Demand for Japanese vehicles pushed the Big Three's market share to an all-time low in 2004

MLive.com ^ | January 5, 2005 | JOHN PORRETTO

[loreldan]

Either you had a lemon or I've just had tremendous luck! :-)

[GrandEagle]

Baloney
Depending on model, I agree

[loreldan]

Yep, all GM's I've owned have been great. Somebody talked my parents into buying Camry's and Accord's, so a couple years ago they bought two brand new Camry's and one new Accord. They say the engines have been good quality but all the other parts i.e. transnissions, brakes, elctrical parts are always having problems.

[Paulus Invictus]

Hey guys! It's all about quality and service-that's what matters to me and many car buyers. I have owned nine Hondas and all of them gave me incredibly long road lives, each well over 150K miles and great mileage, and I sold them all, one at a time, for a very good price. They have also been quite safe to drive. My Prelude was struck head-on by a 3/4 ton GMC pickup and the pickup ended in worse shape. The services I get from the local Honda dealer are extraordinary.

All of my previous US-made cars were dogs and their services were even worse. The worst was Ford, then Pontiac, then Chrysler.

[Paulus Invictus]

In the last election, the major unions contributed 90% of their member's political "contributions" to the RATs. Why should I feel benevolent towards unions?

[Paulus Invictus]

Check out how many parts of US-made cars are made in Asia or Mexico. Even they are openly admitting that most of the parts are foreign-made.

[2banana]

In the last election, the major unions contributed 90% of their member's political "contributions" to the RATs. Why should I feel benevolent towards unions?

What really gets me tick off, is that union memberships are only 50-60% democrat - the union leadership is really failing their members and hurting jobs!

[Alberta's Child]

What makes so much of these discussions pretty pointless is that a publicly-traded corporation in today's global economy can no longer be defined by national borders. The Big Three automakers are no more "American" than Toyota, since they are all publicly traded and can be owned by investors anywhere in the world. In fact, I seem to remember reading somewhere recently that Toyota has more shares owned by U.S. interests than by the Japanese.

[avg_freeper]

And a whole slew of attractive South Korean models isn't going to make things any better.

[Sam Cree]

Well, the K-5 didn't become a lemon until after 80,000 miles. The guy I sold it too ended up putting an entire new engine in the thing, but I believe he liked it anyway. IMO, they don't make those vehicles anymore for good reason. But my Dodge pickup has been good, I'm thinking now of driving it at least for 200,000 miles.

[xp38]

The Chrysler 300 is built in Brampton Ontario Canada. Vroom Vroom.

[ImaGraftedBranch]

I bought "the best-backed car in the world", a 2005 Mitsubishi Galant GTS.

I travel a LOT each year, and rent dozens of rental cars (all American). The difference between the BEST American sedan and my new Galant is night and day. No comparison -- the quality of Japanese cars is outstanding.

[GrandEagle]

These discussions do get interesting. IMHO most of the time the people who get the most defensive about "buying American, are those who don't. I do try and buy stuff that our people build. Given a choice, I'll pay more for American goods than others - it just works for me.
I've seen tons of garments factories close in Mississippi and Alabama with lots of my friend losing jobs. That is why I do it.
There are lots of decisions that go into such a large purchase as an automobile. What works for me may not work for others. The labor Union issue brought up earlier is a valid one.
We are currently in the market for something much larger like a Suburban or a mini-van. It has been an eye opener to look at the content of US parts and places of assembly on the stickers. It does help to have that information. For example, the Honda Oddessy (SP?) appears to be more U.S. than most of the others. The Toyota minivan is 100% Japanese. The GM versions are about 40% Mexican and I don't remember where they are assembled.
It does seem that the assembly point may be a better indicator of how much it helps the US.

[GrandEagle]

the quality of Japanese cars is outstanding
I'm glad for your good fortune.
My experience was a bit different. The Dodge Daytona was a Mitsubishi and I wouldn't give you a quarter for 50 of them. It costs too much to haul them off.
The Nissan I bought was that one in (however many thousand) that was a bad one. Nissan has hired phone operators to empathize with you. Nothing is done, but the do dole out lots of empathy. It appears to me that they made a corporate decision that it is cheaper to just write off that one that is bad than actually do anything. The phone operators at 1-800-nissan (or whatever it is) are hired to see to it that you can't get to anyone who can actually do anything. I wrote everyone that I could get an address to and could not find anyone who cared at all.
Based on my experiences with Japanese manufacturers (I'll agree it is somewhat limited), they cold care less about customer satisfaction.
I have not had that problem with US auto makers (except Dodge).

[ThirstyMan]

...the quality of Japanese cars is outstanding.

And THAT is it in a nutshell. I owned a '97 Chevy Astro and used it for my business, towing was a part of that. It needed a valve job at 120,000 miles and the cost of the repair equalled the value of the 6 year old vehicle. Add to that the decay of many other features on the van and I had a no-brainer on my hands. I traded it in to the Salvation Army for a tax deduction and bought a Toyota Tundra V-8, four door. I LOVE it! Sorry Detroit but you've got to improve!

[ThirstyMan]

Dodge used a Mitsubishi engine on my '86 Caravan and it had a lot of trouble with the head gasket. I replaced it three times, something to do with aluminum heads I think. Anyway that one part from Mitsubishi was a problem. Toyota OTOH is relatively void of these problems.

[ThirstyMan]

My father has an old Dodge Dakota pick up truck and it is a phenominal DOG!! But I have continually owned a Dodge Caravan ever since they came out in '86, or was it '84? These cars I really like. My present one has 184,000 on it and has been wonderful. Time to trade it in on a newer one this month.

[Dan from Michigan]

For all the bashing here.

My dad worked at Ford for 30+ years. 99% of the time, he didn't vote for dems. Neither did a lot of the people he worked with.

I had an 85 Cougar that I bought used with 90,000. Lasted me 31/2 years. Got a 93 Explorer bought used with 80,000. Sold it with over 150,000 now and still going strong. I have a 99 Explorer today running just fine.

[GrandEagle]

'97 Chevy Astro
Gotta agree with you on this one. We have one of there at the office. It is a 99 or a 00. Runs good but we should have bought the optional parts scoop to drag behind it. Everything you touch falls off in your hand!

[GrandEagle]

Do you have any knowlege of the Honda engine that shuts off three cylinders on the highway?