Corvette: Why you can't trust JD Power or Consumer Reports

On Wed, 05 Nov 2003 12:55:56 -0600, ray
<comnet.org> wrote:
 

That's pretty much teh point I was making to our current troll.
JD Powers in my mind is irrelevant as are most Statistics.

I love the ones that are for "Initial quality". As in "our [fill in name]
won the JD Powers award for initial quality". What the hell does that
mean?? They ask people how they like their car on the way out of the
showroom? "Yea, I just picked this car up and nothings broken".

--

-|>- Diode -<|-
'68 L79 Coupe
'79 Triumph Bonneville


"Scooby Don't" <com> wrote in message
news:com... 

On Thu, 06 Nov 2003 05:51:04 GMT, "Diode" <com> wrote:
 

I think they send it to you withing the first month of ownership and
if you reply negatively they never send you one again!
JD Powers is quite meaningless. The Industry likes anything that could
make them look good but the award is a joke.
I've read the website and it's pretty clear it's a lot of BS that's
been dipped in a batter of psycho babble.
The people that use JD Powers are probably the same ones who got
burned ofn the Chevy Vega and Ford Fairmonts.
Oh and yeah I bought both of those new! haha
But every car maker has it's lemons. I still don't read JD Powers
except for laughs.

"Scooby Don't" <com> wrote in message
news:com... 

Hey, let's not knock the Vega. It was a good car. What messed it up was
Chevy marketing. They had soft iron rings running on aluminum silicate
walls. that required a break in oil to seat the iron rings. But Chevy in
their infinite wisdom decide this was a perfect time to do the long
maintenance schedules to "reduce costs". So you took your iron ring Vega,
drove it 7500 miles on break in oil, and suddenly, you have none of your
rings sealing anymore. Wonder why they smoked?

This would have happened to most cars in the '50s and early '60s, but they
had first oil changes early. The chrome moly rings used in the '70s and up
had most fooled into thinking you didn't need an early oil change anymore.
But Vega iron rings did.

The ones smart enough, or lucky enough, to do an oil change in the first
1000 miles came away with cars that drove well, got decent mileage (good for
the time - 25 mpg or more), and were somewhat sporty cars.

The rust complaints were really no worse than nearly all other cars out
there at the time.

Yes, my engine blew up. I drove it like I stole it most of the time. At
50,000 miles, I got a new engine. It cost me $10 because the timing belt
wasn't covered. Then I drove that one for another 100,000 miles.

Of course, JDP probably covered the Vegas with the special weird color
coordinated wheels or the ones with automatics, air, and 1 bbl. That is a
combination that makes a Chevette look fast.