The Consumer Reports 1975 Buying Guide was fairly positive about imported cars but cautioned about dealer service. The annual guide, which was published in December 1974, noted that some foreign brands had only a fraction of the dealer body of U.S. automakers — and quality of service could vary.
One problem: Some “foreign-car distributors have a reputation for expanding too quickly in the U.S. market — for adding new dealers to their rosters faster than they can train their mechanics. Also, in some cases, even a competent and cooperative dealer may not be able to get the necessary parts quickly” (1974, p. 395).
A case in point was Fiat, which in mid-1974 reportedly had 675 dealers throughout the U.S. That was only one-tenth as many as Chevrolet. To make matters worse, a reader survey found that Fiat owners received below-average service at their dealers. This could be a particular problem for those Fiat models that readers reported as having a “much worse than average” frequency-of-repair record, such as a 1970 vintage 124 Spyder and coupe (1974, p. 418).
Buying an Opel — a “captive” import from General Motors — would only have a partial advantage over a Fiat, Consumer Reports noted. Opel was sold through 2,000 Buick dealers, but a reader survey found that service was below average because many dealers “have shown little interest in the Opels.” This was in contrast to Volkswagen, which had half as many dealers as Opel, but owners reported average service (1974, p. 395).
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Dealer service mattered a lot more back then
Cars in the 1970s were less reliable than today, so being able to get prompt repairs was of heightened importance. Indeed, Consumer Reports recommended against buying an import if one took frequent long trips where one could be stranded hundreds of miles away from the nearest authorized dealer. This was partly because independent shops might not be willing to work on an import.
On the other hand, if one planned to only do local driving, Consumer Reports suggested that “the reputation of your local dealer may well be your primary concern.” Here is where BMW, Mazda and Mercedes-Benz had an advantage because readers deemed their service for work under warranty to be “well above average” (1974, p. 424). But then BMW only had 240 dealers (1974, p. 395).
Also see ‘Mercedes-Benz W123: Back when form’
If one was willing to deal with spottier dealer service, Consumer Reports recommended some imports because they tended to have better gas mileage and were more space efficient than domestic cars.
The Audi Fox and Volkswagen Dasher were the top-rated 1974 subcompacts as used cars while the Fiat 128 was judged “one of the best little cars.” If that’s surprising to you given the shaky reputation of these models, note that each had “insufficient data” for predicted repair incidence (1974, p. 405). However, in the 1980 Buying Guide (1979) the Fox and Dasher had a worse-than-average record for 1974 while the 128 was much-worse than average. Oops.
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RE:SOURCES
- Consumer Reports; 1974. “1975 Buying Guide.” Published December.
- ——; 1979. “1980 Buying Guide.” Published December.
PHOTOGRAPHY:
- Banner photo of Fiat 128 by Rudolph Stricker posted on Wikipedia. Image slightly lightened in an editing program.
- Audi 80 photo by Charles01 via Wikipedia CC 3.0.
In the mid 1970s I was the assistant service manager at Ralph Brown Buick-Opel [and Stutz] in Bethesda, MD. While we had over a dozen GM mechanics, there was only one Opel trained mechanic, and none of the shop mechanics had any training in the Stutz cars, as they were basically GM cars with a hand-built body from Italy.
Special-order parts for Opel cars were available in the same time-frame as Buick parts, as they were delivered from the same GM distribution network. Typical service and basic repair parts were kept in stock. Spare parts for the Stutz cars came directly thru the Italian coachbuilder Saturn, near Turin. External trim parts [especially body panels] didn’t take weeks or months to arrive, they typically took 1 to 2 YEARS! We had 2 Stutz cars that were in accidents, and the body men cursed the replacement panels, as they required immense amounts of labor to make them fit.
We sold a lot of Opel cars as a 2nd car for families, However when GM started importing the Japanese Isuzu with Opel badging, our “Opel” sales plummeted.
Service troubles are an old story for imports in the USA market.In 1959-60 the Renault Dauphine was the no.2 import, trailing only VW, but sales collapsed almost overnight because the sparse service network could not support the volume.
I’m not familiar with most of the import dealers. However it’s my understanding that the second tier imports (pretty much everything except VW and the captive imports) tended to be storefronts or used car lots. VW by 1960 or so would usually build a completely new facility even with a German mechanic.
There have been a few spots in Consumer Reports’ history where some ‘Recommended’ new car would eventually wind up being on their ‘Used Car to Avoid’ list. Case in point–the 1983 Ford Mustang 4 in 1985. Previous year Mustangs all were listed as ‘not recommended’ as used cars, but for one model year, it had (for a short time) a better Frequency of Repair rating than some other years. Didn’t last, though…