Mitsubishi Strada or Ford Ranger

[woodfire]

noteworthy,

I'm selling my pajero, and strada because my family is seriously thinking of relocating abroad early next year. we'll just maintain the M3 and the E36 320i. kailingan medyo liquid ang family para mobile kami. it will all depend on the viability of my newly opened financial consultancy business here.

hirap na kasi dito sa Pinas, bro!

[luckytruck]

tama ka dyan woodfire. cash is king talaga ngayon. i just hpe the **** doesn't hit the fan after the elections, regardless of who wins

andy

[mangyan]

Sir woodfire: medyo OT lang..... bakit ka nagpalit ng rear shocks mo from rancho 9000 to OME? Anything wrong with rancho 9000? Just wondering.....

[kax]

how much are you selling your M3?

[woodfire]

Originally posted by mangyan
Sir woodfire: medyo OT lang..... bakit ka nagpalit ng rear shocks mo from rancho 9000 to OME? Anything wrong with rancho 9000? Just wondering.....

After 2 years, the Rancho Rs9000 bottoms-out in uneven road. The same happened to the Rs9000's of my Pajero. So, I junked the Rs9000's. Fortunately, somebody bought the Ranchos from me.

For the Strada, the Bilstein front and OME rear provides me with the best of both worlds: good handling in on-road driving, and good off-road performance.

For the Pajero, I used Bilsteins all around and the handling and comfort is puuuurfect!!!

[woodfire]

Originally posted by kax
how much are you selling your M3?

changed my mind and decided to retain the M3. BMW only manufactured 17,900 of the E30M3 so this baby is gettting to be rare. Besides, I already spent quite a sum to restore it to mint and track-ready condition.

One thing though, driving the E30M3 is quite addicting hehehe!

[notEworthy27]

Originally posted by woodfire
noteworthy,

I'm selling my pajero, and strada because my family is seriously thinking of relocating abroad early next year. we'll just maintain the M3 and the E36 320i. kailingan medyo liquid ang family para mobile kami. it will all depend on the viability of my newly opened financial consultancy business here.

hirap na kasi dito sa Pinas, bro!

I totally agree woodfire! Now I understand. I hope your new business pushes through.

[luckytruck]

woodfire, sige lang pare, i can sense that any day now, i will win the lotto na, then i will buy both your strada and pajero

ang ganda talaga ng dalawang mitsu mo. hay naku, wala pa ba ang dividendo ko....aaaaarrrrggggghhhhh

andy

[mangyan]

Sir woodfire: thanks for the feedback about your shocks. I am contemplating kasi of replacing the stock shocks of my strada. I called up Offroad House and they recommended to me the Rancho 9000x. Now that I heard your experience, I`m having second thought. Just one more question, sir... why not bilstein for the rears? Is the availabilty the problem? thanx in advance.

[woodfire]

Originally posted by mangyan
Just one more question, sir... why not bilstein for the rears? Is the availabilty the problem? thanx in advance.

Since I seldom load the truck bed with very heavy stuff, I need the rear shocks to be a bit softer than the front. Since OME is softer than bilsteins, I decided to use OME in the rear. Lo and behold, this is yet the best combination for the Strada!

[odell]

gusto ko din amg pickup grabe!!

[luckytruck]

totoo yan, bilsteins are pretty stiff. Bagay sa harap yan where it supports the weight of the engine.

ako, if i do replace my pajero shocks, kyb na stock lang ako, walang pera pang mahalin na aftermarket

[palerider47]

hayyyyy ang tagal ko bago makapost uli dito.

sir woodfire i sent you my reply sa email.

Am here in bacolod next week balik ko sa manila. Thanks for all your feedback mga bro's.

[mangyan]

Sir Woodfire: thanks for ur inputs. IT is very enlightening.....Perhaps, I`ll replace first my front shocks with bilstein para hindi bigla ang gastos. Saka na lang ang rears, hindi pa naman siya busted. Sir, may I know kung anong model ng bilstein ang pinakabit ninyo at magkano at saan?

[woodfire]

Mangyan, you can check out MAKNA c/o Alvin Lim. Don't have his number but he is the sole distributor of Bilsteins in the country.

BTW, Ferman Lao, an authorized distributor, is also selling Bilsteins. He has a Bilstein and K&N booth at the Transhow. Baka may promo price si Ferman a.k.a. autoxer.

[luckytruck]

sarap siguro pumunta sa transshow. when i was still studying in manila, lahat ng pwedeng puntahan na car show, pinupuntahan ko. sayang wala akong schedule sa manila

andy

[ARB]

pale you in bacolod for business, pleasure? try to visit Centerline car audio at lacson extension im there every afternoon.

[smeagol]

Future of Mitsubishi Motors in doubt as bailout is withheld
Todd Zaun NYT
Saturday, April 24, 2004



TOKYO The future of Mitsubishi Motors was thrown into question on Friday after DaimlerChrysler's surprise decision to cut off financial support to its partner. The Japanese automaker's stock collapsed, falling 25 percent before trading was halted.

DaimlerChrysler, which controls Mitsubishi Motors through a 37 percent stake, said late Thursday that it had decided "to cease further financial support" for Japan's fourth-largest carmaker. The announcement shocked investors, who had speculated that the German company would announce a cash injection of ¥200 billion, or $1.8 billion, or more. Mitsubishi Motors must now scramble for investments if it is to remain in business.

"Mitsubishi Motors is a walking disaster and simply pumping more money into it is not the answer," Alex Muromcew, a fund manager at Loomis Sayles, told Bloomberg News. "They have enough problems with Daimler in Europe and Chrysler in the U.S."

Explaining the decision Friday during a conference call, the DaimlerChrysler chief financial officer, Manfred Gentz, said the automaker's board had determined that the cost of turning around Mitsubishi Motors would be prohibitive and that it did not believe shareholders would be satisfied with the return on such an investment.

DaimlerChrysler has already invested some $2.2 billion for its stake in Mitsubishi and installed a team of former DaimlerChrysler executives, led by Rolf Eckrodt as chief executive, four years ago to manage the company.

Mitsubishi Motors is reeling from big losses at its American operation that resulted from a misguided effort to increase sales with ultra-easy credit terms. The strategy backfired when many customers defaulted on their car loans.

Mitsubishi had been counting on DaimlerChrysler to take the lead in buying new shares -possibly as much as ¥800 billion - to finance urgently needed programs to develop new vehicles and overhaul production lines.

DaimlerChrysler's decision to abandon the bailout came as a shock to Mitsubishi executives and employees, according to one executive. The decision will force the company to look for an alternative source of funds and may mean that Eckrodt, who had been expected to announce his retirement next month, will stay on for a while longer.

With falling sales, a badly tarnished brand image and automotive-division debts of more than ¥700 billion, analysts say Mitsubishi Motors desperately needs fresh capital. Standard Poor's on Friday cut its credit rating on Mitsubishi Motors' corporate debt, already well below investment grade, by three notches to CCC-minus from B-minus.

"They need a bailout of some sort," said Kurt Sanger, auto analyst for ING. "If they want to go back to being a car company that can make investment in new products, they have to get rid of this debt," he added.

DaimlerChrysler paid about $2 billion for its initial 34 percent stake in Mitsubishi Motors in 2000 and dispatched a team of managers to try to revitalize the company after years of losses. From the beginning, the turnaround was troubled.

In the summer of 2000, before Eckrodt's team took over, Mitsubishi Motors admitted to having systematically concealed customer complaints about problems with their vehicles to avoid costly recalls.

In 2001, DaimlerChrysler paid an additional $300 million to buy out Volvo's share in Mitsubishi Motors, raising its stake to 37 percent.

Mitsubishi Motors' U.S. sales fell by 25 percent last year after ballooning defaults on car loans prompted the company to stop extending loans to customers with weak credit. The problems forced Mitsubishi Motors to widen its forecast net loss for the business year that ended March 31 to ¥72 billion from ¥11 billion. And again Mitsubishi Motors turned to DaimlerChrysler for help.

Over the past year, Mitsubishi Motors raised $1.3 billion from DaimlerChrysler by spinning off its truck making division into a company called Mitsubishi Fuso Truck Bus and selling 65 percent of it to DaimlerChrysler.

[snyc3]

RANGER... good suspension and engine power...

[luckytruck]

paano yan, best friends namin mayari ng mitsu gen. santos.

how is the asian market for mitsubishi? malakas naman ata? sa USA lang ba sila nahirapan?

andy