Consider buying American!

Correct.

On the other hand, statements like Just Me's "Unless you're
into throttle steer and serious performance driving, RWD has no
advantages" are NOT correct.

 

eh? so who pays for it all then? it wouldn't be taxes would it? is
there some way japanese companies don't pay tax where american ones do?

 

jim beam wrote:
<....

The Japanese Corporate Income taxes are actually slightly higher than US
corporate income taxes.

Jeff

 

I've owned two and the electrics were as good as any - considering the
complexity of an analogue system. Dunno about later ones.

Are you saying every US car ever used relays for this? Besides, 20 amps or
so is hardly much of a task for a switch.

 

Generally speaking it's not possible to make an efficient non interference
engine. If it was everyone would.

 

what, just like how an f150 chassis is built you mean?

dude, have you looked at the taurus? that has a body designed for
front, rear and 4wd options depending on the market it was sold into.
not just "minimal" changes, ZERO changes.

rubbish. 2wd is 2wd. period. fwd has the weight over the drive wheels
where it can provide traction. unlike rwd.

so how are you going to fix a chevy electronic ignition module at the
side of the road? ford ecu? chrysler transmission? you can't even fix
a serpentine unless you happen to carry special tools.

er, do you think a belt change is going to sneak up on you unexpected???
with honda, it's 105k miles between changes. how much chance you'll
accidentally miss it???

advantages of belts include much better timing precision and quieter
operation. the only disadvantage is not allowing for idiots that can't
look at their mileage every 7 years.

 

neither statement are wrong. in the wet, fwd is a big advantage because
the weight is over the driving wheels. rwd's can easily spin out with
doofus behind the wheel.

 

and they have fewer loopholes for tax avoidance. i was asking
rhetorical questions to see if our friend tony could see how the wheels
were falling off his argument.

 

indeed.

 

Strange the way then that most makers are going back to chains. Despite
them costing far more - the main reason for belts in the first place. Cost
cutting.

 

no, belts offer the advantages cited before. and it's a big deal that
belts don't stretch allowing timing to drift. there's no real cost
difference between the two.

the only reason manufacturers are going back to chain is because there's
a certain select bunch of whiners that bleat about the expense of doing
belt changes. every 100k+ miles. and from a bean counter's viewpoint,
it's much better to have a motor go 150k on a chain, then become a
sluggish noisy p.o.s., than have a honda motor go 300k or 400k on
replaceable belts with no noticeable degradation.

 

No real driver would ever say that. RWD only propels the vehicle, you
steer with the front wheels. If you lose one, you still have the
other. You can steer with either. In a FWD when you lose the front
wheels you either recover them pretty fast or you are on a ballistic
trajectory to the crash.
If course if your accellerating the front wheels tend to come off the
ground pulling weight off the drive wheels not transfer the weight to
the drive wheels.

 

Huh? I have put the serpentine belt on a Camaro with a tire iron. The
tensioner is spring loaded.

 

.... and they have never had a belt fail at 104000 miles? or 60000?

 

My brother had a 91 Infiniti Q45; at some point in that car's life, the
timing chains--2 of them, natch--needed replacing.

Dealer price: $2700.

 

A lot of manufacturers have, what they didn't do is squeeze out a few
extra HP by running the engine at 8000 RPM

 

Spoken by the man who charges $800 for the belt.

BTW how do you know how old the belt is if you didn't buy the car new?
I have been told here the "inspection" is useless

 

no "real driver" criticizes something that he himself hasn't mastered.
and you clearly haven't gotten any experience with a decent fwd. or 4wd
for that matter.

tell that to this guy:
http://theoldone.com/articles/Larryscivic/Larrys_Civic.htm

 

what's with the ad hominem? do you know me?

how are you going to inspect the chain?

as for the belt, look at the service history. and if you don't believe
that, just replace the belt. the part is about $35. if you do it
yourself, have the tools and know your business, you can do it in just
over an hour.

 

if you're using cheapo belts, even 60k is sticking your neck out. i'm
talking oem honda - they're rated to 105k. and failure rate at that
mileage is less than 1 per million.