17th Jan 2024, 04:21

Just look up American cars that went over a million miles. You'll find a good amount. The whole import vs. domestic & whether a Toyota is an American car crap gets old really fast and usually goes nowhere. Let's not get into it, shall we?

18th Jan 2024, 23:08

I have to wonder just how many people actually own the vehicles they claim, both domestic and imports. The sad reality is that the imports have just as many parts made in the United States of America these days, yet more and more so called domestic vehicles have just as many parts from elsewhere to bring down cost, too. I won't point at Buick as a prime example.

And yet, our 2000 Tacoma has well over 300,000, our 2005 Chevy 1500 has close to 350,000 and our Buick Envision is about to hit 100000. There are pros and cons to all three.

At the end of the day, drive what you like, maintain it and it will more than likely take care of you. Neglect a vehicle and of course you'll have issues.

Driving a vehicle based on the so called country of manufacturer is a losing battle, especially if it's new. But you do you. You can thank you American company, Tesla, for driving the EV fad that will sooner than later be a losing battle. Toyota, Honda, and GM are being smarter using hybrids. The new Corvette is pretty nice to see - an actual, real V8 combined with an electric motor. Not something you see a lot from any other mainstream manufacturer.

How many Ford F150, Tesla, or Rivian EVs will be in the junkyard because nobody can afford battery replacements in a decade? A lot!

22nd Jan 2024, 15:53

To me it's more about consistency. No doubt - GM, Ford, and Chrysler can and do make some very good products. Those Panther platform cars from Ford? They will run forever. Same with the 3600 V6 series Buicks. Same with certain eras of GM diesel trucks. And same for the Jeep XJ series Jeeps. The problem with many of the Big Three stuff is that when it comes to new models you just never really know. A lot of the 3.6 V6's used on GM's Lambda vehicles stretch their timing chains. And then you've got Chrysler and all of those miserable re-badged Fiats.

It's about overall track record. The Big Three have had and still have an average to sometimes poor reliability standard. That means some are excellent, some are OK and some are frankly awful.

It's not just American cars. Don't get me wrong. I personally would not touch anything made by Volkswagen and their brands or German cars in general. Same goes for anything British. And who knows with Volvo? It's now a Chinese company. Hyundai and their other brand Kia were involved in a major recall over their Theta 4 cylinder engines burning excessive amounts of oil. Nissan went from being just as good as Honda and Toyota to making cars with fragile CVT transmissions that grenade frequently.

Then you have Honda and Toyota. Honda and more Toyota have the most consistently high levels of overall long-term reliability. They don't make exactly the most exciting vehicles. They also take forever to change their engines and drivetrains. But with some exceptions they will most likely run trouble-free and do so for 100's of 1000's of miles. That is why there is such a thing as the "Toyota Tax". You pay more because it's insurance that you are probably not going to have problems with it.