Just sharing my experiences with domestic vehicles. My family used to have a 1996 Dodge Stratus with the 2.4 liter engine. The head gasket went at 33k and it was replaced. Then at 61k it was about to go too. It had several of its door lock and power window motors replaced. The bearings (or whatever they were) for the front wheels have to be changed. Air conditioner broke twice. When the head gasket was going bad at 61k the Cat converter was also bad. So we just traded it in for a 04 Toyota Camry. And my aunt had a 96 Chevy Lumina. The interior of that thing was cheap. Stuff were starting to fall apart. The transmission went at 100k. It was burning oil. She was lucky that it was totaled in an accident that she had. I know its just preference but from experience I think my family are staying away from American cars. On top of that the trade in value for the Stratus was close to zilch. (now I'm going to be interrogated and flamed)
USAToday article about buying American
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Chrysler. I've always thought of them as the third-tier domestic automaker. Maybe they're better now, but for example, when they introduced the Dodge Neon with a 3-speed automatic..when most of the competition had a 4-speed, you couldn't help but wonder what **** their problem was. There was also the Dodge Grand Caravan with the transmission that crapped out about every 60K..a friend of mine had one that died TWICE. It finally died for good at 150K. It was also getting P0300 random misfire codes for a couple of years before that--no amount of troubleshooting ever revealed the cause of that. I kinda got the impression that perhaps a more sophisticated ECU software program could've pinpointed the actual cause of the problem. The Chrysler implementation of OBD-II that year appeared to be the minimum required to meet EPA specs.
The 2.4 is actually a Japanese designed (Mitsubishi) engine.
The mosquito-fogger mini-vans have Mitsubishi engines. Apparently, the valve stem seals start to fail after a while. The factory replacement valve stem seals aren't any better, but (I'm not sure of the details on this...) there are valve stem seals from a GM (I think) engine that are the right size/shape and can be used instead and will last much longer.
Labman, that was not my post/quote it was Tom H's ( Pardon my french portion)
I pointed out that the transplants do not have as much AMerican content because the tooling and design of the cars are done in Japan for the most part versus the Domestics tend to do it in house with their own Designers for both the car/platform and all the associated tooling installed in the final assembly plant. As one who has worked in a manufacturing plant that is where large amounts of capitol is invested.
Car for car, the more American content, the more
American jobs. [/QB][/QUOTE]
I pointed out that the transplants do not have as much AMerican content because the tooling and design of the cars are done in Japan for the most part versus the Domestics tend to do it in house with their own Designers for both the car/platform and all the associated tooling installed in the final assembly plant. As one who has worked in a manufacturing plant that is where large amounts of capitol is invested.
There is more to America than the assembly line. Even if they don't make enough profit to pay much income tax, the American corporations pay enormous local taxes. Their workers are also heavily taxed. Much of what the workers, including the fat cats, plus the stockholders have left, after taxes goes to create jobs for the rest of us. American content makes American jobs and helps pay for government service. There are plenty quality problems with foreign nameplates too. Time to take a look at this millennium's quality and quit deigning facts.
Car for car, the more American content, the more
American jobs. [/QB][/QUOTE]
What some may not realize is that many of the so-called domestic parts that are supplied to Honda etc. are from Japanese owned plants that have been built in the US.
There is a nearly new plant not far from where I live that is Japanese and supplies gears for Honda.
There are untelling how many Japanese owned plants that supply parts to Toyota in my state.
Considering this,many of the parts in a foreign car are just that,foreign.
Theres 2 or 3 Japanese auto related plants in my small town alone.
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