Stop in for a cup of coffee
As I read through your posts it brings up an argument or as I call it a misconception about our beloved Mopars. As I do not wrench for a living anymore, I have been working on cars since I was 15, so like 30 years. I restore my own stuff (mopars) and, wrench on other people's daily drivers on the side for parts money or whatever. I have also worked in a transmission shop for around 5 years. When you talk to brand x people they always seem to say "Chryslers are junk" "Dodge has tranny problems" etc etc etc. As i recall over the past probably around 15 years of wrenching on the side I think I have worked on 3 Mopar products. I also know that 5 years in the tranny shop we did 4 Mopar trannys. We did probably 4 700R4 trannys a week but Mopar has the bad rap. Never had understood this. I'm sure you see the same thing.
Well, here is what my wife says, Chrysler is / was smaller than GM and Ford. And the smaller ones are picked at. And this is my experience too when it comes to whatever, and not only cars. It is easier to pick at the small ones, because they struggle defending themselves. I have liked Fords, I have had an Audi, my first car, Audi 75 Variant, then the 1965 Dodge Dart Station wagon, once the engine and transmission was overhauled, brakes, some steering, a little this and that, the Dodge ran without any trouble at all for many many years. My Fords have had issues too, was worn out partly, needed a lot of parts to get it going, but once it was fixed, it mostly ran fine. Now, with the newer stuff, my wife has had more issues with her 06 Daytona than I have had with my '04 Grand Marquis, but I have had my issues too, and I expect more to come. Mine is at 120000 miles, hers close to the same. I have heard that Toyoyta has no issues at all. When you go down here to the car dealers, the shop section for the Totyata is the same size as for all the other brands. So, I guess they have the big shop for the mechanics to relax in, maybe they have a pool there too, what do I know.
I have a recall on my Grand Marquis I refuse to get fixed. I am too stubborn for it, I refuse to give in to the local car dealers lousy work planning skills. Sorry. The brakes on my Grand Marquis are poop, the suspension is rock hard, it makes me car sick to drive it, makes my teeth rattle, I soon need to cap them all for excessive wear and charge Ford for it. I bump down when going in and out of the driveways everywhere because it is so low in the front and the back. The engine runs fine, no issues. The transmission have not had any issues either, until lately. Now when driving along the highway I can feel it is like you turned off the ignition for a fraction of a second once in a while. Or maybe more like half the spark plugs stopped firing. But, it does not feel like it is the engine, it feels more like it is a hiccup in the transmission. And the Grand Marquis is not a Chrysler products, last I checked.
And when talking about transmissions, the early AOD from Ford. Wasn't that a horrible deal ? And the automatic transmissions GM had, the first with OD, used in for example the Oldsmobile Cutlass with diesel in the beginning of the 1980ties ? I remember a coworker, he was in and out with that car for transmission trouble many times. As I recall, Oldsmobile was not a Chrysler product either.
And people around here, it is all about Japanese and Korean cars. 2/3 of the cars at least are foreign. 1/4 is maybe American brands. Pickup trucks are different. I want to cry when I am out and about here, my GPS on the phone says I am in America, but looking at the cars I think I am in Japan. Who knows, my phone is a Motorola, the Chinese owns it so maybe they have manipulated the GPS.
I can not buy a newer Ford product anymore, with my back issues I can not sit in their seats. All of them are bad, they have made them a bit shorter, so I do not get the same support for my thighs as in the old ones. Chrysler have better seats. Cadillac too, but that is too upety for me.
America used to be a country where people were proud of their own cars, now people are proud of their tablets and electronic gismos.
Sorry for the rant.
Bill