27th Sep 2009, 20:57

My Trailblazer SS far exceeded the reliability of our Acura TL. What fell apart on your new Trailblazer? I did have a bad seat belt tensioner on mine.

27th Sep 2009, 21:28

"No Japanese vehicle has ever managed that much."

How do you know? Because your "Million Mile Club" said so? Who cares. I'm an import owner, and quite frankly, if I ever kept my vehicles for that long (I usually only keep my vehicles for 200,000 miles or so) I wouldn't report it to the Million Mile Club. Mostly because I really don't care. The Million Mile Club is just a small percentage of people who have managed to barely squeeze that many miles out of their cars. The cars may have the original engine and drivetrain, but everything else is like a patchwork quilt.

28th Sep 2009, 00:27

"No Japanese vehicle has ever managed that much."

What does it really matter. I doubt those domestics that allegedly made the "million mile" club did so with little patchwork to stay on the road. How many people actually drive a car for a million miles anyway, let's be real here.

28th Sep 2009, 00:30

"Our Honda was totally worn out at 80,000 miles."

Its not unusual for any vehicle, Honda or otherwise to last only 80K miles if it has not been properly maintained.

28th Sep 2009, 09:26

Is trans issues water pumps a lack of maintenance? I think a individual that does not care about longevity does not own such a car, so of course they will say it does not matter. I honestly got tired of major import repairs, so I complain not praise them anymore.

28th Sep 2009, 11:38

Glad you asked... The tie rods completely failed on our Trailblazer and they wouldn't let me leave the dealer with it, until they fixed it, because it was very dangerous to drive at that point. This was at 30K miles. Then the rear end started coming apart as well and you could feel it and hear it over bumps and such (kind of like the front end only you couldn't feel it in the steering wheel). Just a really low build quality overall. My Uncle had the same year Envoy and his did exactly the same thing at pretty much the same mileage... in the 30's. There was also the stalling issue which is very common on the Trailblazer making them unsafe as it usually occurs when you are driving along. Check any forum on that issue.

The SS you have has different components for suspension and obviously a different engine so you probably aren't experiencing these issues and hopefully you won't. If it weren't for the mileage I would have gone that route. Gotta love that 390 hp!!

I am surprised to hear so many complaints about Acura's. You just assume they are rock solid performers. I know so many people who are blindly brand loyal, however, and still think their choice of car is the best no matter how the quality has sunk over the years. I guess that is what keeps the import brands going strong even if the quality isn't what it used to be. I never stick to one brand that religiously without looking at the facts.

1st Oct 2009, 20:40

Our Honda lasted less than 100,000 miles (junked at 99,000 miles). Our Ford was traded (still running great) at 325,000 miles. Both were identically maintained. We now drive no Japanese cars.

2nd Oct 2009, 16:17

Our Ford was sold to a junk dealer at 105,000 miles due to a faulty transmission. Our Chevy was taken to the junk yard at 60,000 miles because it threw a rod. Our Honda went 467,000 miles when it was sold to a teenager looking for a dependable ride. He drove it another 5 years. I don't know what happened to it after that. We bought all of these vehicles new and followed the manufacturers service manual on all of them. We now drive no domestic cars.

3rd Oct 2009, 07:05

Wish our Honda went 105000 miles on one trans like your Ford did, rather than 3 at under 100000 miles. Newer Hondas gave us issues after 2000.

3rd Oct 2009, 16:49

Older Hondas may have (on VERY rare occasions) made 400,000 miles, though I've never heard of one that did. Newer ones require transmissions every 50,000 miles minimum.

3rd Oct 2009, 21:30

I'm sure the people of Spring Hill, Tennessee will be glad to know that people who decided to send their money to Japan are happy with their cars. The demise of Saturn means 13,000+ MORE Americans are out of work and have no health insurance for their children. Of course, as we all know, buying a Japanese car "doesn't hurt the U.S. economy".

4th Oct 2009, 16:08

SO not true. I've NEVER replaced a transmission in ANY of my Honda's. The only transmissions I've had to replace have been in a Ford and a Dodge.

4th Oct 2009, 16:42

21:30

Did you happen to know that Renault was the company that reportedly was going to build cars for Saturn, until their board of directors voted the proposal down?

Do you really think that GM cared about that when they made plans to sell Saturn to the Penske group, or do you think all that they cared about was dumping Saturn?

You continually blame the consumers for the "downfall" of the US economy, when the fault clearly lies on the US manufacturers who continued to build sub-par and uncompetitive products. You can't blame consumers for that.

4th Oct 2009, 19:45

"Of course, as we all know, buying a Japanese car "doesn't hurt the U.S. economy"."

No, supporting lame businesses such as the big 3 hurts the American economy. Honda didn't ask for a free handout of MY money, so I would rather support them thanks.

5th Oct 2009, 12:24

Another myth. Domestics long ago matched all Japanese cars in reliability and build quality. Ford and GM products are currently at the top of J.D. Power's long-term reliability rankings, not a Japanese car. The highest ratings Consumer Reports gives in reliability is given to the Ford Fusion. It is ranked HIGHER than both Camry (only ranked "average") and Accord (ranked "better than average", but still below Fusions "much better than average"). It's sad that import buyers must resort to myths to ease their consciences for destroying the lives of their fellow citizens.

6th Oct 2009, 13:01

Please, tell me what myth exists about the big three using tax money to run their pathetic businesses. How did they get to that point? By building sub par junk that no one wanted for decades. To cite very recent cars as being at or better than import quality is pretty short sighted.

Yes, they are backtracking to try to win consumers today and doing good at it... at least better than they have in the past... but only at the cost of your "fellow citizens". Keep supporting this kind of business and see how good things turn out. Rewarding incompetence is not something I plan to do myself. What incentive do they have to really improve when we keep throwing money at them to keep "the American Dream" alive?

You can point the finger at the big 3 for destroying your fellow citizens lives... not import buyers.