Personally, I usually keep a car for a long time and Kia/Hyundai’s rash of widespread major engine problems on multiple newer models gives me pause. Several of my friends who have newer, well kept Kias and Hyundais had their engines fail prematurely a couple of years ago (but after the powertrain warranty expired) and…

Yeah, for $28k and 200hp/192 lb-ft the reasons for buying this over the competition seem to be fairly sparse. Nice interior design. Hopefully reliable.

Too bad it’s more of a sloped liftback not a real hatchback like the Fit Sport and gen 1, gen 2 and gen 3 Si hatches I owned. If they had this powertrain and that…

So, we have a 2019 Bolt that’s getting the new, longer range battery pack. I’m an ex-GM master tech and the service manager showed me how the new pack comes, in a huge wooden crate that needs a forklift to move, then they use a specially made, large custom 4 wheeled dolly (substantially larger than a pallet jack) with…

Also, the probable link between leaded gas, widespread lead poisoning of children and the rise and fall of crime rates around the world is fascinating:

“Everyone knows”?
I’ve been in the car and motorcycle business for nearly 30 years now, from coast to coast and the vast majority of the people I know have no idea how GM and DuPont colluded to make leaded gas pervasive in the US for many decades. You’ve got to be a serious car/policy wonk to be previously familiar…

Apparently you do?

My girlfriend bought our EV and did not want to wait for a Tesla 3 specifically because of how Musk is. I didn’t want one because I know how they build cars, how bad their crash parts availability is, how they often don’t stand behind their warranty *and* because of how Musk is. So we bought a new Bolt and have been…

Basically, yup. The 4 cylinder/5 speed regular cab crapbox base spec ‘95 S-10 not only didn’t come with a rear bumper, carpet or a radio, it also didn’t come with speakers, speaker or radio wiring, an antenna or even the hole punched in the fender for an antenna. When we got a truckload of these white painted, black…

Ex dealer service manger and master tech here.

Warranty repairs happen, though, especially on early production.
And having a warranty problem - especially an intermittent one - that the dealer won’t take seriously and/or doesn’t want to take the time to diagnose can be a real headache for car owners. Manufacturers…

If your mechanic left a massive air bubble in the cooling system you would likely have overheated on the way home from the shop or shortly thereafter. Very unlikely that issue would take several days to show up, it’s either there at the time of service or it isn’t. More likely on that engine is that the 20+ year old…

1990's Ex Chevy dealer tech here - I legit have no idea how the Cavalier made it to this list and the LS400, GMT400 trucks and ‘91-93 Caprice didn’t.

The Cavaliers were hot garbage, even when new and under warranty. Major engine problems - the 2.2 ate timing chains, head gaskets and intake manifold gasket issues on…

Yep. Last I read, an oil with a high % of group IV PAO oil content is about as close as you can get to a true synthetic as you can get there days in an over the counter retail motor oil. Such as Mobil 1 Extended Performance 0W20, which is 60-70% PAO according to their 2017 data sheet

I was a line mechanic back in the mid 1990s, and Frams were well known to be hot garbage back then too. Saw several blown engines back then that were directly caused by visibly failed Fram oil filters.

27 year ex-dealer mechanic and independent shop owner here. Frams are the only brand of filter I have seen in all those years that directly wrecked several engines through manufacturing defects and cheap internal components, leading to external or internal failure. I will not install them, period.

If you’re not in a salt area - GMT400 pickups. Several of my customers had examples with 350,000+ miles on them. Also, 1991-1993 Caprices with the L05 TBI 350. Serviced many of those with 325,000+ miles on the original engines and still going in harsh police and cab use.

This math does not work for that Class A, which is grossly overpriced for the age and what it is.

But here’s 10 years of real world costs for a 23' camper trailer, bought used when it was 10 years old. Fully self contained, no campground hookups necessary.

I did all the labor, none of it was hard at all.

2001 Thor…

Hope you stretched before that reach, buddy! It’s heavy work lifting all those strawmen
:P

Many national parks have a 35' length limit for RVs.
This is 34'  - which is not a random choice by the manufacturer.

That is *insane* money for a 21 year old gas class A with a Ford V10. Like, more than double - even taking off the retail value of the Yaris.
If it was a diesel pusher on a commercial bus chassis, the price would be closer to reality. My friend sold a similar age, condition, size and equipped class A with the same…

Seems like a prime example of the failure of modern capitalism to adapt to market conditions, specifically the failure of business models that focus on maximum profits by “lean”, “efficient” management.

Deregulation fucked the trucking industry and trucking jobs, reducing what had been a solid middle class wage to a…