Recently, whenever Toyota has a quality issue Automotive News likes to suggest that this might severely damage their reputation. The latest case: Toyota is recalling 3.6 million cars because the floormats might slide forward and snag the accelerator. Cases of “unintended acceleration” have caused some accidents and even a few deaths, so they can be very serious. If the recall… More →
Month: September 2009
Standard car powertrain warranties–what do they cover?
For the 2007 model year General Motors (GM) increased the powertrain warranty on its cars to five years or 100,000 miles (5/100), whichever comes first. They felt this warranty was better than Hyundai’s 10/100 powertrain warranty because it transfers to subsequent owners of the car. Today GM sent a memo to dealers to announce changes to the items covered by… More →
GM’s 60-day guarantee
So, GM is going to allow car buyers to return a car in the second month of ownership for a refund. Or, buyers can opt for an extra $500 rebate instead. So, how many people are going to forego $500 for the right to return the car? The fine print, as I understand it: 1. Dealer processing and titling fees… More →
2010 Kia Soul — few repairs so far
We’ve updated the Car Reliability Survey results to include owner experiences through June 2009. With this update, our results are about 14 months ahead of the traditional source of such information. Prompt quarterly updates enable TrueDelta to provide initial reliability stats on new models quickly. The August results included the first 2010 model, the Kia Soul. (A big thanks to… More →
Sign of the times: the 2010 Mazda CX-7 gets a non-turbo four
Though fuel prices have moderated, as long as the economy remains soft car buyers will be focusing on fuel economy, not horsepower. In response, manufacturers are rushing to offer at least the alternative of a less powerful, more efficient engine. The Mazda CX-7, a compact SUV, is a case in point. When the CX-7 was introduced three years ago, only… More →