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["Don Bowen" <don.bowen AT earthlink.net>]

> I've been quite happy with my Dodge pickup, which has done well with
> regular maintanence (except for blowing its rear seal, fortunately
> while still under warranty). It's coming up on 15 years of  service,
> some of it heavy. Perhaps pickups are not a good example; I think US
> automakers have a good reputation in that area.

My ten year old Dodge just turned up 180,000 miles and it is still going
strong.  This last year I have had to do more than the usual maintenance but
it is still cheaper than buying another one.

The pressure from the Japanese have improved quality in US autos.  But they
are still selling the big pickups and large cars.  We like to blame them for
that but the truth is that a combination of advertising and our culture
prefers those larger and more profitable cars.

Unfortunately the auto industry as practiced by the us companies is a
dinosaur.  There are many reasons to let them fail and restructure.  But I
suspect they will wave the bloody flag of the millions of job losses and get
a bailout in the end.

Don Bowen  KI6DIU
http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/Journal.html