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My friends and relatives all tell me to stay away from American-made cars, and to only stick with foreign cars such as Toyota, Honda, etc. They tell me reliability is more of an issue with them. What are your thoughts on this subject?
In a word, no. A generation ago, Asian cars were vastly better than American cars when it came to reliability. Now, on average, they're moderately better.
Check CR & JDP for surveys almost universally supporting this.
Both are better than European cars though. Trouble is, European cars are more fun
I think you are referring to American-branded vehicles, because the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, and the Toyota Avalon, for example, are all American cars, as in they are manufactured in the USA. But, no, I would not discount a Ford, Buick, Chevrolet, etc. out of hand just because of the manufacturer, though it would depend upon the individual car.
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if you are buying american cars from the late 80s, perhaps, and even then if you look them over carefully you can limit issues you might have. most of the reliability issues with american cars have been overblown, as has the supposed greater reliability of asian cars.
My friends and relatives all tell me to stay away from American-made cars, and to only stick with foreign cars such as Toyota, Honda, etc. They tell me reliability is more of an issue with them. What are your thoughts on this subject?
There really is no difference today in quality of imported brands vs. domestic brands. It really depends on the individual car. They all have great ones and they all make lemons. But I would add this; Do you want a job? Or keep the 1 you have? Buy what's from here if you do.
The reason you're told to stay away from American and stick to foreign is because of the bad experiences people had with the FWD cookie cutter cars from the early 80's....aka Citation, Cavalier, Tempo, Topaz, Omni, Escort, Horizon, Somerset, 6000, Sunbird....and many more I can't think of. Yes all of these cars were poor. Most of them long since went to the boneyard. The 80's Civics, Preludes, etc. OTOH turned out to be long lasting cars. Of course we all discovered this about 10-15 yrs. ago.
Hard telling what the new cars of today will bring in terms of longevity. Kia and Hyundai autos were the laughing stock back in 2000, now they're said to be one of the best you can buy.
Bottom line is all makes have had their merits and their lemons. Not all American cars were junk, some of them, yes. Just like Toyotas and Hondas weren't always rot boxes that would rust apart around the engine before their 5 year mark, some of them....yes.
To be honest, they all feel pretty much the same from my experience. Domestic and imports. All the Domestic's made in the last 5 years are very well built when put up against the likes of Toyo, Nissan, and Honda. Hyundai is finally a quality car company, so it' not just us Americans, but the Korean's are coming up as well.
I think the entire automotive industry has improved to the point where consumers will simply not accept mediocrity, or a car that will break down. The technology built into new cars is so advanced that even if something went wrong, the car can diagnose itself.. It will be hard to truly find a brand new junky new car, unlike 20 years ago, a Chevy Cavalier was junk even when it came off the assembly line. Seriously, everything from the materials, seats, windows, trim items feel like the same manufacture built the Honda Accord, Toyo Camry, Chevy Malibu, Ford Fusion, that's how similar in build quality and design many of these cars share.
The days when you truly stayed away from buying a small American car, or any Domestic vehicle from GM, Ford and Chrysler, are over. So don't believe what people are saying out there.
IMO when purchasing a new car, or any car for that matter, reasearch it as much as you can so you're not stuck wondering why the transmission broke when it barely reached 100K. Youtube, Google search it, whatever you want to know about any car can be found online these days, so there's no excuses to why somebody has to be stuck with a car that they don't like, or is problematic a couple years down the road.
In a word, no. A generation ago, Asian cars were vastly better than American cars when it came to reliability. Now, on average, they're moderately better.
Check CR & JDP for surveys almost universally supporting this.
Both are better than European cars though. Trouble is, European cars are more fun
Agree, if you want a fun/luxury/best handling car you go with European cars.
It is like choosing girl friends:
1) American/Japanese cars = the good person, not bad looking, reliable, friendly
2) European cars = sexy, supermodel with an edge, fun to be with
My friends and relatives all tell me to stay away from American-made cars, and to only stick with foreign cars such as Toyota, Honda, etc. They tell me reliability is more of an issue with them. What are your thoughts on this subject?
I used to drive onlty BMWs. Now I only drive Cadillacs (they are cheaper as well).
American cars are MUCH BETTER than they used to be. In the 1970s and 1980s, American cars were crap.
Now, head to head with BMW, I like the ride, interior, handling and durability of the Cadillac. The only thing the BMWs used to have on the Caddy was the 6 speed manual transmission. Now the Caddy is comparable there as well.
My kids drive two Mustangs, and one Edge. My wife drives a Chevy Traverse. Not one problem with any of them.
My friends and relatives all tell me to stay away from American-made cars, and to only stick with foreign cars such as Toyota, Honda, etc. They tell me reliability is more of an issue with them. What are your thoughts on this subject?
My personal experience with GM (the corporation) and Chrysler's midsize sedans. First off, GM has a recent history of denying responsibility for non-fatal defects in their vehicles. These defects most often did not begin to show up until after the factory warranty expired and when they did show up, GM blamed the vehicle's owner despite knowing it was a design or defect from the parts supplier. Not long ago, a class action lawsuit was brought against GM because of their V6 engine leaking intake gasket problem. GM ended up settling. GM customers were having to pay roughly $700 to a dealership to replace the gasket which started leaking within 3 to 4 years. Here's the kicker. GM supposedly had a higher quality replacement intake gasket available but did not put it in their new vehicles on the production line nor admit the defective part and replace it for the customer for free. The dangers of this leaking intake gasket is getting anti-freeze mixed in the oil. Not many Chevy customers can have $700 or more sitting around to quickly make the repair when the problem is found. They must then either continue to drive with the leak or buy the part and try to do the repair themselves.
My wife currently drives the last Sebring with the 2.4L 4 cylinder engine. It's a noisy, slow, thirsty engine for it's size and it's still being used in today's Chrysler products. Not long after the remaining factory warranty expired, we began to notice rust bubbles under the paint on the nose part of the hood. We're currently pricing shops to see if this can be fixed and for how much. We're the second owner and bought it with remaining factory warranty. It may be that the previous owner had damage improperly repaired and painted over in a way that blended with the rest of the body's paint because of the new age of the vehicle. But that engine can't be overlooked. Their previous V6 engines were bad compared to their competitors. They now have a good V6 but with it being so new, no one knows what type of reliability it will provide.
Tell your family this, just because a vehicle is from an American company, that doesn't mean it was made in America. It could have been made in Canada, Mexico, Korea, etc. Just because a vehicle is from a German, Japanese, or Korean company does not mean they're all made in those other countries. Many of them are being made here. And even those vehicles made here are made from parts made all over the world.
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