[s-cars] WAS gas prices, now racist subaru's

[Taka Mizutani]

Rolf-
No argument here, but the prices are a bit off- I recently paid $165 for a 
MAF for the VW 2.0. Temp sensors are around $40 mail order. I wish the 
prices were as low as you mention- either that, or my mechanic is trying to 
help pay for his '06 F250 Powerstroke Crew. :-)
 If you chip the allroad, you're not getting warranty coverage on the 
allroad.
 Taka

 On 9/6/05, R. Mair <waves at comcast.net> wrote: 
> 
> I'm pretty sure Audi/VW leaned very heavily on Bosch at some point when 
> the MAF's began to fail in the late 90's on. they were initially $400+ but 
> fell quickly to $45, and then in some instances were recalled. You can bet 
> that it was Bosch who ate most of the loss. Then came coolant temp sensors. 
> They were somewhere around $60 if i recall, they are now $4.. Bosch again. 
> The japanese, for the most part, have pretty reliable engine management 
> systems, but there are several that still use bosch components. I'm not 
> aware of any gross issues with them however, only Swedish and German cars 
> :-/.
>  Yes, I'm do have an advantage of cheaper parts and the tools/facilities 
> to make repairs. But I will say this, that doesn't mean I'm happy about it. 
> I've been at this since I was 10. 27 years later I'm no longer enthusiastic 
> about it. I used to tweak and tune my own cars to death,even if they were 
> running perfectly. I'd go racing and bring spare transmissions and hard 
> parts just in case. Towards the end of my racing career, I hardly wanted to 
> swap a spark plug, let alone an axle. and today, I almost loath working on 
> my own cars. After diagnosing, wrenching and unbending customers cars for 
> 40+ hours a week, I don't feel much like working on my own cars. Although I 
> don't hate my line of work, I wish that I could do something else job wise 
> so that I could enjoy tweaking my cars more. And guess what, I'm buying the 
> extended warranty for my wife's 02 AR. There is no way I'M putting turbos on 
> that puppy ;-)
>  Rolf
>  
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> *From:* Taka Mizutani <t44tqtro at gmail.com> 
> *To:* R. Mair <waves at comcast.net> 
> *Cc:* calvinlc at earthlink.net ; S-CAR-List at audifans.com 
> *Sent:* Tuesday, September 06, 2005 7:50 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [s-cars] WAS gas prices, now racist subaru's
> 
>  I think we agree on a lot of the issue- it's just that I do blame the 
> manufacturer for a parts supplier's shortcomings. I don't mean to drag this 
> out, but I don't think it's fair to the consumer to blame the parts supplier 
> and not really do anything about the issue.
> 
> In that regard, I think that since you are in the business of fixing the 
> cars, you have a slightly different outlook on things- it's not hard for you 
> to fix the problems (being professionally trained), it's not nearly as 
> expensive (having a facility to work on the car as well as buying parts at 
> wholesale and having free labor) and since you're very familiar with the 
> cars, it's no big mystery.
> 
> Same thing with some Porsches- I won't buy a 944 turbo because the upkeep 
> is too pricey. If I were a mechanic and had the tools and facility to work 
> on the car, that would be different. Replacing bearings in a 944 is not 
> something the average home mechanic is inclined to do, nor is a clutch job 
> an easy thing (not in an Audi, either).
> 
> I love German cars, like how they feel and drive a lot. I also think 
> they're some of the best engineered and safest cars out there. I just don't 
> trust the dealership network or Audi themselves enough to buy a new one. Our 
> '99.5 A4 was enough of a headache that it was replaced by a Volvo. On the 
> other hand, if I could have afforded to do so, I would have kept my 200 as a 
> daily driver- I liked it that much. I still want an UrQ and if I could 
> afford to own and maintain one, I'd do it.
> 
> Taka
> 
>