As do the Korean cars that the courier companies are buying.for $4,000 less.
Courier fleets generally run them around the clock and they easily
accumulate 100K in a year. They also use small cars from Ford, GM,
Chrysler, Toyota, Honda, VW, etc and ALL are problem free as well

mike hunt

"Scott in Florida" <JustAsk (AT) Florida (DOT) com> wrote

Not enough numbers sold to make a fair comparison. Smaller numbers show
more problem when working with statistics. That is why Toyota is showing
more problem now that they are selling in the millions rather than hundreds
of thousands Murphy's law


mike hunt


"TenPercent" <tenpercent (AT) not-real-address (DOT) com> wrote

If you look at J DO POWERS results is percentages, rather than as lists from
top to bottom as they present their surveys, you will see the ALL have
problems and they are ALL within the same percentages clustered around 2%.
J D POWERS are designed so that every manufacture can point to them as a
sales tool. What manufacture would pay their subscription rate is they
could not use something from the surveys? They best and only true survey is
sales numbers. More buyer believe the Camry is the best mid size sedan for
the price, that is why it is number one. The same reason the Ford F150 is
the number one vehicle, total sales and why GM make the best cars and
trucks, since they sell more than any other manufacture. As well as why
Wal-Mart is the number one retailer in the world, sales. YOU may prefer a
particular retailer buy more buyer prefer Wal-Mart obviously

mike hunt


"C. E. White" <cewhite (AT) mindspring (DOT) com> wrote

"Mike Hunter" <mikehunt2 (AT) mailcity (DOT) com> wrote

Mike, your spin assumes buyers have good information and make purchasing
decisions for rational reasons. Reliability is only one factor people use
when purchasing a vehicle. It might be that F150s have terrible reliability,
but because of price, style, features, etc people are willing to buy them
despite poor reliability (and no, I don't think F150s are unreliable, I am
just using it as an example). And what about brand loyalty? Last year was
the first time in my life, my Father actually considered buying something
other than a Ford (he ended up in a Ford anyhow). I know lots of people that
only shop for their pet brand of cars. I know more than few people who are
only willing to look at Toyotas. Also, you are totally ignoring the effects
of advertising. Advertising must work, otherwise companies would not spend
so much on it. I am so tired of car ads, I almost can't watch TV. In case
you missed it, it is Ford Toyotathon Truck Drive to be Number One Moving
Forward Switch Month again......and again.......

As for Wal*Mart - I HATE Wal*Mart, but I go there all the time. The local
Wal*Marts are dirty, cluttered, crowded, staffed with surly workers, and
generally depressing. However, they usually have everything I want and I
only need go in one store that is relatively close to my home. I can put up
with the general crappy condition of the stores because they save me time.
I'd actually be willing to pay more for stuff in nicer stores with
friendlier people, except Wal*Mart has driven all those out of business.
When I can, I stay out of stores altogether and just order stuff over the
internet. I have noticed that the unionized workers at one of the local
grocery store chains are a lot happier and friendlier than the workers at
Wal*Mart, or Food Lion (my other least favorite store). I wonder why? The
prices for the groceries I buy aren't much different between the stores
(despite lots of "super low price" ads), so I go to the store with the happy
people to buy my groceries. Heck, sometimes I have to fight them off when
they want to carry out my groceries for me. At Wal*Mart, I am lucky if I can
force them to check me out.

Ed

"Art" <begunaNOSPAMPLEASE (AT) mindspring (DOT) com> wrote

And yet used Mercedes always seem to have great resale value. Makes you
wonder about the rationality of car buyers doesn't it.....

Ed

High Tech Misfit wrote:
With black dashboards and 800 fewer adjustment options for the stereo
system?

Expected reliability is just one attribute in considering value of a car.


"C. E. White" <cewhite (AT) mindspring (DOT) com> wrote

So that is why the Camry is the number one selling mid size sedan in the US
..

"C. E. White" <cewhite (AT) mindspring (DOT) com> wrote

"Mike Hunter" <mikehunt2 (AT) mailcity (DOT) com> wrote

If I knew that, I think I'd have the secret to life. I have ridden in quite
a few Camry's and never really understood the attraction. Boring styling,
mediocre appointments, mediocre performance, all at a premium price. I'd
love to claim it was Toyota advertising, but to me the Toyota national ads
are at best enigmatic (exactly what did/does the "Oh What A Feeling" or
":Moving Forward" slogans mean?). The local Toyota ads are just insulting.
One of the local Toyota dealers is now running ads where dogs are hyping his
cars (you have to see them - they are really cheesy). I know a lot of women
like Camry's, but I am not sure why. But then I never understood why my
Sisters both decided they wanted Volkswagens (at least they learned from
those mistakes). Maybe it is the favorable rating from Consumer Reports. But
then my experience with Consumer Reports has been that if they recommend
something, you should definitely not buy that product. My Father is an avid
Consumer Reports reader and he constantly buys things because of their
recommendations. So far he has suffered through crappy vacuum cleaners and
TVs because of their recommendations. When he was buying a new car last year
he decided he wanted a Highlander based on the Consumer Reports reviews.
Fortunately he actually tried several vehicles before he bought one
(actually I made him try several - initially he just wanted me to go buy him
a Highlander). After actually trying a few vehicles, he bought a Ford
Freestyle.

Ed

I really don't think that's true at all , in the 70's and 80's Mercedes
built terrific cars . It didn't matter if you bought the top of the line or
the least expensive model they made . You were always going to get a quality
car and a good ownership experiece . That being said , German cars require
more service then Japanese or domestic makes . These days quality is hit or
miss . I wouldn't own one if It didn't have a warrenty , and I would
probablly dump it when the warrenty ran out.


-Dana


"Art" <begunaNOSPAMPLEASE (AT) mindspring (DOT) com> wrote