Not bad, but not good enough either. Long term reliability is the American car's Achilles heel. Japanese cars routinely go 200K or better without major repairs, and I have personally known of quite a few that went far beyond that. The most miles I ever got from an American car was 172K from a Mercury Grand Marquis. The engine was still running OK when I sold it, but it had gone through 3 transmissions, one differential, and so many carburetors that I lost count. Not to mention at least 1/2 dozen power window motors, numerous alternators, a water pump, an A/C compressor, and a timing chain. There was more that I can't recall offhand. And I ALWAYS changed oil and filters every 3K miles and transmission fluid and filter once a year. Oh, and at least 1/2 of those miles were Interstate Highway driving.
One of my friends has resisted buying Japanese cars ever since they first became popular over here. But after so many utterly disastrous experiences with Lincolns, Cadillacs, Buicks, and one Chrysler he finally broke down last year and bought a Toyota Sequoia (sp?).
Actually, I much preferred driving and riding in his last few Cadillacs over the Toyota, they rode better, were quieter, and had more comfortable seating. But at least the Toyota won't spend half it's life in the dealer's shop being patched up for another month or so the way some of his previous cars did. He trades cars every 2 or 3 years so most of the repairs were under warranty. Still, having your primary car in the shop every few weeks is very aggravating even if you aren't paying the repair bills. I know that very well because I once foolishly bought an Audi. No more German cars for me, ever again.
"Japanese cars routinely go 200K or better without major repairs..."
NONE of the Japanese cars I have had ever came close to this, and I'm religious on maintenance (most mechanics say "what noise" when I tell them something is wrong). On the other hand, my Ford and the ol' Mazda (which was basically a Ford) have all hit over 100k without problem. I've gone through 3 engine rebuilds on Camrys in that mileage, not to mention the body rust.
That isn't to say Japanese cars are bad - Hondas and Toyotas are generally very good, but they have their problems as well. I'm looking at premature strut mount failure on a Camry right now because of a defective design. That will push the trailing 12 month Camry repair bill to $2000 if I don't do the work myself. The Taurus? Oil changes.
Wait - weren't ALL Mercury Grand Marquis EFI by 1987? EFI was available on it as early as 1983, IIRC. So you're comparing Japanese cars of today against your experience with a Mercury 20+ years ago?
Why is it that people will believe that Hyundai can go from building vehicles with piss-poor, industry worst reliability to high reliability just 5 years later, but they don't believe that Ford or GM could fix reliability problems in 15-20 years?