German vs. Japanese cars - incredible vs. reliable

Family:
1 Echo
2 Tercels
2 Corollas
5 Celicas
Never any concerns with any of them.
My previous four vehicles were Fords:
B-4000
Taurus
Escape
Edge
One bad battery, covered under warranty. No other concerns.
I guess I am lucky.
My only German car was a 1984 Scirocco. The craziest ‘mechanical’ fuel injection system ever imagined.
 
Well, back in the day, my import Nissan Pulsar Gtir didn't really have a German rival. The VW Golf Rallye G lader G60 4wd couldn't hold a candle to the lairy turbo version of Grannies Nissan Sunny hatchback. I tuned mine to 328 bhp and ran 12.7 sec quarters. Reckon it had a 12.5 in it though! Happy days, upsetting 911's and M3' s of the time!
 
For many years there was only one king of the hill for reliability and lack of recalls. That of course was Toyota. It all changed in 1984 when they introduced their own mini-van. They have not recovered from that dark cloud.
At one time all four members of my family drove Celicas.
Now I drive Ford.

What model Toyota van did you have?
My family bought a 1985 Toyota van and got 200K miles out of it with minimal maintenance. Sort of got less desirable to keep when we moved to Denver though.

Even the good ones mess up with a model.

I have mostly owned Honda from the start.
I bought a 2003 Honda Odyssey and watched the transmission start slipping in third with only 115K miles on it. The dealer offered a replacement for $6500 plus install. Dealer did not even say sorry. We just got rid of it.


The Honda Oddysey was effectively replaced by a 1991 Toyota Previa. It has higher ground clearance and the engine is in the middle. Makes it a little fun to work on. Mid-engine makes a big difference when you find yourself slogging throug the snow and slush shuttling kids everywhere. Only have 306K on the engine so far.
 
This slightly chavvy looking hatchback put quite a few noses out of joint!
 

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Going to have to google around and see what they did. I figure Toyota has to have the fewest mess ups overall.

I also had to explain to the kids what sort of market upheaval happened when Toyota and Honda decided to make luxury cars on the early 90s. Before then it was hard to own a luxury car that did not need trips to the shop.
 
A friend who's spent his career as an honest independent used car seller says "they're all crap, just in different ways, pick which way you prefer." I've owned a variety of makes both US & foreign. Toyota trucks have near-unkillable drivetrains but I'm dumbstruck that they've put out multiple model generations for decades which end up having severe frame rust issues, to the point of them having to do buybacks and frame replacements over and over. I had a 2011 Tacoma that I got rid of because I could detect significant rust in the frame at 4 years, and I could easily see aspects of the frame design that made it vulnerable to that. Hondas, which are generally very well engineered have rear brakes that are self-destruct-o-matics (and have been for years) if you live in a severe winter climate with lots of salt and sand. Neither should be exotic problems to spot as common recurring problems, and then develop ways to avoid. The good news is that nearly any make now is substantially more reliable than any make was 20 or more years ago.
 
Except when it is China 🙂

Disclaimer: in this day and age of woke and everyone feeling offended at every single detail I apologize for my blunt and offending comment. I apologize to all Chinese people but only if they start to produce quality stuff.
 
Except when it is China 🙂

Disclaimer: in this day and age of woke and everyone feeling offended at every single detail I apologize for my blunt and offending comment. I apologize to all Chinese people but only if they start to produce quality stuff.


That's the thing though- there is some stuff produced in China that's really pretty great. Topping headphone amplifiers come to mind as an example.


The problem is that they're willing to produce really cheap, really low-quality junk, and Americans would rather buy a $4 piece of junk than pay $5 for something of quality.


Americans want to have Neumann quality at Behringer prices, and that just isn't possible, in most cases.
 
That's the thing though- there is some stuff produced in China that's really pretty great. Topping headphone amplifiers come to mind as an example.


The problem is that they're willing to produce really cheap, really low-quality junk, and Americans would rather buy a $4 piece of junk than pay $5 for something of quality.


Americans want to have Neumann quality at Behringer prices, and that just isn't possible, in most cases.

That word "willing" is what irritates as it is waste of energy and resources certainly on the scale I have seen in China. You absolutely nail it as we are part of the cause. While older people remember the old situation of long lasting goods many young people are very environmentally orientated while at the same time being on the treadmill without knowing.
 
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Hi,

..."over hyped and poorly engineered, poorly designed and poorly built"
... don´t You forget overprized 😉
But then ... such a judgement from a compatriot of a country that designed a Robin Reliant or a Rolls Royce Corniche. 😛
See three of the most hilarious reviews from TopGear and make up your own mind. 😀
Robin Reliant :rofl: and RR Corniche vs. Mercedes 600 p.1 :cheers: and RR Corniche vs. Mercedes 50 p.2 :tongue:

cheers Mate,
Calvin

Jaguar E-Type

Pure beauty, engineering and design....

Bucket List Bliss: Driving Jaguar's E-Type, History's Most Beautiful Car

🙂


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