Andy Ball wrote to All:   
      
    AB>     Thanks for the advice. So far what I've read here meshes   
    AB> with what I've heard from people I've asked in person: some like   
    AB> American cars (usually GM/Chevrolet) and some recommend Honda with   
    AB> Toyota as a close second.   
      
   My Chevrolet Service Manager friend, Harry recommends a Honda or a Toyota   
   for youngsters who have a mechanic in the family. His youngest daughter   
   drives a Honda that he bought for her after it was crashed. Parts for them   
   are more costly than for GM products because GM products are domestic and   
   so are the parts they use to build and repair them. Honda parts cost more   
   because they have to be imported. Importation requires a duty (import   
   tax). His 2nd oldest daughter drives a GMC mini-pickup. Each one of his   
   girls got their choice, but he wouldn't have bought them what they wanted   
   unless they were reliable. I forget what the oldest drives. His son,   
   before he was killed, drove a Chevy Silverado pickup and he rode a   
   motorcycle. His daddy tried to keep up with him, but he's a Harley   
   Davidson kinda guy (big and tall) and his son had one of those sports   
   bikes.   
      
   Since your young family member will be inclined to do his own work and his   
   peers may own a Honda, he may be more acceptable to them in a Honda. If he   
   were my son, I'd recommend a pickup and tell him to find some pickup   
   truck fans.   
      
    AB>   Are American cars easier to work on than Japanese ones or does that   
    AB> depend entirely on the model?   
      
   I've never cared much for front wheel drive cars, since they're more   
   suseptible to breakage in abusive service. It seems that CV joints and   
   suspension get in the way of horsepower and building them strong enough to   
   stay together.   
      
   Kids these days will abuse these cars because that's what their peers do.   
   Street racing takes its toll on them, but if you're young, rich and   
   mechanically inclined, that's no issue.   
      
   OTH, a pickup would be the easiest to work on since they're built like a   
   conventional rear wheel drive vehicle has been built since inception.   
      
   They have a strong steel frame under them and not one unibody (frameless)   
   vehicle among them. No unibodys to whither away under stressful condtions,   
   all engines and transmissions are aligned, one after the other and when   
   your youngster decides to leave home, he won't need a moving van.   
      
    AB>  Are Japanese cars less prone to rust? I'm intrigued.   
      
   LOL! That's only a problem if they're driven on salted roads, like in the   
   rust belt of America...Here in Texas they rust, but the rust is surface   
   rust as the hot sun burns the paint off of steel. This happens to all   
   cars, GM, Ford, Chrysler, Honda and Toyota...In fact you can tell when a   
   car has been imported from up north, they already have rust.   
      
   I think it is Chrysler who is experimenting with coating steel bodies with   
   a rust inhibitor before painting them. It was AMC who started that back in   
   the 60s, but they didn't have much luck with it, as most AMC products   
   disappeared from the roads within a few years due to rust that made their   
   unibodys dangerous to drive.   
      
      
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    * Origin: Bow Tie Racers, Been There, Done That! (1:387/22)