Originally Posted by StevieC
I respect your opinion, however, mine is different from seeing what came through the door at my dad's shops and in what volumes and what trends of the same problem. Yours is based on personal experience with a lot less sample data being your own vehicles and your own limited experiences.
It's fine and given what you were exposed to it has shaped your view but what I'm saying is that if you saw what I did in the same number of vehicles it would be different. People bring you their broken vehicles and trends appear. It's far different than seeing the good ones you own personally which can be different then the trend out there in general with a specific vehicle make / model / auto-maker.
You focus on a small part of my post but even there fail to grasp the larger point.
Resale value, lease residuals as well as the very large scale fleet experience reflected in CR's reliability surveys all support the point that these Japanese nameplates of the nineties were simply more durable and reliable than either European or US domestic brand cars.
Beyond that, they were nicer in and out, they were more entertaining to drive and they offered better performance and fuel economy.
That this continues is reflected in any comparison of a Camry or an Accord with a Fusion or a Malibu.
The American makers have long proclaimed that the superiority of the Japanese brands is an artifact of the past, but the metal available at the dealers contradicts that claim.
I Illustrated that in comparing my Hybrid Accord with the hybrid offerings from GM and Ford, which offer both inferior fuel economy and acceleration.
The American models aren't an especially great value proposition either and with Toyota and Honda both having built vehicles in this country for many years now, the argument that GM and Ford have to bear heavy legacy costs wears a little thin, particularly since GM washed its hands of most of these costs in its packaged bankruptcy filing and Chrysler did the same.
The Japanese makers have simply done a better job of managing their businesses in the past four decades than have GM, Ford and whatever what remains of Chrysler is calling itself these days.
Superior management brings superior product built with superior control of costs and it has always been just that simple.
