Manufacturing Quality

Newps wrote:



Matt Whiting wrote:




I wrote the above, not Newps. So who are you really agreeing with?
Newps who says sales volume is synonymous with quality





I never said that or even hinted at it. You may disagree but to me Ford
is the best built truck. A million people a year likewise agree.

I prefer Chevy, but I think the quality data is pretty similar between
Ford and Chevy with respect to full-size trucks. I believe that
Toyota's are better built that both, but they don't yet have a truly
full-size truck. I expect they will at some point and the same thing as
happened to cars in the 80s will then happen to trucks.

Ford F-150 sales are off pace considerably through the first 6 months of
the year at 400,000.


Matt

B A R R Y wrote:

On Sun, 06 Aug 2006 22:49:28 GMT, B A R R Y
wrote:


On Sun, 06 Aug 2006 11:57:30 -0400, Jonathan Goodish
wrote:

The problem is that you CAN'T properly equip the Tundra. Toyota doesn't
offer any heavy-duty options.

Yet...



10,000 pound tow capacity:


A half ton truck has no business towing 10,000 pounds. Period.

Matt Whiting wrote:



I prefer Chevy, but I think the quality data is pretty similar between
Ford and Chevy with respect to full-size trucks.



I didn't have any preference when I worked at the St. Paul newspaper in
1986. The company bought 6 new Ford Rangers and 6 new Chevy S10's.
Bone stock except for V6/automatics and A/C. They installed a topper on
each one. Every Sunday we loaded the back of each truck to the very top
of the topper with newspaper bundles. Way, way over gross. The rear
bumper sagged to a foot off the ground. After 30,000 miles the Chevy's
rear suspension gave up and just stayed there. The transmissions made
god awful noises and jerked around terribly. The company gave them to
another department that didn't need to put any stuff in the back and
bought more Rangers for us. I've been a Ford Truck guy since. I have a
full size 1/2 ton Chevy conversion van, second one. I buy them from my
Dad after he puts about 35,000 miles on it. Chevy is not able to build
a van with doors that close with that reassuring thunk. There's 6 doors
on these vans and all have to be slammed to shut tight. Both vans I
have owned. And that god awful intake gasket design. Like the 350
Vortec but overall the vans are rattle traps. There's nothing Chevy can
do to sell me a pickup. I'd buy a Dodge before I'd buy a Chevy.

B A R R Y wrote:
On Sun, 06 Aug 2006 17:08:32 -0600, Newps wrote:


I understand that, but they have competed against the big three in the
small pickup market since the 70's and have had their ass handed to them
all that time.


Here's something that I found quick, as I don't really care that much
to spend a ton of time Googling. It's sales data from the first 3
months of 2005 for the small pickup market:

From:
http://www.forbes.com/columnists/columnists/2005/04/12/cz_jf_0412flint.html

Pickup 3 months 2005
Chevy Colorado 32,523
GMC Canyon 8,444
Toyota Tacoma 34,094
Ford Ranger 26,612
Dodge Dakota 25,130
Nissan Frontier 18,194
Honda Ridgeline 4,008**

The Tacoma outsold every other individual model. Note that the 2005+
Tacoma was just entering the pipes during the 1Q '05, as I had to wait
8 weeks to get mine last April. The Honda was only out for a month or
so at the time, but it still managed 1/2 of Canyon's 3 month volume..

Here's the total sales for '03, from
http://www.forbes.com/columnists/columnists/2004/06/22/cz_jf_0622flint.html:

2003 Small-Pickup Sales
Ford (Ranger) 209,117
GM (Chevy S10, GMC Sonoma) 176,629
Toyota (Tacoma) 154,154
Chrysler (Dodge Dakota) 111,273
Nissan (Frontier) 65,161

Considering lots of Rangers, S10's, and Sonomas ended up in fleets,
that's having your ass handed to you? G

Yep, Looks like Toyota is really struggling of late.

Matt

The business is now pretty much closed down, but grand-dad started the
second plumbing shop in Tulsa, Ok. My grand-dad's first service truck
was a Dodge Brothers and he stayed with the Dodge line for over 60
years. Dodge makes a helluva service truck, but not much of a domestic
passenger vehicle. We regularly ran our 3/4 ton trucks across the scales
at over 12,000 pounds and had to quit buying the 1/2 ton version when
the rims started splitting.

Over the years my dad tried a Studebaker, International Harvester, Ford,
Chevy, and GMC. They always went back to the Dodge line. The Ford and GM
trucks were much nicer traveling domestic passenger vehicles, but they
got beat up real fast under the heavy loads on Tulsa streets in stop and
go traffic.

The business is just about gone now, so I'm not sure if my observations
are still valid.

-----Original Message-----
From: Newps ]
Posted At: Sunday, August 06, 2006 7:10 PM
Posted To: rec.aviation.piloting
Conversation: Manufacturing Quality
Subject: Manufacturing Quality



..... I'd buy a Dodge before I'd buy a Chevy.

"B A R R Y" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 06 Aug 2006 18:36:23 -0400, Jonathan Goodish
wrote:

I suppose that no one has any use for the utility that trucks provide?
Can you pull that horse trailer with your Lexus?

He could with this:

http://www.forbesautos.com/reviews/2006/lexus/gx_470/model-update.html

For over 46 thousand bucks, it had better ride the horse too, because I
would be so busy working to pay for it, I wouldn't have any time to ride the
horse!

"Jim Carter" wrote

The business is just about gone now, so I'm not sure if my observations
are still valid.

Nope. Unless you buy the super heavy duty Dodge Diesel truck, or what ever
the expensive Dodge calls itself, it has not been that way for years. Why
do you suppose that Chrysler-Dodge had to be bought out? It's quality was
crap, and their stuff is junk.

Want a real Eye-Opener? Go over and read the Dodge usenet group for a
while. I started after my Dodge minivan that my wife had to have, failed
its second window motor in just over 30,000 miles, and we never even use the
things. The answerer was, Oh, they are so weak that sometimes if they have
not been used for a while, they don't have enough power to "un-stick" the
window. Gads. I won't even start on the weak suspension that a friend of
mine's Durango has had!
--
Jim in NC

"Newps" wrote

A half ton truck has no business towing 10,000 pounds. Period.

Agreed. A rental place will not even let you hook onto one of their
trailers, to rent a lawn tractor, unless it is a 3/4 ton truck or van.

Just because it has been advertised, someone will do it, and either pull the
transmission out of it, or run over someone, cause they could not get the
10,000 pounds stopped.
--
Jim in NC

You don't fool people with an inferior product for very long.

Chevy Chevette.

Jose
--
The monkey turns the crank and thinks he's making the music.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

Jose wrote:
You don't fool people with an inferior product for very long.


Chevy Chevette.

Exactly. How long did that last?