People's memories of problem cars live on and make them wary of that brand in the future even if that brand of car has corrected the problems.

I once bought a nearly new Ford 1995 Taurus which was less than a year old and had only 10,000 mile on it. Still had factory warranty, thank heavens, because it sure was needed. I naively thought that this car had been made for so many years that Ford would have worked out the bugs in it. Dumb old me!

Ford knew the problems but figured they would make more profit by not fixing them and just stiffing owners with claims. I found out they had been doing this for many years. Just look into the history of the Pinto and the Escort.

My Taurus was on its third set of head gaskets by 90,000 miles, its transmission was notorious for failing, the parking brake system was a bad design which resulted in the rear brake pads not fully backing off and causing rapid pad wear, warped discs, and reduced mileage. The speedometer head was defective and the ignition switch was also. The intake manifold also warped and leaked coolant.

This was a nice handling car, very reliable, used no oil, had great fuel economy, and good power. If Ford had bothered to correct the known problems, I'd still be driving Fords. As it is, I'll never buy another. no matter how good they say they are.

A couple of years ago I rented a new Chevvy Classic ( same as the Impala, I believe). It was a mixed bag. Great gas mileage from the 4 cylinder engine with so-so power. The seats killed your butt. The car steering was not stable and the car wandered badly. From that one experience, I am not likely to buy a GM car. Cars cost just too much to buy from car makers who have made some cars you don't trust. This is probably the reason US car makers have such a high 'trust' hurdle to overcome. Too bad too because my family has always had US cars until we figured out that others were more reliable. We've had Volvo and now Mercedes with no complaints. No Japanese cars yet but maybe in the future.

I once heard a business consultant tell a group that it took something like 10 good reports to counteract one bad report. In the case of cars, I think he was optimistic!

__________________
1986 300E
1993 Volvo 940 Wagon
1984 Volvo 240 (daughter's)
1976 Dodge 1/2T pickup, gas hog