Toyotas, Mazdas, and Hondas are simply better vehicles. If smoking pot, and buying non Amercian cars is Un-American, call me French. But I will be driving that vehicle for about 3-4 years longer than I would if it had the Ford or Chevy symbol on it. The Toyota I currently have is 7 years old and well over 100,000 miles. I have only had to replace the battery and brakes on it. Every single Ford or Chevy I have owned has been dead by 75,000 miles. Not to mention in and out of the shop on a consistent basis. "Quality is Job 1" is a load of crap.
"Seem" being the operative word... your basic Ford and Chevy got a bad rap and suffered from poor fuel mileage but lots of progress has taken place in Detroit since these issues surfaced in the early 1990s... today these vehicles can compete equally with the foreign econo-boxes and be a better all-around vehicle... While you may disagree with the "Quality is Job 1" lingo, there are just as many of the cheap imports suffering from the issues you slander Ford and Chevy with.... I am on my second 100,000 with a Chevy van and trust it completely; there is a reason why national delivery firms who purchase entire fleets of vehicles often choose either Chevy or Ford vehicles; the reliability of the cars is much better than anything else on the road... The Heartbeat of America: Chevy Quality is Job 1: Ford The future of America is a renewal of trust in Detroit....
No, Fords and Chevys are cheaper. $$$ Check your local used car lot. The US brand cars are just cheaper.
Until Detroit does something to earn my trust, I'm sticking with cars made by the Axis Powers. Sachin
...Unless you believe reliability reports from just about ANY published source that is not in Detroit, then sure. Two reasons people buy Ford/Chevy for fleet: 1. Cheaper 2. They'll be retired before they get a ton of miles on them anyway, so reliability as the car ages is less of an issue. Same with car rental companies: they're going to retire them before they get too old because nobody wants to rent a 10-yr-old car of any variety. U.S.-made cars often have more extensive "features" but that's just one more thing to break down before long. Our Saturn may be running at 150K miles, but I guarantee it is not a pleasant experience and has not been for the last 70K miles. Our Toyota has 110Kish miles on it and runs as smoothly and comfortably as the day we bought it (around 60K miles, I think). It still feels like a new car to us.
C'mon Sachin... think Made-In-America... American Jobs... and doing your part to supporting your nation... is all that not worth your patriotism on behalf of the American Minivan you will use to shuffle your children? What kind of message do we send the youth of tomorrow being a consumer of foreign-made goods? Is there any point to putting an American flag bumper sticker on a Japanese family van? When they play the National Anthem and we salute the Star Spangled Banner, don't you feel that the car in your driveway should be a Detroit-built automobile?
America is all about capitalism--if I don't want to spend my money on a hunk of junk, they better do a better job at making it a quality car. Until then, capitalism (the REAL spirit of America) marches on. END of story. It's one thing to spout trite cliches--it's another to understand what this country is really about.
Note the highlighted word above Sachin... in the auto trade that word is synonomous with "assembled"... I believe most if not all the Toyota parts are manufactured in a foreign nation (Japan) and shipped to this nation for 'assembly' in order for Toyota to get around our tariff and import laws and throw us a bone for assembly of its cars... the profit from these U.S. "built" Toyotas goes right out of the country back to Japan. Open your driver-side door and look down at the lower rocker panel or inside the door panel... there should be sticker there on where car parts were manufactured... I'll bet it says something like: Manufactured at Toyota City in Japan at the Teiho Plant (next to the Yahagi River)... other Toyota manufacturing plants in Japan include: Miyoshi, Shimoyama, Honsha, and Motomachi... they ship their "parts" all over the world for "assembly"....
Believe me, my Honda says Lincoln, Ala., so I was wrong about Indiana. I went and checked. The engine and transmission were built in Japan. From what I know, the parts in your Chevy come from Mexico and other places outside the USofByGodA. If Detroit wants my money, they'll design and build cars worthy of it. That's the American way, bucko. Sachin
Anyone catch the Honda Odyssey TV ads trumpeting "The Return of the Van"? All set to a 60's psychedelic theme. Only in America!
Mom & Dad Family minivan, with slight made-in-america tangent... To get back to thread topic however; anyone know what kind of family van sells the most worldwide?
Baited question... why don't you tell us since you looked it up first? Btw, it has little to do with quality and more about marketing, sales reach, etc. Especially, considering all automobiles are not priced the same.
Most searched Vans/Mini-Vans on KellyBlueBook.com Based on the pricing reports generated by over 10 million unique visitors every month. 1. Honda Odyssey Total 5-year Ownership Cost $32,713 [240 Torque w/ 19-25 MPG] 2. Toyota Sienna 3. Chrysler Town & Country 4. Kia Sedona 5. Dodge Caravan Grand 6. Nissan Quest 7. Hyundai Entourage 8. Chevrolet Uplander 9. Dodge Caravan Total 5-year Ownership Cost $33,104 [165 Torque w/ 20-26MPG] 10. Mazda MAZDA5 Highlighted links are compared '06 Intellichoice 5-year cost of ownership. I picked the lowest package for each van. I encourage others to make their own decision. Or you could just buy what someone else is buying?
This should be the answer to all your questions, anyways. I don't think it should be important to parents to buy American or not. Or is this forum American-parents and families only?
No it's not. All parents and family members are welcome here. Except for annoying little brothers of course.