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Re: Reputations vs. reality

To: british-cars@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Reputations vs. reality
From: golder@ppd.Kodak.COM (Patrick Golder (60219))
Date: Fri, 14 May 93 09:07:39 EDT
Dan Parslow writes:
> This makes the Triumph easily the most reliable of the ten cars
> I've had so far.  (Three of them britcars.)  These days,
> when the ignorant make remarks about my driving a notoriously
> untrustworthy car I just laugh at them.

I think it's great that your LBC has been so trouble free.  I often
tell people that British cars are reliable when they're maintained
properly.  However ...

The comparison you're making is not quite fair.  First (and primarily), 
1 year is not long enough to draw such a conclusion.  Drive each car for 
100K miles, then make your conclusions.  Your results may be the same or 
different, but they'll be much more valid.  Second, several of the 
failures on your Honda are things the Triumph doesn't even have (a/c, 
rear window defrost, etc).  I'm not sure it's fair to include these
kinds of accessories in with the numbers, because if you didn't fix 
them, the Honda would be equiped more like the Triumph.
Third, any used car you purchase includes the factor of the previous 
owner.  Previous maintenance (or lack thereof) has an effect on later 
reliability.  This is not a flame, just some observations.

Regards,
Patrick 



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