Car Brand Stereotypes

My cars of whatever brands have always had the stock type stereos. They worked just fine.

Rich
 
Just got a new 3.6L Outback. I looked at other brands and models including Ford, Jeep, Toyota, Lexus, etc. The new Outback really can't be beat in terms of interior, build, or technology for the money IMHO.

As a pilot/aviation enthusiast I also have to say I love the boxer engines Subaru uses. Is there really any other "correct" way to oppose cylinders??

On the other hand I did lose some "cool" factor with it being a station wagon. ;)
 
I guess I would be hard to read by the cars I have and drive. I drive a Tundra, 3000GT, pro street Chevy Luv and when I have the girls a Honda Odyssey. When the wife and I are able to have date night we bring out the Lexus LS460L.
 
Luvrv8 said:
I guess I would be hard to read by the cars I have and drive. I drive a Tundra, 3000GT, pro street Chevy Luv and when I have the girls a Honda Odyssey. When the wife and I are able to have date night we bring out the Lexus LS460L.
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That's great! Someone with more cars than me. But I'm down from 4 to just 3. Drive the Ranger every day, finally sold the old 5-speed Accord EX when I realized the truck (with 3sandbags in the bed) handled WV winters alright. Then there's the wife's Altima with CVT (after a deer took out her Corolla), and my toy, a convertible Jaguar V-12 that I've had nigh onto forever.

Am I liberal or conservative? Tree huger? Compensating? Afraid of guns or owner? Dominant or submissive? 1st child? 2nd child? 3rd child? Only child?
 
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darrell said:
I can't quite explain it, but I love Volvos, but not the old boxy ones. It started with the curvy 2001 S60, and now I have a 2015 XC60, and I love it. I honestly don't know what that says about me.

Other car is a Scion tC, which I also love, since it's so reliable (it's basically a base-model Camry with a body kit).
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We have a 06 XC90 AWD. My wife loves it. Im trying to get her to look into the XC60 as they are a tad smaller but way more updated. The 06 is nice and it was fancy when we got it back then but the cockpit of the XC60 and features look great.
 
The XC90 line just got updated and is brand new this year. Although they may not be selling them quite yet. Some people don't like the new look, as it kind of looks like an Audi Q7, but I think it's great, especially now that it comes with the plug-in hybrid option.
 
I drive an '03 Volvo S60 2.4T. Really a neat car to drive and I always get complements on how new it looks, even though it's an '03.

But... In the last year I've:

Refurbished the ETM (car was stuck in limp mode due to potentiometer error)
Replaced the right half-axle (started clunking)
Replaced serpentine tensioner idler pully (had excessive play)
Replaced water pump (coolant crust forming around gasket)
Replaced timing belt components (which are limited to around 100k miles)

And in the next month or so, I'm going to have to replace the power steering pump, PS reservoir, PS suction hose and do a flush of the PS system with pricey german made PS fluid.

I love my Volvo!!!!


darrell said:
Perfect! Since I'm a helicopter mechanic.
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I guess I have a bit of this too :lol::yes:
 
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Luvrv8 said:
I guess I would be hard to read by the cars I have and drive. I drive a Tundra, 3000GT, pro street Chevy Luv and when I have the girls a Honda Odyssey. When the wife and I are able to have date night we bring out the Lexus LS460L.
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That's funny. I'm in either a new '14 Mustang GT 5.0 or my 14 yr old F-150 with a cracked windshield. Usually the truck, it has better utility. Figure that one out.
 
alexgeo said:
I drive an '03 Volvo S60 2.4T. Really a neat car to drive and I always get complements on how new it looks, even though it's an '03.

But... In the last year I've:

Refurbished the ETM (car was stuck in limp mode due to potentiometer error)
Replaced the right half-axle (started clunking)
Replaced serpentine tensioner idler pully (had excessive play)
Replaced water pump (coolant crust forming around gasket)
Replaced timing belt components (which are limited to around 100k miles)

And in the next month or so, I'm going to have to replace the power steering pump, PS reservoir, PS suction hose and do a flush of the PS system with pricey german made PS fluid.

I love my Volvo!!!!




I guess I have a bit of this too :lol::yes:
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Clearly another exception. :wink2:

How many miles on your Volvo?

John
 
Any of you guys drive an Audi? I'm due for a new car, and I usually default to a sensible Japanese option and drive it forever. But I really like the A5 - even more the S5 - and am thinking of going outside my comfort zone and getting one. I'm just scared of what'll happen when it goes out of warranty in a few years. Perhaps I should be like every other Angelino and just lease a new one every three years.
 
kayoh190 said:
Any of you guys drive an Audi? I'm due for a new car, and I usually default to a sensible Japanese option and drive it forever. But I really like the A5 - even more the S5 - and am thinking of going outside my comfort zone and getting one. I'm just scared of what'll happen when it goes out of warranty in a few years. Perhaps I should be like every other Angelino and just lease a new one every three years.
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I go to Germany several times a year. Driving on the autobahn I see Audi's everywhere. FAR more than Mercedes, or any other premium line car. Tells me they must have it together. I would love to have the big Audi wagon I see going 200 kph+ all the time.

To your point, I would buy the extended warranty if I planned to keep it.
 
Alexb2000 said:
I go to Germany several times a year. Driving on the autobahn I see Audi's everywhere. FAR more than Mercedes, or any other premium line car. Tells me they must have it together. I would love to have the big Audi wagon I see going 200 kph+ all the time.
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What I remember from my time in Germany was all of the MB A-class subcompacts running around. Regardless of the car's merits (small, efficient, gas is expensive in Urrup) they would never bring one of those to the US -- it would torpedo their entire "Luxury" brand image. Everywhere else in the world, an E-class (usually diesel) is a taxicab -- who's paying $60k for a Caprice or a Crown Vic?

Acura (Honda), Infinity (Nissan), Lexus (Toyota) were all invented for the US market solely to differentiate the brands and extract more money for a vehicle that is only superficially different. That's the view of the US to the world's car makers -- rich and stupid.
 
I think it was the Car Talk guys who said, "Life is too short to own a German car."

But the last time I was in Europe, they were everywhere. So were the VW Passat, Ford Focus, and Mercedes SLK (I think that's it, the little 2 seater convertible).
 
DJTorrente said:
What I remember from my time in Germany was all of the MB A-class subcompacts running around. Regardless of the car's merits (small, efficient, gas is expensive in Urrup) they would never bring one of those to the US -- it would torpedo their entire "Luxury" brand image. Everywhere else in the world, an E-class (usually diesel) is a taxicab -- who's paying $60k for a Caprice or a Crown Vic?

Acura (Honda), Infinity (Nissan), Lexus (Toyota) were all invented for the US market solely to differentiate the brands and extract more money for a vehicle that is only superficially different. That's the view of the US to the world's car makers -- rich and stupid.
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I agree I used to see all kinds of Mercedes (mostly C&E class), but not so much anymore. On the lower end I see VW group stuff and surprisingly a lot of Prius' are cabs.
 
Here's my take on the whole Subaru/liberal fascination. I just bought a Legacy myself specifically for the AWD performance, and am very impressed with it. I'd never be mistaken by anyone for a modern liberal/leftist.

People in Wisconsin don't drive Subarus because they're liberal. They drive Subarus because they live in f***ing Wisconsin, where it happens to snow a lot, and Subarus tend to shine. I'm sure plenty of centrists and right-thinkers in Wisconsin drive Subarus as well. Coincidentally, however, Wisconsinites on the whole tend to be a hotbed of liberalism. So, liberals elsewhere in the country, where an AWD Subaru has far less practical use, buy and drive a Subaru to advertise their affection for Wisconsin, and establish their affiliation with their political idols. Its the same reason any sports fan buys a jersey of their favorite team -- not because they have any intention of playing the game. This monkey see, monkey do behavior, in apparent disregard of practical or technical considerations, is what the left calls "independent thought".

A very similar line of reasoning -- that self expression largely drives vehicle choice -- nicely explains the popularity of the Toyota Pious... uh, Prius, particularly compared with, say a hybrid Honda Civic that is visually almost indistinguishable from its gasoline-powered cousin. I mean what's the point of saving the world with your choice of car if the whole world can't SEE that you're saving the world everywhere you drive?!? [ETA: linky]
 
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DJTorrente said:
Here's my take on the whole Subaru/liberal fascination. I just bought a Legacy myself specifically for the AWD performance, and am very impressed with it. I'd never be mistaken by anyone for a modern liberal/leftist.

People in Wisconsin don't drive Subarus because they're liberal. They drive Subarus because they live in f***ing Wisconsin, where it happens to snow a lot, and Subarus tend to shine. I'm sure plenty of centrists and right-thinkers in Wisconsin drive Subarus as well. Coincidentally, however, Wisconsinites on the whole tend to be a hotbed of liberalism. So, liberals elsewhere in the country, where an AWD Subaru has far less practical use, buy and drive a Subaru to advertise their affection for Wisconsin, and establish their affiliation with their political idols. Its the same reason any sports fan buys a jersey of their favorite team -- not because they have any intention of playing the game. This monkey see, monkey do behavior, in apparent disregard of practical or technical considerations, is what the left calls "independent thought".

A very similar line of reasoning -- that self expression largely drives vehicle choice -- nicely explains the popularity of the Toyota Pious... uh, Prius, particularly compared with, say a hybrid Honda Civic that is visually almost indistinguishable from its gasoline-powered cousin. I mean what's the point of saving the world with your choice of car if the whole world can't SEE that you're saving the world everywhere you drive?!? [ETA: linky]
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Then Montana should be infested with Subarus as well. Because, it snows. Or here in West Michigan where its very conservative and we get more snow than Wisconsin. So we should have even more Subarus But the only people driving Subs around here *are* the liberals.

Me - I drive a 4x4 in the winter because it has more clearance than a Subaru. Also, because I can put wood and other stuff in the box. I work on a main artery into and out of the city. See waaaaaaaaaay more 4WD trucks than Subarus.
 
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The parking lot here at work includes many Subarus (and pickups). I can assure you that most of the owners are neither liberal nor female.
 
kayoh190 said:
I'm just scared of what'll happen when it goes out of warranty in a few years. Perhaps I should be like every other Angelino and just lease a new one every three years.
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Because it's cheaper than fixing an Audi out of warranty! :goofy:
 
alexgeo said:
Replaced timing belt components (which are limited to around 100k miles)
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Just had that done on our XC90 last month. $1100 job. We just turned 125k miles and going good. never had a problem with the ride. Though it does clunk when turning out of a parking spot at times. But it doesn't happen often.

A coworker had an Audi. It was a maintenance hog and nobody around here would work on it. But I would also suspect the car was not very well taken care of to begin with.
 
alexgeo said:
Refurbished the ETM (car was stuck in limp mode due to potentiometer error)
Replaced the right half-axle (started clunking)
Replaced serpentine tensioner idler pully (had excessive play)
Replaced water pump (coolant crust forming around gasket)
Replaced timing belt components (which are limited to around 100k miles)
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Do you want to hear what I replaced on my Jeep Wrangler?

For crying out loud, you broke through 100k. That's quite a bit even for a Volvo.
 
Our Outback just passed 90k. I do all the maintenance myself except for tires..
Other than regular oil changes, I've replaced the tires once. New brake pads on the front once, new pads on the rear twice and new rear rotors. Replaced the air filter and both headlight bulbs too.

Modern cars should be able to hit 100k without any major repairs.
 
jsstevens said:
Clearly another exception. :wink2:

How many miles on your Volvo?

John
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At this point I think I'm near 110K. It seems like all the problems came at once when I hit 100K. Hopefully after I get past this rough patch things will work nicely for another 100K miles :wink2:


simtech said:
Just had that done on our XC90 last month. $1100 job. We just turned 125k miles and going good. never had a problem with the ride. Though it does clunk when turning out of a parking spot at times. But it doesn't happen often.

A coworker had an Audi. It was a maintenance hog and nobody around here would work on it. But I would also suspect the car was not very well taken care of to begin with.
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Go to an independent Volvo mechanic! I paid around $550 for the timing belt kit and install (tensioner, idler, T-belt, serpentine belt) and another $300 for the water pump. They've been working on Volvos for years and I've never had any problems with them! All the other things I repair myself. The half-axle took me nearly 7 hours to complete. The new axle works great, but I do have to send it in to get an alignment (which can be done at most reputable tire shops).

The Volvo dealership in my area only sells a few cars a month. Thus they charge a real premium ($$$) when it comes to maintenance.
 
zaitcev said:
For crying out loud, you broke through 100k. That's quite a bit even for a Volvo.
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Huh?

My 2002 Chevy truck is coming up on 200k without a major issue and I've worked the heck out of it.

My 2000 4Runner had 175k on it when I sold it last year and I did exactly nothing to it except change the timing belt, shocks, and all belts and hoses at 100k.

Sold our 2002 Forester last year also with 70k. Did nothing to it.

("Nothing" excludes tires and brakes)

A well maintained car should make at least 200k these days...if it's well built.
 
zaitcev said:
Do you want to hear what I replaced on my Jeep Wrangler?
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My 1999 Wrangler has just short of 190,000 miles on the clock. And it still runs great. I may get it back from my son later this summer when he sells his 1999 Mustang and replaces it with something better for a man with 3 kids (he went from 0 to 3 this Saturday when he got married).

Now, about replacing stuff on the Wrangler. Just remember that JEEP stands for Just Empty Every Pocket. :D
 
In Iowa, our Subaru Outback was fantastic. Snow and ice simply were not a problem.

When we moved to Texas, it quickly became our courtesy car for fly-in guests. That was great, because I didn't have to hear any more snide remarks from our neighbors.
;)
 
timwinters said:
I'm betting I have the most. Wait...



Do all the vehicles in my front yard up on blocks count?
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From Southeast Missouri? Yes, of course. Unless you've converted the bed of a pickup on blocks to a hot tub with a big blue tarp liner to hold the water.
 
I'm probably going to skew the sterotype somewhat: Being a frugal Scotsman, I chose the logical vehicle: a 2006 Porsche Cayenne S. Reason: an awsome vehicle which brings a smile every day. All wheel drive, a superb Burmeister audio system, air ride suspension which gets you over the roughest terrain, three lockable diffs for any conditions, hydraulic unlocking roll bars for rock climbing, a bullet-proof V8 which powered a 24 Hours of Daytona winner, will run all day at 150 mph (with the aerial refuelling option, otherwise about 5 hours before its tank is empty and mine is full :wink2:.) The frugal part comes now: buy one that has just come off warranty, do a through, informed PPI, wait until the owner has his first encounter with the $400.00 oil change at the dealership :hairraise:, then discovers that his $175,000 SUV has fallen off the depreciation cliff. Result: a wonderfull daily driver for the price of an ecobox. Caveat: must do your own maintenance, buy parts and supplies wholesale, drink the excellent coffee at the dealer, but buy nothing there: parts and supplies are still based on a 175k vehicle:yikes:.
 
It's not brand-specific, but quite a few people have accused me of various psychological conditions because I prefer manual-transmission cars. If I'm buying new, I won't even consider an automatic.

Most often the diagnosis is that I'm trying to act like a young guy because I don't want to grow old, which I think is bizarre considering that more old people than young ones know how to drive stick. Besides, if you don't get old, you get dead; so in balance, growing old's not that bad.

The actual reasons are less clinical.

Firstly, I like stick. I learned how to drive on a 65 Dodge Dart with a three-speed column shifter, long before I was old enough to legally drive.

Secondly, if you know what you're doing, you can dramatically improve your MPG with a stick. I average ~35 MPG in my Soul using 89-octane gas, or ~38 MPG using ethanol-free 91-octane.

Finally, an automatic transmission is one of the very few things on a car that I can't fix myself. I could change a clutch on a manual transmission if I had to, but automatic transmissions are just too complex.

Rich
 
RJM62 said:
It's not brand-specific, but quite a few people have accused me of various psychological conditions because I prefer manual-transmission cars. If I'm buying new, I won't even consider an automatic.
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I share the affliction. In shopping for another Jeep Wrangler recently, to replace my existing, I am having difficulty finding a manual transmission Wrangler in inventory. People just don't seem to want to shift anymore, and I don't count Tiptronic "shifters" as manual as there is NO MANUAL CLUTCH. Duh!
 
Anthony said:
I am having difficulty finding a manual transmission Wrangler in inventory. People just don't seem to want to shift anymore, and I don't count Tiptronic "shifters" as manual as there is NO MANUAL CLUTCH.
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I have the same problem when shopping for a car. When I was at the Audi dealer last week and mentioned that it had to be a stick, he began to chuckle. I had given only two parameters for the A5 - manual transmission, and a specific (common) color. I left everything else open ended. There were two cars in the entire nation - the closest one being in Texas. Fortunately he had a used version on the lot with a manual - at least I could test drive it properly. :)

There's just something about the motion that I love - it's adds tremendously to the enjoyment that I get out of driving.
 
kayoh190 said:
I have the same problem when shopping for a car. When I was at the Audi dealer last week and mentioned that it had to be a stick, he began to chuckle. I had given only two parameters for the A5 - manual transmission, and a specific (common) color. I left everything else open ended. There were two cars in the entire nation - the closest one being in Texas. Fortunately he had a used version on the lot with a manual - at least I could test drive it properly. :)

There's just something about the motion that I love - it's adds tremendously to the enjoyment that I get out of driving.
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So, in other words....you like to shift your stick in order to maximize your enjoyment while driving?
 
RJM62 said:
It's not brand-specific, but quite a few people have accused me of various psychological conditions because I prefer manual-transmission cars. If I'm buying new, I won't even consider an automatic.

Most often the diagnosis is that I'm trying to act like a young guy because I don't want to grow old, which I think is bizarre considering that more old people than young ones know how to drive stick. Besides, if you don't get old, you get dead; so in balance, growing old's not that bad.

The actual reasons are less clinical.

Firstly, I like stick. I learned how to drive on a 65 Dodge Dart with a three-speed column shifter, long before I was old enough to legally drive.

Secondly, if you know what you're doing, you can dramatically improve your MPG with a stick. I average ~35 MPG in my Soul using 89-octane gas, or ~38 MPG using ethanol-free 91-octane.

Finally, an automatic transmission is one of the very few things on a car that I can't fix myself. I could change a clutch on a manual transmission if I had to, but automatic transmissions are just too complex.

Rich
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I'm right there with you (And with Anthony, Xbox Grand Tourismo electronic paddle-shifting through a slush box is not a manual transmission).

Unfortunately, from a reliability standpoint, I also believe in buying the transmission type that the particular manufacturer does best/most. For US makes, outside the high end sports car realm, they just don't make manuals. On the other hand, I owned one of the first year's Hyundai Excels when they entered the US market mid-90's. They just didn't make automatic transmissions, and the ones that they put in their early cars to appeal to US drivers were terrible.

My Subaru has a stick (another reason that motivated me to buy it), but the brand seems to be going all in on CVTs lately.
 
RJM62 said:
It's not brand-specific, but quite a few people have accused me of various psychological conditions because I prefer manual-transmission cars. If I'm buying new, I won't even consider an automatic.

Most often the diagnosis is that I'm trying to act like a young guy because I don't want to grow old, which I think is bizarre considering that more old people than young ones know how to drive stick. Besides, if you don't get old, you get dead; so in balance, growing old's not that bad.

The actual reasons are less clinical.

Firstly, I like stick. I learned how to drive on a 65 Dodge Dart with a three-speed column shifter, long before I was old enough to legally drive.

Secondly, if you know what you're doing, you can dramatically improve your MPG with a stick. I average ~35 MPG in my Soul using 89-octane gas, or ~38 MPG using ethanol-free 91-octane.

Finally, an automatic transmission is one of the very few things on a car that I can't fix myself. I could change a clutch on a manual transmission if I had to, but automatic transmissions are just too complex.

Rich
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More importantly, I've never had a stick kick down driving uphill on slippery roads.

That SUCKS. Though snow and ice is an obvious situation, wet evergreen needles or oak leaves are also slippery as hell.

I rented an auto KIA (now there's an appropriate name…) in northeast Ohio in the middle of winter once. That F'er kicked down every time I climbed a hill, hard enough to break a tire free and start fishtailing. In a stick, I can have the power at idle when I shift….

The Camry is the only auto I've owned for years (not my choice -- my mom gave up driving, and that's what she had), and I constantly need to downshift it even slightly downhill or it likes to take off. What's the point of an auto that's never right?

FWIW, autos are not terribly hard to service, but they are messy and VERY labor intensive. Manual transmissions are much more persnickety, especially if they have cone bearings (those have to be shimmed and preloaded), but they don't break much as long as they are kept lubricated.
 
RJM62 said:
It's not brand-specific, but quite a few people have accused me of various psychological conditions because I prefer manual-transmission cars. If I'm buying new, I won't even consider an automatic.

Most often the diagnosis is that I'm trying to act like a young guy because I don't want to grow old, which I think is bizarre considering that more old people than young ones know how to drive stick. Besides, if you don't get old, you get dead; so in balance, growing old's not that bad.

The actual reasons are less clinical.

Firstly, I like stick. I learned how to drive on a 65 Dodge Dart with a three-speed column shifter, long before I was old enough to legally drive.

Secondly, if you know what you're doing, you can dramatically improve your MPG with a stick. I average ~35 MPG in my Soul using 89-octane gas, or ~38 MPG using ethanol-free 91-octane.

Finally, an automatic transmission is one of the very few things on a car that I can't fix myself. I could change a clutch on a manual transmission if I had to, but automatic transmissions are just too complex.

Rich
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That's fine if you live in TMOFN.

Places like this, not so much- a real pain:

tow18k-1-web.jpg
 
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