Mike,
I'm not a gear head. I bought the car when I first went into Real Estate to have an efficient vehicle. That engine drank enough oil to feed a family of dinosaurs.... a quart every 500 miles (as it aged).
At three years and 48,000 miles, the car was virtually dead. Had to have it towed to the dealership twice in the city I lived in then it broke down on a trip near St. Louis. All the injectors needed to be replaced (if I remember correctly). Couldn't rid of that car fast enough.
Funny about the Vega, my sister and her husband (young couple at the time) bought two new '75's... one was loaded with air and automatic, the other was the base version, manual, no air. The basic ran very well, the loaded was died an early death.
To stay on topic, now-a-days, I read as much as I can about a product before I purchase. I read on forums like this to get a feel for a product. Before I ordered the new coach, I started reading since last summer.
The contenders were Newell and the three Prevost converters. I like the Liberty product best after months of reading and conversing with owner's of all the converter brands.
MM.