Exactly. I do get a lot of cars like Civics in where the kid has all his 'regular maintainence' bills over 90k miles and they total over $4000. A Yugo will hold up if you keep up on it like that, he's already paid for a new motor/tranny in upkeep. Import dealers are very good at selling maintainence contracts and heavy extended warranties, thats why they sell the car at a loss upfront and the deals often have 'back end' profits well over $4-5k. Its such a reliable car, you should get a huge warranty mainainence contract to 'protect' it.

The Toyota dealer that's across the street from me sells only a few more cars then we do yet has twice the bays and 24-hour service shifts with a gigantic service lot compared to ours, and we do heavy truck repair for a lot of other dealers on top of retail. People act like they just do oil changes. Mechanics hate them like they do for any other make they work on, and there are just as many engines and transmissions in crates in the corner as any other auto maker. I will say that the dealers sell religious service stops much more then domestics do. People are always like "look at all my tickets, I spent thousands keeping my reliable car reliable over the 5 years I had it". They are so convinced it is reliable they will pay anything to keep it that way. I do get a lot of Domestic owners that I can't get in for their first oil change untill 7k miles...Cars don't break down on the side of the road anymore, people complain about rattles when a certain song is cranked once and a while.

Import makers make sure there is not one extra screw thread or ounce of tin that is needed to keep the car running under stock, warranty operating conditions or pass a standard crash test. That's why modded Civics with 50 extra hp are falling apart in a couple years, or you see people cutting someone out of an Accord with the Jaws of Life when the others involved are standing around talking on their cell phones. I sell mostly used cars these days(there is no money in new cars), but I can count on one hand new car customers in the last year that had a noteable problem with a car. When I sold Acura, EVERY single RL came back within a week(probably the most unreliable new car I have ever seen). Now with just about all of DCX and most of GM's lower cars, I don't have much to say about them.

 

I'm a little biased toward Toyota, considering that all my family members either have Toyotas or a Ford (once again...a RWD v8 and a real truck: mustang and F250).

So, not to argue with you, but for now I'm letting my personal experiences with Toyota go a long way with me. I don't have anything bad to say about them. They are extremely reliable, have a great on-road feel (ie-suspension/handling), and don't have the "cheapness" feel that the domestic cars have.

Like I said, just personal experiences. Of course, all that quality comes at a price that's a little more than the domestics. But, their resale value is better, so it balances out later.

OK, one down-side to imports: there isn't a dealership in every town like there is for chevy and ford. Pretty much anywhere you go, even small country towns, there is a chevy or ford dealer within 15 minutes. The same can't be said for the imports.

BTW, reliable to me means doing basic routine service (such as oil changes), and having an extended warranty up to 7 years/60 or 75K miles just in case anything major happens. After the warranty expires, the car is usually sold for a new one. That way, your cost of ownership is low, and you aren't dumping "maintenance" money into a car that is 10 years old and not worth what you're putting in.

 

right, but domestic buyers on a whole are less likely to do every single service that is required then an import owner is. Treat a Toyota like a Ford and it goes bad fast. Why do you think Toyota completely avoids making sports cars or heavy-duty trucks?

'reliability' is also gleaned from data from anonymous CR subscribers, I challenge you to find a Mustang owner with a CR subscription that has submitted a survey for their Ford product. When I sold Toyotas, I kept one on my desk at all times, and just about every single customer would say 'I have that one'. If CR comes up in conversation with most new Ford buyers, they rarely have anything favorable to say about them. The vast majority of CR subscribers are sold on our major media's passion to hate everything American who trumpet its 'credibility' constantly. It's perception over reality. American buyers often trade cars within 3-4 years, if you can afford a new Honda that can 'go that 200k miles' drivel they always say wouldn't keep it that long. Most that hit 200k are on their 4th+ owner. Nobody wants to be in a car that has 150k miles of *** time in the seat anyway.