Personally I think this is a really interesting discussion. I am an engineer at Honda R&D near Columbus, OH. At my location, there are over a thousand white collar workers, mostly technical. Within a hundred mile radius of me, there are a 4 Honda assembly plants, employing around 10,000 people. At other sites in the US and Canada, there are probably another 15,000 workers. Each of these plants is turning out thousands of new Hondas per day. Nearly every Honda/Acura sold in the US (by volume) is made in the US. The engines, transmissions, every major component. Furthermore, Honda actually *exports* cars from the US, something that the Big 3 can barely talk about. Sure, there are niche cars like the S2000 roadster that are 100% Japanese, but that is a tiny part of our market. I think these are pretty impressive numbers, especially if you consider that Honda is only something like the 7th largest market share in the US. Its been here since 1979, I'd wager that in those 27 years Honda has contributed significantly to Americans and their way of life. There are a lot of secure $25/hr plus full benefits jobs available in Ohio because of Honda. The US auto industry lost their way in the oil crises. They haven't been able to turn it around since then. They concentrate too much on short-sighted markets like giant fuel-guzzling SUVs. Its not that the Big 3 makes bad cars, its that they make cars that aren't in demand. Compare a Focus to a Civic. A Taurus to an Accord. Sure, those Fords might last 200k miles, but I'd much rather spend that time in a nice Accord than a hard plastic Taurus. I would rather support the thousands of American workers who build Hondas than support a few suits in Detroit and drive a Mexican Dodge. That said, my garage: 1980 Lawn Boy 7229 1996 Stihl trimmer 1997 Honda Accord (shocking, right?) 2002 Triumph Speed Triple (mc) 1976 Honda CB400F (mc) 1976 Suzuki GT550 2-stroke (mc) 1948 Johnson Sea Horse (outboard) 1949 Evinrude Zephyr (outboard)

First time back on line in a long while. Finally bought a new computer (Sony Vaio) Hopefully I didn't miss too much! I don't particularly pay too much attention to CR, although sometimes I find myself browsing through their magazines while shopping around at the store just out of curiosity. Their good and bad bets are pretty much the same as they were in previous years. I find Carsurvey.com and Epinions.com to be more valuable. I have a 1996 Honda Accord with the 4-cylinder, 223,000 miles and just keeps on trucking. I've had to service it as I would with any other car, but it's never given me any unexpected problems on the road or failed to start one morning. The engine still retains most of it's original major components (such as the alternator, AC compressor, starter, PS pump, master cylinder, etc.) which is truly amazing in my opinion. I am a strong believer in preventive maintenance and upkeep, and I'm sure that has had something to do with my car's reliability... but I've definitely only had to do the very basics to keep it so. Also have a 2001 Pontiac Trans Am, which CR listed as unreliable. Currently have 56,000 miles and haven't done squat to it except change the oil/filters, brakes, tires and light bulbs. Absolutely nothing else. Had a pretty good experience with a 97 Mercury Cougar also(V8 model) The transmission and intake manifold were the only weak links in this otherwise solid car...but my transmission and manifold had already been replaced before I bought the car used with 90,000 miles. Sold it with a little over 150,000 miles.

golferdude, I have a WP Cabrio 6200 agitator machine and the matching gas dryer. We have had it for 8 months. It washes very big loads easily. It does not twist things up in a ball. (I did have the HE Cabrio before the agitator one - it did twist things up in tights balls - so much so that sometimes the clothing was dry after a cycle where they were twisted)It was also hard to get all the wrinkles out with the dryer alone. We improvised by setting the spin speed lower. I like that you can set the water level manually or let the Auto feature decide. It washes a pretty hot wash. The display panel is always steamy during a hot wash. It cleans clothing well. I have 2 small children and a hubby who works in a factory on the metal line. I have cut down on loads I do weekly as the capacity is so large. The only con - it can use alot of water depending on how full your load is. Also I can't speak for it's longevity as we have only had it for 8 months. But, so far 8 months have been trouble free. Good Luck. I guess if I could do it all over again I would just buy a standard top loader and standard dryer. In the end I spent around $1600.00 Canadian for the set I have now. In my opinion I probably could have bought a FL for the same $$ or saved myself $1000.00 and just bought a $600.00 standard set. Oh well, you live and learn I guess!

Sounds like a pretty typical inspection report for a home built in 1930. Seems to me that this wanna be buyer doesn't have a clue about old homes and thinks they are being cute by posting this report. For a price in the ballpark of 150,000-165,000, I'd think this is a very fine house!