YACT: domestics are pretty reliable

[MercenaryForHire]

I'd rather push a Honda than drive a Ford.

Exception - Classic 60s Mustang Convertible.

- M4H

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Lifer
all this domestic bashing got me thinking...

if you think about it gov't vehicles, taxi cabs, police cruisers, etc. are all using Crown Vics, Town Cars, Grand Marquis, Caprices, Explorers, Tauruses, Focus, etc.
they take a ton of abuse for a better part of the day, every day of the week.

i'd say because of this, they hold up quite well.

Govenrment vehicles also have teams of mechanics and they typically do have several minor issues at any given time. I recall a university-owned vehicle (state university, technically a state vehicle) that had wipers that would not work at all unless the headlights were on. The Crown Vic used as a Ranger patrol vehicle where I worked last summer had the driver's interior door panel come loose from the door, you had to put the window down and grab the door itself to shut it.

That said, the abuse given to government vehicles is generally excessive and the major mechanical bits of the cars from Detroit handle things well. I've said often that American cars handle abuse (as in, poor maintenance procedures) far better than most imports with which I have dealt. In my experience, American cars will shrug off poor maintenance while imports will do Very Bad and Very Expensive things very quickly if maintenance is ignored or done cheaply. Given good maintenance, I think that imports still have a very slight edge, not so much in terms of reliability but in terms of interior design finesse. Of course, you still can't beat a Lincoln or a Caddy for cross-country journeys.

ZV