Posted on 10/26/2011 7:06:16 AM PDT by DallasBiff
Asian brands continue to dominate Consumer Reports' 2011 Annual Auto Survey, sweeping the top nine spots.
Toyota's American brand Scion leads the pack, followed by Lexus, Acura, Mazda, Honda, and Toyota.
The brands scored strong on predicted reliability tests. Of the 91 Japanese models for which Consumer Reports has sufficient data, 87 (96 percent) were rated average or better. 24 Japanese models earned the highest rating.
(Excerpt) Read more at motoring.asiaone.com ...
I was trying to make the opposite point that many “Japanese” models are thoroughly “American” in design, engineering, and assembly. I understand what you are saying about GM and Chrysler; they have had lousy top management for decades. Having said that, we own a Toyota Highlander and a Buick Park Avenue (the latter bequeathed to mrs riverdawg by her parents before we were married). They have been virtually indistinguishable in terms of reliability and cost of maintenance over the past seven years that we have owned both.
And yet this very article we are discussing says Asian brands dominate the Consumer Reports quality survey's.
You may have had some good luck, but the perception that American cars are of poor quality didn't come from nowhere. For many years Detroit made down right awful products, now they are just less good than their Japanese competitors.
I will reconsider an American car in the future once they prove to me that their union workforce can assemble something that doesn't fall apart long before it's Japanese competitors products do. My hunch is if the UAW was broken and the workers were no longer unionized, the product quality would improve.
“BUY AMERICAN “
I do. Rather than buy a GM made in Mexico, or a rebranded Mazda dressed as a Ford, I bought an Acura.
Made in Marysville, Ohio.
In heaven the French are the chefs, the Germans run the trains, and the British are the police.
In hell the British are the chefs, the French run the trains, and the Germans are the police.
“American car quality is world class now.”
Don’t get carried away. Two anecdotes:
The guy down the street leases his cars. He had a Ford Fusion. A few weeks ago, he had a new Camry. I asked him about it. He said the Fusion was ok, but had a lot of little problems, more than he would expect for that class of car, so he moved on to Toyota.
Another neighbor buys fleet trucks for a company. They have about 50 I think. Up until now, they’ve bought Ford F150s. Apparently, the new F150s have significant problems, especially the transmissions. His company is switching to Toyota Tundras. By the way, this guy drives a 2 year old Focus, and he told me the mileage is good, but the ride is not, and the road noise is terrible.
We have one of those in the family. The car is basically nice and it has the V6 package which is quite powerful. Problem is, its had endless electrical system problems and is always in the shop. It also had a fender that wasn't bracketed on properly and defective front brakes. I was surprised because I thought Mazda was supposed to be decent, then I discovered it was largely made in Detroit at a Ford plant and realized why it had such a poor maintenance record.
My rule of thumb now is, if something is made by a unionized workforce I simply avoid it the best I can.
Alabama has Honda, Hyandai, Toyota, and Mercedes plants. Your Ford has as good a chance of being made in Mexico, China or any other country as a Honda, Toyota, Nissan does of being made in America now. The lines are blurred.
DH and I have owned Fords and a Chrysler. I’ll never buy another Chrysler. We bought a Caravan back in the day when we our kids were little and at a little under 20,000 miles the head gasket blew. It wasn’t even 2 years old. Then there was another constant problem with the engine. If I have to slow down to make a turn it would just shut off. Which is a whole lot of fun in heavy traffic situations because it would just die in a turn. I’d shove it in neutral to crank it and pop it back in drive and try to not look at the people swerving around me, flipping me off or cussing me out because they had to slam on their brakes and were stuck behind me after the turn. Anyway 2 Transmissions, 2 Air conditioner compressors and 2 motors later (not even 75,000 miles) it went to the junkyard. I have never been so glad to be rid of any vehicle in my life. I didn’t think any vehicle could bring out pure hatred for a car like a Vega I had as a teenager did but the Caravan topped that.
We own a 92 Camry, a 95 Camry and a 99 Camry - all are over 200,000 miles. The 95 and 99’s both have over 300,000 (dh used both for work) We are still driving all of them.
We do have a 79 Ford F100 that’s in pretty bad shape but would still start with some tweaking and sweet talking. I joke you’d have to hold your mouth just so to get the old bomb going but it would run.
I just recently traded in my 1997 Olds Cutlass. Took care if it and it lasted 14 years and 175,000 miles. My only complaint about it was that it was hard on brakes. Other than that, it was very dependable.
it’s “union made” that is the problem.
Bingo. There it is in a nutshell. Unions encourage laziness, inefficiency and selfishness. If the American car companies could avoid hiring union labor, the quality of their products would likely increase dramatically. The problem is the unions.
buy VW- support spreading union socialism in OTHER PEOPLE’S country.
I got the 4 cylinder model. Plenty of power and great mileage. I think the quality has improved over previous generations. There were definitely issues with the 6 in earlier years and that made me hesitant to buy one. But after reading reviews of the current generation, I was more than happy to buy one. So far, I am definitely not disappointed.
Unions, inherently, always negotiate for less work for more compensation. Invariably.
Ford Fusion = Mazda 6.
Still driving a 1994 colt with 190,000 miles, just had to put on new distributor. Of course, to be fair, I must say that the engine was made by Mitsubishi.
I have to have reliability in a car. The only cars that ever stranded me were Chevy and Plymouth neither was recommended by Consumer Reports.
The reliability ratings are based on consumer's data provided to Consumer's Report, and that section is the one I pay attention to - not the reporter's conclusions.
American companies do have some cars recommended by Consumer Reports, but for a while they had pretty much given up on the smaller cars with good MPG, hence the deals with foreign companies to produce things like the colt, Geo prism (GM & Toyota).
Our American made cars and trucks at the time I was buying new vehicles were not as reliable as the ones that had engines made by the Japanese.
Now I can only buy used vehicles, but if I was buying new, I would base the decision on reliability and where it was built. Probably a Ford or a Honda made in Tennessee - certainly not government motors.
Any one remember what “American” cars are made in Mexico, Canada, or some other foreign country?
I sent the Voucher back explaning I would never again buy their products, this after owning 5 previous Dodge vehicles.
We had an Acura Legend years ago and loved it, quietest car I’ve ever driven. We’ve now got a Lexus and a Toyota Land Cruiser which are problem free. Both of my sons swear by their 4 Runners. Worst cars we ever owned were Jeeps.
Let’s clear the air on one thing: Consumer Reports is affiliated with Toyota. To say that they’re non-partisan would be a little foolish.
I understand your affinity for older vehicles; I was driving around a 1969 Mercury for a long time before getting a 1985 Chevy Caprice. I work on my vehicles. The older ones were def. better suited to working under the hood. My newer car is workable, but fitting parts is impossible and there are some specialty tools in my box for specific vehicles. Moral: depending on how much work you want to do on your own vehicle, different brands are suitable for different people.
And yes, most American cars are assembled in other countries. My Mercury was made in Canada according to my VIN info.
Every other American made car we have owned was as you said: garbage.
We will never buy another "American" car. Who wants to buy a Chrysler product when two udercover reports filed at least 7 months apart had video of line workers, going ot to lunch, getting loaded, drunk and high in the Chrysler parking lot and then RETURNING TO THE LINE TO MAKE CARS FOR US TO BUY! Ok, they got caught so you know what they did? They went to lunch, dorve to the UNION PARKING LOT and proceeded to get stoned and loaded THERE before returning to work on the line making Chrysler crap for fools to buy. No wonder Chrysler's slogan is "Built in Detroit!" Have you seen what an abject DUMP and SLUM Detroit has become? The place is a cess pool!
Where did you get that?
Terribly sorry, I was mistaken. Toyota has an affiliation with another industry publication, but it’s not Consumer Reports.
My apologies for the misinformation.
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