Good read:

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/10/24/a...-john-mcelroy/

 

I never met a car I couldn't break.

 

Likewise. Aside from my first car, which I kept only 11 months, I've managed to break every car I've owned:

1993 Achieva -- needed a tranny rebuild / converter replacement at 75k and an engine rebuild for a spun rod bearing at 93k
1993 Civic -- engine blown at 160k (sold it as-is, never found out what was wrong)
1993 Regal -- catastrophic brake failure at 150k (repaired and still own it)
2000 Bonneville -- just did a tranny rebuild, intake plenum replacement, and motor mount replacement at 145k (still own it, otherwise a great car)
2002 Z28 -- T56 stuck in 4th gear at 72k. Had it built up by SixSpeedsInc and it's back to daily driver duty.

Our '87 Grand National is the only car I've owned for more than a year that has never given me any real trouble, and that's only if I don't count the front tire blowout at 70mph on the highway last fall.

Then again, these quality surveys are about new cars, and I've never had one of those.

 

Which, sadly, is what we get with the majority of the information that the news distributes to us, regardless of the subject they're reporting.

 

Good artcile.