http://www.auto123.com/en/info/news/...tid=58024&pg=1

 

There's better choices then hybrids, but what can we expect from engineers? They haven't been doing their job for several years now. Example: Chrysler engineers. Not to rag on Chrysler, but they're a prime example and they've got worse reliability ratings then Ford...truely pathetic. So it doesn't suprise me if they can't develop a more efficient yet practical engine...or car for that matter.

Not to get offtopic, but another rant toward engineers. On one of the space shuttles, I forget which one...it had a freakin 8 foot crack in it. How the devil do you not notice that? A whole da** room of rocket scientists/engineers can't notice an 8 foot crack? Wtf. Anyways, if people want to rant about hybrids, I say make a better engine and become a millionare.

 

did u read that bull**** in consumers report? I'm just wondering because you like almost always practically quote them. and what teh **** is your problem with engineers. without engineers image where the world would be at today. it would be like the jungle. practically everything you use is engineered so what a hypocrite to rip on engineers. also it isn't the engineers job to check the builders work. it is there job to design it and make sure it is build as efficiently as possible, but not to check the work man ship of the lazy POS union workers.

 

Let me correct you here. I for one am a UAW worker, and I'll be danged if I'm "a lazy POS worker". The problem with the cars lies within the corporation bean counters. It's not the workers, it's not the engineers, it's what they are able to work with. If Ford or Chrysler specifices a certain peice then it's what they put on there, and everything is cheapened out to the max and theres nothing we can do about it. It's putting a big puzzle together the peices are not designed by us, there are not to OUR specifications, what we see is what we get. It's the job of the corportation to check on suppliers and lay out the ground rules on what they want and need. Tell me if you put a model car together and the company bean counters specified that the peices have to be extra thin to save on plastic....now you get peices cracked, warped, or not even the correct size. Well I guess by your thinking it's YOUR fault because the car falls apart because your the builder.

Chrysler is a prime example of saving bits of money here and there on products (look at all the little features that seem to disappear on models), but yet the price never changes (in fact probably goes up!) You think that the 42LE or 2.7L problems are because of the union workers? What about those loose ball joints on my Dakota? I guess I should go slap the workers at the Warren assembly plant for not doing a better job, or slap the ones at Belivedere for the head-gaskets, wind noise, and electrical problems on my old Neon. [sm=lame.gif]

 

actually they fixed the headgasket problems on the NEON in 98 and electrical problems my 95 had both of those problems but my 98 is free of them w/ over 100000 miles:nearly 10 yrs old.....or if it is a problem thats what the aftermarket is for. Better Warranties are available now for new cars then in the past so if they were going to make something cheaply it would kinda be dumb for them to keep fixing stuff w/ in the span of that warranty...

Also Chrysler's DEALER parts are going up another 7% everywhere......WOW, they just went up a month ago!

 

I'd take a nice diesel in a car over a hybrid any day.

 

What's my problem with American engineers? Have you even ever seen a stat on how we compare to other countries education wise? There's no reason to defend engineers when American engineers simply aren't intelligent enough to do their job. Poor ratty people from South Korea are doing a better job then we are. Sure engineers made what the world is today, but *news flash*....Most of it wasn't done by Americans! Especially technology. We're Sooo behind in technology and the jobs are obviously being outsourced to the better educated people who will work for less. You're being a mind slave, ignorant to the fact that we're no longer a super power made of great engineers...again, we don't even compete anymore.

Finally, it IS the job of engineers to check their work. If they're intelligent enough, they would check and recheck, as well as think of possible scenarios where the car might have problems. That's their job and that's the difference between lazy American engineers and better more efficient foreign people.

Also, aren't you a union worker Nick? Haven't you openly admitted that you slept through highschool? How many books have you read last week? While you, the American engineer, are slacking, there's a better foreign engineer out there who will do the job right and is competitive. No offense, it's more bashing just on Americans then anything

 

You must have been lucky then because they didn't fix it in 98, I had a 98 neon sport, at about 37,000 miles, just after the warranty was over the headgasket went and it started leaking 2 quarts of oil a week.

 

Hey heres food for thought...there are a lot of foreigners going to US engineering schools and colleges and going to their own countries and applying their skills. The same is true w/ a lot of current resident aliens. We may be behind but it could have to do w/ the increasingly higher statistics of foreign residency in colleges. I mean, look at a lot of terrorists that went to our colleges and universities that were protected and given benefits to go to school. Hey if the US gives free money and education and healthcare to non-residents of the US then I guess its a good reason why they are getting more advanced and the poor american families cant afford send their kids to even a community college for whatever reason. Im sure this is only a small part of it...but cutbacks on school programs are plaguing indiana and other states right now. Education purely isnt what it used to be.

Dont blame engineers either. They dont make decisions, the corperations do. They dont have funding to let their ideas rome and test. Usually if they see grants from the Gov't its a possibilty but corperate america are more worried about filling their own pockets. I know a few aircraft engineers who got cut out of the picture so they could pay fresh people lower wages...especially by foreign engineers. Now they work at factories that pay more then their degree does now. Its nice to go to college for years and get the shaft like that but if your going to blame someone blame the corperations.