and over again to me, as I have never had a GM product to even close to 100K miles without $thousands in repairs. When you are going under, you cut corners. It is the nature of business, and it is prevalent in ALL of GM's products short of the Corvette, which is a specialty car.
And finally, yes, above and beyond all else, I buy what drives the best, and is the most fun and value for the dollar. That is exactly why I buy imports. They are better in all aspects than any domestic could ever dream of being.