Originally Posted by eunospeed
It is too bad most people think American cars are low quality. I have a owned a few jap cars but not for several years... I try to buy American. My step - dad and I have talked about this several times and he has been in the new and used car business for 60 years. He's says if your typical Impala owner serviced their car like your typical Camry/Accord owner, the Impala would have similar reliability and have a lower cost of ownership. But what really happens is the Impala owner drives the poor car into the ground and never bothers to do any preventative maint. In contrast the Camry/Accord owner does what ever the dealership recommends. I guess there is a very real cultural difference between these buyers and most won't even give American cars a chance. Most of the guys I run with are like this... they drive Porsches and seldom complain about how much they spend to keep them on the road but then in the same breath run-down American cars. Too bad.
You my friend are speaking words of wisdom.. everything you said is absolutely what I believe in... with the exception of your porsche opinion.
I mean is there really something one car company knows that another doesn't.. so they can make their quality THAT much better...? I really do not think so... Maybe it was like this over 20 years ago, but it is not so now... The only real thing that differentiates cars now is styling, performance, price, and name brand... depending on what you prioritize the most will depend on your purchase, but purchasing toyotas, hondas, and similar automobiles because of the belief in reliability and good gas mileage is very much BS in my opinion.
I myself drive a toyota car...an older Lexus GS300 I keep it as my **** around sedan, and the car I drive in case it snows or rains, but hopefully will in the near future get a replacement like a c32 or an e55... well something along those lines...