Freakin American made BS

[ping65810]

I just spent about 2 hours trying to pull the starter on my 2000 Jeep, with 55k on it. Of course, the bolts are overtorqued, and the bottom one is rusted stuck. On a 5 year old car with 55k miles. And yet people wonder why I won't buy American cars, only German, Japanese, or Swedish.
If the parts were cheaper, too, I maybe wouldn't feel so bad, but every part I have ever had to buy for my Wrangler has been much more expensive than the same BMW part. I don't know, I'm ranting, but for christ's sake, can't we make anything that isn't a piece of shit??? I remember my old boss, too, who only drive Volvos and BMWs. Someone asked him when he was going to buy American, all he said, was " When they learn how to build a car that dosen't fall apart, gets good gas mileage, and actually handles, then I'll buy one."
Very true. I would have bought a Land Rover Defender, but they were too expensive, so I didnt have much choice other than a Wrangler.

[PУCCKAЯ_e30ka]

i don't like US cars.... but a question.... why, then, did you buy a jeep at all? coulda sticked w/ some japanese toyota/nissan? or german audi?
P.S. don't post BS like this alright? no one is going to discuss how american cars suck or not (i never owned an american car) if you don't know how to work on cars... then take it to the shop and don't complain!

[ping65810]

Don't know how to work on cars????? I do all my own work, hence, why I prefer quality stuff. I bought a Wrangler b/c the only other vehicle like it was the Defender, and those thend to be very expensive. Noone else makes anything like it for the US market. I'm not knocking American industry, only the auto industry. I have had 3 Fords, 3 Chevys, the Jeep and a Dodge. My cars were always either German or Japanese. Work on something where every nut and bolt is rusted stuck, and breaks, and where no logical engineering is put into servicing the vehicle.

[RainMan]

You do know Jeep is owned by DaimlerChrysler, which = German, right?

[Jon325i]

I've never owned an American car but I have wrenched on a few.....just a headache IMHO. When I had a Toyota 4x4, I seldomly had the toolbox out....those things never need work aside from normal maintenance. A breakdown of what I did:

Oil/filter = every 3K miles
coolant flush = once a year
brake fluid flush = once every two years
accessory belts every 50K miles

I bought the truck with 80K and drove for 6+ years then sold it with 200K miles. Only breakdown was a dead battery and the clutch was changed at 175K miles. Nothing else was needed.

Jon

[chuckybob]

U.S. labor is more expensive which means that cars, especially ones with a lot of features, are more expensive to manufacture, which means to stay competitive, they have to cut back on features and quality.

in my experience, the cheaper the car, the easier to work on. my friend's chevy looks like the engine is shoved in there, but everything is very well located so that basic maintenance is easy.

and its not like german cars are without their stupid engineering feats. lack of lugnut studs, and rear shock mounts, anyone?

[Mike325]

Working on German cars is the best hands down. I did some work on American cars and it wasn't too bad, but I perfer the Germans.

[BMW BMXER]

I preffer american cars from the same era as e30s to work on.

Dead simple.

[h0lmes]

Do we really need another thread about how much American cars suck? American cars actually have less defects on average than European cars. Another problem is that you bought a Jeep. A well maintained Chevy v8 will last just as long as any BMW motor.

[ping65810]

My 1990 Chevy 2500HD is very easy to work on. Albeit everything rusts and dosent hold up well, but is easy to work on. And yes, I know Jeep is DaimlerChrysler, but the past few years havent been too kind for Mercedes, either. The Jeep is built well, but not a lot of logical thought went into servicing them. They hold together, but when it comes times to fix anything, and it can be a nightmare. For some reason, everything is expensive for them, too.
It just seems ironic that a 5 year old vehicle with less than 60k miles has more rusted bolts and and problems servicing than a 19 year old BMW with 250k miles on it. Fords I will never have again, ever. I took a Ranger for free, and I even hated that. The Chevys arent as bad, but quality isnt too great, but they are easier to service. But, if Toyota had a heavy duty 3/4 ton, I would be using that for work instead. For landscaping I just get by with a truck with a 3600 lbs. payload, so anything smaller wouldnt work too well.

[Scott314]

My 1990 Chevy 2500HD is very easy to work on. Albeit everything rusts and dosent hold up well, but is easy to work on. And yes, I know Jeep is DaimlerChrysler, but the past few years havent been too kind for Mercedes, either. The Jeep is built well, but not a lot of logical thought went into servicing them. They hold together, but when it comes times to fix anything, and it can be a nightmare. For some reason, everything is expensive for them, too.
It just seems ironic that a 5 year old vehicle with less than 60k miles has more rusted bolts and and problems servicing than a 19 year old BMW with 250k miles on it. Fords I will never have again, ever. I took a Ranger for free, and I even hated that. The Chevys arent as bad, but quality isnt too great, but they are easier to service. But, if Toyota had a heavy duty 3/4 ton, I would be using that for work instead. For landscaping I just get by with a truck with a 3600 lbs. payload, so anything smaller wouldnt work too well.

My friends '91 Comanche and '90 Cherokee are easy as hell to work on. The old 4.0 isn't the most high performance engine, but it looks like they put some thought into how to make it easy to maintain when they designed it. Rangers are utter crap, but Econolines last forever, and again, are easy as hell to work on. So American cars aren't all utter garbage. They do make some useful utility vehicles...

[Scott314]

Do we really need another thread about how much American cars suck? American cars actually have less defects on average than European cars. Another problem is that you bought a Jeep. A well maintained Chevy v8 will last just as long as any BMW motor.

Except that a defect on a higher end BMW usually involves something like an electric motor in one of the 57-way power, heated, memory, etc. seats whereas a defect in an F-150 usually involves it catching on fire.

[ping65810]

A chevy v8 will last for a long time, too, but lets not even talk about the engineering....... I like my Jeep, and they are very durable, I just wish they put a little more thought into actually servicing the vehicles. And the 4.0 is awesome, sans the fact that it gets 10mpg.

[AdironRider]

I love my parents Jeep. 1991 Cherokee limited fully loaded. The thing has over 210k on it, we beat the shit out of it, and it just wont die.

[diegom6]

I would have bought a Land Rover Defender, but they were too expensive, so I didnt have much choice other than a Wrangler

That's the best POS truck you ever want to get!

The starter it's kinda easy to take appart. Not big deal like BMW's. You have more space to do that.

Get a new Bimmer or Mercedes, drive it like 55K miles, then come back to us in like 2-3 years? or more and tell us how was it? Was cheap? Expensive? A headache car?

I repair both, BMW's and Jeep( Dealer) and new BMW's fail every damn part of the car, it's soo weak... Jeep at least it's harder and won't cost more than BMW here in my country.