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Automotive Guide Beauty or a Beast?

By: Frank Bellucci
Automotive Guide

People are always asking me what the most reliable car is to purchase. You know it took me quite a while to figure this out as I grew up mainly because I grew up in a family with recessive genes when it came to purchasing vehicles. My grandfather (the one who would sing Italian love songs after a glass of wine on my dad’s back patio) was in love with Cadillacs. Picture this 5’, 6” graying guy who looked like the typical image of the Mafia boss driving his 43-foot long El Dorado down the street and you start to understand what I’m talking about.

My grandfather had almost no problems with those Cadillacs since he bought a new one every 2 or 3 years. But he didn’t seem to get the idea that was a very expensive approach to car purchasing (the biggest hit to depreciation in a car’s value is usually in the first 3 years as most of us know). But it made him happy and that’s what mattered. And he had a ready source to purchase the aging vehicles. My dad.

Back in those days Cadillacs tended to hold up pretty well. Although they did come with a lot of new fangled gadgets such as one my dad referred to as “an electric eye” that would automatically dim the lights after about 5 seconds of blinding the oncoming driver. Actually, I’m not sure if that’s something that Cadillacs came with or my dad installed it aftermarket. What I am sure of is it didn’t work all that well as can be evidenced by a string of oncoming drivers that drove off hair pin turns after being blinded by my dad’s “cool” technology gadget.

Today, though, I don’t own any Cadillacs. My mother and sister also finally gave up their Cadillac addictions through a 12-step program. We’re pretty much an all Lexus family at this point for our primary vehicles – since even auto repair shop owners get tired of having to have their vehicles serviced. Lexus vehicles hold up really well. But let’s take a look at my personal experience with my current set of vehicles to really get under the hood of this question.

I have a 1998 Lexus LS400, a 1999 Range Rover and a 1993 Mercedes 300e. So let’s compare how well they have held up. The Lexus has 102,000 miles on it and over the last 8 years I’ve put maybe $3000 retail equivalent dollars (meaning what a person who doesn’t own an auto repair shop would pay) into it, including 2 rounds of tires and all the services it requires. It has never broken in any way. The Ranger Rover has 110,000 miles on it and I’ve put in the equivalent retail service dollars of about $3,000 in the past year alone! The Mercedes has probably had an average of about $3000 total in the 7 years we’ve owned it. It has 132,000 miles on it. I’ve also owned a 1987 Mercedes 300e with 60,000 miles and a 1989 260e with 60,000 miles. Those cars cost me $2500 each every year I owned them! But neither of those cars ever broke down (the money was in things like air conditioning, interior lights, maintenance and leaks). Go figure all that variability

But that speaks to how I would answer folks when they ask about our shop’s experience with different vehicles. In our shop the Lexus’s still reign king for less problems than any other vehicle that comes into us. They are just amazingly well built cars. Every other car that comes in has been variable and fairly dependent on how it was treated by it’s owners. Of course some brands are seemingly more prone to problems than others. As they say, "your mileage may vary".

Frank Bellucci is the President of Performance Motors in Austin, Texas. In addition, he likes to think of himself as a rather funny person. His wife doesn't agree. But that's OK. Frank seems to have limitless funny experiences with cars, one of his great passions in life. You can catch Frank driving down 183 in Austin in his Land Rover. He loves his Rover more than wine. And he really likes wine (just not at the same time). Anyhow, look for articles that have good information with a bit of humor in the coming months! Visit Frank at http://www.perfmotors.com

Automotive Guide Tag : Car Automotive Austin

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