exgto

The question is, are foreign cars that occupy the same model and price segment as domestic cars really that much better, or any better?

Also, do you see any value in in supporting an American automaker as opposed to say a Japaneese automaker if quality and value are discretionary?

discuss...

Zastava_101

American vehicles are usually cheaper than foreign cars in the same class. They might have same or similar MSRP, but there are always bigger rebates on domestic cars.

I really don't know what makes a car domestic and foreign? Is my Fusion a domestic car even though it's built in Mexico? Or is Toyota Camry a foreign car even though it's built in Kentucky?

bob

Depends I suppose, the quality gap isn't what it once was and I think ultimately it comes down to what you prefer in a car. Most European and Japanese cars do not embody subjective attributes that I care for.

As for supporting a domestic vs. foreign car manufacturer, I prefer domestic as the money ultimately ends up here in some way or another (I know there is greater complexity to the answer than that with multi-national corperations - however if the headquarters are here and most of the wage earners are here then I'm pretty sure most of the money gets invested here).

MR-STANG

I think it's hit or miss either way...
I've had many vehicles over the years...
My personal experience:

Domestic Cars: 4 Great out of 7
Foreign Cars: 3 Great out of 5

68 Camaro 350cid (Great-used)
71 Buick Riviera (great-used)
81 Olds Cutlas (Bad-New- always stalled making left turns)
87 Cadillac Cimarron (Bad-New- Great Seats though)
87 Mustang GT 5.0 (Great New)
94 Ford Explorer (So-So New - Constant Check Engine Light and Recalls)
97 Volvo 960 (Great-New)
99 Mercedes ML430 (Great-New)
2002 Toyota Sequoia (Great-New (Still have this one)
2003 VW Passat 2.0T (So-So- Constant Oil Sludge when changing Oil)
2005 Toyota Avalon Limited (Possibly the worst car I have ever owned, squeaky, leaky with horrible seats)
2008 Mustang GT/CS (Great- (Still have this one)

Zastava_101

I'm surprised to hear this, I always though Avalon's are pretty good.

Zastava_101

Here is my experience with cars. Cars in bold are ones I still own.

1991 Ford Taurus 3.0L (owner from 2003-2004)
It was junk mainly because nobody ever took any care of this car. But the engine was running. Had a lot of rust and I sold it to junkyard for $50. At that time Taurus had 138,000 miles on odometer.

1992 Ford Escort 1.9L (owner from 1999-2001)
Crap, crap, crap. It was at mechanic pretty much every month, it became so bad that I went to the junkyard and bought an non-running identical car just for parts.

1994 Toyota Camry 3.0L (owner since 2002)
Great car. Almost 150,000 miles on the odometer and other than regular maintenance and some issues because of the old age - no problems at all.

1997 Dodge Intrepid 3.5L (owner from 2000-2008 )
At first it was ok, but as it reached 100,000 miles there were so many things wrong with it, especially transmission.

2000 Ford Mustang 3.8L (owner since 2001)
Great car, no problems at all.

2005 Ford F-150 SuperCab 4x4 4.6L (original owner)
Looks like the alternator will have to be replaced because it's making some weird whining noise when it's really cold outside. Other than that - no problems.

2008 Ford Fusion 2.3L (original owner)
No problems at all.

Wardog 07

I'm stationed in Germany. What do you call the Ford Mondeo? Foreign or Domestic?

I love taking my Mustang or F-150 into the German Ford dealer, the mechanics fight over who gets to work on it.

kevinb120

This is way too broad, but pretty much the domestics are underrated, the imports overrated. I actually contemplated a Civic for a high MPG car(I'm going back to bikes so screw the car), and versus the new Focus, the ride/handling in the focus is better, mileage is the same, a lot more options, better warranty and once you get used to it, the styling isn't all that bad. Interior is actually better quality then the Honda, and no gigantic a pillars that can easily hide a vehicle at an intersection. Let alone the Civic has more road noise then a school bus. Plus sync and a better audio system for about $3000 less option-for-option with the Focus. So what's great about a Civic again??? Supposedly the platform is 'old' on the Focus, but still a 10 years ahead of the cheapened down current civic suspension(as opposed to the double wishbones of yore), and 25 years ahead of the 09 Corollas torsion beam rear suspension.

Any used Civic I have had traded in with say 80k miles needs mechanical work to get it ready for retail, rattles, the 'VTEC' engines sound like *** after 30k miles at idle, peppered with door dings and rock chips from thin metal and paint, and the interiors uv-fade into funny colors. I got suckered into the hype, for about 10 minutes of looking at one as a possible owner, forget it. But, on the other hand-sorry mopar fans, but dodge automobiles(other then the Charger) are absolute dogs@$t.

Knight

Thats funny, those are like exotic cars over there.

edumspeed

've had good and bad experiences with many cars, but the domestics were the ones that had more reliability problems.
77 Volvo 242 4spd (really good till i crashed it)
84 Nissan Sentra (rarely needed anything done, I still miss it)
84 Volvo 240 (was bad from the beginning, eventually used it for parts for the 77)
85 Chrysler Lebaron GTS (I got this one for free because it didn't idle, had an unplugged sensor. Only regular maintenance and worn shocks. Pretty good car)
86 Chrysler Lebaron GTS turbo (POS used it for parts for the 89 Plymouth)
89 Plymouth Sundance RS (So so, cauz of bat transmission, wasn't maintained by previous owner)
88 Jeep Cherokee (POS left me stranded too many times)
92 Pontiac Sunbird (POS rattled and leaked water everytime it rained)
94 Ford Mustang GT (good, sans crappy trans) still have it
99 Mazda Protege LX (really good car) still have it.

edumspeed

I'm thinking of replacing the Protege with a V6 Mustang (99-04) but don't know yet.
Are those V6 models reliable? How about MPG? Would it be too much of a difference to the Mazda? (It's rated like 23 city and 28 hw)

BullittGT

Yes, it´s hard to find a competent US-Car dealer here in Germany... The maitanence work for my 2000 Mustang takes over a private dealer....

I love my MUSTANG GT, it´s cool to have an V8 here in germany, V8´s are very rare here. The Sound of my magnaflow is magnificent! The Regular Gas costs approx. 7 $ per Gallon.....

The American made car is very unproblematic and very easy to repair and the costs for spare parts are really cheap opposite german cars...

My last car was an BMW 316, he was very lame withe the 100 hp "engine". My intended vehicles are US-Cars!!!!

SONICBOOST

hmmm

karman

I love my domestic Ranger, no problems in 5 years.
Really it is identical to the Mazda, so maybe its foreign.
But the Mazda is built here so...whatever.

Rebel73

I had a '90 Ford Escort GT that ran forever! It had well over 150K before I finally got rid of it.

rhumb

If all else is equal, objectively and subjectively, I'll certainly give my nod to the American made car.

But this is a very simple statement in a very complex world. Would I buy an American made car from a foreign company over a foreign made car sold by an American company?

Basically, my perspective is what company has worked hardest to produce the best car to earn and deserve my business? I will reward that company with my hard-earned cash whether domestic of foreign.

It might sound a bit cold and unpatriotic at first blush, but over the many years, I have seen how propping up Detroit has, in the long run only resulted in complacency, lethargy and sub-par products. Personal-level socialism, i.e., propping up industries for political reasons, works about as well as government-level socialism. Guess I'm a capitalist, free-marketeer at heart.

That said, Detroit is producing many, if perhaps not enough given the Big Three's obvious and serious woes, very good and very competitive cars that, were I in the market, would seriously consider and that stand up fully on their merits alone (no need to wave a flag in my face).

TJ4Cam

All my FoMoCo products have ran very well with no major issues, never any need to look elsewhere!

RawAutos

It depends on the car... But typically, I prefer German over anything else. I love BMW's more than anything. Although I grew up around Corvette's, Mustang's, Camaro's, and the likes. I prefer the driving of a BMW, Porsche, Ferrari, or those sorts.

But it really depends on the car and the person who has that car. An 05 Mustang GT will be perfect to sum and to others it will fall apart. It depends on their biases while they own the car and it also depends on how they treat the car...