23rd Mar 2011, 10:53

"True, but there is a VERY BIG difference. All foreign car companies COMBINED employ less than 10% of U.S. auto-related workers. By buying a car built by a foreign company, we are not only sending billions of dollars out of the U.S. economy, but we are stabbing 90% of our own workers in the back."

This is a cyclical un-ending argument. That foreign automakers employ 10% of the auto workforce isn't relevant. I'm sure there are even lower percentages for other industries that happen to have domestic plants and facilities in the US. I don't work in the auto industry. Yet by virtue of being employed I add to the workforce as a whole. The workers who work for Toyota are no less at contributing to the economy than those who work for domestic carmakers. Easy as that. In buying my truck I helped a number of American workers. How is this not the case?

"And WHY anyone would want to help a foreign country's economy AND get a less reliable car is very hard to understand indeed. The latest long-term reliability study released last week clearly and undeniably ranks Ford Motor Company number 1 in long-term reliability. Now the Lincoln line rates highest in reliability of any car on Earth. For a decade, Lexus traded places for number one spot with GM's world-class Buick"

If you say so... Every single Toyota that we have ever owned has NEVER given us a single major problem. We've had a few bad wheel bearings and one faulty ignition coil in the 30 or so years that we've owned their products. What's more is that we keep our cars for 15 or so years at a time. As a result, I've had to buy less vehicles, because the Toyotas we own last for long periods of time. In fact, I know hardly anyone that has had problems with their Toyotas. So why would I switch? If Toyota made an inferior product... then how come they run for hundreds of thousands of miles without a hitch? How come the vast majority of the people who own them seldom need to have them fixed? Simply put - Report after report can come out making claims that somehow, domestic automakers have miraculously improved after decades of making junk. If that's really the case, then good for them. Perhaps they really are making a good product. But given that the Toyotas I've driven have been almost perfect, I fail to see any reason to switch.

Either way- this argument is pointless. Drive what you want. I'll keep driving my Toyotas.