Seeing the thread on Camaros made me want to ask this question: when you go buy a car, do you try to buy a domestic like Ford, GM, Chrysler, etc. or do you buy like Nissan, Toyota, BMW, etc. Or do you even care? My father has bought nothing but Fords in the last 16 years. This includes 2 Tauruses, 2 Rangers, 2 Explorers, and 2 Escorts (I had to drive one of those for 6 years). Contrast that with what I have been driving: 1992 Honda Prelude Si (for little over a year) 1994 Toyota Camry LE V6 (for 2 and a half years - great car) 1997 Nissan Maxima SE (been driving for over 8 months now). I want to pay off my Maxima and drive it as long as I can. I;ll probably would like to get another Maxima, brand new, or maybe even go after a higher priced car like a BMW 3 or 5 series, or a Lexus SC300 or something similar to that. I don't know why I feel this way about domestic makes, but other than a Ford Expedition or possibly an Explorer, there is just nothing there that excites me. And don't even get me started on Chrysler...PT Cruiser is enough said (ugliest car of all-time). The only bad thing about having a Japanese company car like a Prelude, Camry, or Maxima is that when something goes wrong, it can cost a lot of money to get it fixed. I had really bad luck with my Prelude (I believe it was a lemon). But other than that, I feel, IMO, that cars like the Camry, Maxima, Honda Accord, etc. are superior over their domestic rivals. Maybe the domestic companies have caught up in the mid-size sedan division with the Ford Taurus and Chevy Malibu, but I couldn't tell you since I haven't driven one of those makes compared to what I have driven. Anyway, when you go car shopping, are you specifically looking to avoid a foreign make and go domestic or is it the other way around or do you really care?
I have owned only one american made car, and that was my first car. It was a used 1985 chevy blazer s-10. Since then I've owned Nissans and Mazdas. If I had to go buy a new car today, I'd go buy a foreign car. Probably another Maxima.
You know, 15 years ago I wouldn't touch a Harley, ride one mile, push 2 miles. Now, and if I could afford one, I'd buy one in a NY minute. I'm just saying things change. Do you homework and know your wallet. RR (wow, after all these years, I've finally broke 100...glad I wasn't holding my breath)
I'll probably buy foreign cars for the rest of my life. I've owned a 1988 Toyota Camry and a 1997 Nissan Maxima. Neither of them really gave me any problems. The Max has about 105k on it and has had the speedometer go out on it (covered by warranty). Outside of that, no unscheduled repairs/maintenance. If I had to buy a domestic car it would probably be a Cadillac. Of the other domestic cars, the only ones that excite any whatsoever (of the top of my head) are the newer Chryslers. I think the 300M is a nice car, but I've had 3 owners tell me they're constantly taking them in for repairs (2 of them keep having their power windows fail). Now that Daimler has a say in the design element of the cars, I think they'll look even better (check out the Chrysler Crossfire... weird, but cool). That being said, my next car will more than likely be a Nissan. I love the BMW 5 series, but I've always heard they weren't very reliable and mrpaige's experience with Audi has basically nixed any notion I have of buying an Audi.
I tend to skew toward foreign. I love the way German cars drive and feel, but after all the money I've spent keeping my 1998 Audi running, I'm wary of German cars right now, at least at the mileage levels I put on cars (the Audi was trouble-free for the first 60K miles. The next 30K miles have seen massive, expensive problems). I guess the trick is that I need to sell them sooner (with a 50K warranty on VW/Audi, I could conceivably just trade out around that mileage). I like the reliability of Japanese cars. I have driven them into the ground and not had problems. I had an Acura Integra that I abused for 3 years and 115,000 miles. I'm not entirely sure I chaged the oil in the car but maybe twice during the entire 115,000 miles. But it never had any mechanical problems. It was only in the shop to repair a broken headlamp. I've had good luck with Fords. I've had seven of them and all of them were also very reliable. The problem is that they just don't have a car that I'm interested in driving. If I was in the market for a truck or SUV, though, I'd probably get a Ford (and several of my previous Fords were trucks. I had a Ranger, an F-150 and an Explorer). My first real car was a Pontiac Trans Am, and it was the biggest piece of crap in the world. I had it for nine months, and it went through three transmissions. I never drove it hard, either. I suspect at least some of that was the incompetence of the dealer's service department. One of the transmissions dropped less than a block away from the dealer after they had supposedly just fixed it. That car turned me off from General Motors completely, but I suspect I would've stayed away anyway. They use antiquated engines and cheap-looking plastics entirely too much in their model lines. They just feel cheap to me, and I don't care for that. Though Saturn does have a pretty Japanese feel to it (I've only driven those as rental cars, though, but I have had some for long periods of time as my Audi got fixed). I've never had a Chrysler product. I've looked at them, but never found anything that really interested me. One thing that I especially hate about American cars is all the options available. They tend to have a moderate amount of standard equipment and then just pages and pages of available options. I prefer the Honda method. Take the Accord, for example. They group options in trim levels. There are essentially two trim levels in Honda Accords, if you want things like a moonroof and keyless entry and everything, you get the EX. The only options then are really an automatic or manual transmission, leather or cloth interior and engine size (and really, Honda groups the leather and the engine as different models. As they do the coupe vs. the sedan). It makes it so much easier to buy a car because it's then easier to find the model with the stuff I want in a car. If I go to the Chevy lot, they could have 60 cars of the same model that are all slightly different options-wise. It makes it harder to find exactly what I'm looking for. And it seems that these options are often used as a way to wring more money out of the customers. For example, when I see ads for the Dodge Stratus R/T, it says that prices start at just over $18K, but add a few options that most people would want and the price clibs to the mid-20s. And when I look at what the dealer has in stock, they are rarely the ones with the low options. I just prefer to live without the hassle of having to pick and choose through a huge option list and then trying to find the car I want. The irony is that I will willing pay for things I wouldn't necessarily want if it is standard equipment in the car at the trim level I desire, but I absolutely refuse to pay for something I don't want if it is an option that I can control and refuse. The hassle of picking and choosing and finding what I want ends up being the key to the whole deal, I suppose.
I won't say I will never buy an American car in the future, but I will say I will never ever buy a Ford. I've been driving a 98 mazda 626--a relatively cheap car, and I have not had to service it once (aside from tuneups/oil changes, etc.) It's nothing flashy but it has been super dependable.
I work for an automotive test company in Detroit, we do a lot of engine testing for the Big Three and some foreign manufacturers. I've also owned both foreign and domestic cars although my last two and probably my next one will be foreign. I've got to agree with everyone so far. If you want quality and reliability trust me foreign is the way to go.
Import, Yes, I am bias. I like them nifty 4th generation Supra. And an Acura NSX. And I like the Ford F-150 or a Toyota Tundra. I lke the Tundra, just because it's not the norm from the Rams, F-150s, S-10, Silverado or something along those lines.
I find it interesting that the majority of the posts in this thread are on the foreign side. I thought for sure that some of the domestic advocates would step up and say why they favor domestics over the imports. This leads me to an obvious question, one that is very simplistic, why is it that the foreign car companies, particularly the Japanese, make a better product, in most people's minds? Is the American companies not utilizing good business practices or is it something else? Some people might argue with me on this, but it seems to me that the American car companies are still behind their foreign competitors....why is that?
My family is from Detroit, and my dad bought his first Honda in 1980. He had to keep it hidden in the garage because our blue-collar neighborhood was filled with Ford factory workers who were fond of taking sledgehammers to any car that wasn't made in America. We've never owned anything but foreign since then. I'm on my second Honda (Del Sol), my sister drives an Accord and my parents own an Acura and two Lexus' -- GS400 and RX300. They've always been reliable. As far as why they're better, I'm not sure. They just seem to go longer with less maintenance. However, I think it is getting increasingly hard to draw a distinction between "American" and "Foreign" cars. There are Honda plants in the US and, if I'm not mistaken, certain American manufacturers import parts from other countries.
I have a '91 Pontiac Grand Am that was handed down to me from my aunt. It's 11 years old now and still running quite well (although I've put her through a lot). I have had some problems, but I don't know that any car can run for that long without some problems. It doesn't look great anymore, but it still runs well. And it has the best AC in the world (and it's never needed work on it)! Cools you down in about 2 seconds in hot Houston weather! My preference is American for the price I would pay. If I could afford it, I would probably go German. I really don't have any interest in Japanese cars at all. Lynus would be the good person to answer all of these questions. He has told me that Japanese cars handle better than domestics do. As far as racing them, he says you can buy the Civic real cheap and spend a lot on modifications. Or, you can spend a little more and buy a Mustang and do some mods that won't cost as much. I'm probably screwing a lot of this up, but that's some of my understanding of what he's told me. His grandfather used to work for Ford and that is all that their entire family owns to this day. My whole family's domestic as well (except my brother's car, but he's 17 and we just got what we could afford used). We mostly drive Fords but some GM's are in there too. Mrs. JB, I don't know that just because there's a Honda plant in the US that it's a domestic car. The design and engineering are still foreign. I think a lot of it is tradition as well. But I could be wrong. That's just my opinion of it. As far as being from Detriot, how did that work out? My political science professors always say how strict the unions are up there. Was it really that bad?
