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To be fair, the 4-cylinder Altima has had some issues, but the V6 is solid and quite fast. I get my advice on cars from my father, who started working on cars at the age of 14 and a trusted mechanic in my town. They say exactly the same thing about vehicles as far as reliability goes. Ford products and Chrysler products are generally the worst of the domestic brands, but beat European brands on reliability. Honda, Nissan, and Toyota exhibit the best reliability but the parts are costly. GM vehicles aren't as reliable as Toyota, Honda, and Nissan but the parts are very inexpensive and the vehicles are easy to work on. Mitsubishi Galants and Monteros are pretty good; 3rd generation Eclipses are death traps. 2nd generation Eclipses are better, despite their age. The 4th gen is too new to make a judgment. We'll wait a couple of years and see how they hold up. Also, the 3rd gen Eclipse doesn't handle like a sports car.

Now, these guys have been working on automobiles from since before I was born. I think I will seriously heed their advice, especially since they both say the same things consistently and also because what they say jives with what I find at consumer reports's website as well epinions.com, a web forum where people who have bought automobiles and other products relate their experiences. I will not take the advice of JD Power when the advice of people who work on cars and the advice of people who have owned them has differed so wildly.

I'm sure your father is a fine mechanic.

But keep this in mind - Consumer Reports had the difference between a magnum and a 300 with v8s as greater than the difference between "better than average" and "worse than average". That is not statistically possible. Their sample sizes are simply too small to accurately measure the small differences in reliability. In addition, they let the owners themselves decide what a serious problem is. This is a huge flaw. I've known people who have needed complete engine rebuilds on Toyotas not consider it serious, while someone needing a $50 part on their Buick did.

I don't consider epinions a great source - its far too easy to do the equivalent of a "google bomb" on them. Even so, I see pretty high average scores for Fords.

Consider using msnautos or partsamerica - they use data from mechanics to report on vehicle reliability. Combine that with Consumer reports (taking theirs with a grain of salt considering the surveying faults and wide variation within mechanically identical vehicles) and JD Power -

I think you'll be amazed that there is a considerable amount of agreement. GM would not be the top domestic pick, although they do have some fine models. Nissan simply doesn't match up to Toyota or Honda. And Toyota and Honda have their problems, too...

Feel free to trust your father - as I said, I'm sure he's honest and trustworthy, but the experiences of one or two mechanics is not necessarily representative of the population as a whole.