American vs. Cheap

[TerrysSPF]

Turk.............no, I'd say you much hit the nail on the head.

True, there ARE many different forms of "illegals" in our country, but it's the Mexicans that are walking accross our borders by the count of 10,000+ per day.

G.R. I HAVE been to Mexico......many times. It's not the people or their culture that I'm upset about. They love their families and want whats best for them. ....But if they think they can have a better life HERE......go about it LEGALLY. Once they prove that they don't care about breaking our laws regarding citizenship, or legal entry into our country......what OTHER laws don't they care about while they are here??? Then to see the crap they pulled today DEMANDING drivers licenses......c'mon. Who they hell do they think they are coming here ILLEGALLY and making DEMANDS on US!!?? What will it take before this country wakes up!!??
It seems some of you have forgotten what the word "illegal" means. Look it up in the dictionary......and then ask your congressmen to look it up as well. It seems our government has forgotten what it means also.

As for cars.....foreign and domestic. I've had BOTH in my day and have had BOTH run for well over 100K and I've had BOTH break down well before that. My wife had a 89 Celica that was the biggest piece of $hit we've ever owned. Went through 2 engines inside 65K miles. There was obviously a defect (same problem / same cyl both times) but they refused to fix it under warranty the 2nd time......over 2K in repairs and it lasted 11K miles and went out again. Junked it. Had a neighbor with the same car, same year.....same problems. I will never touch another Toyota again, and they lost a sale when we bought our last car because she really liked the Lexus GS430 ....but I told her it was just an overpriced Toyota. We bought a BMW540I and it's been nothing short of outstanding. Probably the best car we have owned (haven't owned the Bimmer long enough to qualify it as "best" yet) was a 94 Acura Vigor. 180K miles and NEVER had a problem of any kind. Regular maintenance, and it ran like a top! It had a 5 cyl engine that would rev like nobodys business! I also had a Blazer that ran for 180K miles.....but had a few "problems" along the way. Nothing too serious though....kept me going for a long time! Had a 89 Escort that I bought one winter for a "winter beater" many years ago (early 90's). It was meant to get me by for 1 winter and I ended up keeping the thing for 4 yrs and 120K miles! Best car I've ever driven in the snow! ...On the other hand, I currently own a '01 Jeep Cherokee.....biggest peice of crap I've ever owned, and I bought it brand new (so I know it has been taken care of!). Damn thing is in the shop more than it's in my garage! There isn't much on it that hasn't been replaced due to failure. Problem now is....it's out of warranty. Now it will become a money pit, and Jeep will be laughing at me all the way to the bank. What's up with a 36K mile warranty? Can't they build a better vehicle then THAT!!??

I guess my point would be (after all that ranting and raving), it's pretty much hit or miss with cars. There are good ones and bad ones no matter WHO built them. All we can do as a consumer, is take the best care we can of them and PRAY we didn't get one of the companies LEMONS!