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From: DAS on 14 Jul 2010 11:11 Re Bjorn & Brent: Cheap Volvo & Merc taxis. In North America one does not see the bottom-end diesel cars one has in Europe. Plus in Germany and many some other countries Mercedes provide a high level of maintenance service for taxi drivers. Nevertheless, Merc has lost ground to other brands (Volvo maybe mainly in Scandinavia) such as Skoda, the 'cheap' end of Volkswagen Group. I also don't agree with the "cheap materials" unless somebody provides evidence. Brent: "My guess is too many expensive (but probably not major) things going wrong so they end up garaged and little used." I agree with you in the sense that it is a pure guess. Presumably you do not live in LA? If so you would see stacks of BMWs and other such cars. Do you have numbers to back up your claim? Top end (new) Porsches, BMWs etc are mainly for the wealthier anyway, so not so many around, except in the wealthier areas. Loads in central London, for example. Brent: "Exception being the 'budget' porsches of the 1980s". If you mean the VW Porsches then there aren't many left, not very good. Line was discontinued quite quickly. So which and what do you mean by "large" numbers? (944s?) DAS To reply directly replace 'nospam' with 'schmetterling' -- "Brent" <tetraethylleadREMOVETHIS(a)yahoo.com> wrote in message news:i1keaq$n8b$1(a)news.eternal-september.org... > On 2010-07-14, Clive <clive(a)yewbank.demon.co.uk> wrote: >> In message <i1kcoi$dtk$3(a)news.eternal-september.org>, Brent >><tetraethylleadREMOVETHIS(a)yahoo.com> writes >>>. My guess is that the >>>breakthrough won't be batteries at all, but some sort of onboard power >>>generation from a fuel or as they called it many decades ago pulling >>>power from the 'ether'. >> If the Auto manufacturers can pull energy from fresh air, expect the >> Governments to tax it. > > 'national security', we will likely not see it. > >
From: Brent on 14 Jul 2010 11:39 On 2010-07-14, DAS <nobody(a)spam.co.uk> wrote: > Brent: "My guess is too many expensive (but probably not major) things going > wrong so they end up garaged and little used." I agree with you in the > sense that it is a pure guess. Presumably you do not live in LA? If so you > would see stacks of BMWs and other such cars. Do you have numbers to back > up your claim? Top end (new) Porsches, BMWs etc are mainly for the > wealthier anyway, so not so many around, except in the wealthier areas. > Loads in central London, for example. You've clearly misunderstood. I did not say the cars were uncommon. I stated that older ones vanish into garages or somewhere, because they aren't seen often. I see newish ones daily, several times a day usually. If Chicago's road salt were eating them I would see rusty ones far more often. But instead there is just a cliff at about 8 years old where the cars seem to just disappear. My guess is they become too expensive to use as daily drivers. I'll see the Japanese luxury cars and practically every other car expensive or not decline into beaterdom and their numbers drop off slowly. BMWs... porsches? they just seem to go *poof* as far as road use goes after about 8 years or so. MB has the same decline as every other make. Audi again... I see them slide away too... I just don't see some 15 year old beat down 911 driving around... very rarely do I see them at all. a 0-5 year old 911? Sure, common sight. Buying the older ones? Easy to find. Seeing them in daily use? not particularly. My guess is things like this: http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/1995-to-1998-porsche-911-2.htm Item Name Repair Cost A/C Compressor $1,500 Alternator $1,000 Automatic Transmission or Transaxle $3,100 Brakes $790 Clutch, Pressure Plate, Bearing $1,800 Constant Velocity Joints $2,300 Exhaust System $890 Radiator $2,200 Shocks and/or Struts $6,250 Timing Chain or Belt $1,635 Not to mention the environmental attack on the materials in this climate. It just costs too much to use these cars for daily tasks. > Brent: "Exception being the 'budget' porsches of the 1980s". If you mean > the VW Porsches then there aren't many left, not very good. Line was > discontinued quite quickly. So which and what do you mean by "large" > numbers? (944s?) Pretty much. Those are still in daily service in Chicago's harsh car-eating environment.
From: Clive on 14 Jul 2010 12:51 In message <i1klmn$750$1(a)news.eternal-september.org>, Brent <tetraethylleadREMOVETHIS(a)yahoo.com> writes > Buying the older ones? Easy to find. Seeing them in daily use? >not particularly. My guess is things like this: > >http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/1995-to-1998-porsche-911-2.htm >Item Name Repair Cost >A/C Compressor $1,500 >Alternator $1,000 >Automatic Transmission or Transaxle $3,100 >Brakes $790 >Clutch, Pressure Plate, Bearing $1,800 >Constant Velocity Joints $2,300 >Exhaust System $890 >Radiator $2,200 >Shocks and/or Struts $6,250 >Timing Chain or Belt $1,635 > >Not to mention the environmental attack on the materials in this >climate. It just costs too much to use these cars for daily tasks. In GB, very few cars fail mechanically. Most are retired because of rust caused by our continuous use of road salt during the winter months. I have seen maps of where cars last a little longer or shorter but the average car fails it MOT through rust at between 9 to 11 years old, and is subsequently replaced by a new or newer one. -- Clive
From: Roland Franzius on 14 Jul 2010 13:32 Brent schrieb: > On 2010-07-14, DAS <nobody(a)spam.co.uk> wrote: > >> Brent: "My guess is too many expensive (but probably not major) things going >> wrong so they end up garaged and little used." I agree with you in the >> sense that it is a pure guess. Presumably you do not live in LA? If so you >> would see stacks of BMWs and other such cars. Do you have numbers to back >> up your claim? Top end (new) Porsches, BMWs etc are mainly for the >> wealthier anyway, so not so many around, except in the wealthier areas. >> Loads in central London, for example. > > You've clearly misunderstood. I did not say the cars were uncommon. I > stated that older ones vanish into garages or somewhere, because they > aren't seen often. I see newish ones daily, several times a day > usually. If Chicago's road salt were eating them I would see rusty ones > far more often. But instead there is just a cliff at about 8 years old > where the cars seem to just disappear. My guess is they become too > expensive to use as daily drivers. Eight year old luxury cars go into export to Middle East, Africa, Asia und South America. The average export price of a MB or BMW is about 6000 EUR and their expected life time is about 20 years. It is much cheaper to run an old MB than a small new Toyota or VW. -- Roland Franzius
From: edward ohare on 18 Jul 2010 10:40
On Tue, 13 Jul 2010 22:38:04 +0100, "DAS" <nobody(a)spam.co.uk> wrote: >Thanks. I did not check the facts. I thought that Zetsche had been promoted >and, indeed, you confirmed it. > >I suspect a number of people in North America do not understand the size of >the Daimler AG (probably true of Europeans as well, but they will be well >aware of lorries and buses, which are visible everywhere): I suspect a number of people in Europe do not understand the size of Chrysler in the late 90s and how PROFITABLE the company was. |