Click and Clack!
You're kidding, right?
They're comedians, not mechanics.

 

Click and Clack appear knowledgeable to people who don't know mechanics the same as Consumer Reports appear knowledgeabe to people who know nothing about cars. Sadly, that covers at least 95% of the general public.

 

Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers. Yeah. I enjoy listening to them, they're very entertaining, but they have absolutely no useful information.

Consumer Reports has very nice rows and columns and little silly symbols, but I have never found any connection with reality based on the vehicles I've owned. They should stay with toasters.

 

Click and Clack are very funny. They're als both very smart. They were mechanics and ran their own shop which led to them having the radio show they do now. Both also graduated from MIT. I'm sure they each possess plenty of automobile knowledge.

osbornk, why do you knock CR? Let me in on what you know about them that I don't.

Here's why I ask. For years I have heard guys that are "Ford Only" guys knock everything not Ford. I know Chevy guys, Japanese maker guys, European guys that all say the same thing with no facts to back it up. Most of the time that's how their dad was so that's how they've become, which is fine but then it's just opinion and not fact. One of my best friends is a Ford guy and he used to give me crap for buying a Suburban when I had my 4th child. Then he had his 4th child and bought a Suburban so you know I definitely made fun of him. Anyway, brand means nothing to me. I have 3 Ford trucks, a Ford Taurus, a Suburban and a 74 VW Bug project car. It may look like I'm a Ford guy but I got good deals on all of them which is usually when I buy. I also bought a Volvo when we went had our 3rd kid and owned it for 14 years. That sucker was solid as a rock. To me they're all pretty much the same. There is good and bad about all of them and they all have stuff that wears out and I have to fix. I have yet to drive the perfect vehicle. I couldn't say that any one of them has been worse than any of the others so in my 20+ years of owning cars I haven't owned enough of them accross the board to be able to form a factual basis for which is best. So all I have to go by is CR. CR has gathered ownership information and they report it. They're not making things up. They report the facts. You seem to hate CR and it seems like maybe you know something about them as being liars or biased or something to that effect so please share it with me so I know where you're coming from. Otherwise you just sound like another one of them guys. I mean no offense whatsoever with that statement. It's just that I'd prefer facts.

 

< 74 VW Bug project car>

qman,

You're speaking my language.LOL! My first car at 16 was a '74 Bug. I sold it for my first Ford.LOL At 18 I didn't have the luxury of keeping it while finding a more reliable car to go back and forth to college. Lo and behold one day in 1999, I was about 27-28 I see what appears to be my old Bug on a roll back with body damage, bad damage. I chased it down and wound up rebuying it for about $2500. 10 years earlier when it was in good runnning condition my parents paid $1250 for it.

When I had it back when I was a teen, I took off the stock wheels and put some fancy smancy wheels on it. I still had the ORIGINAL VW hub caps in my possession. I put the car back into stock condition.

Nothin' like an old bug. That heater vent in left side of driver's floorboard would never put out warm air in the winter, but you couldn't turn off the hot air in the summer.LOL! Burns my foot up! Lot of memories in that car. I had my first "me pick 'em up" date in that car. I had to have it back

Brad

 

Yeah, the 74 bug is sweet. Mine has a sunroof. I paid $200 or it knowing the main seal was leaking and knowing that it may be leaking cause the bearing was bad. PO didn't take care of it but I liked it. I got a year out of it and the engine blew out. It leaked oil faster than I could get it home. I had to fill up on oil twice and it hasn't run since, that was 1988. But when it did run it was like a sports car. It has the 1600cc engine with a dual ported intake. It's amazing what the dual ported intake does for those little engines. I dragged it from CO to Houston and back to CO without a running engine always "planning" on fixing it although there's yet to be a plan. I have driving age kids now and they want it. I tell them they can have it as soon as they are willing to get to work and I'll work right along with them. No takers so far.

 

Well I did pick the truck up tinight and it seems ok. It needed a new cam and followers along with all the other things that come a long with it. As far as people stabbing at eachother here its not called for. My satement about the TOYOTA was made out of frustration and people should not have taken it so personally and carried it so far. I really dont care what anyone drives I personally purchase things usually at the spur of the moment and because I like it. My wife drives a liberty and I am restoring a GranNational. I take a lot of heat from my friends about driving a FORD truck but I could care less cause when ever they are in it they always tell me they wish they could have it. Simply Stated you could get a bad GM or Foregin car too. Its all about personal preference. One last thing and I am done posting in this thread. For all of us who say, and I am one of them, I will not line the pockets of a foreign country... We all do it everyday. We all have cel phones, we all have computers, we all have TV's, he!! our FORD Trucks have more foreign technology now then ever. We all give to the foreign and we deal with it.

Sarge

 

You're right Sarge. I love Harley's and if you ever want to see staunch brand bigotry, spend some time on a Harley board!LOL! I'll ride with any brand. I personally like the look of the Harley. I like to see the engine as opposed to a plastic covered engine and I like the tapered and finned heads and cylinders. It's purely preference. However, some people get so caught up in the BUY American deal, they never take time to think that all new Harleys use Showa forks, a division of Honda. The V-Rod engine is practically made or at least heavily designed by Porche. At least during the prototype stage it was HEAVILY Porche. I'm pretty sure at this point it's actually bolted together in KS or PA, but a lot of German in it.

Right now, to me, the Ford F-150 is my favorite full size truck. I work my truck hard and it performs. I have about 25K on it and 23K of it has been with 2-3K of trailer weight behind it and the bed pretty full too. I've owned every truck but a Dodge. Never owned a Titan but did have a Frontier and Xterra. Other than the Toyota's engine blowing, which was dealer's fault and Toyota as a company didn't stand up for me I haven't really had a problem. I've only had two problem trucks and it was DIRECT dealer ignorance both times.

Exterior looks - Ford hands down (Chevy's new front end = pi$$ed of siamese cat)
Interior - Chevy (Ever so slightly over Ford - BIG price increase for decent interior on foreign trucks)
Toughness - IMO Ford
Longevity - Ford can last as long as anything else I guess, ESPECIALLY when used as a truck

YMMV - Brad

 

No doubt Click and Clack are very smart. However, notice that they are now talk show hosts. Do they still run their own shop? I didn't think so. MIT geeks are generally known as theoreticians, not mechanics. World-class theoreticians, not mechanics. Soccer moms love 'em.

 

I used to be a dedicated CR subscriber until I really paid attention and did some research. I began noticing that many times they were testing clones (identical products made on the same lines by the same people at the same times with different names). One product would be rated great and recommended while the identical item with a different name would be rated much lower and not recommended. I found this happening on items ranging from small appliances to cars. Foreign names semed to get better ratings than domestic names.

I have never been very brand loyal even though I have all Fords (totally based on price and availability). A few years ago I was all MOPAR that evolved into a mixture of Dodge, Toyota, Subaru and Buick. All brands have some desirable products and some undesirable products and you buy what fits your needs and price regardless of the brand.

 

Hey Sarge, I don't think we're stabbing at each other, but sometimes things can read like that. I once snapped back at someone only to have him respond that he meant nothing by it. Then I felt kinda stupid for assuming it. An instance like that will wake up a fella. And osbornk, I sure hope you didn't take any offense at anything I said. I wasn't stabbing.

You know, I've only used CR for big ticket items like washer, dryer, dishwasher, stove, refrig, freezer. And there is one thing that I did noticed. Sears appliances always get a really good rating eventhough they're made by brand name manufacturers. Our Sears Kenmore washer is made by Frigidaire (I think) and when you compare the two different models side-by-side they look identical. The Sears washer was top dog and a best buy in CR and the identical looking Frigidaire wasn't even close. It was way down on the list. I looked into it and found (and I don't remember where I got this info) that eventhough Frigidaire manufactured it and it looked identical, the innards were not. I was able to somehow compare the mechanical characteristics of the items (capacities, motor strengths, etc.) against one another and those things were different in favor of the Sears brand. What I found out is that Sears, being a retailer and not manufacturer, contracts out for their items to be built at even higher standards than those of the original manufacturer. Like I said, I've only noticed it in 2-3 big ticket household appliances but it seemed like CR was doing the right thing there. Again, that's about the extent of my involvement with CR. But Click and Clack, I'd have to disagree on anyone about those boys. They're not nerds or geeks. They're very intelligent and are two fellas that aren't afraid to get their hands dirty. They're those kind of guys that can get things done. And their opinoin of foriegn models being more reliable was built on their years working on them. I've heard and read their stories.

And I'm a firm believer that if you maintain your vehicle with fresh fluids on a routine basis, it will be reliable. Sometimes things do happen and I think that Honda and Toyota have been able to build their reputation on reliability on folks who do nothing more than put gas in and drive. I know one of them guys who did it with his Toyota truck. He drove it for another 6 months after it started running a little rough and burning excess fuel and me having told him numerous times to tune it up. When he finally did it turned out that the curved electrode on his spark plug was almost completely burned away. That was unbelievable to me but the truck still ran. He put new tune up parts in it and it runs like new again. I think that's where those testaments come from.

 

Some people were stabbing at eachother and I didnt want to start the thread for that reason. I am happy to say that I have my truck back and everything is ok. I am glad I love that truck. Now for my next problem what exhaust to put on it now.

Happy Holidays to All

Sarge

 

so what did they say was wrong with it?

 

It needed the right camshaft and all the followers in the right head. They also changed the oil in it.

 

Sarge, glad they got it fixed for you. I just got done putting a Banks exhaust on my 95 E-350 van and it's really awesome quality stainless steel but real spendy. The flange on the headers is 5/8 thick. Ive read that the minimum flange should not be less than 3/8 or your'll get warping. The gas mileage went from 10 to 11.4(I have a 460) so there is a financial return. About Click and Clack, those guys are both mechanics and they are also engineers. They know their stuff but they water it down and joke alot cause you cant talk about ignition curves when grandma calls in to the show.