Long ago in another lifetime, I hired on at a new car dealership to work on British cars. They also sold Datsun. So, I had to add metric tools to my collection of standard and various arcane tools used on cars of the British persuasion. Back then, a warranty was 12 months or 12,000 miles whichever came first. After that, you had to rely on the goodwill of the dealer. It was a simple time. English cars were still stuck in the stone age, but we just would not admit that out loud and just say, "But, they have personality and soul." But, when you have an MG-B in one bay and a new Datsun 240Z sitting next to it, you can't escape the obvious. You can see how the Japanese borrowed from car companies around the world taking the best concepts and making it better. However, I could write a book on the crazy stuff I saw with new Datsun cars and trucks right out of the factory. They had a problem with quality control and the work ethic at the time was, well, I can't explain it. Every new car had to have a pre-delivery inspection where everything had to be re-torqued. Then the cars had to be inspected and cleaned up. All sorts of artifacts would be found in various places. Sake bottles, mostly empty, but once I found a full one. Sake from Kyoto is the best. Japanese money, mostly pocket change. Chopsticks and half-eaten lunches were a common find. Occasionally, an official-looking document would be found with hand-written entries; we were not in the computer age. One night working on a shipment of newly delivered cars, I found a letter under the driver's seat when placing the floor mats. I had it translated by someone who served in China with the Flying Tigers and was proficient in Japanese. It was a 'Dear John' letter or more like 'Dear Yamada Taro' if you will. I told the boss that I needed to take that car in and go over it again. You never know what might be missed by some poor dude having a bad day. Two examples of why close inspections was necessary prior to sale. A Datsun 240Z, a rare automatic transmission model would not rev up past about 2/3rds of the tachometer. The owner must have read the manual and went easy on the car during the break-in. It turned out that the camshaft gear was machined out of alignment and when installed, the valve timing was retarded. The Z-car was gasping for air. One more. How about the replacement short block for a high milage Datsun Pickup? Yeah, bad day at the factory. After several days of trying to figure out what all the noise was, the engine came out and was torn down. The oil passageways in the crankshaft from the main bearing journals to the connecting rods were not drilled. That was not the only engine that had unfinished crankshafts. Only the ones that were fitted in new vehicles were found out at the factory. The rest of the bad engines were shipped to various locations worldwide waiting for some poor mechanic on flat-rate pay to get stuck. So, while domestic manufacturers sat on their hands and complained, the Japanese cars just got better and better. Anyway, about the warranty and buying an extended warranty coverage. A factory rep told me that the warranty offered is not out of the goodness of their hearts. The cost of that coverage is calculated by bean counters and is built into the price of each new car or truck. You paid for it. If they do the math correctly and don't have a massive recall, they make a profit. The Koreans got up to speed and started to turn out cars that rivaled the competition, but the stigma was there. The same stigma that the Japanese car makers worked past. The amazing warranties offered were in part an effort to get consumers to give them a chance. I can't say if they built the entire cost of coverage into the price, but maybe Kia or Hyundai ate some of that to keep the price competitive. Maybe someone knows the economics of this. Just counting the two Hondas, three Mazdas and maybe soon a second Subaru, each car has exceeded expectations and outlived the warranties with no wallet-busting events. The standard Subaru warranty should be enough to demonstrate that if it makes it through that period, the car should go the distance. The reality is that if Subaru offered warranties like 10 years or 100,000 miles, that cost has to be built into the price. This peace of mind is optional and for us to determine if it is a good value. I know one thing, if Subarus were built like the Datsuns of years ago; where do I sign up?
