with the majority of people only keeping cars 6yrs or so why would car makers build them to last. aside from the technology that goes into them it seems like early 90s-00s foreign cars were built better but newer American vehicles holdup much better than their predecessors.what do you guys think is better?

12/27/2013 7:59:43 PM

I've thought about this too and figured the manufacturers were overbuilding themselves out of the market by making them last too long. I can only guess that along with the general population growth and constant major equipment failures / accidents putting them out of commission that it would be enough to have constant demand. Things like cash for clunkers helped clear a lot of the supply up in borderline decent/repairable vehicles. Super disastors like Sandy and Katrina help wipe out a running fleet of vehicles in one swoop as well.

IMHO they have to build them well because the general public puts a lot of variable factors into play to tear up a car that just can't last forever. One person's flogging the shit out of a car in just one year could equate to someone else's grandma style driving over 6 yrs. My mother was of the latter style and her 5yr old camry with 250k miles runs and looks cleaner than some of the newer ones that are all beat to shit by their uncaring owner. YMMV literally.

12/27/2013 10:51:23 PM

What is happening with the Japanese manufacturers now may be, to a point, what happened with Mercedes in the 90's. Look at the E class--the W114/115, W123, and W124 series were built like bank vaults. Those cars will still be roaming the streets when the apocalypse comes. They realized the cars were overengineered and they couldn't sustain that practically any longer. Same sort of deal with Volvo going from the 240 to the 850.

The American manufacturers are coming up after a long time where quality was low. Even then there were bright spots though, but now as a whole they're much more competitive quality wise.

12/28/2013 1:02:19 AM

^totally agree with your comment about Mercedes. Even now I'm tempted to get a late 80s 300E, lol.

I feel like Hondas/Acuras from the late 80s/early 90s were built much better than their later (and current) offerings, S2000 excluded of course My good friend's 2004 RSX's interior is falling apart. Likewise, he has multiple exterior bulb failures a year. Meanwhile my '92 GS-R's interior is as solid as ever, and in the 14.5 years I've owned the car I've had 2 parking light bulb failures - that's it.

Anecdotal, but whatever

[Edited on January 2, 2014 at 9:24 AM. Reason : k]

1/2/2014 9:23:50 AM

^I'll support that.

88 accord & 91 civic, both built like little Asian tanks.

1/2/2014 9:57:00 AM

'91 Accord here, first mine and then Dad's. A few issues here and there, but generally quite solid until an accident took it out at 191K in 2008.

1/2/2014 12:59:33 PM

Speaking of classic tanks...I want this hooptie to DD:
http://raleigh.craigslist.org/cto/4266258341.html

1/2/2014 1:24:19 PM

Wow, an E12...that's one you don't see too often. Final year too.

I'd drive it.

1/2/2014 1:51:18 PM

She's a beauty. It's in good enough shape that I'd obsess over trying to make it perfect and end up dumping way too much money in it over the long run though.

[Edited on January 2, 2014 at 2:02 PM. Reason : l]

1/2/2014 2:01:58 PM

^^^damn, those federally mandated bumpers really destroyed the front design of that car

1/2/2014 4:00:51 PM

They're so ridiculous looking it's almost cool.
Almost.

You can swap them for Euro bumpers with a little drilling. Those huge bulbous side markers can be exchanged with a fender swap, but it'd probably be easier and cheaper to just go with a custom shave job.

[Edited on January 2, 2014 at 4:22 PM. Reason : l]

1/2/2014 4:21:40 PM

my '94 accord hit 212k miles in 2012 when I gave it to my mom and got a new car... she's still driving it.

1/3/2014 6:39:50 AM

^^ don't need to swap anything, just drill into the impact cylinders, drain the oil, and push the bumpers in

1/3/2014 6:44:40 AM

^^one of my coworkers has almost 400k on his '94 Accord. He's still on the original clutch too

1/3/2014 8:15:49 AM