ccar insurance

Translation: You know what you’re doing with them and you don’t abuse them.

I got 150,000 out my original clutch in LA (yes, with lots of stop-and-go traffic). Second clutch was at between 200-300K and I was still on #2 when the car was lost finally (front end failed, steering went out).
First US vehicle, still on original clutch in the 200s; its replacement vehicle has an auto trans. (I miss shifting.)

> I did not mention that
> Lexi are not cheap. The
> RX400 Hybrid is flirting
> with 50K. As in dollars.

Oh, that’s just like loaded SUVs. Yeech. It’s the price of Porsches and Mercedes back when I got my (much, much) cheaper foreign sports car, when $50,000 (for a Porsche or a Mercedes) could get you a house in many places outside of California.

Side note:

> The DF&C’s Jimmy cost
> about $20,000 in 1995.
> Adjusted for inflation,
> that would have cost
> about $24,000 in 2001

I believe this should be about the number for the modern poverty level in this country (boundary between low and middle income if you want to describe it different) and about the point below which income should be exempt from taxation (the size of the personal exemption).

(Low-middle boundary: price of ordinary automobile. Middle-high boundary: normally, median price of a home, must adjust for still-too-high bubble price levels. For federal levels, should be the overall USA averages of these things)

A good point that sent me to the Inflation O’Meter.

The DF&C’s Jimmy cost about $20,000 in 1995. Adjusted for inflation, that would have cost about $24,000 in 2001 when the Lexus was purchased for about $35,000.

That said, the $11,000 in so-called savings evaporates pretty quickly when you consider that the Jimmy ate clutches, got awful gas mileage and had a migraine-inducing suite of vibrations and noises and in later years sprouted large areas of rust.

I did not mention that Lexi are not cheap. The RX400 Hybrid is flirting with 50K. As in dollars.

My own experience with clutches and cars is pretty darned good:

1982 Volvo wagon: 289,000 miles; clutch replaced at 219,000.

1991 Audi wagon: 230,000 miles; original clutch.

FYI, the DF&C’s Jimmy went through three clutches and she is an extremely able driver.

I got 372,000 out of my foreign car (on its second engine and third clutch, still on its original transmission) before it crashed and I had to replace it.

In all fairness I’ll say that the earlier US vehicle I got as the replacement was still on its original clutch at 225,000 when it was struck and I had to replace it — now at 120,000 and going strong with the same kind of US vehicle.

(I’d like another like my earlier foreign car but the price needs to come down by 1/3 or more first!)

What will happen to the JOBS bank and other legacy costs that are far out of line during the upcoming negotiations with the UAW?

Will Ford and GM ever speed up meeting customer desires by selling here in the USA some smaller vehicles that have done well abroad and which knowledgeable people would love to see and buy here in the USA? This is something that can be done long before better-designed new products hit the showroom floors.

The automobile industry in the USA is thriving, just not in Detroit.

http://www.autoblog.com/category/chrysler/

http://www.autoblog.com/category/daimlerchrysler/

http://www.autoblog.com/category/ford/

http://www.autoblog.com/category/gm/

http://www.autoblog.com/category/gmc/

Many biz writers have bought into the canard that enormous health care and pension costs are what ails the General. That is true as far as it goes, but as you correctly note the real reason is that GM vehicles by and large are not competitive.

Hats off to Toyota, lets hope GM and other American auto companies get their shit together.

You are correct to a point. That point is reached when you factor in the many Japanese assembly plants in the U.S. where the majority of their vehicles are manufactured.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/03/how_the_misaligned_yen_hurts_u.html

I’m not knocking the quality/longevity of their autos by any means, just that those factors are hardly alone in the overall equation.