Trevor,
I think there is some truth to what he says. The example I will use is
the '93 Civic that the older daughter bought new. "Get out of school and
into debt"
Repeated failures of fuses in the tail light/park-safety switch
circuit. Honda could never find the problem.
LR shock died at 30M miles. Replaced by Honda for $145 US
Honda OEM radio died, 2 weeks out of warranty.
Battery died, a couple of months out of the 12 month warranty.
Front brakes and rotors toasted at 35M--but this may be related to a
complete brake system lockup that seems to have been caused by
contaminated brake fluid.
Timing belt slipped five notches at 45,000 miles. Towed to Honda. "Do
you want us to replace it or re-install new one?" Replacement is called
for at 69M. Labor charge is $350. Belt is 20 bucks.
Although she doesn't beat on her car and is a reasonable driver, the
car acted in its first couple of years as though it were being flogged
daily. She took it to Honda for all the maintenance specified in the
owners manual and for all the unscheduled service as well. Finally, the
car seems to be performing as Hondas are reputed to do. All we could do
with this POS was to look at Consumer Reports wonderful ratings and
scratch our heads.
Next door neighbor bought one at the same time. Hers leaked water into
the tail lights so much that the dealer finally drilled drain holes in
the bottom of the lamps.
Oh, Ingrid's wipers conked out too, just outside the warranty. Neighbor's
car is rusting at the bottom of the rear doors, in the trunk and in the
sills.
And my old MGs just keep rolling along, albeit with just a tad of
maintenance every weekend.
Bob
On Mon, 15 Jun 1998 22:01:19 -0400 Trevor Boicey <tboicey@brit.ca>
writes:
>William Elliott wrote:
>> The "mean time between failures" on an MGB is going to be MUCH
>> higher than on a newer Japanese car.
>
> My Celica is 6 years old, and has NEVER had a failure.
>
> Can you say that about any LBC you have?
>
>> (Mainly because ANY failure on a new car is apt to be debilitating
>
> This point is always made by OFs but just doesn't really
>pan out in numbers.
>
> Things that fail on new cars are usually no more "catastrophic"
>than old cars.
>
> Frankly, most people who spread these mistruths have "hit the wall
>of learning" and won't even open their minds for an afternoon to
>learn about electronic ignition, fuel injection, and other
>niceties.
>
>--
>Trevor Boicey, Ottawa, Canada.
>tboicey@brit.ca, http://www.brit.ca/~tboicey/
>[ Seeking some miscellaneous MG parts, see the list on the web page...
>]
>
|