On Fri, 8 Jun 2007 17:27:00 -0400, "Mike Hunter"
<mikehunt2@mailcity.com> wrote:

>The fact is most ALL of the vehicle manufacturers fall within the
>statistical average of 2%, which is the average number of faults for ALL
>manufactured products. Naturally one will be on top and one will be on the
>bottom in ANY list but a variation of .05% to 1% is in indeed meaningless.

What is meaningless is your 2% number. 2% of what? 2% of all
transmissions fail every day? 2% of cars will need a repair if driven
300,000 miles?

If you keep cars for two years (like you do) and have connections in
the industry and/or enough money that you don't care about resale
value, then it may not matter. For people who want to drive a car for
5 - 10 years and don't want to be making monthly trips to the garage,
it makes a difference.

>What the customers should be more concerned about is the total cost to drive
>the vehicle home, dealer service, shop rates for that service, insurance,
>and parts costs, not whose brand in on the grill.
>
>mike

Economical car ownership is most dependent on avoiding depreciation
costs and finance charges. High-quality, durable and reliable cars
are best for this.










>
>"Rising Sun" <Use-Author-Supplied-Address-Header@[127.1]> wrote in message
>news:6cfe4cac44b46f92eb10fc79aedaea4a@pseudo.bork ed.net...
>> The Autobeat http://snipr.com/1n8lb
>>
>> ..General Motors and Chrysler tumbled down the list in J.D. Power and
>> Associates' annual Initial Quality Study. The study measures problems
>> found in the first 90 days of ownership after interviewing 97,000
>> consumers.
>>
>> GM did poorly and a company spokesman argued that the survey doesn't
>> matter. All of GM's brands finished below the industry average, which
>> is 125 problems per 100 vehicles...
>>
>> The reason it doesn't matter, says the spokesman, is that the
>> difference between top performers and the middle of the pack is
>> statistically irrelevant. Toyota, which tied Jaguar for sixth with 112
>> problems per 100 vehicles, beat Chevy by just 17 problems per 100 cars.
>> He makes a point. Few consumers will notice 17 problems per 100
>> vehicles. The Power study, he told me, is becoming less and less
>> relevant because quality is reaching parity.
>>
>> There's some truth to that. But the argument naively misses a huge
>> point. While some brands like Mercedes moved way up the charts this
>> year and others, like Chrysler, tumbled way down, hot names like Honda
>> and Toyota are in the top 10 every year. Every year!
>>
>> Consumers love and trust those brands. And those companies have been
>> dining on Motown's market share for decades now. Sure, Detroit is
>> close, by the numbers anyway. But consumers won't believe that Detroit
>> is as good as Honda and Toyota until they beat them and beat them
>> consistently in J.D. Power surveys, Consumer Reports studies, word-of-
>> mouth recommendations and just general buzz. I'm sorry, why should a
>> guy who's on his third Toyota or Honda buy a Chevy? Because the initial
>> quality is almost as good and the disparity is statistically minuscule?
>> There's a great sales pitch...
>> ==========
>> Rising Sun: http://snipr.com/eat_me_jarhead
>>
>