27th Mar 2018, 13:07
If you can explain why you proceed to think older is bad, then maybe we can wrap this up without everyone questioning your judgement.
27th Mar 2018, 17:18
Can you be a little more specific on what can fail on an old car that can't fail on a new one?
28th Mar 2018, 08:49
This review model to me is still a newer car. If this were a late 60s/early 70s pre emission Mopar it could be easily maintained by an average consumer at home. No complex computers, and could be fixed with minimum tools. Especially the new 318 or 383 then. I drove these every day to work. Easy to tune up, fluid changes a battery now and then, and simple to fix. Right at home. Which wasn’t needed that often. Ours were garage kept. Not rare enough to be theft prone even today. We took many long trouble free trips and vacations in these Mopars as well. Plus they were not expensive new, even with the V8, as family cars.
11th Apr 2018, 15:03
Never said "older is bad"; those are your words.
How's about you "explain why you proceed to think" that because you cannot repair newer vehicles yourself when they do break down, that somehow makes them less reliable than older vehicles?
11th Apr 2018, 18:34
It’s not the knowledge as much as it’s the expense. Then you weigh out if it’s worth even repairing late models. Major repairs can exceed actual book value quickly. Often cheaper to junk. Sure we use YouTube and buy scanners or Autozone. But even then pre emission era beats having to park a late model til you can afford to get it running again.
12th Apr 2018, 21:58
Can't explain to something that I did not post. Never once on this or any other thread on here did I state that a modern car is less reliable because it's harder to work on. Makes no sense to me.
Again, the way I see it is that an older car has much less of the breakdown or repair possibilities vs. a modern car. More things can go wrong with modern, and they do. That's about as simple as I can make it.
As far as working on old vs. new, I've been there and done it with both. Most old cars are a lot easier to work on. But to a certain extent. Ever do a transmission swap on a Eldorado or Toronado from the 70s?
13th Apr 2018, 08:48
No, but sounds great. Modern cars are more reliable, but when they break it can very expensive. And no room to work on them under the hood, especially front wheel drive. Easiest solution that way is just not keep them that long. Personally I hate working on late models. As you get older, you accumulate all the tools and rolling chests etc that you will ever need. And younger you had far less tools, but didn’t mind working on them til late at night. The way it works I guess.
15th Apr 2018, 13:13
Unless the older vehicle isn’t ideally suited for as a daily driver. 6 Volt, bad braking and suspension etc. I use to drive my cars to work on a regular basis rain or shine, before their value and theft concerns shot way up. Meaning 60s and early 70s driver quality cars. Rust was the only real issue. Mechanically especially, our small block V8s were great. Some of the repair bills on our newer cars have been absolutely ridiculous, even taking into account inflation since. Some warranty, but often not.
15th Apr 2018, 18:25
Another easy way to resolve this matter is to take the car on topic, a rear drive Mopar from the 80s then take a rear drive Mopar from today; Chrysler 300 for example. Do an internet search on common problems for both cars. You won't find much on the 80s M body on topic, except for some glitches on the lean burn system. On the 300 from the past 5-10 years there are a whole bunch of issues including sludge engines, bad transmissions, weak front ends. It goes on and on.
16th Apr 2018, 18:28
Next we will probably see a review claiming the Chevette was the best car ever in the entire history of mankind. I'm old enough to remember when cars like the one reviewed here were new, and even then they were in no way, shape or fashion great cars. They are examples of some of the "malaise era" cars the big three puked out before getting their act together.
16th Apr 2018, 18:59
Gee, I guess the author of this review must have really been exaggerating about the title "one of the best cars ever made". You may have been old enough to remember cars from this era, but were you old enough to own or drive one?
16th Apr 2018, 20:05
That comparison makes no sense. The majority of the M-bodies produced in the 1980s have long since been exiled to the junkyard, and very few, if any, of the ones that remain are likely driven on a daily basis. Thus the likelihood of finding many complaints about them posted online is not great.
16th Apr 2018, 23:51
There are a total of 41 Chevette reviews on here and only 4 are bad. I would never own one and it's not exactly GM'S finest hour, but I can tell you that many people criticize the car because it was cheap. Fit and finish weren't great, interior quality was horrible and so on. This doesn't mean that the car was unreliable. If it was so bad, it wouldn't have had an 11 year production run. There was a lot worse including GM's own Vega and Astre, the Citation X body along with its siblings. These cars barely made it a half decade before they got axed. GM had it right with their body on frame RWD cars, along with Ford. It wasn't just "the big three" with low quality back in the "malaise era". Imports include Renault, just about everything made by Hyundai, Mitsubishi, and of course the infamous Yugo GV.
As far as the"big three" having "their act together" today; do you really think Chrysler is a candidate? I don't. They were in turmoil since the 70s, and if it wasn't for Lee Iacocca and the minivan that saved their ass in the 80s, they would probably be long gone today. The only thing helping the company now is the Jeep division, Ram fleet sales and Dodge Challengers, and once the Hemi V8 is dropped the Challenger probably won't appeal to anybody in the muscle car market.
26th Mar 2018, 17:11
Yup, you are so right. As basic as they are, older cars are more prone to break downs. Especially when they don't have vital engine parts made of plastic, and the many electronic controlled software parts that modern cars have.