03-16-2015, 12:20 AM
JPT, my experience agrees with everything you say, with regard to H-D, Toyota and VW. (modern VW company). VW gets VERY expensive after the warranty is over, same with BMW cars and motorcycles.
I own 4 Toyotas. A few are quite old. 3 have 130K plus. Just gas, oil changes and brakes. Maybe shocks. The first major repair just happened- a Catalytic converter at 130K. Yes, they might make some boring designs, but what sets them apart is that their most economical offering probably will still be on the road 10 or 12 years later. For many makes that's not the norm. It's all in the tight build tolerances of the engines and transmissions, from a $12,000 car to a $60,000 SUV.
What killed the VW Beetle was the U.S. pollution laws of the late 70s. (Some have said that the pollution controls forced on the vehicles cut the pollution in half, but also cut the vehicle's fuel mileage in half too!) That sloppy engine design of the VW couldn't be brought into compliance. But that same design allowed any person to make any repair on the car in their driveway. And there's another reason to kill the car- $$$ - You don't need a dealer for service or repairs. But it still was made after that for many years in Mexico for the South American market.
I own 4 Toyotas. A few are quite old. 3 have 130K plus. Just gas, oil changes and brakes. Maybe shocks. The first major repair just happened- a Catalytic converter at 130K. Yes, they might make some boring designs, but what sets them apart is that their most economical offering probably will still be on the road 10 or 12 years later. For many makes that's not the norm. It's all in the tight build tolerances of the engines and transmissions, from a $12,000 car to a $60,000 SUV.
What killed the VW Beetle was the U.S. pollution laws of the late 70s. (Some have said that the pollution controls forced on the vehicles cut the pollution in half, but also cut the vehicle's fuel mileage in half too!) That sloppy engine design of the VW couldn't be brought into compliance. But that same design allowed any person to make any repair on the car in their driveway. And there's another reason to kill the car- $$$ - You don't need a dealer for service or repairs. But it still was made after that for many years in Mexico for the South American market.