While I agree for the most part with what you said, by no means are all American cars plagued with problems. Although build quality (among a few other things) has been a major issue, as has been discussed, poor reliability tends to be unique to certain makes/models. The 99+ Cougars were known to be problematic...even Ford admitted. My 97 Cougar was a great car. No, it didn't have the fit and finish and overall build quality of a Honda, but mechanically, it was fine. Save for some of their 3-liter V6s and AODX automatic transmissions... Fords can be reliable workhorses. The Crown Vics, F-150s, etc. all have a good reputation.

I've logged 60k trouble-free miles on my TA, and for the most part... the LS1 powered cars tend to hold-up much better mechanically than their predecessor.