Originally Posted By: mstrjon32
Originally Posted By: Ed_T
Buying a new GM//Chrysler//Ford is like putting a blowtorch to your money given the immediate cliff depreciation that occurs. It's expensive to support these patriotic badges. One has got to be willing to take more than one for the team.
And buying a new Toyota/Honda is like adding more fuel to the fire that is destroying America's industrial base. It's expensive to support stupidity that buys Toyota when they have just as many problems as GM cars.
I love the way that when someone buys a Toyota and it's a total POS they forgive all the problems, but you hear about a GM car that went 60K miles and needed a set of rear brakes and suddenly it's total garbage.
Americans by and large like to get value when spending their hard-earned dollars. Producing vehicles that have had the life sucked out of them on the drawing board because all the money goes to UAW-(fill in your favorite terms) instead of quality components and design has contributed mightily to the fall of the big three.
It isn't fair to blame those who choose to get as much 'bang for the buck' when purchasing a vehicle if they decide not to go 'big-three'. Their quality was not there for many, many years, and while their latest efforts to catch up have mainly produced slews of competitive vehicles available for sale at this very moment, the memory of the horrendous experiences many had at the hands of the big-three and their dealerships has destroyed permanently their willingness to even consider walking into such a dealership anything more than a laughable proposition. I know it has for me.
Even Car & Driver said it years ago: 'you can't buy an American car that won't give you fits'. Well, I don't have the time and patience for that any more. That trust that had been broken will not be repaired in my lifetime.
Of the three Toyota's in my family at this time, the one best screwed together is the '03 4Runner with well over 100k miles. It remains squeak and rattle-free. It was 'made in Japan', while the two others were 'made here' in Lexington, KY, and are obviously less-tight, with well under 100k miles on each. Bulletproof, uber-reliable, but a less-satisfactory ownership experience.
The cycle continues: "Toyota - the next GM?"
Back to ford for me.
