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I owned Chevies, bought a Nissan truck in 1983 when they had just returned to using Nissan as a name, stolen in 1990. The Nissan was under engineered, brakes were barely adequate to stop truck, even less so under a truck load. I tried a VW bus for a year but to delicate to use as a truck. I started using a Volvo station wagon as a truck in 1990, great power and brakes just too small in the cab. I sold the Volvo with regret in 1995 and bought a Chevy. After a couple disappointing vehicles in the Chevy line I bought a Ford truck in 2007, I will not buy any other make now. That 2008 truck bought new in 2007 is reliable and fault free.
USA made vehicles stepped up their game to federal standards not to meet Japans offerings.
When it comes to trucks Ford, Chevy, GMC, and Dodge have no equal in the rest of the world. Only in the last 5 or 6 years have the Japanese really began to narrow the gap.
Any Japanese pickup truck from before 2005 is gutless, undergeared, and underpowered. The car market is tighter, but not the truck market.
Please share the advantage of your Forester over the American competition? When it comes to cars in the same class, American and Japanese have almost all the same specs with a few minor differences.
Sure, be glad to.
Specs don't tell the whole story; I don't care about specs, I care about the way a car feels and the way it drives. My 2 Foresters have been absolutely without question the best snow, ice, and rain cars I've ever driven in my life. I grew up in Northern Wisconsin and lived most of my life there and Minnesota, and I never owned a vehicle that held the road better in bad weather than the Forester AWD. No matter what the road conditions, all 4 tires are firmly planted on the road every single inch of the trip, and I feel in complete control of the vehicle at all times. That's a big factor right there.
In addition, the car is exactly the right size and dimension for my use. The "boxy" design allows me to get maximum use from the cargo area, because the vehicle doesn't waste any space on "stylish" sloping. It's big enough to haul everything I need for camping and canoeing, and small enough to give me great gas mileage.
The ergonomics are better than any American car with which I'm familiar. I'm 6'4", 240 pounds, with long legs and very broad shoulders. I fit perfectly in the Forester. I can sit up straight without hitting my head, I don't feel scrunched in from the side like I do with most other cars, and the sightlines are perfect - no blind spots, no impediments to my vision at all. The controls are easy to reach and operate without looking, and the car doesn't waste space with useless high-tech doodads that do nothing but look flashy.
In addition, they've been extremely reliable. The last one I had, I put on 140,000 miles and all I ever replaced was a clutch and the CV joints, once each. Oh, and a tensioner pulley. That's not bad for 140K.
The Subaru does everything I want and need a car to do, without making me put up with any useless crap I don't want to do, and I feel safer than I ever have in any vehicle I've ever owned. That's enough right there to earn my loyalty. Specs aside, this car just feels and drives better for me than anything else I've ever driven.
I worked at that R&D center in Marysville, OH for two years and sure we did use some US suppliers but not as many as the domestic OEM's do.
As far as the workforce just take a look at big some of these tech centers are compared to a plant, plus add all the suppliers, tool shops etc. It takes a lot of people to develop a vehicle.
It still floors me how strong the kool aid is that the "I will only by Japanese" crowd is. I've worked as a designer and engineer at both and certainly didn't see any rocket science going on at the Asian OEM's. One of the most used sayings is "same as ", not a lot of innovation going on....
I will say that the Asian OEM's have got engine development definitely figured out though.
What does OEM stand for? It's too early for me to be able to figure it out.
As for the part in bold as my research continues for a used car I visited several sites where owners report their experiences in MPG, trips to the car repair shop etc. I put a Civic up against several other cars I am considering, specifically an Ellantra and a Focus. For every single year going back a decade the Civic rated as virtually trouble free, the other 2 had many more trips to the repair shop. I'm not making this up, these are from owner's reports.
It still floors me how strong the kool aid is that the "Japanese cars aren't better" crowd is. Every stat out there backs it up. Wish it didn't, the Civic is more expensive than the Ellantra, but the facts are the facts.
When it comes to trucks Ford, Chevy, GMC, and Dodge have no equal in the rest of the world. Only in the last 5 or 6 years have the Japanese really began to narrow the gap.
Any Japanese pickup truck from before 2005 is gutless, undergeared, and underpowered. The car market is tighter, but not the truck market.
You may want to check with Takoma owners. Toyota has been making amazingly durable trucks for decades. I was considering a T100 years ago, I ended up with a '98 Ranger. No complaints, truck has been very reliable and still on the road. But out of curiosity I looked up a few used T100's, they stopped making them in '98. Every single one being advertised had 250,000 miles or more. And they were for sale, not headed to the scrap heap.
Nissan trucks do not have this reputation I'm told, but Toyota is another story completely.
What does OEM stand for? It's too early for me to be able to figure it out.
As for the part in bold as my research continues for a used car I visited several sites where owners report their experiences in MPG, trips to the car repair shop etc. I put a Civic up against several other cars I am considering, specifically an Ellantra and a Focus. For every single year going back a decade the Civic rated as virtually trouble free, the other 2 had many more trips to the repair shop. I'm not making this up, these are from owner's reports.
It still floors me how strong the kool aid is that the "Japanese cars aren't better" crowd is. Every stat out there backs it up. Wish it didn't, the Civic is more expensive than the Ellantra, but the facts are the facts.
OEM, is Ford , Honda, etc...the manufacturer. Personally I don't care what people drive , my beef is the reasoning behind it. Drive it because you like it, or that is what your family has done forever , or because you've had good luck with them.. but in the case of an Asian OEM ,don't say I drive them because they are designed and engineered better. First off , unless you are in the business you have no clue..you have perception. In many cases, not all , the same designers and engineers are doing the same things at different companies. E&D in the automotive industry is a very small world. Also there is this thing called "benchmarking" which all the OEM's do. It's a basically using other companies ideas to formulate a plan for your own designs. I currently work for an Asian OEM, and guess what company we are benchmarking to solve a design solution.....wait for it.... Ford. Imagine that. What I'm saying doesn't really pertain to powertrain , since that is a whole other world in the automotive industry. That is the only place it does really seem like the Asian OEM's do design and engineer better than the domestics. Personally I think it's because the domestics for the most part are new to smaller , higher revving , gas sipping engines. For many years we had nothing but big V8's and didn't car how much fuel they used, while over the pond all the Asian's have developed from the begining is small cars and small engines, they are good at that for sure.
You may want to check with Takoma owners. Toyota has been making amazingly durable trucks for decades. I was considering a T100 years ago, I ended up with a '98 Ranger. No complaints, truck has been very reliable and still on the road. But out of curiosity I looked up a few used T100's, they stopped making them in '98. Every single one being advertised had 250,000 miles or more. And they were for sale, not headed to the scrap heap.
Nissan trucks do not have this reputation I'm told, but Toyota is another story completely.
The Toyota truck does look great but didn't they have huge issues with frames rusting out from underneath them ?
OEM, is Ford , Honda, etc...the manufacturer. Personally I don't care what people drive , my beef is the reasoning behind it. Drive it because you like it, or that is what your family has done forever , or because you've had good luck with them.. but in the case of an Asian OEM ,don't say I drive them because they are designed and engineered better. First off , unless you are in the business you have no clue..you have perception. In many cases, not all , the same designers and engineers are doing the same things at different companies. E&D in the automotive industry is a very small world. Also there is this thing called "benchmarking" which all the OEM's do. It's a basically using other companies ideas to formulate a plan for your own designs. I currently work for an Asian OEM, and guess what company we are benchmarking to solve a design solution.....wait for it.... Ford. Imagine that. What I'm saying doesn't really pertain to powertrain , since that is a whole other world in the automotive industry. That is the only place it does really seem like the Asian OEM's do design and engineer better than the domestics. Personally I think it's because the domestics for the most part are new to smaller , higher revving , gas sipping engines. For many years we had nothing but big V8's and didn't car how much fuel they used, while over the pond all the Asian's have developed from the begining is small cars and small engines, they are good at that for sure.
Again I keep going back to a numerous reports from actual owners. And the facts are the facts, Japanese cards consistently have higher reliability ratings. As I said I was hoping Ford and Hyundai had similar ratings so I could justify buying one of those makes. I can get a much newer car with less miles on the used car lot. But the simple truth is they do not have the same reliability history. This is not perception, this is not prejudice, this is reality. And I do not need to have an auto design background to read the reports.
Again I keep going back to a numerous reports from actual owners. And the facts are the facts, Japanese cards consistently have higher reliability ratings. As I said I was hoping Ford and Hyundai had similar ratings so I could justify buying one of those makes. I can get a much newer car with less miles on the used car lot. But the simple truth is they do not have the same reliability history. This is not perception, this is not prejudice, this is reality. And I do not need to have an auto design background to read the reports.
Know one said you had to have an auto design background, you also weren't one saying that "they are engineered better" , you did research and formed an opinion from that. It was other's my comment was really directed too. Buy and drive what you like and what makes you happy.
The assembly of a vehicle is the smallest portion, why does everyone focus on that ? What is the numbers of employed at the typical plant ? Thru the two or three shifts. The focus should be where the design studios , test facilities and engineering and design headquarters are. And even further, where was that particular model designed, engineered and tested . Then factor in all the suppliers etc.. where it was actually assembled is really such a small factor.
And Toyota does all of that in the U.S. for cars destined for the the U.S. as well. For quite a few years Tundras had more domestic contentb than the F150 and other half ton trucks.
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