Another thread of people who haven't own an American car in years much less been under the hood of one bashing American cars because one they had 25 years ago was crappy.
I have bought two cars and a full-sized truck in as many years. EVERY TIME I tried to buy a Toyota but never did because they were never the best buy. Their cars are some of the ugliest on the road. The reason people buy them? The same reason people aren't buying American. Reputation.
For the last 10-15 years American drive trains have, for the most part, been on par with imports, if not better in some areas. US manufacturers could use a little polish on the fit and finish but they don't make junk. People who call American cars junk demonstrate that they are sheep and will parrot whatever they hear that fits their pre-existing beliefs.
The 3.9L V6 in my old G6 put out 240HP, and was a still a pushrod engine. Mated to the 6-speed it got 30 MPG, actual. Not only did Toyota not make a sports coupe with any power, they didn't even put a manual trans in their wimpy V6 cars. Oh, I only paid 24,400 for it. There was not another car on the market that could deliver that performance at that price.
I traded it for a Nissan Titan 4x4. Tried to buy a Tundra but my limit was 30K. I can barely get a Tocoma 4x4 for that, much less a full size.
I know why Americans started buying Toyotas and as a result of that, why they still do. What I cannot understand is why they insist in spreading BS about the quality of modern American vehicles and call them "junk". I'm not saying they've topped the imports but that in no way makes them "junk".
See post number 28.
What I'd like to know is why are the Japanese so much more capable of shooting for trends and Americans so sluggish. Say what you want to about the Prius but it's successful and only the Japanese seem to be capable of going after trends. American companies seem to think if they make it we'll buy it.
From my post:
"US manufacturers could use a little polish on the fit and finish but they don't make junk."
I take it neither of those vehicles were experiencing any kind of failure due to what I'd call shoddy finishing. What you point out is where American manufacturers have some work to do, IMO. I expect cutting those little corners saves them a great deal in union wages.
Toyota was forced by a class-action lawsuit to recall more vehicles than it produced last year.
What does this tell us?
1) Japanese defects are often hidden.
2) The media made little noise about this story (if it happened to one of the Big 3, it would be frontpage for a week)
3) The conventional wisdom that Japanese vehicles are superior in quality to American vehicles is not supported by the facts. Quality statistics demonstrate over and over again that the quality of todays vehicles are statistically insignificantly different.