type 44 syndrome, but no Audi content

[Mike Arman]

What is type 44 syndrome?

We have a group of people who have formed an attachment for a car which
*economically* (in the view of most people) makes no sense.

Here's why - parts and service are very expensive (by retail standards),
the car has a reputation for being finicky and needing quite a bit of
fairly exotic (hence skilled and expensive) maintenance, and these cars are
NOT supported in any meaningful way by the dealer network or the
manufacturer. They are also getting OLD - mine are almost old enough to
vote, and cars that old are downright un-American!

And in fact, for most people, owning a type 44 is a SERIOUS mistake - you
better know what you are getting in to, because you will sure find out.
This list (Thank you Dan!!!!) makes type 44 ownership a (more) reasonable
proposition.

Note that comments like "It's a great car!", etc., while true, do not
affect the economics of the vehicle . . . and yes, I own one and plan to
keep it. (Two, actually!)


Our cars have problems in the "automotive world" as follows - insurance
companies don't think they are worth much, so often they are totalled from
a fairly minor accident, dealers don't want to see them come in as trades,
so resale value tends to be quite low, they are not "monkey-lad-proof" like
most Detroit iron - even Sears can sometimes change the oil sucessfully on
those, but taking an Audi to Sears is an invitation to disaster.

This does work in our favor, though. We are willing to fix and tinker and
do a lot of our own work, and parts from the junkyard are CHEAP - I'm sure
you've seen lots of automatic type 44s in junkyards - bad tranny - but
almost everything else is good and can be re-used. As a result, we get OUR
transportation at cut-rate prices, even after deducting for hand cleaner.


Fast-forward to April 2002.

General Motors just announced they are buying Daewoo for $400 million.
Yawn. But they also just announced that the current 525 Daewoo dealers AND
THEIR CUSTOMERS "are not part of the plan."

This means that anyone who currently owns a pre-GM Daewoo is flat out of
luck - which means everyone who currently owns a Daewoo - because GM does
NOT intend to support these cars, or honor the remaining portion of the
warranties, no parts, no service, nothing. (Can you see the coming lawsuits?)

Daewoo street prices will take a HUGE hit - no one will want an orphan car,
you won't be able to trade it in, it will be very hard to sell (does this
sound familiar?) Sorry, no parts available, oh, you need a tail light lens,
can't get them, you'll have to junk it, sorry.

Now this is pretty stupid of GM - how do you think the people who own
current Daewoo cars will feel when the authorized Daewoo dealer tells them
to get lost? Think they'll EVER buy any GM product ever again? (Kinda like
me and Sears . . . another story). If GM was smart, they would take the
current crop of orphaned Daewoo owners under their wing, help them keep the
cars running, supply parts, honor the warranties (even though strictly
speaking, they don't have to), and earn their undying loyalty instead of
undying hatred . . .


What does this have to do with us?

In a (very) few years, the you-pull-it yards will be full of pre-GM
Daewoos, because no one will want them - excpet for a small group of people
who are willing to fix the cars themselves and scrounge parts, and probably
have an internet support group . . .

And of course, you are thinking, so who wants one of these ****boxes,
anyway? How *DARE* he compare a Daewoo to my revered Audi type 44????? The
Daweoo is a much less expensive car - true, but it is 15 years newer, and
part of the reason it is less expensive is that labor in Korea is MUCH less
expensive than labor in Germany - and the portion of the price that pays
Hans und Fritz's retirement benefit (or pays team doorhandle) does NOT make
the car better - that is overhead! Also, the exchange rate is greatly in
OUR favor with the Korean Won and generally not in our favor with the DM or
now the Euro - and you cannot tell me that a 10% price increase in the cost
of an Audi because of interntional currency fluctuations makes the car 10%
better - it does NOT!

Daewoo makes some large cars (not just econoboxes), and in three or four
years we may find that the Daewoo Eleganza (or whatever) is available at a
greatly depressed price, and you can get a lot of car for not much money,
just like type 44 Audis were available after the 60 minutes debacle.

Food for thought.

Best Regards,

Mike Arman