Why are American cars typically less reliable than the top foreign cars?

Question

If you were to buy an old car, would you buy an old Ford Taurus or an old Toyota Camry?

Answer 1

I'm not even going to read the other responses because I think about 95% will probably be "pro" foreign made vehicles.

Without a doubt I would go with the older foreign car over the older American car...

But we should all reconsider American made cars. They are built much better than they used to be and not only have they extended their warranties in the last year, but our warranty repairwork is at an all-time low.

They WERE typically less reliable and that's not the case today. Period.

Answer 2

Back in 1981 & 1982, when Chrysler was on the brink of going under. GM and Ford, thought they were the fat cats. Scraping in the money and not thinking foreign cars could touch them. Because of the American People. The steel mills were Union and paying triple time for guys to work holidays where they just sat in corners and got drunk. ( not all of them) While the japanes taxed out exports heavly, we welcome their cars with no tarraf at all. Cheap labor and Cheap steel and no unions. They took off as soon as the young smart buyers dared to buy. Finding a qualified vehicle for almost half the price. Not only that, but they kept it simple. Three engines and two transmission. So everyone of their mechanics were top certified in all their models. No 4-6-8, no citiations, and celberatiies with rack and pinions going out in a year. This from a company that had the top of the line front wheel drive for years in the Eldorado. The rest is history.

Answer 3

you want to know why? Because foreign companies like toyota have better engineers! American car companies have folded and gave in, only thing that keeps them a float are trucks, which are being sold less now due to gas, so hopefully this forces ford GM Chrysler to finally make something worth buying (as in cars). I've got a MazdaSpeed6, runs very clean, never had a problem with it, (yet knock on wood)

Answer 4

A Toyota Camry. I know several people with Toyotas and they just about refuse to buy another brand. Also, it seems that American car makers either don't care to make a decent product or they or scamming us all. Some American Models are ok, but mostly, they are not.

Answer 5

For decades the big US makers didn't give a f*ck, they knew that ignorant red necks and Hummer H3 owners would buy them anyways, even if they sucked, just because of patriotism.

Then Toyota and Honda kicked their f*cking asses, nearly running GM and Ford out of the US market. (look at layoffs and plant closings) This is where the US makers started to loose their ego.

Then Hyundai came in, took the JD Power awards for initial quality and did so using a new plant in the US, proving that not only can they make a better car but they can do it with the same state-side overhead without any advantage to their name and without the thousands of buyers just trying to be patriotic.

Their catching on now though, their jobs depend on it. Thanks to Bush Patriotism isn't quite in style =)

Answer 6

Oh come on, the Taurus is a disaster and its automatic transmission is a nightmare.

Why are they like this? Ford and GM have no respect for their US customers and expect them to go on buying whatever crap is offered. They both offer quite interesting cars in other countries.

Answer 7

Asian workers are kind of human robots. European cars are top high tech and you pay for it.