On Wednesday, May 27, 2015 at 9:14:09 PM UTC-7, dsi1 wrote:

> The Fiats and water cooled VWs I had didn't live up to the negative
> press either. Mostly all you got to do is know the car and it's
> weaknesses. Those cars were pretty easy to work on and were a gas to
> drive. I like good cars with bad reputations - they're sold pretty cheap.

I was following a friend home from school on the freeway, when the
fuel line popped off his carburetor and started spraying fuel
everywhere. We pulled over; he shut the motor off, popped the hood,
and put the fuel line back on the carburetor. This time it held,
and we made it home without further incident. He was driving a FIAT.

I had a 77 Rabbit, which apparently was a beta test site for the
Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection system. I ended up driving around
with a spare fuel pump relay, because those had a bad habit of
wearing out contacts and turning off the fuel pump while driving at
speed.

But the joke was on me as next the fuel pump failed.

>
> OTOH, Subarus have always had good press but when I'd see them on the
> side of the road, I knew exactly what happened to them - broken timing
> belt. That's easy enough to fix. To bad they're a drag to drive.

My trouble with Subarus is after a lifetime with front wheel drive,
suddenly I have to share the interior with a transmission.