10 years ago I had a Ford Taurus as a company car. It was a great car.
Inexpensive, reliable, etc.....
My wife hated it, because all of my co-workers drove the same car. So we
ended up with a Volvo Cross Country. What a piece of shit. I have NEVER
had a car that has been so expensive to maintain. There was absolutely no
thought put into engineering this car to minimize maintenance costs. Some
examples:
1. My drive shaft bearing failed. The bearing was not replaceable. I
needed to buy a new drive shaft to the tune of $900.
2. The fuel pump failed. To replace it, they had to drop the fuel tank.
To do that, the dealer had to completely disassemble the rear end. Total
Bill $1,500. Why couldn't they put in an access panel so you could get at
the fuel pump from the top?
3. The ultimate kicker: The light bulb on my gear shifter burned out. To
get at it, you need to completely disassemble the center console. $130.
Forget it if you want to do any of this yourself. Shop manuals are no
longer sold. You have to get an internet subscription to their on-line
manual. $50 for 3 days of access. $3,250 for 1 year!!!!
After 20 years of Volvo ownership, I will NEVER again buy another Volvo.
Mike Schumann
"George Orwell" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) ...
> Volvos or Fords, same eniggerneering.
>
> There's not a spittoonful worth of difference except for the name.
>
> Alan Mulally knows this because he's a Boeing man. He knows the FAA
> certification board would laugh him all the way to the outhouse if either
> one of these automobile brands were airplanes. There is virtually nothing
> in these cars that even remotely approach the design philosophy,
> materials,
> or production methods used even in the cheapest light planes, which cost
> less than some overpriced road iron.
>
> I have a Detroit Iron Wonder. It must have at least two hundred wires and
> plastic connectors just for the integrated charging, fuel, and ignition
> system. None of these wires are silver plated. None of these connections
> are gold plated, each of which cost all of 2 cents to do. Silver and gold
> plating makes for non-corrosive connections. None of these connections
> are
> metal shrouded, waterproof and mechanically secure. When some of these
> connections go bad, it takes a rocket scientist at $120 an hour to figure
> it out. Half the cars on the junk heap are there because of one bad
> connection nobody could figure out. Thanks Chrysler, Ford, GM and Volvo.
>
> Not to mention all current cars have too touchy steering, gas pedals, and
> nothing is easy to service. Mulally, at $120 an hour shop time, think
> five
> minute replacement of alternator, starter, water pump, air-con compressor,
> clutch plate, power steering pump, power brake booster, radiator, radio
> receiver, heater/air-con core or any dashboard gauge. Mulally, THINK.
>
> I don't want to hear my ideas would make a car cost $1,000,000. You could
> buy Piper Cub once for $1200, when cheap cars were $800, a ratio of 1.5:1;
> therefore if a car can be made to present low life standards for $18000,
> then one to my pedigreed can be done for $24,000, well within the range of
> today's prices. So called luxury cars today cost five times what an entry
> level car costs and are made not one iota better. Its a ripoff and
> everybody knows it and its showing up in listless sales. Mulally, do some
> history research on this subject and come up with an honest car, not some
> warmed over lead sled.
>
> Lead sled rings a bell. Sure, you can get today's lead sleds to get an
> advertised 30 mpg, but only with streamlining, low rolling resistance
> tires, level roads, trick overdrive transmissions, cleaning out the trunk,
> running on empty and driven by a 90 pound ex-horse jockey. But, once you
> add in hills, stop and go driving, and add mvgw payloads, your mileage
> goes
> to pot because your cars are at least 3/4 ton overweight. Advertise that!
>
> Junk, junk, and more junk, for decades on end. That's all we get from
> auto
> makers.
>
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