NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/rec/autos/32411

Text File | 1993-01-21 | 2.9 KB | 56 lines

Newsgroups: rec.autos
Path: sparky!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!oakhill!shantanu
From: [e-mail] (Shantanu Ganguly)
Subject: Re: Before Buying Japanese.
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Motorola Inc., Austin Tx.
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 22:29:57 GMT
Lines: 44

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Slartibartfast) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Greg Elkinbard) writes:
>>In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
>>(Colonel Panic) writes:

>>> Actually, that's not a bad example.  A recent CR rated the Probe GT and the
>>> MX-6 LS in the same article.  As for repair ratings, they characterized the
>>> past years' models of the Probe as "worse than average" but of the MX-6 as
>>> "better than average".  Correct me if I'm wrong (I'm sure somebody will [-:),
>>> but even in 1992 and previous, weren't they the SAME DAMN PLATFORM with the
>>> EXACT SAME MOTORS?!?!

>>The same platform and the same engine, doesn't mean that the cars are the same.
>>As my parents found out when they bought a British "clone" of an Acura
>>Legend,  the Sterling.   And while the engine, transmission, and the suspension
>>peaces on the Sterling are still functional, everything else fell apart.
>>The interior electricals failed often enough to push the reliablity rating
>>of the car far down.

>    Yes, Greg, but you forget, the Sterling was made in England, where
>reliable cars are only made by GM (Vauxhall) and Rolls Royce.  The Legend was
>made in Japan.  The Probe and MX-6, and 626 for that matter, are all made in
>the same plant in Flat Rock, MI.  Obviously the same car made in different
>factories by different companies could, and probably would, have dissimilar
>repair records, but cars made in the same plant by the same workers won't...

Good logic. Both the probe and the mx6 are manufactured in the same plant.
The only difference between the two cars is that the Taurus 3.0 v6 engine
available in the probe ls. I wonder if that could be causing the different
ratings in consumer reports? Probe drivers are a more enthusiastic lot that
your average (non-rec.autos reading) Taurus driver. Maybe the ford 3.0
doesn't hold up well under hard driving?

It would be more meaningful to compare the more detailed ratings (body integrity,
engine, brakes, etc etc) of the probe and the mx6 as reported by CR, rather
than look at a three word summary like `better than average'.

Shantanu Ganguly
Somerset (Motorola)

phone : [phone]                  Motorola Inc, Mail Drop OE 513
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                                        Austin TX 78735-8598
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