Glad your experience as been positive.
Having owned 12 American cars, one of them currently being a Cadillac, I share in my joy of twisting the key each day.
What I hate about Japanese cars is the design. I have owned a Nissan truck once. Once. It couldn't pull my boat without suffering. Had a Toyota truck for a while too. Buyers remorse on that one - never felt safe in the way-too-thin doors, thinner sheet metal. Interior spaces in each seemed cramped. I look at the Honda Ridgeline and think: Truck? Naw... Unibody right? A trunk in the bed of it? Sounds like it needs to come standard in pink and have a pop-up make-up mirror on the dash.
One of my passions is muscle cars and I hurt from laughter at the giant wings, fart pipe, manhole cover sized brakes, stickers, and puny output of these things. Making a lot of HP at redline is OK. Making tons of torque down low and having neck-snapping response is even better.
I hate Japanese cars not out of a protectionist mindset, or any sort of bigotry. I hate Japanese cars because I think they are crap.
"What I hate about Japanese cars is the design. I have owned a Nissan truck once. Once. It couldn't pull my boat without suffering. Had a Toyota truck for a while too. Buyers remorse on that one - never felt safe in the way-too-thin doors, thinner sheet metal. Interior spaces in each seemed cramped. I look at the Honda Ridgeline and think: Truck? Naw... Unibody right? A trunk in the bed of it? Sounds like it needs to come standard in pink and have a pop-up make-up mirror on the dash."
Cars? You've only mentioned trucks. As if 4-cyl regular cab Ford Rangers and Chevy S-10s weren't also gutless, cramped, and tinny. Actually, the regular cab Nissan "Hardbody" trucks were a little tight on interior space - the cab could have stood to be about 6 inches longer, where the S10 was a little better in that regard (but then it had the craptastic interior and a pitiful base engine). Agree on the Ridgeline, though - it's a nice car with an open storage area in the back, but it's not a truck.