Posted on 05/20/2013 5:09:14 PM PDT by TwelveOfTwenty
Is Motor City getting its mojo back?
After years of losing loyal customers frustrated by quality and reliability problems, domestic automakers are showing a new-found focus on customer service that is winning back skeptics – boosting sales, market share and profits.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
My Japanese built car is nearing 6 years and 100K miles and literally all it has had done/added/replaced: fuel, washer fluid, oil & filters, tires, radiator flushed, fuel filter, K&N air filter, one set of wiper blades. No brakes, brake fluid, belts, clutch hydraulic fluid, power steering fluid, original battery, not even light bulbs.
Yeah. To be fair, I've never owned a Japanese car with a cigarette lighter that lasted longer than about six months; even so, lighters and the battery in my current Subaru are all I've had to replace since buying my first Mitsubishi in 1988. The Hondas and Accura were the best of the bunch, but even the Subaru beats the socks off anything made in Detroit I've ever owned or rented.
Oh yes proper hand signals. I taught my daughters how to do all the hand signals, I remembered it being on my driving test though I never drove anything without blinkers. They still laugh about being the only ones their age to even know there was such a thing.
Would not touch a Land Rover, like buying a grenade with a missing pin I think. Never cared for Datsun products or the buying segment they seem to cater to. Oh well.
Too bad Toyota no longer makes the Land Cruiser or whatever it was way back when. Probably be more expensive than a Land Rover equivalent that they were copying though.
I don’t use lighters. I’d gladly replace them though instead of things like: fuel pumps, rotors, a radiator, wheel bearings, upper control arm bushings, seat belts, lifters and a cam, computers, egr system clogs, belts that break so violently they bend alternator mounts, torsion spring, or having a body rust so badly the entire cab shifts on the frame and binds up the steering. All these things and a host of more minor gripes have befallen my vehicles from the big three. No more.
I always get a good laugh from these auto related threads. Quality and reliabilty between manufacturers is pretty much par when testing comparable vehicles, and has been for quite a few years. As far as foreign vs. domestic, regardless of manufacture, they all get their parts from the same pool of suppliers, whether it be a lexus, or a cadillac. I worked for a supplier for a few years, and if you own a late model GM, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, or Hyundai, they all have the exact same parts, assembled in a plant that I worked at (that wasn’t union BTW), from materials sourced from china, mexico, and SE asia. I won’t buy any vehicle made after 1995, because I’ve seen what goes into newer vehcles, and most of it is cheap chinese crap.
I'm going the two year lease route now so reliability isn't an issue since it'll be under warranty (not that I expect any problems anyway) till I turn it in for a new one......
My BIL has an 11 year old Kia and there is nothing wrong with it besides peeling paint and a broken door handle some kid decided to treat like a bungee cord.
Toyota does make the Land Cruiser still. Great off-roader. But it’s an expensive luxe monster like the MB Gelandwagen. FJs are great off-road, but I hate the claustrophobic interior and lack of removable top.
No real current model from any manufacturer is direct competitor for the Wrangler.
The 1960-1984 Toyota 40-series Land Cruisers are Wrangler-like and considered classics. My BIL has a very nice one, and off-roads it a lot.
The ‘84-’89 Toyota 4Runners have removable tops.
It's been their what? Their Waterloo?
When we replace our 2003 Ford Windstar in another year or so the first thing I want to take a look at is the Nissan Pathfinder. The Chevy Traverse, made here in Lansing, is a nice looking ride but--at least on paper--the Nissan will likely win again.
And besides...screw the UAW
‘Mark Reuss, president of GM’s North American operations, admits the maker long was producing “crappy cars.” ‘
Believe me Mark, I know, which is why I will never, ever own another GM in my life.. when you have a car that’s in the shop more than its out, and drops its transmission with a mere 80k miles on it at 2am with a 10 day old infant in the backseat while trying to get to Florida so your wife can see her father before he dies, you damned well don’t forget just how ()&@$ing crappy GM products are.
That was my one and only GM, and only bought it because the MRS was far more naive about your company than I was and she just had to have it...
GM = JUNK, period. Lets not even get into how they screwed over their investors with the illegal actions of the fed during their BK.
Quality Engineering is IRRELLEVANT if you can’t execute on it!
Chrystler has always had amazing engineering, it just could never build the damned things right!
The schematics can be flawless, but if its put together by a bunch of drunken monkey’s it doesn’t matter.
I’ve owned Ford & foreign since 1986...which was the last year I bought a GM product. GM became, at the time and forward, pieces of junk.
I bought a Toyota back in the 90s but not really satisfied with it compared to Ford. My last Ford was a Focus. Bought in 2000..traded in for another focus in 2012. Yep...had it for 12 years and got 3000 for it. Bought a new Focus last year. Love it to death.
Just move to Japan will you...
It’s not a matter of Japanese vs American cars,
it’s a matter of not buying things that are union/communist made.
How long did it take the Koreans to get the message about quality, was it two or three years?
In the 80s Ford was said to have gotten the message about quality when it released the Taurus model in 1986. There was a big campaign about it in the press, not advertising campaign, mind you, but independent press reports. Then the recalls came, and it turned out that while the quality indeed improved somewhat, the hoopla was little more than a PR campaign. A successful one at that.
FWIW,
Despite my better senses I bought a new Cadillac ATS when my Acura with 245,000 miles died. I loved the technology and performance. GM got this one right after Learning from their mistakes with the Cimaron and the Caterra.
I am a patriotic American and thought I would give the Americans another chance after 22 years of not owning an American car.
Of course in the first week, the power steering and the speedometer stopped working. You have to turn the car off walk away for five minutes in order for them to start working again. And if you’re buying a $50,000 car why would you expect to get a speedometer and power steering anyway. :-)
It’s like giving a convicted felon another chance and they rob you.
My 2002 Honda Accord, 160000 miles so far with no major problems.
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