So, what kind of car do you drive and why?

After burning up 3 Chevrolets, my car out of college was a Honda Accord, which was used but lasted 10 years. Then I go the surburbia station wagon-Mitsubushi. Finally a Volvo wagon, my first eBay purchase. I still have that 1997 wagon, which will be passed on to Katie and then Andrew. Right now I have a 2002 Volvo wagon with a sunroof (that is close as I can get to a convertiable). One of these days I would love a C70 convertiable in blue, which is my fav color. Or an older Porsche with a sunroof.

Dave is on his 2nd Maxima, his Max lasted over 10 years as well. I like me burned up 2 Chevrolets. His dream car is a BMW.

Can ya tell we are goin' through a mid life dream car mode! ;-)
 
I drive a 1998 Ford Expedition XLT. I love it and will drive it til it falls apart. My kids are always after me to get a new vehicle, but I love this one too much. It is Vermont Green (I call it celery green) and still get compliments on it. Before that I had a mini van. My DDs have a red Ford Explorer and a yellow Ford Esape nickmaned Ketchup and Mustard (and my car has been refered to as Relish). :)
 
I see most of the responses favor the foreign market when it comes to your vehicle. I truly would never consider buying a car that was not from one of the big 3. The shape of the economy, as well as the disaterious domino effect the whole country will see if GM, or the other remaining American makers go down . I just can't see buing into the market of foreign cars, when we have many American made cars in which we could choose.
 
Unfortunately, every American car I have owned has fallen apart long before it should have. This is why we now buy Japanese cars, one of which was built in the US.

I also notice that many people, myself included, are driving cars that are at least a few years old, purchased before the current economic climate.
 
I will never buy American cars until the quality matches the foreign. Sorry, but that's how I feel.

I drive my cars for years. My last car, a Mazda Millenia, I drove for 10 years and put almost 180,000 miles on it. I never had a single bit of trouble out of that car.

The car I have now is a Mercedes. I intend to drive this one for at least 10 years. Most of the time, you just can't do that with lesser quality American cars, at least not the ones I've had in years past.
 
Nissan Maxima .. LOVE LOVE LOVE this car .. roomy and has all the bells and whistles ... gas mileage on road is around 27 .. in town around 23 .. not bad!!!!
 
JeanneMarie said:
The car I have now is a Mercedes. I intend to drive this one for at least 10 years. Most of the time, you just can't do that with lesser quality American cars, at least not the ones I've had in years past.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Mercedes/Porsche break in at around 100,000 miles. That is right around the mileage American cars break down. We own both American and foreign. We trade our American cars in every 3-4 years because they become unreliable.

There is less maintenance on Mercedes & Porsche. I've owned both they are serviced (oil change, fluid changes) once a year.
 
I get what is best for my hard earned money, which is foreign at this point in time.
I have had Toyotas since 1988 and am happy with all I have purchased.

Toyota 1988 Celica
traded that for a Toyota Corolla 1998 ( still have and will keep until it dies).

DH drives the 1998, ( he had a 1993 Corolla which he sold to a friend, it has over 250,000 miles on it and is still on the road..).

I have a 2003 Toyota Corolla ( I know this is gettin redundant, but if you like something and it is great on the pocketbook, why fight it? )

Oh, and may I add that our 1998 was built in Tennessee????;)
 
izzy64 said:
I see most of the responses favor the foreign market when it comes to your vehicle. I truly would never consider buying a car that was not from one of the big 3. The shape of the economy, as well as the disaterious domino effect the whole country will see if GM, or the other remaining American makers go down . I just can't see buing into the market of foreign cars, when we have many American made cars in which we could choose.
Click to expand...


Sorry, izzy, but the Big 3 have pushed plenty of their manufacturing to plants outside the U.S. (Mexico and China immediately come to mind), and Toyota has a manufacturing headquarters in Kentucky and at least 5 assembly plants in the U.S...so your logic is a bit flawed.

If the Big 3 had spent their time actually focusing on quality control and innovations in fuel technology, instead of trying to shove monsters like the Hummer (sorry Beavs ;) ) down our throats and creating a ridiculous number of self-competing product lines within their own companies...well then maybe they wouldn't be in such pickle.

ITA with others. When the Big 3 can match the foreign companies in overall quality, then I'll give them my consideration.
 
Actually, if you're waiting for American car quality to match that of foreign quality, you can go out and buy American once again!

"Toyota and Ford tied for leading in the most segments on Strategic Vision's Total Quality Index[TM] (TQI), leading with three vehicles each. Toyota lead with its Yaris, 4Runner and Sequoia while Ford lead with the Edge, Mustang Convertible and F-250/350. The San Diego based research firm today announced the 2008 results that are based on the ratings by new vehicle owners in 19 product segments." (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2008_May_28/ai_n25456811 )

J.D. Powers has published data showing that Mercury, Ford, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Lincoln and Buick all are above the industry average when it comes to "problems per 100 vehicles". (http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/news/releases/pressrelease.aspx?ID=2008063 )

Yet, the misconception still remains that American car quality has not improved since the 1980's. I believe media bias is a large contributing factor in this. If GM, Chrysler or Ford have a recall, it seems to be plastered across the front page of the newspapers but if Toyota or Honda have a recall, it gets relegated to the bottom corner of page 8D. The reporting of the auto loans was crazy. The media kept calling it a bailout of the Big Three when in reality is was a loan (at 5% interest rate for 5 years and 9% interest for 2 years) for only GM and Chrysler. (I don't mind if people are against the loan, I just think it should have been reported fairly.)

 
I drive a forest green 1998 Mercury Sable SW - when I bought it it in 2006 it only had 14,500 miles on it and I paid $4K for it. It was a rebuild! It's a great car though especially for what we paid for it.
 
Hi Ladies,

I drive a Jaguar FX, I got this one after having a Mercedes SKL 230 and a 350 for 8 years. I loved my sporty car, but could not fit anyone else other than my DD or DH.
I have 2 GS's now and needed a bigger car. It is candy apple red with tan interior and it is loaded. It has the same engine as my DH's car but more bells and whistles.

My DH has the XK8 and we trade. I still have a Toyota 4Runner that I love and it's 14 years old and only has 85,000 miles. My DD drives this one now.

My DD was 4 when we got the Toyota.

Josie
 
I have a Lexus RX 330 and love it. I was surprised at how good it drives was in the snow. Even though it is All Wheel Drive, I doubted it would be that good. But it is! DH drives an FJ Cruiser. That vehicle is so much fun to drive! I think it could go anywhere!

Linda
 
Just wanted to say that I bought my car last night. After all the talk about hybrids, I did a little more research and realized that my info was off. So when I saw this one, I fell in love. It's a 2006 Honda Accord Hybrid with 29K miles on it and it's in perfect condition. It was sold in late 2006 so it still has over a year left on the warranty (and about 7k, but seriously - I don't put many miles on a car in a year).

354792231.jpg
 
Since no more car pooling, I have now a 2006 Volvo XC 70 and I really like it a lot, very comfy and reliable with a lot of room in it.
 
2004 Toyota Camry. It was our commuter car! The poor baby has 150,000 miles on it now, but it's a trooper! The only thing I've ever had to do to it is change the oil, replace a battery, and change a water pump in 150,000 and 5 years.

And it's paid off now! I'm going to drive it until everything falls off of it!

Adding to the foreign market debate... I will always buy Toyota, Nissan, or Honda. I'll never buy from any of the big 3. As far as I'm concerned, they put out a shoddy product for so long (maybe not now) that I have a hard time adjusting to the idea of financing the corporate jets of CEOs that care nothing about value for American families.

MC
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Our Newsletter

Get awesome content delivered straight to your inbox.

Top