Locate an Auto Repair Shop in Detroit, Alabama

Be sure to go post in the Kia discussions to let them know about the REAL recall in your post!!! I checked and you hadn't posted anything there, of course. Having gas tanks fall to ground while driving is a lot more dangerous than running out of gas because the fuel gas is supposedly wrong!!! ROFLMAO Does Kia make these? DETROIT (AP) -- U.S. safety regulators are investigating a fuel tank problem that could affect more than 2.7 million Ford F-150 pickup trucks. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Monday that the steel straps holding up the truck's gas tank can rust and break, possibly causing a fuel spill and fire. No injuries have been reported from the possible defect. The agency is looking into trucks from the 1997 through 2001 model years. NHTSA's investigations often lead to recalls. Fuel Tanks On The Ground! Point is, all manufacturers have recalls....GM and Ford just leads the pack. You make junk, it shows. :) Add 'em up for yourself... 12 Largest Auto Recalls Regards, OW

My friend was in the market for a new compact car. So we took all the top selling compacts on a back to back test loop. First Chrysler 200 then a Chevy Cruze, Ford Focus 2012, Ford Fiesta, Mazda i3, Toyota Corolla 2012, and Hyundai Elantra 2011. Every car was an automatic with mid level specifications for around $20,000 in most cases except the less expensive Elantra and Fiesta models. The most expensive models were the Focus, Cruze and 200. Wow surprise, surprise the big Detroit three were over priced and undervalue, except for the Focus which a class above in everything! However, the Hyundai Elantra was the best bang for buck hands down after we reviewed every detail that included a quite detailed testing loop including several spirited driving tests over the same roads with mixed country and city sections. Elantra wasn't the best driver that was won hands down by the Mazda 3 with the Focus a close second. But the Elantra's creature comforts, standard feature list, fluid styling, warranty, stated fuel economy and lowest overall price is too hard to beat. When my friend had everything in order finance wise to buy an Elantra the Honda 2012 was released. So since our local Hyundai and Honda dealers were side by side he went to the Hyundai dealer and picked up a 2011 Elantra GLS and I went next door and picked up a Honda Civic EX 2012 sedan. Not to the amusement of both dealers as we disappeared for nearly 3 hours and 100 miles later returned both the cars only after one dealer called worried we weren't coming back, while the other when we returned was about the call the police thinking we'd run off with the car! First we took the cars along a high speed section of highway, switching between cars after section of road to run the same section in the other car. First thing we noticed was that the Honda Civic was sure footed and felt like we were driving a mid size car and not a compact. It was that comfortable and stable. Like it was a longer wheelbase and wider car than it actually was. It was a real relaxed driver even at high speeds well in excess of double the speed limit. It was quieter and much easier to drive. The Hyundai was good but liked to wander and felt vague at both low and high speeds. The Civic was not as direct as the 2011 model we had driven. It actually feels like an Accord to drive. The Elantra felt course and unrefned in comparison. We next drove both cars over a 20 mile loop of country back roads with a 30 mph posted speed limit. Now I must admit we ran at speeds up to 90mph and took corners at 3 x the posted limits. The Honda cruised through the loop without breaking a sweat, the Hyundai in comparison was left breathless. It's engine roared, it's tires squealed, it was all over the road trying to keep up with the civic that just cruised effortlessly along the same section of road. If there were mid corner bumps and undulations mid corner the Hyundai Elantra tried it's best to lose its line and composure while the Civic just remained planted in it's lane and held it's line while doing it in a relaxed manor. We couldn't believe the Elantra was this bad when pressed. So we drove it sedately at 30 mph over the same loop back to back and the Elantra jostled us around, punched us in the kidneys with every small imperfection and generally was uncomfortable on anything but a smooth blacktop. The Civic never lost it composure or it's comfort. Suddenly the extra $2000 for the Civic seemed a bargain. The Civic is so refined to drive over any road surface nothing ruffles it. Since both car had fuel economy trip computers we tested the fuel economy overall on trip B and trip A we kept resetting and testing over each test loop. The Civic was supposed to average 32 with the Elantra 33. What we found was our overall average with the Elantra was 18 mpg while the Civic returned 27 mpg. The best we saw on the highway section was 42 mpg with the Elantra and 45 mpg with the Civic. Both cars at all times were following each other within a few hundred yards over the same section of road and each was driven equally by both drivers. So drive the Elantra hard and gas mileage will suffer much more than in the Civic. The Elantra was just found wanting trying to keep pace with the Civic. After each high speed run we'd both emerge from the Elantra White knuckled from gripping the steering wheel so hard to try and keep it in line. While the Civic was fun and hard to give up each time after each run. We actually went into this test with high hopes for the Elantra. Near the limit the Hyundai is actually dangerous wanting to head for the trees while the Civic gently lets the driver know its time to back off. Thinking we were testing our luck with the locals, we parked both cars on a dead end road side by side for 30 minutes and pulled everything apart to look over both cars feature for feature. Tested each and every dash and seat setting and played with all the settings and controls. Here is the results we we found: Seat comfort--Civic, display/controls--Civic (easier to adjust controls while on the move on the civic), front seat room--Elantra, rear seat room--Civic, quality of materials--Elantra, quality of paint--civic, trunk space--Elantra, panel fit and finish--Civic, slam a door hard on the Elantra and the whole car vibrates and rattles, slam the door on a Civic and nothing but a solid thud, tires--civic, rims--Elantra, brakes--civic, stereo/speaker quality--CIVIC! The multi-information display hands down Civic. Spare tire/jack--Civic (Elantra has neither) Engine bay--Civic, Styling--Elantra. The list goes on and on but as you can see the Civic is just a better all round drivers car. Sure it is $2000 more to buy a Civic EX over a Elantra GLS, but it is worth every penny for a much better built and more refined over all car. Sure the Civic LX is not as good, actually not worth the look at, (We drove one of those too), but skip that and buy the Civic 2012 EX. The Civic is no longer the no brainer sure bet choice like it once was. You really need to get each side by side and drive them back to back over the same roads to see the differences. But compared the Elantra, the Civic still is the best choice for a small car. Just pay the extra $33/ month over five years for the Civic and you will thank yourself at every monthly payment that you made the right choice. (Especially when you come to sell it and get the higher resale value for the Civic.) So the Civic was bought, end of story.

It's a good thing they're easy to work on, because they always need work. I grew up in a household in the 60s with 2 older brothers who had the British car bug. Over about a 5 year period a Morris Minor, MGA, Austin Healey Sprite, Austin 1100, two Austin Americas, an indeterminate number of Minis, and others I am probably forgetting passed through our household. It is pretty accurate to say that all of them were pretty junky, even when new. Forget about rust - they didn't have time to rust before other things took them down. Broken gear teeth in transmissions, bad synchros, bad clutches galore, bad brakes, and my favorite was a cracked aluminum transmission case that required rewelding every 3-4 months. That is not even mentioning the myriad wind and water leaks, horrendous Lucas electrics and the SU carbs. None of these cars were very old except for the Minor and MGA, and many were bought brand new. Just nightmarish. People love to talk about how bad Detroit's cars of this era were, but they were all paragons of virtue compared to these.

For those who constantly claim that Detroit three is the largest provider of rental cars there is a wake-up call - consider what Hertz sells (and Accord's pricing at same time): http://www.hertzcarsales.com/Search?Distance=100mi&PostalCode=94546&pageSize=10&- pageNumber=1&#!&Makes=Honda&Distance=100mi&PostalCode=94546&pageNumber=1&pageSiz- e=10&Models=Accord&Years=2010 858 Nissans 798 Toyotas 214 Mazdas 55 Mersedes 54 VWs 23 Infinities 22 Kias 19 Chevys 16 Hondas 15 Mercurys 8 GMC 6 BMWs 2 Fords Note that Hertz does not buy any Chryslers or Dodges. Absolute majority of Hertz fleet are Nissan and Toyota - two largest Japanese companies - and Mazda (which does not sale at retail anyway). Also note large presence of Mercedes. Number of Detroit iron is simply negligible.

All of those just go to show that a lot of the assembly people were apethetic and just didn't care and why should they have cared with the UAW protecting them? Workmanship in those days could be just terrible and they depended on the dealers to handle all of this under warranty. THIS is how the Japanese got a foothold in the first place. The Japanese cared about quailty at a time Detroit didn't care.