Too many people on here only own one type of Brand! To be honest haveing owned Domestic and Import Brands I think you would have to be blind or ignorant not to see the difference! The people that shout the loadest about so called domestic brands quality are the ones that have either neverowned an import or have not owned on in the last 10 years! I also think most of you are missing the boat! J.D. Powers and GM did not say GM out paced Toyota for the 2005 IQ study! They were only looking at powertrains in this qouted section undery the 2005IQ. What is General Motors total IQ ranking this year third,fourth, fith???? I am going to venture a Guess and say that Toyota ios still #1 inthe composite total!
I will also say that you dinosaurs that do not consider a Toyota,BMW,Hyundai,Benz,Honda,Mitsubish,Subaru,Nissian made in the USA an AMerican made vechile need to get a labodomy! How is that any less American then a Chevy Eqinox with a Toyota see (ASIN) transmission made in Japan, a Chineese made engine and assembled in Canada? How about a Tacoma rolling out of the same plant in California as S-10? How about that Harison radiator and AC/Delco batery and all suppliers in the USA makeing parts for Toyota,Honda,Benz,Hyundai etc....... Then you have the joint ventures, relabled, or liscensed vechiles that GM sells. Then you have the Korean conection. Heck GM sells as many imports as Toyota maybe more! When was the last time you took a part of a GM vechile that said made in America?
I think most of you guys that blow the buy American smoke are clueless! You can not get a job with GM in a plant or Ford wich are the last of the domestic car companys! I know all the stuff in your houseis not American made either unless you nothing but antiques.
Belive what you will but their is a reason that imports are errodeing GM and Ford's market share.Especialy when you look at the lack of incentive or really weak incentives offered by so called import brands. When you look at the higher initial cost of say a Toyota over a GM vechile, the lack of gimicky content their is a reason why they fly off the lots! Their is also a reason why Toyota's and Lexus's retain so much more residual value as compared to their GM counter parts!Their is a reason that GM has to give you their discount+ all of their other incentives to make a sale!!!
I have owned Fords,GM,Toyota and DiamlerChryslers products new and used! Toyota came out on top in just about every catagory other then sound system,styleing and initial purchase price! My Dakota was sexy,handled great and had a great infinity sound system. It had horrable breakes and had to go to the dealership once a month for either warranty work or a recall. My Ford Tempo was an electrical nightmare and the engine was shot by 60,000 miles and needed to be rebuilt and the transmission was shot by 90,000. It handled like a marshmallo.The 1997 Buick has a transmission that was machined wrong but GM say you are SOL since it is out of warranty even though they admit they machined it wrong. It also had the *** crapy intake manifold that leak's coolant into the oil. The door panels needs to be rehung, the door was not aligned properly at the factory and the driver side door lock switch broke and feel into the door on it's own. THe armrest is broken and so is the armrest console door release. THe plastic cover to cover the t/signal stalk just feel off the other day. It is not broken the plastic has just shrunken so much it does not fit any more.The transmission axle seals are leaking and so is oil pan and oil filter adapter. The p/s lines are also leaking and are looking dry rotted. At 109,000 miles I have had to replace the the followingnon non-wear items: TPS,IAC,MAP,PCV,Intake manifold,tensioner,ICW wireharness,ignition control module,Park Nutrual saftey switch.
The car has the usual GM gremlins like a mystery check engine light that will light with very random MIL's! It will disapear just as mysteriously as it appeared.
The struts,springs,brakes and rotors were replaced about 20,000 miles prior to me buying off of Granmothers estate! I wish I had drivenit before buying it but I had to buy it blind. It had M1 10W30 from 40,000-100,000 miles. I think she followed the GM oil change indicator light.
Do not get me wrong all makes have some issues but GM,Ford and Dodge seems to have chasis,electricaland powertrain issues on all models they make occureing all the time at random! It goes in cycles as soon as they get a vechile problem free they redesign the hole thing or forgett what they learned and start the cycle all over again! At least some companys learn from their mistakes and pick something else to goof up!
