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Posted

Considering these scores now being reported are from 2009, when there was a great deal of uncertainty with GM and Chrysler, I'm willing to excuse Mother MoPar for that showing.

That said, if cars are getting better in terms of reliability almost across the board, that means no matter what you buy, you stand a better chance at coming out a winner.

Competition really does improve the breed.

Charlie Larkin

Posted (edited)

The dependability study has to do with how well the cars have performed over a cumulative 3-year period. I don't think we'll have those kind of statistics on 2012 cars for a while, as Erik noted.

Edited by sjordan2
Posted

My personal belief is that if you drive a foreign car, you lose all rights to complain about the economy...

We live in a global economy.

You should probably look and see how many American cars are built in America.

The economics of the domestic auto industry is not responsible or related to the most recent economic downturn - nor any that I know of.

From a consumer level, it would make no economic sense to buy an inferior product just because of the place it was manufactured. If the products were equal, than you could broaden your decision making process - bit that's not the case here.

Posted

My dad, who worked for a major Canadian-based OEM supplier that operates in Canada, the US and Mexico and provides parts for all car manufacturers in North America, used to buy only American cars for that reason cited.

Then Ford, GM and Chrysler idled for a large part of the time during the financial meltdown, causing massive shutdowns of their production lines. It was all those people who bought "foreign" cars from Toyota and Honda that kept him and his coworkers all over North America employed.

Posted

My personal belief is that if you drive a foreign car, you lose all rights to complain about the economy...

What about an American car built buy a union led manufacturer ??? 6 of one.... You know the rest

Posted

my wife's Honda is made 85% American made while her dad's Chevy is only 55% American made. Kinda messes up that thinking a bit.

not to mention the chevy aveo the wifey had a few years back, IT WAS MADE IN KOREA

thruth be told, i knew that when i bought it and i was hoping it would be a higher qaulity then the US build chevies

alas, it was just as poor

maybe im spoiler with the german cars im used to but blowing the stock timing belt at 65K miles and sending 13 of the 16 valves into the pistons seems a bit sub-par

Posted

What you guys miss is where the money goes. I'd rather keep an engineer in Detroit employed versus an engineer in Japan (or Korea). And for the record, my Dodge hasn't left me stranded anywhere...

2011-06-08-MacombCenter.jpg

Posted

To be honest, I'd love to get my hands on a 200 Touring with the new V-6 (the pricing for what I'd prefer isn't at all bad), and seems to return more than respectable performance numbers (mileage included) and would make a nice fair weather driver. Not saying my Jeep will be going away if I can get one, but something more effecient will be very nice if the gas prices go to $5 a gallon.

Posted

What you guys miss is where the money goes. I'd rather keep an engineer in Detroit employed versus an engineer in Japan (or Korea).

Platforms are designed internationally these days, no company can afford to develop a car that is exclusive to any single market. A lot of "American" cars are part or wholly designed by foreign subsidiaries, and many "Japanese" car companies have design and research facilities in the US.

You might have kept the big executives in Detroit employed. What good has they done for the American auto industry, though?

Posted (edited)

I like MrZinns responses. :D

To be honest, I'd love to get my hands on a 200 Touring with the new V-6 (the pricing for what I'd prefer isn't at all bad),

I almost did but read the Reviews.

I was in the Market for a new car.

Checked out Ford and Dodge to be fair.

Dealers where Hard sellers.

Buy American or put Americans out of work or Your Anti-American if ya don't buy American was their Attitude.

Try getting your car keys back from these guys,

I had to TAKE my Keys back and was Very Vocal about it.

Went and looked at Imports. (I'm not Bias)

Dealers were soft sellers.

Buy if you like or don't. What ever ya want was their Attitude.

Brought home a 2012 Mazda3.

427571_3046332208903_1581097396_2601695_187811497_n.jpg

Edited by RodneyBad
Posted

I like MrZinns responses. :D

I almost did but read the Reviews.

I was in the Market for a new car.

Checked out Ford and Dodge to be fair.

Dealers where Hard sellers.

Buy American or put Americans out of work or Your Anti-American if ya don't buy American was their Attitude.

Try getting your car keys back from these guys,

I had to TAKE my Keys back and was Very Vocal about it.

Went and looked at Imports. (I'm not Bias)

Dealers were soft sellers.

Buy if you like or don't. What ever ya want was their Attitude.

Brought home a 2012 Mazda3.

427571_3046332208903_1581097396_2601695_187811497_n.jpg

It's getting even worse from town to town as far as keeping it " local"

Nice Mazda !!!

Posted

I did read reviews, as well as the comments by those who have driven and even bought them stating the reviewers were either full of it or questioning if the reviewer actually drove the car.

Posted (edited)
And for the record, my Dodge hasn't left me stranded anywhere...

For the record mine did a few times. My Jeep Compass, same platform as your Dodge, was bought new, treated like gold, 100% factory maintenance and it still had major and minor issues. I was a Mopar guy. All the way back to AMC's with my Dad to Neon's, Caravan's, T&C, Concorde, 3 PT's etc etc. But after 3 gas cap failures, annoying only, temp sensor falls out and is ground away on the highway, again annoying, and a number of other minor issue that for the most part did not strand the vehicle but caused delay and cash. But the final straw was BOTH rear hub assemblies failing on a trip at 60,000 miles 'for no obvious reason' per the dealer service dept. The Jeep, Concorde and 2 PT's were all gone in 2 years.

And I have a lot of friends around the Columbus Ohio area making a good living building 'them furrin' cars at Honda.....for shipment to Japan and all over the world.

It's hard to argue the us vs them but easy quality vs iffy builds.

BTW....I really loved my Jeep......but it's was like a bad relationship......something had to go.....

jeep07A.JPG

Edited by Dave Van
Posted (edited)

It's really pretty simple. If you want a Dodge, you will buy a Dodge. If you want a reliable car, you will do the required research and see which vehicles consistently rank the highest in overall reliability ratings. Brand doesn't matter to me - reliability does.

It is anecdotal to say "mine has never broken down". That doesn't tell me anything about "most" of the other cars. That is where CR and JD come into play. They look at a sample size larger than one - which statistically is more reliable. I could go on about which vehicles I have owned and which ones have broken down, but, while it definitely alters my decision (maybe it shouldn't, but human nature..) it is in no way representative of the overall reliability of a vehicle.

As has been pointed out, we are really in a global economy, especially when we are talking about very large, multi-national corporations like automotive manufactures. I am all about supporting local businesses, US businesses - but, and this is a big BUT - only if that company respects the local economy (or US economy) in return.

As far as reviews go - look at the source. Popular auto magazines rarely say anything bad about a certain car or manufacturer. Why? Have you priced a full color, full page advertisement in Road and Track lately? If I bash Chrysler in my magazine, where do think the ad revenue is going next month?

Edited by Erik Smith
Posted

Very Well said Rick.

On the Chrysler 200. My personal experience and the sales guys attitude changed my mind.

Maybe I wasn't dressed sharp enough? :D

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