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From: doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee)
Newsgroups: net.auto,net.consumers
Subject: Re: New car shopping--my criteria and what I've discovered
Message-ID: <315@terak.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 31-Jan-85 11:12:29 EST
Article-I.D.: terak.315
Posted: Thu Jan 31 11:12:29 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 2-Feb-85 13:02:42 EST
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Organization: Terak Corporation, Scottsdale, AZ, USA
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> I have looked at:  Hondas, Mitsubishi Tredia & Cordia, Mazda 626, 
> Toyota Tercel & Corolla & Camry, Nissan Stanza, Ford Tempo, Volvo.  
> I want to see the Subarus, too.

You might want to take a quick look at what Iacocca's boys have been
doing with Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodge.  While I usually start finding
"design shortcomings" after owning a new car for a few weeks, my '84
Dodge Turbo Daytona keeps impressing me more and more.  The engineering
is not just state-of-the-art, it's *robust* state-of-the-art.  The
Chrysler engineers did a LOT of homework.

The Honda owners griping about their oil filters would *die* if they
saw how easy the access is on my transverse 2.2.  And the rest of the
routine maintenance points are just as easy.  Damn good design job.

The manufacturing quality is not up to what, say, Toyota delivers.
The problems are little things -- a trim panel not fastened down,
the seat-belt won't keep any slack.  Things I could probably fix
myself if I had the inclination.  Unlike my past experiences
with new cars, these problems are getting FIXED under warranty.
Maybe not the best-built, but from my experience I agree about
"best-backed".

Oh, btw, I traded in a Toyota, which had given me excellent service.

Another car you might look at while you're at the Dodge/Plymouth
dealer is the Turbo Colt.  It's made by Mitsubishi.  I've heard a lot
of good things from owners, and nothing bad.  Don't know for myself.

> The Stanza price is reasonable ($9500).  It's
> got to be reliable since it's Japanese.  But there was some talk
> that the Nissan was not as good a product as the Honda, Toyota,
> or Subaru.

My (admittedly limited) experience has been that Nissan should not
be considered a "reliable Japanese" brand.  Since statements like
that tend to provoke flames, I'll leave it at that.
-- 
Doug Pardee -- Terak Corp. -- !{hao,ihnp4,decvax}!noao!terak!doug