OP
OP
Steve44
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2014
- Threads
- 37
- Messages
- 381
- Reaction score
- 141
- Location
- McKinney, Texas
- Vehicle(s)
- 2016 Mustang GT w/PP
- Thread starter
- #76
I will defend the reliability of modern British cars and engineering, however. Jaguar-Land Rover is consistently rated up there with Lexus and Skoda in reliability statistics, and Honda's most reliable models, the Fit(Jazz), Civic and CRV, as well as a lot of Ford engines, are built here.
But yes, people keep on parroting "Oh so reliable because German!" shtick because of the obsession with BMWs in the 1970s and 1980s back when American and British cars were.... less than adequate, lets say. ;) But sadly that mind-set hasn't dissipated when a Cadillac ATS could probably outlive a BMW 3-series.
My brother had a SEAT Exeo (Spanish re-badged Audi A4). He recently had to sell it because things were starting to go wrong with it - hadn't even broke 70k miles. But he still parades German reliability and then bought another SEAT.My brother in law also had a BMW X5M, and direct from the factory the rear diff was bad and made the most horrible racket. It took them several months to fix it. He even agreed that his best SUV in terms of reliability and style was his old Range Rover - but he went and got a Mercedes ML63 AMG anyway.
Meanwhile me, my mother and father have only ever had British (1990s Rover), French(Peugeot), Japanese (Nissan), Korean (Kia) and American (GM and Ford) branded cars. None of them have ever went wrong. The only exception being, surprise surprise, my dad's 2006 Mercedes C-Class which was so poor with reliability and ergonomics he vowed never to get another Mercedes in his life. He had it for less than a year. He wished he kept his old Peugeot 406, which had a grand total of one fault (CO2 sensor) at 90k miles that was fixed within a week.
There's a reason why VW 's warranties are only 3 years long and 60k miles. Meanwhile Vauxhall (General Motors) have 5 years (used to be lifetime) at 100k miles. Kia 7yr at 100k miles, and any Nissan dealer will bump the warranty up to 5 years if you haggle without much fuss.
I hate that people treat him as some all knowing car god. He has some funny bits on the show but, overall, he's actually a massive c***.
Hit the nail on the head. Hot Hatchbacks are cheap cars - sub-mustang levels of cheap - so they've always had basic technology under the skin but masterfully engineered to actually be extremely effective at what they do. Same story with the Mustang and the Corvette (especially the C7 with its composite leaf). Yes its "old-school" but its damn effective when done properly.
Just because it has a torsion bar or live axel doesn't instantly mean poor handling. The previous generation Civic Type R had a torsion bar for the rear wheels and it was an absolute maniac (in the best possible way) to drive. We all know how much fun the Fiesta ST is and, of course, throw a couple of option packs on an S197 Mustang and that M3 will be permanently in your rear-view mirror.
Don't get me wrong, though, I'm glad everything including the Mustang is moving to fully independent. Even my little hot hatchback, a Kia Pro_Cee'd GT, has a fully independent rear and that (plus chassis tweaks) makes it run circles around the equivalent SEAT Leon FR (Torsion Bar) and makes it come uncomfortably close to the MK7 Golf GTi (IRS).
apologies for the wall o' text
Great write up, thanks...you guys are bringing back some great memories. My second favorite car ever (behind this one) was an early 90's Acura (Honda) Integra Type R, in championship white...what a brilliant car
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