Well, I'm reluctant to fan these flames, but since I have an impulse control problem, here goes. Since many have posted individual experiences from which they draw general conclusions, I will indulge in the same (while acknowledging that we should see that this is statistically questionable). In my quarter-century of car owning, I've had (as best I recall), a VW Beetle, four GM cars (two early 80s models, two late 90s, the second a lemon replacement for the first), a Dodge, a Mercury Sable wagon (wife's car), a Honda Civic, several Toyotas, and now most recently, an Inifiniti G35.
As much as I don't like admitting it, the imports have had a clear edge in quality. Even my 98 model Buicks, which were made after GM claims to have turned a new leaf, were frankly awful. The first got taken back and replaced after 10k miles for numerous ills. On the other extreme is our 2001 Toyota Sequoia (which replaced the 1990 Mercury Sable). This truck has been amazing. Until a couple weeks ago, simply nothing had gone wrong with it, ever. Then, horror of horrors, the power connection for the passenger power seat came loose. I fixed it in about two minutes (gain access, push, click, close, done). Simply put, this truck is put together like nothing I've ever seen, and especially like none of the detroit products I've owned. Yes, the gap between US cars and imports has closed significantly, and I see this in the rentals I use when traveling. But last week, when I had a rental GMC Envoy that had a floppy sun visor and a couple loose switches, it reinforced my belief that there's still plenty of gap there.
[ September 02, 2004, 04:24 PM: Message edited by: ekpolk ]