Originally posted by: redly1
Originally posted by: NFS4
Originally posted by: redly1
I can't believe that he called those cars "new". All they did was slap some different sheet metal on them. It's completely obvious that they are based on the designs that came out in '95. To anyone who thinks that those are new designs, I've got a 486 in a brand new cool-looking case to sell you.
ZV
Uh, what else constitutes a new model? besides sheetmetal and better drivertrains and updated (while maybe unsatisfactory to some) interiors??
Something that came out originally in '95 can hardly be called new for '03. Hell, it's still using the same interior from '95.
Honda and Toyota TOTALLY redesign their cars every 4 years with a refresh after 2 years.
Uh, sorry. Don't think you've been in a GM vehicle in a while NFS4. Do a little research on the Tahoe, for example, and see how many changes...let alone interior changes, Edmunds mentions in the overview between 95 and 02. Besides the Cavalier (which ironically seems to be of most interest here
) almost every model in GM has been revamped completely since 95
Revamped completely, eh? Are the chassis new? As long as the chassis is retained, you can't call the car "new". It's not a complete re-design uness it's from a blank slate. I'll make allowances for using existing engine/transmission families, but the vehicle is not "completely revamped" unless it's a whole new chassis.
American cars have made great strides, but domestic companies still milk designs for way too long. It's not like they are low-volume and can't afford more rapid re-designs.
ZV
EDIT: For the record, I do like domestics, but I'm a Blue Oval man myself. Two generations of my family (along with my current girlfriend's family) have worked for GM, and I still won't touch the cars. The family that buys them has nothing but trouble with them also. My aunt's Grand Prix GT has had
two new engines in its life. First engine blew out the rear main while driving and lost the oil, trashed itself. The second engine threw a rod. She's going to let the car's next (second) owner find out how the third engine's going to fail. Also, it's not like my aunt abuses her cars. She's on a religious 3,000 mile oil change interval, and both times the engine failed the mechanics looked at everything and called it "spontaneous failure", said it had nothing at all to do with operator error.
I don't know about you, but I don't find any engine that spontaneously throws rods to be "improved".
My father was a manager for an industrial/semi parts supply company. He said that the few Chevy delivery vehicles they had were always breaking down and the Fords just kept going.
I know it's all anecdotal evidence, but I've never been let down by a Ford or by a modern import. (My 26 year old project car doesn't count.) But that's just me, my family may have just had a run of bad luck. I'm willing to admit that can happen.