Hmmm... I need to qualify this.

I'd buy a Mazda3 because it's manufactured in Japan. But the Mazda6 I'm more skeptical because it's not.

According to my relative who lives in Japan, the society basically expects "perfect quality" from manufacturers (including auto manuf.). Mitsubishi recently has had a bad rap in Japan for "covering up a problem" (because they didn't want to tarnish the image). Reality is (whether or not the Japanese accept it) is that problems will happen.

Whereas in the US, the society expects that if the product is defective, that the company take responsibility for fixing it.

So combine the high standards of Japanese with the "take responsibility for your products problems" of the US, it would seem that Japanese cars are a good bet for car owners.