zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

: It is like comparing a 1999 cadillac eldorado
: (built like a tank)and car like a 1999
: mercedes 500sel (very unreliable engine).
: The cadillac wins because of the northstar
: and its general reliability. The northstar
: only requires an oil change every 165000km,
: great advantage over the competitors.

In reading this and some of the other recent posts, I don't think you can lose sight of the fact that no product lacks the potential to be defective or problematic. As an example, the Cadillac Northstar engine you mentioned was in my neighbors' "dream car". When they retired and finally bought a brand new Caddy, it was in the shop every other week for warranty repairs. They couldn't figure out what was wrong with the engine's computer for months. Does this mean all Northstar engines are bad? No, it just means my neighbors received one that was a "lemon".

What does happen, though, is that the consumer loses faith in the brand because this is the ONLY product they buy from that manufacturer. About 4 years ago I saved up enough money to finally buy a new Corvette. As I drove it off the lot, it stalled and the salesman had to give it a jump start to get it going again. That night, the dashboard lights kept turning on and off at random, the other interior lights seemed "possesed" as well, and for life of me I couldn't get the trunk hatch to close properly. The next day it wouldn't start again, so I had it towed back to the dealer where I demanded my money back. I had just shelled out over $40K for a product that was defective from the minute it left the dealership.

I went back to Honda, since all six Hondas I owned never gave me the least bit of trouble. Would the rare person who buys a defective Honda agree with me? No, he'd do the same thing I did with the Corvette.

All I'm trying to say in these ramblings is that it may not be fair to judge an entire brand based on one bad experience, but as consumers that's what we're "hard wired" to do.