[monochrome]

Subaru (Muncie, IN) - Over-engineered; quirky designs. An acquired taste.
Honda (Maryville, OH and others) - Reliable, invisible Dad cars
Ford - MUCH better than historical quality and design - impressed.
GM - Never again, even Corvette and Cadillac. Never. Never.
Chrysler. Just a badge, nothing more.
Kia/Hyundai - Liar, Liar, pants on Fire (mileage lies).
European - Overpriced, unreliable but beautifully designed status symbols.

[p38arover]

Yeah, I think Americans prize reliability above all else.

Must be - it can't be because they like the look of US cars!

[p38arover]

. For example, Ford owns Mazda and Jaguar.

No, Jaguar, along with Land Rover, is owned by an Indian company, Tata.

[dadipentak]

Americans prize reliability above all else.

I do, but I wouldn't say I'm in the majority

I guess Caddy's considered something better and more expensive,

It really was more of a gas-guzzling status symbol and they really trashed the brand by a long stretch of low quality offerings.

[Racer X 69]

No, Jaguar, along with Land Rover, is owned by an Indian company, Tata.

But Ford did own Jaguar for a few years.

[twilhelm]

Subaru (Muncie, IN) - Over-engineered; quirky designs. An acquired taste.
Honda (Maryville, OH and others) - Reliable, invisible Dad cars
Ford - MUCH better than historical quality and design - impressed.
GM - Never again, even Corvette and Cadillac. Never. Never.
Chrysler. Just a badge, nothing more.
Kia/Hyundai - Liar, Liar, pants on Fire (mileage lies).
European - Overpriced, unreliable but beautifully designed status symbols.

One of the best lists I've seen. As a mechanic (I bowed out of the business a few years back) my choice for reliability was the F150 Ford truck. I sold my 1993 yesterday ( I've had since new) with 350,000 miles on it and running like the day I bought it.
But all that being said, I ride a Harley Davidson every day. A world of its own.

[p38arover]

But Ford did own Jaguar for a few years.

They did indeed, along with Land Rover.

[rbefly]

While we're discussing the relative merits (or lack) of American cars, let's pause a moment and bid goodbye to several since the late 1990's.
Entire Auto Brands;
Pontiac (Grand Am, Bonneville, Firebird, G6, etc)
Oldsmobile, all of them.
Plymouth, "
Mercury "
Saturn "
Individual models like the Pontiacs already listed, plus the Mecrcury Cougar, Buick Rivera, Chevy Monte Carlo, Ford Thunderbird and Crown Vic and too many more to list.
Perhaps they'll be replaced by some "World Car" that looks like a huge, distorted bar of soap, gets 75mpg and virtually drives itself. Which may be a good thing, after all, since nobody will WANT to drive it!
But, they will be safe, it's mandated.
JMO,
Ron

[reeftool]

Topics like this always open a can of worms. Perceptions can totally right in some cases and wrong in others concerning cars. GM cars have been perceived as being poor quality in recent years for several reasons. In reality, they are pretty reliable but have problems with little things like door handles and hood latches and electronic components that can be expensive to repair even though some of their motors are bombproof. Chevy and GMC trucks are rust buckets and will end up in the boneyard before a Ford although the Ford engines won't last as long. Subaru has a bad rust out rep too. Kia, Hyundai, and Chrysler are considered 100K throw aways. Good cars for the first few years but not built well for the long haul. Honda, Volvo, Toyota have good long haul reputations, the cars to buy if you commute long distances and want to keep it for a long time. Ford is considered the 10 year car as are GM's. What any driver ultimately gets out of a car will depend on how they drive and how well they maintain it. I generally try to keep cars to well over 200K miles. The ones that made it, A 71 Chevy Nova, a 70 International P/U, an 81 VW Rabbit, an 86 Chevy S 10, a 96 Isuzu Hombre, a 97 Ford Escort and a 99 Chevy Cavalier. The ones that didn't? an 81 Mercury Cougar, an 83 Plymouth Acclaim (didn't make 100K), an 82 Audi 4000 ( Hitler's revenge), an 82 Toyota Tercel, a 77 Ford Courier. I'm not counting the ones that got wrecked. The Cavalier is still going. I gave it to my daughter. I currently own a 2008 Honda Civic which has 90K miles so far and a 2005 GMC Canyon with 169K. My wife and I both drive over 70 miles a day commuting and a round trip to the super market is 30 miles so the mileage racks up pretty quick. I should also mention my Honda 77 CB550 motorcycle which ran for well over 200K also and still decorates my garage.

[larryinlc]

Topics like this always open a can of worms.

Yeah, beer too

[ve2vfd]

The last time I changed cars, I had 3 major requirements:

1 - American built car (call me old fashioned, but I like to keep jobs here in North America if I can)
2 - Good service from my local dealerships
3 - Company did not take bail-out money (I last changed cars in 2009 and at that point we did not know who would survive)

Requirement 1 limited my choices to the Big 3. The vehicle was going to be an SUV and the big 3 American auto makers all had models which interested me.

Requirement 2 crossed Chrysler off my list... I managed a fleet of vehicles for the city gov 9 years in a previous life and getting warranty work from their local dealerships was like pulling teeth.

Requirement 3 basically left only Ford. I'll admit their not taking the bailout money was a HUGE incentive for me to trust them and buy from them.

Just my 2 cents worth of course.

Pat

[Racer X 69]

The last time I changed cars, I had 3 major requirements:

1 - American built car (call me old fashioned, but I like to keep jobs here in North America if I can)
2 - Good service from my local dealerships
3 - Company did not take bail-out money (I last changed cars in 2009 and at that point we did not know who would survive)

Requirement 1 limited my choices to the Big 3. The vehicle was going to be an SUV and the big 3 American auto makers all had models which interested me.

Requirement 2 crossed Chrysler off my list... I managed a fleet of vehicles for the city gov 9 years in a previous life and getting warranty work from their local dealerships was like pulling teeth.

Requirement 3 basically left only Ford. I'll admit their not taking the bailout money was a HUGE incentive for me to trust them and buy from them.

Just my 2 cents worth of course.

Pat

Um, as I mentioned, most of the so-called imports are built in North America. By American labor.

And like Ford, none of them received money from the Fed to "bail them out".

And the "big 3" assemble their cars from parts sourced worldwide, much like all vehicle manufacturers.

Although I did see recently where Government Motors is bragging about the Chevy Cruze is made 100% in the US, mostly Ohio. One thing that escapes me is how they cam make that claim, as the electronics are made in Mexico, Malaysia and Thailand. And with large portions of cars built from aluminum alloys, and the key ingredient for aluminum being bauxite, which is mined in 27 countries where the US ranks 23rd in production, it is unlikely that the car will be produced 100% from US sourced materials.

And since it shares the same platform with the Daewoo Lacetti Premiere (South Korea) and Holden Cruze (Australia), one can be certain that many components will be interchangeable, and sourced form the same overseas subcontractors.

[lammie200]

...it is unlikely that the car will be produced 100% from US sourced materials...

If you look at a window sticker on a brand new american market car it lists the locations for engine manufacture, transmission manufacture, and final assembly. It might say the % of recycled content and surely will list emissions rankings, and something kind of loosely related to carbon footprint, as well as mileage and annual fuel cost "estimates." Like you, I seriously doubt that the claim for 100% USA sourced materials is accurate, but maybe they can claim that for the engine and transmission production.

Here is one for a Chevy Volt. Note 46% USA & Canadian content. Edit: Added ones for the 2012 Cruze.

[ve2vfd]

Um, as I mentioned, most of the so-called imports are built in North America. By American labor.

There is a LOT more to a car than just the final assembly... putting an import together here doesn't give jobs to local designers, engineers, scientists and the thousands of other people instrumental in the design and pre-production work on the car.

Plus almost all of those imports assembled here are done so with mostly imported parts and the assembly plants they build use imported machinery, so the thousands of local engineers and workers who designs and built plants and machinery are also left out of the picture.

It's true that many American cars use a large percentage of imported parts in their assembly but as we all know thats the nature of globalization... for good or bad.

Pat

[Tom S.]

Um, as I mentioned, most of the so-called imports are built in North America. By American labor.

And like Ford, none of them received money from the Fed to "bail them out".

And the "big 3" assemble their cars from parts sourced worldwide, much like all vehicle manufacturers.

Although I did see recently where Government Motors is bragging about the Chevy Cruze is made 100% in the US, mostly Ohio. One thing that escapes me is how they cam make that claim, as the electronics are made in Mexico, Malaysia and Thailand. And with large portions of cars built from aluminum alloys, and the key ingredient for aluminum being bauxite, which is mined in 27 countries where the US ranks 23rd in production, it is unlikely that the car will be produced 100% from US sourced materials.

And since it shares the same platform with the Daewoo Lacetti Premiere (South Korea) and Holden Cruze (Australia), one can be certain that many components will be interchangeable, and sourced form the same overseas subcontractors.

Allow me to straighten out a few misconceptions in your post. There are indeed many foreign nameplates assembled in the US by US workers. However it is done so to avoid shipping costs as well as import taxes, not because the foreign companies have any compassion for American jobs. If they could build them at home and sell them here and make the same profit, they would do it in a heartbeat. In addition to that, the cars may be assembled here, but most of the component parts, especially engines and drive trains come are imported. And in the end, the profits go to the home countries, not here.

The Chevy claim on the Cruze is no different than the foreign claims that their cars are built here. The Cruze is built here. That doesn't mean all the component are. Unlike the imports though, the profits stay here.

As for the bailouts, while Ford did not take money from the bailout loan fund, they did take $5.9 billion in a Federal loan for re-tooling it's plants. Still, Ford was in favor of the bailout because they knew many of their suppliers would fold without GM and Chrysler, which could have shut Ford down with devastating effects. Foreign manufacturers have also fed out of the taxpayer trough when they received huge tax incentives, not only from the federal government, but from the various state governments in which their plants were built. There is a difference between giving a company taxpayer dollars in a loan, and giving them to them as a grant or abatement. One has to be repaid, while the other is a gift, free and clear. So while the domestics were given loans, the foreign companies were given out right gifts.