Posted by MoparNorm on Sunday, November 28, 2004 at 12:19PM :
In Reply to: Norm have you ever heard the term posted by Matt in- IN/KY on Sunday, November 28, 2004 at 10:54AM :
From 1972 until 1989 I owned nothing but Dodge and Jeeps. My previous Dodge was a 1974, 440 camper special, club cab. I put 385,000 trouble free miles on it, but Dodge had not changed the body style in 22 years and I was tired of looking at it. So I bought that "quality is job one" BS and we bought two of the 7.3's, as company trucks. After the second month there was never a month that these trucks did not cost us less than $600 to fix or repair. (ferd paid for the first 36,000 miles, after 36,000 miles it was out of pocket) I closed my company in 1999, gave one truck away and saved for two more years until I could buy the Dodge Cummins, it was hard, the ferd was keeping me poor. The day I sold it the drivers side window fell out and the dip stick broke in half, true ferd to the end!! That bumper was indeed heavier, but still flimsy. The Dodge sheet metal is the same, they all do that for fuel economy, but the Dodge frame on the cab/chassis is nearly 11" at the thickest point, I've been smiling every since I bought it, lesson learned the hard way, and you're right I should have known better. You're wrong about brand loyalty though, most people who buy gm stay with gm, most who buy ferd stay with ferd, it's a proven fact, that's why some marketing is geared towards the small percentage that are swayed by different specifications and features, and most marketing in geared toward a "lifestyle". Look closely at the rice burner commercials, you seldom learn anything about the car, except it's "Zoom, Zoom, Zoom" or something like that, sometimes it is hard to determine the brand in an add, it's all fluff. Even Dodge talks more about 'Hemi' than the cars and trucks themselves, trying to break through that mental barrier that is brand loyalty. I like the current Jeep Grand Cherokee commercial that shows the Hemi powered Grand out excellerating and then out braking both the BMW and Lexus, fun stuff but not too many BMW buyers are going to get out of their Beamers and go camping.......
MN