american car reliability better than rumors?
 

So i'm looking for a new car, and this being my first new car purchase i'm taking my sweet paranoid ass picking out the right one. i was looking at the volvo c30 but besided it was way too much for something that wasn't that fast and was fwd. now i'm kinda interested in the dodge charger. seems like a pretty comfortable ride, and with a 350hp v8 powerplant, that kinda throw the little turbo in the c30 out of the water. my concern is the rumors of american reliability. i hear alot about chevy's liftetime powertrain warranty now. is that just tranny? or does that include engine? any opinions, anything is welcomed.

powertrain includes all internaly lubricated parts, motor and tranny...

might you consider the Pontiac G8 instead?

http://www.pontiac.com/g8/

Base GT starts at sub-$30k. Not a bad deal considering you get the 6.0L corvette engine and a 6-speed manumatic. The chassis & suspension are definitely a notch above the Charger for sure.

Reliability, or lack of may be rumors, but plummeting depreciation is fact - buy used (American).

I rented a charger on a business trip a few months back. I could not stand looking out the rear window. It was almost as bad as looking out the rear window of my Miata with the soft top. Blind spots everywhere.

For the money they want for a C30 or V8 charger, there are many, many better options. Keep looking.

+1

Please dont throw your money away on a new car. I bought an xB last year that turned out to be a total POS, the quality of that vehicle was absolutely piss poor. I ended up taking a $6k bath on it just to ditch it... New cars aren't always bad, but If you end up with a 5:00 on Friday car that turns out to be a POS you'll be holding the bag...

I'd still have the xB, but the paint was CRAP, the transmission was CRAP, the interior was CRAP, and thats too much CRAP to be making a payment on. my "new" 16 year old accord with 4 times the mileage is a far better car.

Riding in a charger is like riding in an APC. I dont like the feeling. The ride is also too floaty for my taste, and it eats gas like no tomorrow. My friends Daytona gets something like 14mpg if he babies it, Good thing he only drives on the weekends though. The only reason he got it, was because it was big, noisy, yellow and it was the only thing he could fit into, he's 6'7''.
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That what happens when you set your expectations high for a car worth 13k retail. You get what you pay for, what do you expect.

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If I was leasing(no sense in buying for me) today, id be looking at an Audi A4 2.0t, Merc C300, or a Bmw 3 Series. I was also seriously consider a Volvo C30, and while it is a gorgeous car with a lot to offer its just to expensive for what you get after you add some stuff to it.

I would never buy new.. but I would pick up a used car with a lifetime powertrain. Alot of independant dealerships are doing the same warranty. Check out this site: http://www.skylineoffairfax.com/ Usually they have decent deals on cars w/ a lifetime powertrain.
That being said, the charger is a boat and the only dodge I've driven that I would like is the Magnum SRT or I guess R/T.

If wanting an E-brake that works, Paint that does not flake off, seat belts that do not randomly lock up, a transmission that doesn't grind, interior trim that does not randomly fall off, and a radio that works when it's hotter than 90 degrees out is too much to ask for any new car, then something ain't right.

g8.

Did you buy the first year this thing was released or something?

Either way, you have a 3 year warranty. Take it to the dealer and get it sorted out. I know people who own Xb's and they have zero complaints.

mine was an 06 with only 20k. I just got a bad one. Spent plenty of time at the dealer, it only took 4 trips to fix the seatbelt, they refused to fix the radio since I had an XM tuner... and apparently the E-brake is not their problem since it had over 15k miles, adjustments were $80 bucks a pop and the thing was worthless 5k miles after an adjustment. One day it decided to roll across the street and nail a parked car.

I suppose I could have had the transmission fixed after 3 or four bitch sessions with the service manager after they tell me a few times it's normal, they cant find the problem, or whatever. It gets to a point where it is just not worth it.

Bottom line was I had a brand new POS, with a car payment. So I traded it on a nice old car with no car payment. It's the dealer's problem now.

wow stealth97, i worked for toyota for 2 years and slod plenty of scions in those two years, i have never had anyone come back with a problem, you should have "bitched harder" lol, i dont know, im sure if you got someones attention high enough toyota would have bought it back and given you a new one, i've heared of that happen a few times on regular toyotas, what you went through is not acceptable...good luck man

Stealth97 was granny shifting and not double clutching like he should.

I have an Olds Alero as my other car. big POS. i bought it new in 2000. its got about 107K on it now and i believe everything has been replaced at least once except for the alternator which is starting to squeal now. head gasket went in the first 10k on the car. brakes and calipers were changed every 5k by the dealer under warranty cause something was wrong with them. water pump went at like 50k. im having a coolant issue now where im loosing a lot of coolant by it being dumped out the reserve tank. power steering pump went at 90k. had to have all the gaskets and o-rings replaced at 75k cause my intake manifold gasket was leaking antifreeze. i keep popping obd codes cause my gas cap (replaced 3 times) doesnt close the right way everytime (stupid jersey gas attendants cant turn it on the right way). seems like theres always something going on with it. cruise control button doesnt work (wont stay in). had to have my hazard light switch replaced cause i couldnt use my turn signals (bad soldering job). the list goes on.

I've had the 00 explorer for 5.5 years now, and it has 155k on it. Bought it with 30k on it. So far (knock on wood) the only non maintenence repair it's had has been frozen brake calipers. It's had 2, on different wheels, at different times. 1 chewed up the rotor pretty bad. It's by far the most reliable vehicle I've ever had.

a buddy of mine has had an explorer since 1995 till now.. and has over 200,000 miles on it. That car makes soooooo much noise inside its not even funny. Rattles everywhere. Thats the only thing i hate about american cars... my 2002 monte carlo SS was the same

Well if I had money, I'd buy a Mercury and cruise it up and down the road. I'm crazy 'bout a Mercury.

all my family drives is fords, im the only one with an import, and we have never had an issue with any of them. we curently have a 00 ranger, 05 500, 90 f-250, 90 taurus sho, and we gave had a 93 sho, a 95 escort, a 94 probe gt(i know its mostly mazda) in just the last few years and we have 0 problems with any of them.

but if you want reliability, steer away from chrystler products

my dads 95 Taurus has had so many recalls, motor replaced by ford, and other problems.


Still running though, would tell you xxx miles but the speedo broke a few years back :gay:

Toyota Mazda Honda, always.

You might want to buy new depending on available warranty and your mileage. I put on 18,000 a year, and thats gonna grow by almost duouble to around 30k a year. A Good new car with a 10 year blah blah blah extended warranty is worth the extra prem I pay.

i've never had a new car, i just can't justify the price even if i can afford it no problem. My thinking is that instead of having ONE new car that is supposed to be "reliable" i have backups that will get me where i need to be if one is down. so with my truck, miata, nissan, cbr, and the girlfriends car i don't forsee having a problem. plus i've got all these toys and didn't even have to spend as much combined as a decent new car costs that will depreciate way too fast.

I could have told you that much. Scion == way over hyped turds.

Dodges new Lifetime powertrain warranty is really enticing to me and I've been thinking about selling my Speed6 for an R/T Charger.. I just can't get over the lack of standard transmission in the charger. It was something I thought about doing for a while but don't think I'm actually going through with it. Stock vs Stock the Speed6 is faster but was actually planning on an intercooled Procharger setup.

Lifetime powertrain requires a bi-yearly checkup at the dealership which is free of cost to the customer, but would require removal of any aftermarket parts (ie, procharger) and I don't think its worth the hassle. Howeve the procharger tuner kit puts the R/T wheel horsepower up past the SRT-8 for a LOT less overall cost.

I've had a few dodge products before and they've been complete and total trash. For like the last thirty years Dodge has represented complete and total shit IMO, but here with in the past few years they have really cleaned up their shit. Had a 2006 Sebring Touring as a company car for a little over a year and I beat the piss out of it, the thing still runs to this day! I can't even count the number of neutty drops I did in that thing just fucking around.

As for my experience with New cars, aside from the Sebring My mazdaspeed6 is the very first brand new car I've ever had. I for one completely love the car, I just hate paying for it. Seems a large majority of people don't feel the same way about their speed6, guess I'm odd. Not really sure buying brand new cars is really economical.

My parents have been buying 1-2 year old cars and driving them into the ground for twenty years now and have good luck with it. My father owns a 1996 Ford Ranger 2.3 five speed pickup truck with 245,000 miles on it still using the factory clutch. The only parts replaced on that truck have been ignition coils, plugs, wires, alternator, battery, brakes, and tires. Impressive, but my ford trucks both caught on fire. I'll never own a true ford again, personally.

the new Malibu looks great... seriously... :confused: :crx:

I've owned more cars than I can count over the years. I've had bad imports and bad domestic, and good imports and good domestics. The constant over those years for me have been, if you take care of your car, it will "usually" last you. My first car was a pinto, in 10 years of driving the living crap out of it, the only real maintainence was a clutch after about 4 years...I dumped the clutch routinely and often. I've had hondas that broke contantly, chevy's that ran forever, etc...unless there are major issues with a particular car, just buy what you like.