30th Dec 2008, 00:47

Import repair costs are somewhat more expensive than domestics. However, in my experience with both, repairs for imports have been few and far between, unlike domestics. Rarely did my 1987 Nissan Maxima have service issues (the car left me stranded not a single time for anything other than a flat tire. I can't say the same about GM). The GM product, however, was a different story. I actually dreaded taking my pickup to the service department. For one, they were too high, two, they do not seem to stand behind their product as much as the guys at Nissan. Much of the work I could do myself on the Nissan. The lights were simple to change (which by the way were not changed from the time the car was brand new until Dec. 2007), I had problems reaching the socket on the GM. My brakes lasted longer on my Nissan and spent little in repairs during 21 years of ownership.

Import quality is superior to that of domestics. Even after 20 years with my Nissan, not a single part on the dashboard and operating panel had fallen off, nothing cracked or sunbeaten, seats were easy to clean and still looked like they did when I drove her off the showroom floor. In fact, from 1995 until 2007, I had NOT A SINGLE major repair other than regular maintenance that cost me little. In my GMC if you spilled a drink, it was over, I pampered it and still my A/C vent covers fell off, the cheap dashboard plastic cracked and tore, the paint chipped VERY easily and was generally a cheaply made vehicle that seemed little pride went into.

I purchased my GMC brand new in March 1996, by June 1998, the O2 sensors were gone, March 1999, U-joints needed replacing ($177), August 2001 alternator ($100), March 2004, timing belt ($669), April 2005, hood became jammed ($135), June 2006, leak in air conditioning unit caused lack of function, Sept. 2006, master brake cylinder and ABS failed, August 2007, head gasket (I became wise enough to let the piece of junk go where it belonged in the first place, the junkyard). By the way, this is just an abbreviated inventory of repairs over the years, I was nickel and dimed much of the way with $50-$100 repairs.

The GMC was also very unsafe. Once during a rainstorm with the windshield wipers operating, the driver-side wiper just blew off causing the driver to be unable to see. If it rained too hard it caused the engine to bog down while operating, it would skid on a slick road far too easily.

With an insistent beginner 16-year old driver in the house, I let my son use the truck from May-Aug. 2007 until I could find him more reliable transportation, the truck failed him on a major highway at NIGHT. I had enough and decided to put him in a Scion (Toyota) Xb. He's been satisfied, no problems and have not had to answer any calls due to him being stranded. I'm forever a loyal import owner.

30th Dec 2008, 14:47

The only vehicles that have ever left me or my wife stranded on the road were a Toyota (twice), a Mazda (built in Japan before Ford bought them) and a Honda (too many times to remember). We've never had a single breakdown on the highway with any of our 30+ domestics, including a Ford with over 300,000 miles, a Buick with over 270,000, and a Dodge with 240,000.

Sorry, but I don't buy into the "imports are better" brainwashing. Ours certainly weren't. If I want to get where I'm going without worrying about mechanical issues it certainly WON'T be in another Japanese vehicle. Even if all the Big Three did go out of business (which IS NOT going to happen) I'll just buy used domestics for the rest of my life.

30th Dec 2008, 16:08

It is totally unfair to compare "old faithful" cars from 15 - 21 years ago with more recent cars, because they are essentially different.

Even cars from the exact same brand will perform differently from three generations ago; they are far, far more complicated, but much safer and more efficient.

The other side to the coin is that, well, to repair they are more expensive due to components that the old car never had before, and to GET to the part that fails is yet another issue.

Legislation around the world (but more so the US earlier on) has kept ratcheting up emissions standards which all car makers can only comply with using complexity. Love the simplicity of a carb (regardless of performance)? No can do - when Hyundai started bringing out fuel injection on their cheapest cars over a decade ago, that was a sign. And these new aluminum alloy engine heads and blocks are not as robust with neglect as the old iron ones, but they can stand heat for cleaner combustion (as long as the cooling system is maintained and doesn't overheat).

EPA mileage demands with emissions? On heavier cars that perform better in a crash? Sorry -- that means computers for even the dependable Mercedes automatic gearbox.

And the emissions legislation isn't done yet. Now to add to pollution, there's CO2 emission demands. Countries around the world (maybe not America) are road taxing car owners yearly based on carbon dioxide emissions on cars. This means that unless they comply, car makers elsewhere will get legislated out of existence.

So...instead of a simple 16-valve fuel-injected engine, VW, Fiat, and I hear European Ford are now powering cars with 1.4-litre direct-injection engines with turbochargers and/or superchargers. On a normal hatch like a Golf or Focus. Now, direct injection components or a turbo on an economy car can't be cheap to fix if it goes, but that's the way the world is heading. Oh, and others are coming up with energy regeneration equipment which harnesses braking power for use later. To lower the average CO2 emission, of course.

Oh -- and let's not forget insurance premiums. Would you get a bigger discount on cars with ABS, traction control or electronic stability control? Or 100 airbags? Welllll... all of them have sensors costing at least $100 each, and they all have at least one computer, to add to the ones on your smog-free engine (which somehow with new technology manages to wring 170 bhp out of a measly 2.4-litres with no turbo) and butter-smooth 5-speed tiptronic automatic transmission.

This ain't the era of 2.3-litre iron-block engines good for only 100 bhp, 14-second 0-60 MPH times, and 19MPG.

Would you then buy a 20 year old car and keep it for life? Not if you look up YouTube's clip of a UK "Fifth Gear" program that features an offset head-on between a '90 Volvo 7-series wagon with a tiny Renault Modus (smaller than a Toyota Echo) and find out that the Volvo driver would die, and the Modus driver would live, because of modern structural design.

Just like everyone, having grown up in the '70s and '80s, when a brand stood for a corporate principle, I want to believe that there must be cars out there which, en masse, can be both DURABLE and RELIABLE at the same time, and be simple to fix.

If I could go back in time and take a car from the era brand new, I'd go get a '77-83 Mercedes 200 sedan (carb - no computers) with manual windows and sunroof, a manual transmission, non-metallic paint, alloy wheels, manual air conditioning, and velour seats. But after my friend survived a major crash in a younger Audi, I realised you just have to take the bad with the good, unfortunately.