this is common knowledge among farmers here.
Toyotas and Chevys Are Holding Up Better Than Most Luxury Brands
51–60 of 148 posts
Re: Toyotas and Chevys Are Holding Up Better Than Most Luxury Brands
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
Has there been a trend to bring controls back in house? I used to work in another mature industry, HVAC. It also went through a period of outsourcing all electronics/software, and then they realized that all the IP/secret sauce going forward will be in the controls and related software. My former employer had plenty of unpleasant experiences outsourcing firmware, which contributed to bringing it all back in house.
>Has there been a trend to bring controls back in house? Best I can tell it's still going out, not pendulum back in. Part of the issue, and the thing almost no one realizes about Carpocolypse 2008 is that all these suppliers are 100% dependant on supplying to 5 vendors and that if one stops buying X module for 6 months, they fold. Blame in on JIT strategy, or regulation, or whatever, but Johnson Controls would have f…
I did at the time, I'd have to dig around to find my comments then - I looked at the bailout as cheap, compared to unemployment for the big three, and their dependent manufacturers.
Re: Toyotas and Chevys Are Holding Up Better Than Most Luxury Brands
#53Re: Toyotas and Chevys Are Holding Up Better Than Most Luxury Brands
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
But, you gotta understand that's for the first 3 years only and the consumer reports is only for the first 10 years. Once you get beyond 10 years, any mechanic will tell you the European cars are absolute garbage. Especially BMW, Audi and Mercedes will self destruct at some point after 10 years. And those parts cost a heck of a lot more than non-luxury brands. Sometimes, they won't even sell you a part by its own pie…
You're conflating cost of ownership with frequency of issues (reliability). The Germans don't break often, but when they do, it'll cost a bunch. American cars break continuously, but it's cheap and easy to fix.
Also, Americans and Germans have different definitions of "reliable".
Americans define "reliable" as "runs forever on zero maintenance". Germans define "reliable" as "runs forever as long as you stick to strict maintenance schedules".
Re: Toyotas and Chevys Are Holding Up Better Than Most Luxury Brands
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
With the exception of safety features (think blind spot monitoring, backup cameras, lane keep assist, parking sensors) and mobile connectivity features like bluetooth, frankly I'm getting tired of all the crap they're throwing into vehicles these days for many of the reasons you mention. It seems every manufacturer or parent brand has their own infotainment system, NAV, etc. and you pay the price for it when you buy…
>Is anyone making reasonably well-appointed vehicles without throwing everything and the kitchen sink in there? No. Honda, Toyota, Fiat, GM, everyone seems to have the same problem. For what it's worth, FiatChrysler and GM have at least had the sense to set higher requirements for vendor/suppliers than Toyota. Specicially, after Toyota's "unintended acceleration" issues (mostly floor mats, some APPS/Pedal issues) it…
> over 12,000 GLOBAL VARIABLES
How many global variables do each of Toyota's competitors have?
Re: Toyotas and Chevys Are Holding Up Better Than Most Luxury Brands
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
Has there been a trend to bring controls back in house? I used to work in another mature industry, HVAC. It also went through a period of outsourcing all electronics/software, and then they realized that all the IP/secret sauce going forward will be in the controls and related software. My former employer had plenty of unpleasant experiences outsourcing firmware, which contributed to bringing it all back in house.
>Has there been a trend to bring controls back in house? Best I can tell it's still going out, not pendulum back in. Part of the issue, and the thing almost no one realizes about Carpocolypse 2008 is that all these suppliers are 100% dependant on supplying to 5 vendors and that if one stops buying X module for 6 months, they fold. Blame in on JIT strategy, or regulation, or whatever, but Johnson Controls would have f…
>Part of the issue, and the thing almost no one realizes about Carpocolypse 2008 is that all these suppliers are 100% dependant on supplying to 5 vendors and that if one stops buying X module for 6 months, they fold
They didn't have to wait until 2008 to learn this lesson. They could have learned it in the 90s if they were watching.
This is exactly why it's so hard to source vehicle parts for old Chrysler products. Every time they go bankrupt their suppliers go bankrupt and 3/4 of the tooling winds up turned into tin cans.
Re: Toyotas and Chevys Are Holding Up Better Than Most Luxury Brands
#57Automotive EE here. In the last 5-8 years there has been a DRAMATIC change in the way vehicles are tested and released. Everyone has become much more focused on electronic features - while at the same time almost everyone is completely outsourcing electronics design and firmware. Cars hit the lots with 10 new flashes waiting. When I started, it was a BIG DEAL if you had a lot held up somewhere in Detroit because of a…
With the exception of safety features (think blind spot monitoring, backup cameras, lane keep assist, parking sensors) and mobile connectivity features like bluetooth, frankly I'm getting tired of all the crap they're throwing into vehicles these days for many of the reasons you mention. It seems every manufacturer or parent brand has their own infotainment system, NAV, etc. and you pay the price for it when you buy…
Look for trims of vehicles designed for fleet use. Those remain pretty spartan.
Re: Toyotas and Chevys Are Holding Up Better Than Most Luxury Brands
#58A Cadillac is not just an expensive car, it is an expensive car to own. (Gas, repair bills, etc.) If you are a W-2 worker you have to be at work at a certain time and you need a car that can start every morning so you can get to work on time. Higher class people can afford multiple cars, take time off from work, take a cab, etc. The Cadillac brand is appealing to many lower class Americans so you often see them in "b…
Puzzled why you would mention this brand, as it's never mentioned in the article.
I assumed because of the other comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19154864
Re: Toyotas and Chevys Are Holding Up Better Than Most Luxury Brands
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's impossible to buy a TV these days that is not infected with Internet of Shit. It's possible, they are just called monitors or commercial displays; there's a significant premium for them at typical living room TV sizes compared to things marketed as “TVs”, though.
Yes, the "dumb" version is much more expensive than the "smart" version. But that is not all of it. Most monitors approximate (some better than others) sRGB, while TVs approximate (again some better than others) Rec. 709. Rec. 709 and sRGB share color primaries, so they have the same gamut, but Rec. 709 uses a different transfer function. If you use the (profiled) monitor with a computer that does color management, a…
Buy a J5005 NUC and be done with it. There's your computer.
Re: Toyotas and Chevys Are Holding Up Better Than Most Luxury Brands
#60The people that buy luxury cars don't care. It'll be under warranty during this time and the dealer will offer a free loaner car while it is being repaired. Most of these cars are leased and the ones that aren't will likely be sold around the 3 year mark. There isn't much incentive for the manufacturers to make them reliable unlike with mass market cars.
This is true. But there is an important corollary: never buy a used luxury car that's in it's third phase of life (>120k mikes). Both the amount and the cost of repairs are significantly higher. But it's a sucker's deal where people can get a nice car for a while, but which will end up costing them way more than, say, a moderately used Toyota.
Is a used a Lexus a good hack for getting a higher-end car that will also be cheap to fix, because it uses the same parts as a Toyota?