dubcac

Focus, Cobalt

AcuraFanatic

Areas like this are shades of gray. What constitutes reliability? Component failure or mechanical failure? Japanese still far surprass domestics in mechanical quality. Their US built components though need some work and are slowly improving. Japan does it better. GM, Ford and (less so now) Chrysler is a company of accountants. Honda and Toyota is a company of engineers. If Ford can stamp 54 fenders onto a Windstar every half hour, they want 55.

Also, you do realize that Lincoln, Buick, Cadillac and Oldsmobile all have the average buyers of age of 54, right? Older people statistically:

A) Don't drive as much (ever see a 10-year old Oldsmobile with 34,000 miles?)
B) Maintain their cars better (little Mikey in his 96 Civic his parents bought him is going to beat the shit out of it)

So interpretting data is a big factor here. Statistics aren't neccessarily linked to causation. Plus I think JD Power and Associates is a little misleading in their "case studies."

400rwhpFirebird

So do you have facts to prove this or is this just your opinion?

white_n_slow

the best car I ever owned was an american car. But it was made back when jap crap was still jap crap.

JoePoonani

well they put Lexus up top. i work for Lexus and i totally agree with that

dubcac

Having driven a wide variety of cars, I'd definitely say the Japanese import cars have much higher quality than american cars. They are better built, quieter, and drive much better. That's not to say that I don't like some american cars, because I do. I just think that the imports are of higher quality.

Andy

Another issue when preaching to this crowd is the fact that this is an enthusiest website and to us good does not equal reliable to everyone here. Performance, handling and aftermarket support are probably just as important if not more so.

I agree that American designed cars are getting better but my family has a '00 Mercury Mountainer and it may not have broken down yet, but the car is just crap. The seats and ergonomics are bad, the quality of the interior and materials is terrible and handling and braking are poor at best. Compared to my '98 Civic that was about $10k cheaper when new and is 2 years older and has about 50k more miles, the Honda is in much better condition now. Everyone has their own opinion on what is acceptable to them so I'm sure there are a lot of people who are very happy driving cars that I would think were complete garbage but to each to their own.

Fujiwara Takumi

i didnt real all the responses, but for me american cars dont give that feeling in my stomach that i see sometimes and go WOW that is an awesome car. there are a few but

lotus elise - WOW
bmw m5 - seriously, sharp car
even my miata is a really just concise, simple little design that is THRILLING.

what does america give you? the viper, the vette? both great, seriously, the vette is the only thing id consider and it does kinda make me go wow, nice...

but other than that
chevy malibu...ford fusion, come ON. the 6 was an AWESOME car and you come out with the FUSION? are you shitting me. American design is not progressive at all.

tony

that article aside. From what I learned in history classes in high school. American cars are bad because they're made in out dated factories.
The reason for that is that no other country bombed the shit out of us during the war. ie Germany, Japan, who had to go and rebuild their factories.
Thats what my history teacher told me in high school.

and to regarded to those japanese and german cars thats build in the US now. The parts are still japanese/german. and those factories are brand new cuz they just built it to make these cars.

TaekOne

i look at comparing stuff like fit and finish. comparing the same year models of a 2000 accord or 2000 taurus and having been in both, id def take the accord over the taurus for a whole list of reasons, mostly being that the accord just feels right. things are in place, nothing looks overly shabby (for the price range), so on and so forth. and again, that was just one example not intended to account for every comparison.

the newer domestic cars ARE stepping it up, and once again not ALL japanese cars are 100% great either. but the general case seems to be the domestics dont have as much finesse as other companies from other places in the world, and thats from personal exp.