Jerry Prather wrote: > > On Thu, 03 Mar 2005 09:15:03 -0800, Gene Poon wrote: > > >Interestingly the Japanese are experts at building the "three year car" > >because for a long time, and even today, the vehicle tax structure in > >Japan has made it disadvantageous to keep a car for over three years, > > Has that changed since 1975? I was stationed in Japan then, and > the time interval was five years. And the reason was not the > tax structure, but inspection laws that required cars older than > five years to have very extensive, very expensive vehicle > inspections. Heaven help you if a car had an uncorrected ding > or any hidden rust. =====================
It was explained that way to me, as taxes/fees in 1992 but perhaps the translation lost something in the process. Makes sense, though. It was obviously legislation meant to help the domestic auto industry; perhaps it originated before the Japanese carmakers were the industrial giants they are now. ============================== > In my era, a used car was a great bargain for us gaijin (foreign > devils, barbarians) over there. The Japanese permitted the Navy > Exchange to do the inspections with very relaxed standards. If > you saw a beat-up looking car, you could bet that a US military > man/dependent was behind the wheel! You could buy an older used > car for the remaining value of the JCI (Japanese Comprehensive > Insurance) -- which meant that the car was essentially free. Of > course, I feared to drive my 1970 Nissan Bluebird station wagon > at speeds greater than 45 mph; however there were few > opportunities to drive that fast anyway. The experience has > made me loathe to buy Japanese back here, even though the cars > made for export are probably okay. > > (Oh, and Hong Kong taxis then were all low-end Mercedes diesel > sedans.) > > Just reminiscing... <G> =========================== By the mid 1990s, the Hong Kong taxis were big Japanese cars, none less than three years old. You saw a lot of cheap Mercedes as hotel limousines and hire-by-the-day-with-driver cars. And I do mean CHEAP Mercedes; these were models that were not sold in the USA. Trying one out while the driver had lunch one day, I decided quite quickly that the first-generation LH cars such as the 1995 Dodge Intrepid that I'd just rented in Los Angeles a week before that Hong Kong trip, were MUCH better cars than these Mercedes. Of course, in the mid-90s, the performance and "feel" of the LH sedans came darn close...perhaps even equal...to the contemporary and much more expensive mid-line Mercedes. And there we are...this rather rambling thread got back on the list's topic, after all! <G> -GP ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Help save the life of a child. Support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's 'Thanks & Giving.' http://us.click.yahoo.com/6iY7fA/5WnJAA/Y3ZIAA/46t0lB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Web: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dodge_intrepid> Subscribe: <mailto://[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Unsubscribe: <mailto://[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Moderator: <mailto://[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dodge_intrepid/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
