Runaway Prius Clocked At Over 90Mph.

[ness]

Give me a product that fits my needs, and I'll buy it happily from an American company...and be willing to pay a little more for it. But I will not settle for a product that is less than what I want or need.

+1

[Gavin]

I cant argue with buying what you need or want....I've owned American vehicles, and I'm currently driving one...Most of them havent held a candle to the Honda and Toyota vehicles that I've owned over the years. My Honda's and Toyota's were virtually zero maintence vehicles..gas, oil, tires, fluids, filters, and brakes, and that was it. I cant say that about any of the American made vehicles that I've owned over the years. My American made vehicles were cheaper up front, but they have been more expensive over the long haul. There is a reason those company's are in trouble. The build & design qualities werent as good so they sold at a lower price. Plus the American companies had a higher cost structure. The low price, make it up on volume strategy just doesnt work when your market share is falling and you have no control over your labor costs. Cheers.

[ness]

We've owned 4 Dodge Caravans. Can't complain too much about the first 3, but the last one was a POS. Most of the big stuff blew up under warranty (steering, brakes, lift gate, sliding doors, AC, electric windows), but it was one problem after another all it's life. So we went with a Mazda this time.

I was driving a 2002 Ford Explorer. Don't have my total, but it had a new transmission at 110k miles, and needed a new read-end. Guvmint paid me $4,500 for it and crushed it. I decided I'd get a rock-solid Toyota for a change. My mileage is up about 50 percent, but it feels 'cheaper' than my Ford -- fit and finish isn't great, things rattle a little. The plastic strip in the slot on the roof blew off last week.

I work with a guy who's driving a 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee. He added up his repair bills and it totaled $14,700. No sh*t.

I'm trying to get the best car I can for the money that meets the needs of our family. Personal experience and research lead me to where I am.

[jdmidwest]

Here is the BS, seems like it may be a Balloon Boy after all.

Fox News Story

[drew03cmc]

Plain and simple, the UAW, ruined the American car companies. Their demands for wages and retirement compensation, put the companies in a tough spot. When you are paying a floor sweeper $26/hr, how the hell can you compete with some companies whose top assembly line guys make that? They couldn't, and GM and Chrysler had to accept billions from the government, which, I don't believe we should have given. Another story for another time. These companies ruined themselves, and we shouldn't have been obligated to bail their asses out.

Buying American is nice, but when the product is inferior or equivalent to an imported product at half the price, why spend the extra money? A similar comparison is my 1997 Chevrolet Cavalier I had right out of high school and my current work car, a 2001 Kia Sephia. The Kia was made in Korea, and the Cavalier was assembled in Mexico. Tell me which is American. The Cavalier had many issues which the Kia has not had. The Kia is coming up on 95k and the Cavalier got sold when it had 105k. I have replaced a serpentine belt, along with brake rotors and pads on the Kia and that is IT. The Cavalier had four sets of struts, three alternators, a starter, exhaust, two sets of ignition coils and other minor parts in the three years I owned it. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Kia tomorrow. We also own a 2000 Chrysler T&C which has been great. Guess what, both are paid off, and neither one owes us a thing. My point is that cars, even in the same class, cannot really be compared as I have seen done in this thread. In my experience, imported vehicles are of a higher total quality than domestic, Ford excluded. I work on cars for a living, and I have seen more s*itbox domestics than I have imports. Rust is FAR more apparent on domestics, but that must be a result of the super high quality paint and finish products used, right Eric? Also, while companies like Honda were using independent rear suspension, Chevy was using a solid beam rear axle, which produces a far inferior ride quality, but is guess what...CHEAPER.

I love Fox News links. They are full of typical Conservative BS from a Conservative news outlet.

Ness, you and I feel the same way on this discussion. I say we get together, do some fishing and have fun!

[jdmidwest]

I love Fox News links. They are full of typical Conservative BS from a Conservative news outlet.

I called the story about the Runaway Prius BS from the start and FOX news stated it a few days before the rest of the Liberal Media reported that there was nothing wrong with the car.

Looks like Conservative was Right on this matter.

[drew03cmc]

I called the story about the Runaway Prius BS from the start and FOX news stated it a few days before the rest of the Liberal Media reported that there was nothing wrong with the car.

Looks like Conservative was Right on this matter.

Anyone with a sound head on their shoulders could have popped it out of gear into neutral and hit the brakes. Obviously someone wanted to capitalize on the publicity from the recalls.

[jdmidwest]

Did anybody ever think about what happened to the "Big" problem with the Toyota's? After the reports came out that the runaway Yota and the Granny taking out the wall was hoaxes, seems like the problems fell off the grid. I really wonder if there was ever any real problem or was it Government Motors trying to regain market share?

[ness]

Did anybody ever think about what happened to the "Big" problem with the Toyota's? After the reports came out that the runaway Yota and the Granny taking out the wall was hoaxes, seems like the problems fell off the grid. I really wonder if there was ever any real problem or was it Government Motors trying to regain market share?

Naw -- it was a low-occurrence problem to start, Toyota worked out a fix, and no smoking gun. It also helped that BP blew a gasket requiring 60-days of 24-hour-a-day news coverage.

[Thom]

Why the hell can't anybody figure out that you just pop that bad-boy into neutral and pull over? How can it be that this guy needs a highway patrolman tell him over the loudspeaker to put on the freakin' brakes to slow the car down, which is the wrong approach anyway?

SIMPLE: Since the mecanical controls are being overridden be the ECM & Manual controls are locked out by the faulty sensor which has caused the problem.

I witnessed one of these crashes recently where a young ladys car went through a beauty shop front window. I know and talked to the woman she tried the brakes and also tried to push the shift lever into nuetral. neither would work. The electronic control modules are showing defective paramaters and toyota has had recalls on them since 2009 and are still experiencing problems.