Before citing the following opinion, which is just an opinion, but one that is close to mine, but not exact, I will preface it with this observation: Three of the rating services for cars are Consumer Reports, Edmunds, and J.D. Powers & Associates. Now, just as I have done along with everyone else, I sometimes peruse these opinions and ratings for cars, I have also done the same for computers, printers, cameras, and many other consumer items by looking at the opinions in trade magazines, etc. I have observed that the winners vary from year to year, and often the winners are spread around from company to company, and although I can't prove it, I think these companies know where their revenues come from, it is the very companies they claim to judge, so they mix a little truth in with their practice of "spreading the wealth around." That is, they give favorable ratings to different companies for different models, and after you read them, you come away scratching your head, and particularly if you know something about the products often your opinion differs. So, I take these ratings opinions with a grain of salt, and most of the people I know have expressed the very same sentiment. Often, personal experience and talking to people that you know personally give a better reliability of ratings, if they own the products. Now with that said, here is the following opinion that is close to mine:
http://factoidz.com/why-you-should-consider-an-american-versus-foreign-car/
"Many people in our country are not fans of American made cars. These people are still of the mindset that these cars are inferior to foreign competitors like Honda and Toyota. However, this mindset could not be more false. Yes, it was true back in the 1980’s when foreign competitors really began gaining a stronghold with cars that were of better quality, but this myth has not been true for several years."
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"Second, foreign car makers are at an extreme advantage when they decide to build new plants in our country. Their new manufacturing plants are mainly located in the southeast part of the country in states like Alabama and Mississippi, and these states are more than willing to give the company huge tax incentives to locate there because the state wants the jobs for its citizens. Foreign companies also like this area because wages are much lower in this part of the country, so they can pay much less for workers and therefore have operating costs greatly reduced."
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"On a personal note, I have driven Ford cars my entire adult life and I have never had any kind of serious problem with any of my cars. I have driven two of the Ford cars I have owned for over 200,000 miles and one of them for over 400,000 miles with the original engine, so I know that the quality is exceptional. For anyone that is still suspicious of American cars having inferior quality, I encourage you to do some research to learn the facts about this issue. "
To second the opinion in the article, personal experience trumps other opinions as far as I am concerned, and I have never owned what I would consider a total lemon American car, although one may have come close. It was just not very economical, but the car never failed me. In contrast, a daughter had an older Toyota that had an indestructable motor and transmission but the suspension, ball joints, etc. were lousy. It was not a great car in my opinion, maybe for city streets but not for rough roads at all.
In conclusion, after more than 6 decades on this earth, I have concluded from watching other people buy cars, etc., that alot of auto preference is governed by emotion. I have seen a a couple of old relatives loyal to plymouths and dodge, but they were not great cars in my opinion, but they kept buying them time after time. I think this has happened with foreign cars, after the 60's, a generation of people entered their car buying years that were no longer emotionally bound to domestic cars, in fact a growing number are more emotionally attached to European or Japanese cars. Liberals in fact have a European or one world mindset, and this has spilled over into the opinions you see here in regard to cars. How many hippees did you see with old vw bugs, buses, renaults, and all manner of other old worn out cars from Europe or Japan? I once wanted a vw bug, but not after a friend hauled me around alot and I got over it. They may have been reliable in important ways, but they were not great cars in my opinion.
So to Advocate, American cars are not lousy, it is only an opinion of yours, thats it.
