This shop specializes in Subaru’s and takes care of this car like it’s their own. They \knew from day one this would be a long term car and know all the tricks to keep one of these happy. 20+yr relationship with this shop (first with a 86 Jetta) where the problems he had were so simple and took 5min to find and fix they refused to charge him.
Oh no disrespect to any of the IRS agents, I was just meaning that if you are called to his office, it is normally cause you have screwed up and are about to pay the price, meaning you normally don’t go to the upper management IRS agents cause you are having a great day… lol… And BTW the IRS supervisors have badges and carry guns just like any other LEO…
I have meet and got to know a lot of LEO’s from the city cops to the Secret Service and every law enforcement in between, Federal agents, local, state, commissioners, Judges, etc etc, I have delt with old vans that looked like everyday Joe’s work van that had well over a million dollars in surveillance equipment in them, even delt with the bullet proof tires and got to check out the vehicles for the secret service… The guy that made us laugh every time he came in, was from the U.S. Marshals… Most all of the them were very cool, a few not so much lol… As you said, just everyday people doing their jobs…
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It seems the common denominator is the compromised powertrain designs used in an effort to deal with the EPA fuel economy goal, many examples of over-engineering.
I’ll keep my Dodge for another ten years. I am satisfied with 25 city mpg, for the number of miles I drive I won’t benefit from 50 mpg.
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The same could be said about DMV employees
They certainly get a bad rap
Here’s what I’ve found to be helpful . . .
Do as much legwork as you can on your own
Gather ALL of your paperwork ahead of time and put it in a folder
Make an appointment for FIRST THING IN THE MORNING, whenever the DMV opens up
Show up with all of your carefully organized paperwork, smile, be polite and chances are you’ll be helped effectively and resolve your issue(s)
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+1 to db4690’s DMV comments. I will add, however, that–just like with any other enterprise–the atmosphere and the work ethic can be very different from one location to another.
Many years ago, I made an off-hand remark to the Subaru Service Manager that I was dreading my upcoming visit to the NJ Motor Vehicle Commission for inspection. She advised me to go to one specific location, as she had always found their employees to be pleasant and efficient. I took her advice, and she was right! Even though it involves a longer drive to get to that location, it includes a nice drive in the country, so the scenery is pleasant, and the traffic is light.
Several years later, a friend was dreading a visit to the NJMVC for a photo license, and I took him to that same location. He agreed that the longer drive was worthwhile, due to how fast the process was and how pleasant the employees were.
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In Maryland the MVA asks that you make an appointment. I’ve done that the last couple of times I needed to go and I was served promptly.
Yes, any time I am considering buying a vehicle, the single most important feature is reliability and ease of doing common repairs and maintenance procedures on whatever model I am looking at. If a particular model is known for excessive mechanical breakdowns, electrical/computer problems, or is unreasonably difficult to work on, then I keep looking.
Comfortable seats are extremely important. But even the most comfortable seats won’t help you if the car doesn’t run, or cannot be trusted even for short-distance trips.
It should be noted that comfort is not necessarily related to price. The most comfortable seats and driving position that I have ever experienced was in the 1996-2000 base model Caravan. Next best was the 1995 Caravan, of which I owned two. The Dodge Spirit/Plymouth Acclaim and Dodge Shadow/Plymouth Sundance also have very comfortable seats, even compared to cars costing several times their original MSRP. Even my Daewoo Lanos has comfortable seats, despite being the cheapest new car you could buy in this country at the time.
Well, for me, price is extremely important. As the saying goes, I am as cheap as the day is long. Of course, I will happily pay more (within reason) for features that I want, and to avoid features that I don’t want. Functionality and fuel economy are also very important. Styling is not very important, and many designs which were considered cheap and unappealing when they were new have aged well, such as the Spirit/Acclaim and Shadow/Sundance. I can remember when people treated these as disposable economy cars, now they are considered classics.
I STRONGLY disagree that these vehicles are “considered classics”
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Me thinks you are the only one who calls these Classics .
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Other than a couple of Shadow Convertibles at a specialist dealer these have vanished from the roads, A Spirit R/T would be desirable to a very specific buyer but most of them would only be desired for those who wanted a small car with a bench seat, main reason my Aunt had 3 Spirit’s in a row.
I have a 21 Dodge Ram 1500 with the diesel engine. It’s been very reliable. I pretty much agree with this guy’s assessments, especially the Hyundai/Kia engine problems and Nissan CVT fiasco. We have a 13 Sentra with one and it makes more noise than any other car I’ve owned.
You’d think any design problems when a manufacturer introduces a a new engine, which has to be considered risky by corporate management, would be caught during very careful engineering & pre-production testing. It would be interesting to know what happened that allowed the engine to enter the production phase.
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I can tell you… they didn’t spend enough time and money autocad testing the design and then testing it in real life, on the road (not just track) testing it like people drive it. Hyundai/Kia rushed it. They tried to get an economical, less polluting, easier, cheaper to build engine to market as fast as possible, all while extending the maintenance schedule. They ran into the classic problem: You can have it fast. You can have it cheap. You can have it reliable. Just not all three at once.
Same for Nissan’s CVT. Which was first developed for small, light scooters motorbikes and mini cars in Japan. Someone thought it would be a good idea to take this concept and pair it up with vehicles with much more power and weight. They did it quickly and without much testing. After all, CVTs had been in use for 20-30 years before that… just not in the climate of North America and not in larger heavy vehicles.
I had a Suzuki 650 Burgman (think automatic transmission motorcycle that looks like a huge scooter) with a CVT, and it was flawless for 170,000 miles. My sister had a CVT Murano, which was a nice car… until the tranny died at about 100k miles.
Ummm who else (besides you) would consider the Spirit/Acclaim and Shadow/Sundance a DESIRABLE classic? Yeah, these are old cars, but they are not anyone’s idea of a dream car. Having one of these today is like having an early Model T between 1940 and 1990. Yeah it was old, but nobody really wanted one. My neighbor had a nearly mint 1915 Model T, he’d bought used when in college in 1943. It wasn’t that desirable. In the 1970s it was worth about $500. Now it would be worth a small fortune, because of its age, condition and relatively rarity. My prediction: In 100 years no Sundance will never be as desirable or valuable as a Model T.
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Color! Don’t know why, just prefer silver.
A Sundance won’t even be as valuable as a Cadillac from the '50s.
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In well under 100 yrs. they will all have been made into kitchen appliances
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I looked at asking prices for Model Ts at Hemmings.com. Adjusted for inflation, they sell for about what they did new and up to double. Doubling value in 100 years is a poor investment.
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I think you meant to say ever be as valuable.
Ever check the prices of a 59 Coupe DeVille ? Yet in the 60s they were going for less than $300.00.
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