My friend drove his Saturn 320,000 miles without problems.

I'd like to see some "proof" that American cars are trash. Not anecdotes but actually studies across thousands of car. As I stated before, I've owned one Dodge that went over 300,000 miles, and Plymouth over 20 years old, and both were more reliable than my Honda (keeps giving me random check engine lights).

And then there's my friend with the 320,000 mile Saturn that just kept going and going and going... Please show me some evidence that American cars are crap compared to European or Japanese or Korean cars.

 

Domestics have gained in reliability as for a initial quality (not that this carries much weight). WHat you can refer to are demographical studies that imply, for example, that Honda owners are more meticulous than the average person (some were once referenced on this site, but I can't find them). Obviously, if a vehicle is maintained exceptionally well it will go farther. I do know from personal experience that imports tend to use higher quality parts (i.e. metal vs plastic on hose connections, for example) that obviously last longer and thus have fewer problems. THough some domestics have had engineering missteps, some have imports (Toyota sludge problems and the recent service bulletin re: control arm issues with my HCH II). Remember, there are so many different combinations of engines, options, etc that making an accurate assumption even with data could be difficult. I'm not a domestic car lover by any means, but one has to be fair.

 

Now days what is an American car?

 

Good point Mark. Same with motorcycles. I rode a Honda Goldwing for many years. Read once that more parts are made in America for the Honda Goldwing than the renown 'Harley', which is mostly made in Canada and other countries. Go figure.

Pro Japanese and/or Anti American Car people should really check out their facts! A long time friend summed it up with his description of a good car -> "Paid for, runs good".

 

Well, we could also tackle this question another way.

If domestic manufactured cars are qualitatively superior to imported cars, then why have imported cars gone from a less than 15% market share in the early seventies to a nearly 60% market share today? And they have done this with little, if any, price advantage.

a) American consumers are dopes.
b) American consumers have no concept of quality.
c) American consumers are totally arbitrary in their car buying habits.
d) American consumers hate America.
e) American consumers don't give a s**t about their dollars.

or

f) American consumers have plenty of experience with both domestically made cars and imports and prefer imports because they are convinced that imports are better.

 

Specific example: Toyota Tundra built in San Antonio, Texas vs Dodge Ram that may be built in Coahuila, Mexico - which is more American?

 

(f)