I was just cruising through some older posts and found this one...

The key to vehicle quality is to understand that it breaks down to statistics. For example, Consumer Reports did a study in 2000 on 3 year old cars and if they have had any major repairs done. They ranked the car makers by number of cars with problems per 100 cars, basically giving you the % of 3 year old cars that needed repairs. To me, this tells me the odds of having a major problem for a given manufacturer. It doesn't necessarily mean that the car will have a problem. For example, I had a toyota and around the 3 year mark, an ignition coil went bad, incapacitating the car and costing $1000 in repairs. Statistically, Toyota is #2 in reliability, with Acura in the #1 spot (Consumer Reports). But, even though I bought from the #2 company in reliability, I crapped out when I rolled the dice.
There are certainly some models of cars that are much more prone to problems than others. I do tend to believe that the quality of Chrysler vehicles will continue to increase (and it has).
I was very aware when I bought my Crossfire that in 3 years, I'd probably have to spend $1000 to get something fixed. When I bought my Toyota, I thought I would never have a problem with it. It's all in the roll of the dice.

Here are some links:
http://autos.yahoo.com/consumerrepor...s_hold_up.html
http://autos.yahoo.com/consumerrepor...olding_up.html