Car Stereotypes

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Thatman

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What car stereotypes have you encountered and proven or disproven first hand? Good or bad.

For me:

Ford(fixed or repaired daily)Proven
My sisters Taurus runs like carbage and the wheel assembly actually came off while driving...and yes its still works, just barley.

Ford(again)Disproven
My sisters Expedition on the other hand has had no problems with it except for below normal gas millage

DSMersProven
I was one of them I did do all the work.

GMs 3800Proven
Our family has had 4 Park avenues and non of them have had a problem with the engine*

And then Is it a general stereotype that Grand-ams are crap?
Cause Ive noticed thats proven too. :crazy:

Well that's all I can think of right now, so Im curious what others had encountered with stereotypes because like I say they have to come from somewhere.

*say for one that had an electrical problem BUT nothing was wrong on the INSIDE!!
 
Fix or Repair Daily: proven. owned one, and got rid of it soon. corrosion, engine problems, electronic gremlins..

BMW's are drivers cars: Proven. No other car has matched the amount of accurate feedback I got from E36 BMW. and it was mere 318i sedan!
 
F.O.R.D.: True and False: While my brother's '03 Taurus wagon is trouble-free, despite having 200,000 miles on the clock, his '84 Ranger puked the contents of it's sump onto the road thru the breather tube and died.

Pinto engine reliability, Built Ford Tough: False: See '84 Ranger comment above.

Toyota Rock-Solid Reliability: True: My car'll take just anything I can throw at it, EVEN SNAPPING THE TIMING BELT...save for that which involves sheetmetal. >:

Chevy Trucks, Like a Rock: False: I cannot recall how many times dad's truck has been in for some niggle or other. and the one he used to have (which was built in that Advertising era and is still used by the machine shop) now has some...four-wheel drive issues. Then there's the '08 they had at work, which has a somewhat screwed-up front end. Thank you plow kit.

Bad Quality '80s Steel: Very, Very true: '80s cars, and early '90s cars, seem to have this problem with a thing called "Oxidation." Known to the common man as "Rust."
 
heh. Toyo's may be rock solid in the engine department (proven, I'm leaking like a sive and STILL running) and paper thin in the body department (proven, poked a hole in a Camry front fender with a PINKIE), but they share wiring gremlins with Fords.
 
Heh, the Interceptor has some electrical gremlims at the moment. Blinker lights like to flash stupid fast at random times even though all of my bulbs are fine. My blower motor only seems to like to work on high and my transmission control unit might have a short in it. It's happened twice where the car doesn't shift into 4th and is just desperately looking for 4th on the highway but never engages. It just had to happen in the middle of a 500 mile roadtrip too. Thought my tranny was toast but it seems like it's an electrical problem as the car drives perfectly fine, as if nothing ever happened. It's as if my car is telling me to get that 5spd swap done.
 
Opels rust away in front of your eyes: FALSE. My grandpa had the very same Corsa from 1984 to 2006. Then it finally bit the dust but 22 years is quite an achievement for something that is thought to disintegrate in less than half that time.

You can't drive an old Volvo to the ground: TRUE. I had the gearbox oil changed and it was the very same oil that had been installed at the factory 18 years ago. The differential probably has the original oil too. The gearbox was shifting just fine (I took precautionary action) and the differential doesn't even think about whining. If these things run with oil 18 years old I don't want to know what it takes to kill one...
 
MG: Money grabber Yes I own a 1973 MG Midget and yes they need lots of money to upkeep Mine's not been on the road for about four year but would run if I took the carbs apart and cleaned them.

My 1969 Opel GT has a lot of rust (mostly surface) but for a car thats 40 years old with same paint what would you expect.
 
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FORD (and it's acronym) - false, in my case. The only things I've had go wrong are corrosion-related and that's more the council's fault for putting way too much salt on the roads in winter and me not washing it often enough.

Mazda. Can I say it? Zoom Zoom Zoom... why not? All the Mazdas I've driven have been fun to drive and they're all that little bit more interesting than the average car on the road made by someone like Ford, Vauxhall etc.

BMWs are drivers' cars: Yeah, like Leo I'd agree with this one. Even the really basic ones feel a bit special, and give off this feeling of driving with precision.

Honda build great engines: Undoubtably true. Their performance engines are masterpieces, and even their most basic models have a bit of zing to them and rev with a lovely smoothness.
 
FIAT (Fix It Again Tomorrow): Proven & Disproven, my mums original Panda went strong with only 1 electrical problem due to a loose connection, a quick clean sorted that.

Uni mates brothers Punto had nothing but problems, basically they don't make 'em like they used to.

Japanese Scrap: Disproven, Brother used to have a 1997 Civic Coupé and I have a 1998 Evo V GSR, both never set a foot wrong, excellent cars. Also members of the local JDM car forums never really have much problems.

Also a woman from work managed to get up a hill in her Nissan 4x4 that Land Rovers got stuck on! :p
 
Ford (Fix Or Repair Daily): Disproven, my parents have had Fords constantly since the 80's. The only problems were a '85 Mustang LX with a bad computer brain, and an early nineties aerostar with a weird electrical thing. It was traded in for another new Aerostar, which lasted 9 years and 140,000 miles, much like the '96 Mustang my dad had before his now current '04. Fords have only been good to us.
 
Ford (Flimsy Old Rebuilt Dodge) Proven False: Under close examination I have come to the conclusion that indeed no parts were or ever were Dodge parts.:p
 
Don't use "Japanese"...that garners lawsuits.

the only ones that should be considered "scrap" are the 80's cars. there's still a few late 80's legacies floating around here, though.

there are two automotive death slots, as proven by what survivers there are left
73-79, the oil crisis cars
80-90 the "america goes cheapskate" cars.
 
Volkswagens are unreliable: True. My sister's Beetle is a bloody nightmare. Ex: the interior lights wouldn't turn off yesterday, so we removed the fuse to save the battery. Next morning? Didn't start.
 
Ford (Fix or Repair Daily): True and false. The only problems we had were those we practically begged for, usually for ongoing lack of maintenance for ten years or so. My parents have had Fords for the past thirty years; my sisters and I received the hand-me-downs, and there was never a major problem that wasn't begged for. You know, like running the car with half a quart of oil in it. For weeks. It was an '85 Grand Marquis and therefore a Mercury, but it's the same thing. Basically, out of eight or nine cars that we kept for years and years, nothing broke that wasn't broken directly by one of us or the previous owner. An LTD, a Grand Marquis, an '88 Mustang hatch, a few Town Cars and a couple T-birds...everything ran like a dream.

Toyota (solid reliability): False! I bought a used '89 Corolla. The transmission locked up unexpectedly, causing the car to screech to a stop in the middle of the road mere moments after leaving the interstate. Soon after that was fixed, the engine spewed its oil all over another road and locked up. The Corolla had a strict maintenance schedule (a first for my family...I didn't want to take any chances), so that wasn't the problem in this case.
 
VW's being unreliable, especially the newer 2000+ ones. Very true, I can't tell you how many people I know that have had nothing but problems with their VWs. Especially Passats.
 
Alright lets get off of VWs. Do either of you own a VW, or speak from personal experience,not someone I know or a relative.
Well I do and have owned many,no car is perfect but we all should go off what works for us. I have NEVER had a major repair and for that matter very few minor repairs on VWs. My current is a 2001 Jetta 90k miles and NO repairs. I can tell you I cant tell you how many people I have known with junk Hondas too,not really because the car is bad but because what it may have gone through before hand. Unless you buy a new vehicle only then can you call into question its quality.
And on that note I am qualified to call into question Fords, In my time I bought 2 NEW Fords A 86 Tbird& a 98 Expedition both were top of the line( HA HA) and both were so full of failures that to this day as long as I have any say so I will never drive a Ford again.

And so therefore lets say VWs unreliable: FALSE!
 
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Wow these are all quite interesting response, I like.

I have come up with 1 more

Early FCs had faulty wiring and or 3800 hesitation: Proven My FCs blinker is flashing very fast, all the ligh bulbs work, then for one week it went back to normal, now its gone back to flashing fast Also my clock works somewhat but forgets to remember the time and only now started working on a semi regular basis after I literally took it out, looked at it, saw there was nothing physically wrong with it to the naked eye and plopped it back in:dunce: Then the 3800 hesitation.....both my 110k mile car AND my friends 57k car have this problem.
 
Naw sir because I do believe it was replaced about a year ago and o'Reilly said it was still good.
 
Fiat: (Fix It Again Tomorrow) Proven & Disproven; My 500 has only had one minor problem with an interior microphone that was a 5 minute fix, but other people on the Fiat Forums have reported various faults. Overall it all appears good.
 
Ford: (Found on road dead) Proven/Disproven.
My brother's Taurus is in relatively good condition. The interior, engine, wheels, body, that's all good. What isn't, is the crappy transmission. The AXOD transmission on this thing is known to be a POS, and it shows here. The tranny will not shift out of first, whereas before it would shift very badly into second. It's a repair of 1,000 dollars if I want to do it myself. (Removing the steering, suspension, engine, all that good stuff.)
Now for the disproven: It still runs. If it had a proper reliable transmission, it would keep running forever. the engine's great, the interior's in great condition, and all that. For the disproven, It still runs. It may not shift into second, but it damn well tries. It will run under conditions up to, and including nuclear warfare, assuming you don't go above 35.
 

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