Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

The only reason the us environment is tougher is because we don’t have inspections to catch minor things before they get major. Nor do most owners understand regular maintence repairs. If we had a more education population, I’d feel we would have less reports of some cars failing in ways or known in other parts of the world.

I’d hazard a guess that places south of the boarder, Mexico and the surrounding countries as well as South America and Sourh Africa never mind including Russia.

But go ahead and assume the US has an environment not seen in other parts of the world.
1 - Plenty of states have annual inspections
2 - if the issue was American drivers all cars would have been in roughly same shape, yet what we see is European cars that are considered reliable in Europe not doing very well in the US, while American and Japanese cars having a much more consistent performance throughout the motoring world.
Not sure on data in 3rd world countries but I can tell you that Russians are way more destructive towards cars than Americans are. One thing about exUSSR space in general is that Euro cars are basically rich people cars and aren’t bought by those who give much of a mind to reliability.
 
The only reason the us environment is tougher is because we don’t have inspections to catch minor things before they get major. Nor do most owners understand regular maintence repairs. If we had a more education population, I’d feel we would have less reports of some cars failing in ways or known in other parts of the world.

I’d hazard a guess that places south of the boarder, Mexico and the surrounding countries as well as South America and Sourh Africa never mind including Russia.

But go ahead and assume the US has an environment not seen in other parts of the world.

 
The only reason the us environment is tougher is because we don’t have inspections to catch minor things before they get major. Nor do most owners understand regular maintence repairs. If we had a more education population, I’d feel we would have less reports of some cars failing in ways or known in other parts of the world.

I’d hazard a guess that places south of the boarder, Mexico and the surrounding countries as well as South America and Sourh Africa never mind including Russia.

But go ahead and assume the US has an environment not seen in other parts of the world.

Re: your recent plaint on this very thread - Pot, kettle, black much? Anyway, your point is invalidated by the legions of Euro cars sold in the US with free included maintenance, wherein the vehicles are usually promptly maintained by the factory trained dealership techs at no cost - and wherein the makers constantly find problems that they just don't encounter in other markets.

1. Every BMW sold in the US from MY2006-2016 came with free included maintenance, including oil changes and everything else called for in the handbook, for 4 years or 50,000 miles. Cite: https://www.bmwofschererville.com/bmw-free-maintenance-program/ They recently reduced that to 3 years or 36,000 miles for MY2017 and later. It is speculated that this is because it was costing BMW too much money. Cite: https://www.bmwblog.com/2016/01/07...ill-reduce-the-no-cost-scheduled-maintenance/

2. In 2013, BMW found out that their 2 year, 15,000 mile oil change interval was not working in the US. This was officially discovered on vehicles less than one year old, that were still being dealer serviced (indeed, many hadn't made it to their first factory service interval!). Due to sludging and oil-related engine failures that didn't appear in their Euro market vehicles, they reduced it to 1 year or 10,000 miles. Cite: https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=868291



Similar problems have been found on other 'free maintenance' cars from VAG. By definition, lack of maintenance cannot explain why this happens. Want to try another reason?
 
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The only reason the us environment is tougher is because we don’t have inspections to catch minor things before they get major. Nor do most owners understand regular maintence repairs. If we had a more education population,
I had forgotten about this until now actually but here is my own personal experience with the A4. It was bought as a CPO from Audi directly, meaning it went through all the dealership inspections before being put up for sale, at the time of purchase it was 2 years old (don't remember mileage though but pretty low)
1 - Paint on ESP button bubbled up and peeled within two years, ditto for the headlight switch
2 - The day I went to change the timing belt (at around 55k or so, recommended interval was 65) water pump blew and leaked coolant all over my parking spot.
3 - At around 70k the power steering started leaking, control arms required replacement, transmission was starting to get jerky (auto).
4 - Speakers started to cut out around 50ish K miles as well, there was a TSB for that, after dealer fixed it about a year later it was starting to happen again.

As you can imagine me being a car guy I didn't let the small stuff go till it got big and generally am more attuned to what a car is doing.

The 98 Outback that I replaced that car with had way less issues until it basically reached end of its useful life.
 
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Oil change intervals should consider both mileage AND age. E.g. if you only drive 5k mi/yr, you should probably still change the oil every 6mos.
Yeah the fiat is at 11700 miles rn so that's probably why it is closer to 3k lol. It's probably roughly 6 months.

And again, I am being super paranoid with the fiat. The bug? Oh it has gone years between oil changes due to me being sick The difference is the engine in the bug is probably it's most reliable aspect, and for the fiat it is probably the worst one.
 
On the subject of debris... was driving on NJ turnpike (a part of i95) and was real happy I got factory skid plates, as in for off-roading, because I have no idea what it was but it certainly hit the underside quite a bit...
 
On the subject of debris... was driving on NJ turnpike (a part of i95) and was real happy I got factory skid plates, as in for off-roading, because I have no idea what it was but it certainly hit the underside quite a bit...

yeah, I had this problem only 2,000mi into driving my work car. Since I have the #lifestyle wagon, it has skid plates which made whatever I couldn’t avoid hit that instead. I felt so bad, poor car. :(
 
YEAH I just bought a new one for the bug. It doesn't have one right now because one of those metal plates they use to cover holes in the road just tore it straight off the bottom of the car.

For fun I have colored in on a map where there has been construction in my immediate area in the last few months. This is just what i could fit in the screenshot too malden and melrose were also very construction this summer!!!
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yeah, I had this problem only 2,000mi into driving my work car. Since I have the #lifestyle wagon, it has skid plates which made whatever I couldn’t avoid hit that instead. I felt so bad, poor car. :(

I really have to ask the girl with the monte carlo where she got her "not drunk, dodging potholes" decal because that sure is a Mood for Massachusetts.
 
YEAH I just bought a new one for the bug. It doesn't have one right now because one of those metal plates they use to cover holes in the road just tore it straight off the bottom of the car.
That’s a belly pan, which is mostly an aerodynamic part. They are extremely easy to lose :(
 
Yes, how dare someone challenge an unverifiable statement, with verifiable information...

Around here, european cars fail due to shitty owners. People jump from brand to brand because their poor habits caused the car to break and not so much the cars fault. Oh, the engine runs bad? You’re supposed to have done plugs at 75,000 and you’re up to 150,000. Oh, the head gasket blew? Yeah, you’re supposed to flush coolant at 100,000. The intake is gummed up? No shit, don’t use oil coated air filters. transmission crapped? Of course, the fluid should’ve been changed at 70,000 yet here we are at 150,000 miles and it’s no longer worth trying to flush the fluid because you’ll do more harm than good. People here blame the brand for ignoring when scheduled maintence is supposed to be done. People don’t want to spend the money because they say they don’t have it but waste it on other things.

As far as I can tell, the only reason Japanese brands fair so well is because they can tolerate the lack of maintence much better than the European types. I can’t say too much about interior failures. The most I can say about that is, if someone really liked their hand lotion, automotive buttons for some reason don’t like that and either the labels rub off or the buttons disintegrate completely.
 
There's a tiny used car dealership about a mile away from me that is currently selling a Honda Beat and Suzuki Cappuccino under market value and as far as I can tell has zero online presence. These cars are unheard of around here, have never seen one on the road.
I really, really don't need two small two-seater convertibles.
 
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