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My first 4th of July with a Foreign Car

Posted: July 3, 2009 at 7:24 pm | Tags: caprice, Car, cars, Detroit, Job, mpg, Oil, sweden, volvo, volvo 940, work

On my way home from work on Tuesday, I was most disturbed when my 1988 Chevrolet Caprice just turned itself off in the middle of traffic. Such things are most unusual, and as such I figured that the car had merely stalled out and that I should just try to revive it. So I turned the vehicle on where she started right up. I then revved the engine a little bit and I was back on the road…only to have the car stop again a few blocks later. I’m able to steer the car over to the side of the road…where it no longer starts. I hear only a tick tick tick from the starter and that’s it. Upon calling my Dad to come check it out, we realize that a massive oil leak that sprung up from who knows where under the engine. The engine, of course, did not care for this any much and simply decided “You know what, I’ve had more than enough of this tomfoolery” and promptly right then and there decided to end it’s life. The small block 305 seized up right there, and that was that.

Left me by the side of the road waiting for Nick’s Towing to show up, I tried to keep my cool and not become completely irate. I think I did a fantastic job, but that’s just me. Mark this down as the single most frustrating week of my life between everything that’s happened.

So upon getting home, I had Comrade Chris come and survey the damage, and he confirmed that the car is entirely fucked up. So with the addition of my girlfriend and my brother, we took off to look at other cars. I only looked at two: a 1979 BMW 3 series and a 1994 Volvo 940 Station wagon (the BMW on my suggestion, the Volvo on Kayte’s). Tom suggested I look at an Oldsmobile Silhouette, which I declined. It reminds me too much of Danny DeVito in ‘Get Shorty’

While I pondered Craigslist for local deals, I ultimately decided that the BMW would be a little too expensive for me and if the Volvo ran ok, it would be a good enough deal to satisfy me. So I called the guy and the next day I went for a drive. For the price, I was thrilled: a mere $900, and during the test drive I even went to the bank to make a withdrawl.

So here’s what I got:
1994 Volvo 940 Station Wagon
109k on the Engine
230k on the Body (which looks fantastic)
2.3L 4 Cylinder Engine which looks like it’s going to get about 2x the MPG of my caprice
5 Speed Automatic Transmission
Mechanically its great, aside from needing a trans flush. There’s a few issues, like the stereo system not working (I have my own receiver anyways), some of the light covers being broken, the key won’t open the trunk, some of the latches on the hood need to be looked at, and the car was previously owned by a chain smoker, so it’s pretty gross and needs a good detailing.The bick rack on top also needs to go and I need to do something with the seat covers and the broken sunroof. No matter, it’s all in good time.

But without further ado, here she is

The car drives fantastically, and I’m very pleased with my purchase.

This marks a first for me. I got the car because I needed a car quickly. None of my friends drive a Volvo, and there aren’t a ton of listings for them anywhere. But I knew they were known for their reliability so I took the risk, despite no experience with these kinds of cars and have had driven GM my whole life. Not only is this my first non-GM car, but it’s my first non American car, right in time for Independence Day.

After I got the car, I did a little research into the whole thing: it turns out that the reason that nobody lists these cars for sale is because they’re well kept, held on to, and last forever. The more I thought about it, the more it makes sense. This sucker has almost no rust and the body is in excellent shape. That’s what you get with a car made in Scandinavia: It has to deal with winter conditions all year round. While Ford, GM, and Chrysler were making cars for every imaginable environment except for the rain forest, these cars were build to handle cold, snow, salt and ice for their whole lifetimes.

The result? The average age at which these cars is scrapped is an amazing 19.8 years, second to just Mercedes. Opposed to the big three who got so caught up in just trying to push cars off the assembly line and into leases, companies like Volvo, Mercedes Benz, and Saab (who lead the list) have focused on customer loyalty worldwide by making quality vehicles that last a long time. This is something that the Big3 got terribly wrong. By focusing purely on new cars and not their lasting quality you create a culture of older domestic vehicles which, for the most part, are riddled with problems. It’s so bad that I have met a large number of people who claim that they always get rid of a vehicle at 100k miles, before the “big problems” start.

For the record, I’ve never had a car with less than 100k miles on it.

When did American car companies lose their craftsmanship? When did they sell their soul for a quick buck and hope that it would just ride out forever? A quality product in many ways still sells itself, yet this seems to be a big problem for domestic auto makers. This is nothing against the workers themselves, but against the practices of the car companies that get them into this mess.

So after years of loyalty to my city and it’s workers, I’ve had enough of it all. Especially with the Federal Government’s control of the direction of the companies, I’ve lost a lot of confidence in the way things are handled and where they are going. Crappy little electric cars aren’t going to save this country, or the companies that build them.

The message is quality and customer loyalty. And the quality and price of American vehicles has led to the abandonment of the American Automobile. You wouldn’t know it in Detroit, where domestic still outnumbers foreign by a large margin. But elsewhere, the signs are obvious: the better, longer lasting value for the money doesn’t come from Detroit. It comes from Germany, Japan and Sweden. And to anyone that wants to make the claim that American cars are the best quality, I have but one question: how long to you keep yours before you get rid of them? America used to make great cars. I’ve owned a few. But that ship has long sailed.

However, I digress. This will be my first July 4th with a foreign car. And not only do I not feel guilty about it, but you can’t make me. I don’t expect this post to win over any friends, but it’s the truth of the matter.

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