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Old 07-12-2003, 02:47 PM
ericnguyen ericnguyen is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: USA
Posts: 699
Here are some data for the number of MB cars sold in the US so far (Thanks Haasman).

2001 - 206,638
2000 - 205,614
1999 - 189,437
1998 - 170,245
1997 - 122,265
1996 - 90,844
1995 - 76,752
1994 - 73,002
1993 - 61,899
1992 - 63,312


It's easy to understand. The more DBAG sells their cars in the US, the more complaints they will get and the lower rating they will have. I believe the Japanese car makes sells 1 to 2 million cars per year in the US, and most of these cars are made in the USA. American car makers produce much more cars.

Most of us here are males,and we love to work on our MB cars to fix problems. However, please do not forget that probably 1/2 or even more car buyers are females (and countless other males who can't tell the simple color difference between engine oil and auto transmission fluid). Virtually most of them only want a car to drive to work or shopping without having to constantly checking up on their cars or taking them to repair shops or stealerships. For an example, people like us want to fix a blower motor for $6 (new brushes) while the other people have to take it to a shop/stealership to get fleeced with $1000 repair bill. The same can be said for plenty of other fixes (voltage regulator, power steering seals etc...)

I love driving in a MB car between it feels very solidly built, very safe and comfortable. However, if I were just like the other people, I would have spent enough money in shops/stealership for repairs (enough to buy some used cars).

Wake up my friends. The J.D. Powers and other car surveys do have their actual merits. They summarized the opinions of the majority while we are just a tiny minority. In a modern and civilized society, the majority is always the winner and the rule for EVERYONE to follow. We have to accept that principle.

If a Civic or Corolla can run basically without any problem up to 150 Kmiles, we should expect a MB car that cost 3x to 10x to have at least the same reliability in the same mileage range (Hey forget about the sophisticated electronic gadgetry. It's just about common stuff such as A/C evaporator, power antenna, head gasket, wiring harness, fan clutch etc...)

The great thing is that GM is rated above average. GM is the largest car maker, it means it produces the biggest number of cars and still manages to beat the odds. If DBAG were able to sell as many cars as GM does, the class-action lawsuits would bury it in debt.

My family came to the US from Vietnam 10 years ago, and I'm very grateful for American people for giving us freedom and the right to be ourselves. Karl Max (a German) and Frederick Engels (a Brit) created the communist utopia that has caused so much pain for millions of people around the world. Germany caused so many terrible wars in the past and killed unbelievably huge number of people in Europe and Russia. Japan killed even much more people in Asian countries during the WW II. And it was America which helped the world get rid of these abominable scourges, created the United Nations to maintain the global stability, and even helped Germany and Japan to restore their economy (Germany is the richest country in Europe, Japan is the richest country in Asia). Without America, this world would have been a complete mess. That's something that is dearly special about America's greatness.

Most of us here are Americans. First, let's be proud oI just being American citizens first. Don't be proud of our cars because a car is just a means of transportation. Instead, be proud of all the all work we've put on our cars to save money for our family, and of the knowledge we've learnt from doing that.

I just hope American car makers will someday beat the hell out of German and Japanese car makers.

Best regards,

Eric
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