Just wondering, but once I finshe my door panels what do I wrap them in.. leather or alcantara?? leather will be the cheapest, but red alcantara would looks amazing???

 

chris nothing wrong there. I had a 97 civic that was a great car.

 

Brock I vote for alcantara.

 

Chris my old man had a in yota pickup most reliable boughtthing .. we owned it for 5 years bought it for 500... sold it for 500 started every day even -20*+ below zero wood flatbed box rusty as hell

 

but was the old fallback.. one of the family members car broke and need somthing that thing was great...and i lied it was actually 7 years thinking about it...

 

NVM this post

 

They do hold their value better than American cars for sure. Sticker on my car was $24,500. Its now worth 10K with 90,000 miles on it, 3 years old.

That said though, I don't think American cars are ANY less reliable than Japanese cars. I've never had a bad American car in my family.

My sister has the one and only Japanese car within my immediate family. A 99 Toyota Solora 142,000 miles. Not a bad car, but not a single bit more reliable than anything American in our house. It was my cousins car before my sister got it, so we know the history of the car (hell, I did all the oil changes on it, lol) but its had its fair share of issues: Entire drivers side airbag assembly ($850), Drivers side wheel bearing ($400), Ignition coil ($300), Head gasket ($1,700), A/C condensor ($650), Starter 2 times ($250 at Toyota the first time) ($130 for part from Autozone the second time), Alternator ($180 for part). And then don't forget the stupid timing belt used in most DOHC Japanese cars that need to be replaced every 90K at $750-850 each time. Plus parts are more expensive for this car.

Very few American cars (at least GM cars) use timing belts. My DOHC Cavalier was chain driven, and of course all the pushrod engines are chain driven, so less maintence/ money required to maintain it.

None of the American cars we have ever owned have ever had anymore problems than the Solora. So I don't see the "Japanese is so much more reliable" crap that people seem to always shove down everyones throat. Yes, Japanese cars are good cars, i'm not saying they are not, but so are American cars, (I can't really speak for Dodge/ Chrysler though).

 

Resale value is just what people are willing to pay, and all this import is more reliable jargon just sticks in people's minds and they will pay more for nothing.

 

Agreed mike, and michael. I realize my monte is worth jack schitt. That's okay tho cuz she's mine and I don't really plan on getting rid of her anytime soon.