Date: Fri, 06 Dec 2002 11:50:37 -0400 From: J Dexter <noaddressnopsamantispamtrick.org> Subject: Re: Any thoughts on safety?
Salutations: I own a SAAB - in fact have owned several - all excellent machines on the whole (depending who owned them before me).. My point was that, to no one's greater surprise than mine, this American manufactured device is simply outstanding for rugged build and tight assembly. Good build and assembly is dependent on the engineering and commitment to quality of the people who bolt the parts together.. It's almost like wine - some years are great - some years are bad - not all of any brand of wine is fantastic between years.. Consider again - http://www.dexterdyne.com/102.HTM . I am running a 24 year old 403 V8 9000 pound front wheel drive all american build which runs pretty much as well as it did when it left the factory.. It's got well over a 110,000km on it and hasn't needed a rebuild on the engine or tranny yet. Granted that's not a lot mileage considering the age - but then when it wasn't being driven - it was being camped in and left outdoors for months at a time.. And the engine specification says I'm good to 250,000km before I should even check at the rings and bearings.. For what it is, it gets great gas mileage - sleeps six (seats 10 to 11 people with the beds folded up) and is, I like to think, the motorhome VW might have made if the built anything 26 feet long.. I disagree that anyone can judge a car bad because of it's nationality - it's all about which particular model of a brand when talking about quality.. There are certain characteristics that are definable by a nation's cars - SAAB's are one of the best winter cars ever designed to my mind.. Volvos are good - but not as good I fear.. I've owned a couple of Japanese cars and SUV's - while the metal was crummy - the electronics were exceptional.. My Dad owned a late 60's Jag - complete hanger queen on the electric's - but when it ran - it was the single most comfortable and well appointed automobile I've been in.. I gather there are Mark II's out there that haven't required anything but oil, maintenance, rust proofing and gas for 40 years.. What we all have to keep a eye out for is whether, in this age of multi-national car manufacturing interests re-badging some lesser engineering and calling it a peach - when it's really a basket of lemons.. If you owned a Triumph or Norton motorcycle in the earlier 70's you would immediately understand what I'm talking about.. If not - basically - every english motorcycle came under one combined manufacturing house and differences between the machine were lost in the effort to make the divisions make a profit.. Literally put them out of business in the face a cheaper - mostly better - Japanese bikes.. Saabs, for all their constantly exceptional quality, are bad in some ways and good in others.. I love them, but mostly because I can buy and older one (usually fairly inexpensively) - perform some basic maintenance and repair what the previous owners(s) gave up on - and I have a great, safe and efficient automobile.. Would I by a used first generation 90-91 9000? I don't think so - it's got bugs.. Will I try to keep my 89 9000 on the road as long as possible? - sure.. Is it likely I will buy a 9-5 in 10 years? Depends entirely on how many complaints and bad experiences I read about.. J Dexter - webmaster - http://www.dexterdyne.org/ All tunes no cookies no ads no news no weather no phone in All the Time.. Zweef wrote: > > In article <3DEFE4F1.D90D8C41nopsamantispamtrick.org>, > noaddressnopsamantispamtrick.org says... > > > > Well I agree guys - but I gotta tell ya that when North America vehicles were > > built right - they rocked.. > > > So would Japanese cars be when they would use italian designers. > > Or Italian cars when they would have them produced in Japan an let the > germans do the quality control. > > Or english cars if they would stick to design and leave the rest to them > japs and germans. > > Or you just demand for brilliant design and engineering in a quality > build car and buy yourself a SAAB. > > So........... > > What was your point anyway? > -- > Zweef
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