From: cka52397@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Slartibartfast)
Subject: Re: CONSUMER REPORTS
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 08:15:04 GMT

In article <1992Nov16.000435.10116@leland.Stanford.EDU> underdog@leland.Stanford.EDU (Dwight Joe) writes:
>In article <1992Nov15.232604.5712@leland.Stanford.EDU>
>tedebear@leland.Stanford.EDU (Theodore Chen) writes:
>>[yet another article rooting for vehicles made by domestic manufacturers:
>> GM, Chrysler, Ford]
>>but don't get the wrong idea.  the saturn SC is one of the most competitive
>>cars in the IMSA firestone firehawk series.  the 1991 champion
>>in the touring class was a saturn.
>
>I seem to have some cloggin' in my noggin'.
>
>This is the upteenth post by Mr. Chen, supporting vehicles made by the
>domestics, but Mr. Chen himself bought an Acura Integra.  No matter how
>you slice that vehicle, it was not engineered in America, was not manufactured
>here, and was not assembled here.

	Have you ever thought that maybe Mr. Chen bought his car as a result
of testing various cars, of all races..., and decided that the Acura was the
best car in his price range, or that the local Acura dealer gave him a deal
he couldn't refuse?  I myself drive a Japan-made Civic, but think that USA
built cars are at least as good, on average, and their Japanese counterparts.
I can't afford to get a new car, but test drive cars often, and find many of
the new offerings from Motown (and Spring Hill) more than capable of giving
a Japanese car a good run for my $$.  Buying a car is a personal decision,
and a person who thinks American cars are excellent can still own a Japanese
car. 

>
>Come on.  Let's be consistent.  Mr. Chen sounds like all those Toyota
>salesmen who harp and harp about how great Toyota is, but if you ask
>them what kind of car _they_ drive, they say that they drive Honda.
>Sheesh.
>

	Never met one of those, did meet one who traded in his new Camry SE
and bought an SHO, though...


>By the way, I personally think that American assembly and manufacturing
>of vehicles suck.  American-assembled Japanese cars have creaks, squeaks,
>and rattles, but Japanese-assembled Japanese cars are as solid as a,
>well, an Integra.  (Yes, I drive an American-assembled "Japanese"
>car.  I wanted to give an American a job, so sue me.  Yeah.  I hate
>creaks, squeaks, and rattles.  I just wish that someone could tell me
>how to get rid of them for free.)
>

	And you are entitled to your own opinion, I take all sweeping 
generalizations (except those about CU/CR) with a boulder of NaCl...  My 
dad owns a non-Ky built Camry with more rattles than a baby's playpen.  I 
have driven in Chevettes that felt like MB's.  And my non-US built Civic is
carved out of granite.  You can't generalize anymore, the industry is way too
complex for that...

>But don't get me wrong.  I still think that Japanese direct/indirect
>barriers to American cars are reprehensible and should be met with swift
>and tough retaliation.
>
	It certainly is, but we should also do something about upper manage-



-- 
"The Clergy Dazzle us with Heaven or they Damn us into Hell"  Billy Bragg!!!!!
IIIII  L    L    IIIII NNNNN IIIII   Chintan Amin c-amin1@uiuc.edu DEPT of E.E.
  I    L    L      I   N   N   I   RUSH	YES FLOYD METALLICA PEARLJAM REM PG
IIIII  LLLL LLLL IIIII N   N IIIII   GO TARHEELS  GO CAPITALS GO COWBOYS 
Xref: sparky rec.autos:27633 misc.consumers:19390 misc.kids:28973 talk.politics.medicine:98 sci.med:21376