From: tedebear@leland.Stanford.EDU (Theodore Chen)
Subject: Re: CONSUMER REPORTS
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 00:35:36 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]
the article to which i replied, which dog saw fit to delete, compared
the saturn SC to the mitsu eclipse and stated that the saturn was more
suited for grand touring than autocrossing.

I responded:
>>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.

dog says:
>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.
>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.
[rest of verbiage deleted]

well, let's see.  first of all, the saturn SC did not exist when i
bought my car (1990).  the 5-liter mustang cost too much to insure,
if i could even have gotten insurance at all.  i very nearly bought
an olds quad 442, but the integra's price was $1000 lower.
second, even if the saturn SC did exist when i bought my car, that
does not mean i cannot say the saturn SC is a good car.  by your
yardstick, if i were to buy a lexus ES300, i would no longer be
able to say that the BMW 325is is a driver's car or that the
taurus SHO offers a terrific performance to price ratio.
and if you want to get really picky about it, i did not sing praises
of the saturn's value or reliability or what-have-you.  i merely
noted that the saturn SC won the touring division of the IMSA firestone
firehawk series last year, indicating that it does have some
racing potential.

this isn't the first time you've attacked what you perceive to be
my pro-american/buy-japanese-anyway bias.  and as before, you are
off base.  i prefer to buy american, all things being equal.  when
i bought my car, there were no american cars in the same class
as the integra.  base american cars typically had wimpy tires,
soft suspensions, drum brakes, and weak engines.  stepping up to
the performance-oriented versions meant a stiff increase in insurance.
Z-24, 5-liter mustang, IROC, etc. were out of the question.
if i were to buy a car again today, that car would not be an integra,
but a probe GT.  not because the probe GT is more american, but because
it is a better car.  i would buy the saturn SC over the integra now,
but i did not have that option before.  i don't think i should have
to get rid of my integra and buy the saturn before i get your permission
to praise the saturn (which, by the way, is a very good car).

as you observed, you do have some cloggin' in your noggin', indeed.

-teddy
Newsgroups: rec.autos