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Post by fumobici on Sept 13, 2011 3:54:10 GMT
I've heard that almost any small Mexican town has a magician mechanic that can repair airliners and satellites with tin cans and cardboard. In fact I've heard the only country with better car mechanics than Mexico is probably Cuba.
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Post by onlymark on Sept 13, 2011 4:22:27 GMT
I'd forgotten all about this thread.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2011 4:55:11 GMT
I've heard that almost any small Mexican town has a magician mechanic that can repair airliners and satellites with tin cans and cardboard. In fact I've heard the only country with better car mechanics than Mexico is probably Cuba. I'm afraid that might be truer for pre-electronic cars than the newer models, unless there is some way to bypass the electronic stuff. Naturally, in Cuba the majority of vehicles are still pre-electronic.
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Post by bjd on Sept 13, 2011 7:03:16 GMT
I have to take one of our two cars to the Auto Control today. They have to be checked every 2 years for a bunch of basic safety questions, or if you want to sell them.
We don't actually need two cars and will try to sell this one after our son comes home for a few weeks. He doesn't want it to be sold, but we don't want to pay insurance on a car we don't use. It's a 20-year old Toyota Carina. Our remaining car is a 13-year old Nissan. We only use that once or twice a week too.
When we ever get around to buying a new (second-hand) car, it will surely be a Toyota again.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2011 7:12:45 GMT
The new Toyota advertising campaign insists heavily on the fact that the cars are made in France.
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Post by bjd on Sept 13, 2011 8:27:25 GMT
So we should buy a crappy Renault or Peugeot then?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2011 9:58:25 GMT
They all come out of the same factories these days, which is why Renault merged with Nissan.
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Post by bjd on Sept 13, 2011 10:28:21 GMT
Our Nissan is old too and was made in Japan.
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Post by mich64 on Sept 13, 2011 14:46:32 GMT
We are very spoiled vehicle owners. My husbands brother works for a General Motors dealership as a Service Advisor. He is an expert when it comes to listening to his customers with all of their car complaint sounds.
Back to being spoiled, he books our appointments so that he can stop on his way to work when my husband is also working, leaves his vehicle and takes ours in for service. Or, if Mark is not working he drops off the vehicle and takes his brothers, we get the staff discount on repairs and they often clean it as well. Because his brother is a respected employee, the owner of the dealership always ensures when we buy a new vehicle that we get the best price he can do. He is planning on retiring in 3 years so we will make sure we buy before he leaves!
Cheers, Mich
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Post by mickthecactus on Sept 13, 2011 17:20:53 GMT
I'm not a man. I haven't the slightest idea hows it works (nor inclination to find out).
I have a Toyota and a Subaru. They seem to work all the time...
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2011 17:49:09 GMT
One thing that has amused me over the last year in France is the arrival of Chevrolet. The French know this brand from American mythology and Hollywood. One thing they are not being told is that all of these tiny cars are actually built by Daewoo in South Korea.
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Post by bjd on Sept 13, 2011 18:44:23 GMT
I always liked the French pronunciation of Buick = Bweek. ;D
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Post by fumobici on Sept 13, 2011 20:22:37 GMT
One thing that has amused me over the last year in France is the arrival of Chevrolet. The French know this brand from American mythology and Hollywood. One thing they are not being told is that all of these tiny cars are actually built by Daewoo in South Korea. I was amazed how many Chevrolets I saw in Italy this year. A few years ago there were none save the odd Corvette or old, old one. The Cruze is now the best selling sedan in its segment in Italy! The ones sold there are made in Korea, but if you buy one in the US it's the exact same car made in Ohio. You see a lot of American made Jeeps and PT Cruisers in Italy too and Chryslers are being imported (from Mexico I think!), restyled a bit and being rebadged as Fiats and Lancias now as well. American cars are sometimes a little crude compared to European cars, but are generally reliable and excellent value for the money.
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Post by tod2 on Sept 14, 2011 12:37:19 GMT
Never did buy that new vehicle... worked out cheaper to carry on with another couple of years' worth of 'Motor Plan' instead. She's a lovely old duck really - talks to me in a 'gong' or 'chime' language - "Bong bong! when the fuel level gets to 49km's to conking out! Bing bong bing! When she feels like having a nice day in the service bay with an oil change and a fiddle here and there. She also has annoying sounds like 'Peeeep peeeeep peeeeep! That means I'm backing into something so I guess I should kiss the steering wheel......and say thank you! All round my BMWX5 has taken me on wide strips of never ending tar. Down narrow dusty grassland paths to meet up with a group of rhino. And times when she gets left all alone in a parking garage at the airport for weeks on end, but is so happy to see me by flashing her lights when I unlock the door!
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Post by onlymark on Sept 14, 2011 13:23:20 GMT
I must admit one thing that annoys me no end is the amount of warning beeps/bongs etc that cars seem to have now. The one I have, a Honda, beeps when I get in, beeps when I put the key in the ignition, beeps about the seat belt, beeps about the lights............
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2011 13:40:09 GMT
Probably better than getting electric shocks as warnings, though.
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Post by mickthecactus on Sept 14, 2011 16:31:48 GMT
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Post by Kimby on Sept 14, 2011 16:35:53 GMT
"I read an article recently about how normal humans can no longer repair their cars because of all the electronics. I've known this for years and in fact I've stopped trying."
While this may be true, one thing you CAN do to keep from being fleeced at the repair shop is to get a code-reading device for your car. It reads the computer codes that cause the Check Engine light to go on, and you can go online to find out what the code means. The device costs around $70US, less than one trip to the dealer to find out what is wrong. You can also reset the Check Engine light yourself, and you may find out it is a repair you can do yourself. Sometimes it's as simple as the gas cap isn't tight enough. If you're a little handy, like Mr. Kimby, you can replace O2 sensors and save 100's of dollars. But first you have to know that the O2 sensor needs replacing.
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Post by Kimby on Sept 14, 2011 16:39:33 GMT
Our new Subaru Outback, like most newer Subarus, had an annoying seatbelt chime. I don't mind a reminder at ignition, but the continuous dinging had to go. I went online to a Subaru fan website and found that you can disable it by performing a bizarre series of machinations (turn key to on, close door, insert seatbelt tab and uninsert 20 times within 30 seconds, and turn off ignition, or something like that) and you're good to go (till you have to disconnect the battery, so save the instructions if you find a workaround like this).
My pet peeve is the cars with doors that automatically lock at 5 or 10 mph and won't unlock until the driver puts the car in neutral. Annoying!
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