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Buying American Cars What Does It Mean?

18078 messages,  Last post on May 15, 2013 at 9:27 AM

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What is this discussion about? Car Buying

With parts coming from everywhere, does "Buying American" have much meaning anymore? Is quality and price the bottom line?

Messages Page 1679 of 1808

#16781 of 18078 Re: flats... [dieselone] by steve_ HOST

Jan 30, 2013 (12:19 pm)

Replying to: dieselone (Jan 30, 2013 11:10 am)
Les Schwab fixed a couple of flats for me free (including one from a lawn tractor). Even had a hard time trying to tip the guy one time. Other times they only charged $5.
 
In American car news, GM to invest $600M at Kansas City plant
 
Navitas Systems LLC plans to bring on board about 40 A123 Systems Inc. employees in southeast Michigan, following its $2.3 million acquisition of the government and research side of the battery maker's business.
 
Navitas Systems acquires A123's government, research side
 
Ford workers' $8,300 profit-sharing checks 'good news for Michigan economy'
 
Chrysler's $1.7 billion profit nets workers $2,250 bonuses Those are all UAW workers.
 
All links from today's Detroit News.

#16782 of 18078 Re: flats... [steve_] by uplanderguy

Jan 31, 2013 (2:37 am)

Replying to: steve_ (Jan 30, 2013 12:19 pm)
The $600M investment is obviously a good thing. It's nice to see a car company invest in the midwest.

#16783 of 18078 Re: flats... [uplanderguy] by gagrice

Jan 31, 2013 (7:09 am)

Replying to: uplanderguy (Jan 31, 2013 2:37 am)
It is good they are updating their plants to be competitive. It will not provide any more jobs in the USA. I notice the job growth is in their Brazil operations. Maybe if we added big tariffs to foreign built vehicles like Brazil does we would have more manufacturing in the USA.
 
Honda Motor Co (7267.T)(HMC.N) launched its subcompact City in Mexico, starting at $16,000. The price tag in Brazil: over $30,000.
 
Brazilians still bought three times as many Hondas last year, but their sunny spending habits are dimming as they tire of buying one car for the price of two.
 
http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/28/us-autos-brazil-idINBRE87R0PS20120828

#16784 of 18078 Re: flats... [gagrice] by ateixeira

Jan 31, 2013 (8:05 am)

Replying to: gagrice (Jan 31, 2013 7:09 am)
We hardly import anything form Brazil any more. NAFTA basically told Mexico "all yours".
 
Wanna know why OJ used to be a buck, and now it's $3-4? Ask Emmerson Fittipaldi, the family owns groves in Brazil. US taxes the daylights out of OJ.
 
Mercosul formed in response. They get car designs from Europe.
 
There's been little/no cooperation between the US and Brazil, I'd actually like to see more. Coffee, guarana, OJ, etc.

#16785 of 18078 Re: flats... [ateixeira] by gagrice

Jan 31, 2013 (8:15 am)

Replying to: ateixeira (Jan 31, 2013 8:05 am)
Sounds like both Ford & GM are building a lot of vehicles in Brazil from their EU designs. I think they did end the tariff on Brazilian Ethanol. Like we really need that crap in our gas.

#16786 of 18078 Re: gagrice and fintail [busiris] by roadburner

Jan 31, 2013 (9:14 am)

Replying to: busiris (Jan 25, 2013 6:26 pm)
Once, I responded to a poster by telling him the exact page in the owner's manual where he could find the answer.
  
He responded in a most negative way, stating that if he was interested in looking it up in the manual, he would have already done so.
 
I had the exact thing happen on one of the Edmunds forums; I told the poster that I wasn't about to perform research that he/she was perfectly capable of doing on his/her own...
Moron.

#16787 of 18078 Re: gagrice and fintail [roadburner] by steve_ HOST

Jan 31, 2013 (11:13 am)

Replying to: roadburner (Jan 31, 2013 9:14 am)
Lots of people don't have owner's manuals though. Either they are lost or they drove a different car to work (where they are browsing the forums ) or the car is in a parking garage three blocks away.
 
That's when you can refer them to How To Find Your Car Owner's Manual Online.

#16788 of 18078 Re: gagrice and fintail [steve_] by busiris

Jan 31, 2013 (2:19 pm)

Replying to: steve_ (Jan 31, 2013 11:13 am)
OTOH, many that DO have owner's manuals never bother to open them.
 
I know I'm old-fashioned, but when my daughters got a new car, I refused to let them drive it until they at least familiarized themselves with the manuals... Knew where to find out what the dash warning lights meant, where the spare tire/jack/tire tools were located, how to check the fluids, etc.
 
In college, both girls became the "go-to" kids for car questions from their friends.
 
It paid off in other ways for my daughter when she began her clinical sessions in Seattle (i live in SC, a country away from her). Something happened to a relay, and the radio would continuously stay on, key in or not. Of course, this happened late on a Saturday night. She was able to locate the correct fuse using the manual and pull it, keeping the battery from dying.

#16789 of 18078 Re: gagrice and fintail [busiris] by steve_ HOST

Jan 31, 2013 (2:27 pm)

Replying to: busiris (Jan 31, 2013 2:19 pm)
I do that before I buy a new car. Good thing for the salespeople that I only buy one a decade. The last guy was cool though and even gave me his "comparison" book to flip through to compare the van to the competing models.
 
It's really irritating that Toyota and VW and some other companies don't offer that online, although I guess Toyota lets you download the manual chapter by chapter now. But geeze, that's 35 different downloads and that doesn't include the Nav and maintenance schedule.
 
An American car company wouldn't make you jump through so many hoops.
 
I bet your daughters check out the controls before driving off in rental cars too.

#16790 of 18078 Re: gagrice and fintail [steve_] by gagrice

Jan 31, 2013 (4:41 pm)

Replying to: steve_ (Jan 31, 2013 2:27 pm)
It is rare for me to look at a manual for anything. I like to figure it out for myself. The only thing I wanted to know about the NAV in the Sequoia was not in the manual. How to over ride the lockout while moving. I got it online through a forum. I check the maintenance schedules and that is about it. Most vehicle manuals are so poorly written and laid out it would drive me crazy to read them.

Messages Page 1679 of 1808

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