Are there NO used cars anymore? (a rant/question)

Well if $195 is the first money you've spent on a '01 Ranger then I think that's not too bad. I think you're all looking at the old cars through rose tinted spectacles. How was a '57 Ford doing in 1962. It was rusted out. (Oh yeh remember rust guys. Cos they couldn't be bothered with wheel liners). Tires lasted ten minutes. Oil changes every 5000 miles. Rebores. etc.
Cars today are better than ever period. Oh yeh and they have to have less emmisions than a fart.
Buy a good well designed car. The Chevy Malibu is a European design, based on the European Opel Vectra which is a quality German car, and should last a long time. The seventies Malibus were shit and lasted just a few years. Over here in Germany our Mercs, Audis Opels and VWs last 15 to 20 years no problems. You guys think Germany is full of new flash cars. Think again. The average age of a car in Germany is now over 7 years old. AVERAGE!!!! There are a lot of old stuff on the roads, but nothing with rust.
Sure the new ones are complicated but it ain't rocket science.
Ed

 

Hey, my 57 Ford probably started rusting in 56! But, with technology comes a price, a price I'm not willing to pay. Tingler's aggrivation has been felt by many who have the know-how to keep a dependable old car on the road but don't, for whatever reason. I can't drive a new car that, if it dies, makes looking under the hood a meaningless habit. I would much rather stop rust, (POR-15, etc.), than deal with the hi-tech bullshit, even if I could afford it. I drive 71 and earlier cars, mostly Fords which are still a pain to fix, and save a lot of money compared to a newer car with a couple trips to a repair shop each year. A 60's Falcon Ranchero with a 200 six would replace a Ranger in my driveway any day!

 

My wife's car had a fuel injector go....$550. Then a coil pack...$500. Then the dealer said there are still 7 left of each, might better start saving yer money. She dropped a ball joint last month, ...$1300...woulda been double if the air ride woulda been damaged. All this in one year. Coulda bought that blower I've been eyeballin' with that dough...needless to say, I'm pretty pissed at Ford. High prices, you ain't kiddin'.

 

Most dealerships wouldn't even have a service department if they weren't making considerable profit. Even the almighty cry of Customer Service couldn't stop that one. Without it the dealerships and manufaturers would be golfing less and have to live in lowly million dollar houses, and that's why we still have service departments. Forget the fact that 90% of the consumers can't fix their cars...if the department wasn't profitable you'd take yer car in and drive out with a different one. Period.

Nuttin' newer than ma birth year fer me ('70) and it'll stay that way for as long as I can get away with it. I'm stickin' it to the man.

Olson
(briggs ya made me spit oj all over my screen with that shit)

 

not to go off the topic to far but if you going to get a new (or newer) car STAY AWAY from the domestic models. it's a sad thing to say but they all suck HARD, to many problems and not enough recalls. i don't know what it's like out there (out of california), but my girlfriends family if from michigan and she said there can be diehard domestic people. if the customers ask about new cars i tell them toyota, honda or nissan and if they want fancy it lexus, acura or infinity.

 

Seems that '01 was a transitional year, your thermostat may have been in a different location than my '99.

And here is a site that has the most expensive one listed for about $40.

http://www.trademotion.com/partloca...68&make=10&model=Ranger&year=2001&catalogid=1

 

I just wonder if there will be a time in the far future when forums will be filled with members talking about how simple the vehicles of right now are to work on compared to the vehicles in the future. It seems impossible but as tech advances vehicles seem to just get more complex.

You might hear someone start a rant similiar to this one about how it used to only cost $70 to replace a T-stat. Or you only had to remove 1 intake plenum to replace 3 spark plugs on a SOHC Mits Diamante (a car I used to own). Or you only had to remove most of the front suspension and brake assembly to get the cv joint out of a Legacy Wagon (a car I also used to own).

I'm in agreement on owning old cars. I'm currently looking around for Falcon/Comet to drive everyday because my current daily is a Tahoe with 146K. I'm scared to see how much things like rebuilding the front end, transfer case, rebuilding a 5.7 Vortec and the host inevitable things that will wear out are going to cost me.

 

64deville - you're exactly right. Coming soon to a dealership near you - Cans,multiplexing, and other neat terms all meant to make it harder for the average Joe to fix his ride. Brake by wire seems kind of cool to me though

And why does someone need a camera on the back of the family Suburban? If you can't see what's behind you, maybe you need a smaller ride.

 

Take a look at the road traffic accident statistics and find out how many kids are backed over and killed by Moms Suburban (or any SUV or Truck) every year. Reversing cameras on all large cars would save many lives. And when we all have to pay $50 each for the inbuilt cameras, if we can save 20 lives a year it will be worth it.

Come on guys. Cars aren't toys. They are responsible for tens of thousands of deaths a year so anything that can be done to reduce road traffic deaths should be embraced. Our cars are hobby cars. Period. I've lost friends in older cars who may still be with us if they'd been driving something more up to date.

 

Cool You can buy mine, I will tell you where you can send it.

Dawg

 

NO sypathy for the moms that back over their kids, there's just no fucking excuse for that shit!
just exactly how much unneeded crap do we need on our car to make up for incompetence?
you STILL have to look at the moniters...