having personally owned 4 American cars with over 200k with no major repairs (except a transfer case) .i've raced, jumped,and over heated my cars . i really feel like American cars are given a bad rap. i have <4 friends with hondas/toyotas who've had major issues(leaking valves,head gaskets,etc). i also a guy who's only owned accords since like '74 and he's never had an issue...but he drives the speed limit,only to- from work and the dealer does 100% of his maintenance not a second after it's scheduled. which makes me think it's the boring old drivers like that are seeing this increased reliability. what do you guys think?

4/28/2009 12:22:42 AM

people that have the money to buy higher end american cars also have the money to buy them more often rather than putting large numbers of miles on them.

4/28/2009 1:15:39 AM

my cummins has outlived every foreign car our family has ever owned

4/28/2009 1:37:21 AM

american cars and american trucks are very different.

4/28/2009 9:53:26 AM

Yes.

4/28/2009 10:22:12 AM

My parents have a bad history with american minivans.

I don't know why they keep buying them. Right now it's a Chevy Venture that's gone through an O2 sensor replacement, fuel line replacement (somehow busted and leaked fuel all over the highway), a/c condensor replacement. Also engine replacement but that was due to user error (did not notice temp gauge), but hell, random overheating is bad too :devil

On top of that, the thing has no tach and apparently has the worst headlamp reflector design ever. Can't see shit.

Before that was a '95 Grand Caravan that shit the bed a couple months after being paid off. I wasn't into cars yet and don't remember what was wrong with it. In and out of the mechanic shop with no luck.

'90 Plymouth Voyager. Pretty much the same thing as the '95 Caravan.

If there is another minivan down the line, it better be a Sienna or Odyssey

4/28/2009 10:50:13 AM

Lol. My mom was bad about buying crappy grandma cars.

First was an 87 Cutlass Supreme. It was actually pretty fun to drive, but it was a total p.o.s. car. I ended up with it when I turned 16. It was probably only 7 years old with 70k miles and it was already falling apart. It was constantly in the shop when it was under warranty. It would have qualified for a lemon law replacement today. It got a new engine at 30k and was somehow weaker than it was with the original engine.

Then she went through two Park Avenues, one of which they still have. After the first one we tried to talk her into getting an import, but she went with another dull domestic.

After my dad had back surgery he wanted a better DD than his truck, so he bought an Avalon. My mom drove it a couple of times and promptly stole it from him; sticking him with the Park Avenue that he never wanted in the first place.

The bad thing is that American cars are finally fixing a lot of their b.s. problems and now they're finally convinced that foreign is the way to go. I think they'll perpetually be 15 years behind the curve.

[Edited on April 28, 2009 at 11:38 AM. Reason : l]

4/28/2009 11:37:10 AM

reliability is objective

4/29/2009 1:30:19 PM