Originally Posted by HeyYou

My 96 has all the original 'big' parts still, engine, trans, axles, etc. Only thing that was done to it was maintenance. No major repairs at all, and it too, was a farm truck. (and it is obvious it did NOT have an easy life on the farm....) I have done some minor repairs, and have had to maintenance the crap out of it, but, 165000 miles, still runs good, shifts nice, and drives ok. Rides like a damn truck though.

Originally Posted by hometheaterman

I disagree because, my truck has been treated very very well for a truck. The worst thing it's done is haul a fourwheeler around on a trailer. It really has had a great life. I've always been very picky about maintenance on anything and always done it on time or before. Yet I still have all of these problems, and when I come on the forums it seems that 95% of the other posters are having the exact same problems with the exact same parts broken the exact same way. That shows me it's a design flaw, not a case of abuse.

My 96 Accord on the other hand has 272k miles and is just starting to have issues. It's literally had the **** beat out of it for over half of it's life. It's been to the drag strip several times, and just really driven hard it's whole life. We also lived up a long steep rough dirt road for a while, and this thing was driven up and down it everyday which is really hard on any vehicle. It's why it's had several sets of brakes and the exhaust had to be changed. It's had a few axles changed, a few sets of brakes, an exhaust or two, and a few hoses. That's really it and this car has just had a really rough life. It's overheated several times from our own stupidity. Once a hose busted going up that mountain road and we didn't notice until it started getting hot. We have had one two times like that where we just didn't stop in time. Just recently it's started acting like it has a head gasket blown as the anti freeze is leaking, but it's not coming out anywhere that's visible. Like I said, this just happened and it's got 272k miles and rough miles at that. That's not a cheap fix, but it's not that major either.

Also have a 06 Accord with 91k miles. No issues with it either other than one set of breaks, and a battery. I did have a few service bulletins performed, but they were all done free, and were not really any problems so if they hadn't been done, it wouldn't have really mattered.

My grandmother also had a Chevy Caprice she has babied and had since new. Always serviced on time, waxed every month or two, and probably never been over 55. It gave her problems all the time. She had several computers put in it, it often wouldn't start, etc. She kept it for about 10 years and was dumping money into it all the time. I liked the car even though it wasn't the most reliable. So when she finally got fed up she gave it to me free. I've also had several issues, but by the time I got it it was pretty old, but low miles, so I can't say too much. However, even when it wasn't old with her it had tons of issues. It's only 2 years older than the 96 Honda and has 72k miles and it's had about 15-20x the repairs.

My truck has 130k miles, and has been having one major problem after another since 90k miles, and it had quite a few smaller issues that added up long before that. Sad to say, but it's been treated way better than the Honda's and had way way more issues. I mean hardly anything other than the body on this truck is original and the body is rusting at the bottom of the doors and paint is not looking the greatest. It just really is a POS. I've also got several friends with American vehicles, most of whom have grown up with them and will probably always have them and every since one of them is a piece of **** and has a ton of problems. There is one exception I can think of to that, but the rest have been pieces of crap. A few of them have even traded them in and ended up with a Honda, or Toyota.

Honestly, quality wise the American cars aren't on par and never have been. The Japanese cars seem to have dropped in quality the last few years, but they are still light years about the American cars. However, you will always have people who have grown up with American cars and will defend them to their death no matter how many problems they have. Most of my friends that have them are exactly like this, as are most of the forum. They also seem to think that they are supporting American workers, and keeping jobs in this country, yet don't seem to realize or care that most of the cars and trucks are made in Mexico, while Honda's and Toyota's are made right here in the US.

Originally Posted by CappinHoff

I'm gonna disagree with you again. I have a 1984 Chevy Celebrity with 400k miles on it. Original motor, trans everything except tires and wipers. Again it's about care and if you get a bad vehicle off the line. Toyota, Hondas, Nissan you name it have the same issues american cars do.

Originally Posted by zman17

I understand why you are being stubborn, but you'll never get what you want for it. Nobody cares how much money you've spent on it. So you might as well keep it,use it,fix it and stop bitching about it!

Originally Posted by redheadhunter21

Obviously you havent heard about the toyotas that have a recall for rusting out in the frame were there buying back or fixing the trucks by doing a complete swap of frames thats a 10k in a single step not very cheap is it, what about the 4x4 problems they had to have a recall about or maybe the gas pedals slipped your mind, and if it doesnt get better you have stuck gas pedal and no brakes thats fun......

And yes to the OP it was designed a special way that makes the cap and rotor hard to get to but they are looking for people to come back to the dealer to get it fixed and its easy once you know what your doing