Buying a car for the first time, American, Japanese, or Euro?

Question

Im going to be buying my first new vehicle (first three were used) Im considering 1 american vehicle, 2 japanese, and 1 european. My gut and my instincts are telling me to go with japanese or the euro but from what my mom and her local connection with a certain dealer is to go with the american car because of current financing and incentives.

Ive had pretty good luck with jap cars but im not so sure of the quality of recent american vehicles. So i leave it to you, help me make the correct choice so im not shelling out beaucoup bux for repairs and such

ok the manufacturers are Pontiac, Honda toyota and the yet to be released Smart

Models are G5, Fit, Yaris, Fortwo

Answer 1

Japanese. their pefect!

Answer 2

I would base the decision on the brand and model. I would buy a Toyota, Honda, or BMW any time. Especially a Toyota Avensis if available in the US (fantastic crash rating and really beautiful) or a Prius, or a Honda Civic Hybrid (why not get killer gas mileage while you're at it, that'll save up a few vacations for you in gas over time), or a BMW 120d. The Smart is also interesting, but you'd need to check if you like the ride quality - they can be a bit stiff.

Answer 3

I bought a new car last year, and with the incentives, price, gas mileage and the measureable cheesiness of the salespeople I chose a Chevy. I had a new Ford YEARS ago, and it was a piece of excrement from day one. I know what they mean by Found On Road Dead now!
I could only afford used Japanese cars in the past, and they were pretty good even used, but when they DID need repairs, hello second mortgage! It seems every part I needed for the car had to be specially cast in Japan and then shipped by rowboat to my mechanic! Never again...

Answer 4

Depends on how much you are planning to spend. My first recommendation is Mercedes Benz. But if you are only planning to spend around 30K that would not be a good idea. The C Class MB (30K) is absolute junk. For 30K you would be better advised to go Japanese. But if you bump your investment up to 55K then you absolutely could not buy a better car in that price range than an E class MB. Bump it again to around $77K for a CLS and you have done a beautiful thing. 85K for a stunning S class, and go all out to around $116K for a CL class or more for an SL class. Of course you can spice any of these models up with the AMG packages. Once you get to E class and above you just cannot find a comparable car for the money. I know BMW makes cars in these price ranges as does Acura, Lexus, etc.. But I said a comparable car.
Another angle here is to buy a pre-owned MB in the price range of your choice. You can get a really nice E class with extended warranty for far less than a new one. Check the MB website and you can find a pre-owned dream car in your region. Maybe even in your neighborhood!

Answer 5

I ended up going Japanese on my last purchase, but *only* after trying the American counterpart and giving the American vehicle every possible break and every benefit of the doubt. My feeling is that every American vehicle purchased keeps an American autoworker employed for one more month, and I'd sure hate to be unemployed myself. Problem was, the Japanese vehicle was just built better, felt better, looked better, had a better safety record, had a better maintenance record, and just had more creature comforts for the money.

In case you're wondering, it was the 2006 Dodge RAM 1500 vs. the Nissan Titan.

Answer 6

I've never had any problems with any of the amerian vehicles I have owned. I work in a garage, and see equal amounts of each, what are the vehicles you are looking at? This is the better way to determine, as each company has their down and up points on vehicles.

Personally, I would stay away from Eruopean, as I have many unsatisified, more then not, that are disapointed in the preformance of their European vehicles. They are also harder and more expenceive to repair, generally.

If it was me, I would be looking at American. My family has always owned American vehicles, mostly Ford, and My fathers (Dakota) Is concidered Very low milage in my family as jsut over 100 000km for a 10 year old vehicle, my truck (Ranger) is also concidered low milage at 190 000km on a 18 year old truck, the average milage in my family for vehicles is about 400 000km. All the asian vehicls (no one in my family owns european) don't seem to keep up, after 250 000km. And we are Maintance/Preventative Maintance freaks. We will fix and repair problems to keep them from happening. Like on my mothers Plymouth Voyager. It was 10 000km before the timing belt was due, she had it done, and then had the entire hardwear kit replaced, the water pump (driven off the timing belt) and then had any seal in that area of the engine replaced, eventhough they were still good. As Murphy has it, if it was jsut worked on in that area, the one thing you didn't do will go, and the entire job will have to be done again.

Answer 7

Toyota all the way.

Total quality.

I used to teach (English) at Toyota headquarters in Toyota, Japan. Not only that but I used to teach a lot of people who worked for other companies in conjunction with Toyota as car designers. Really nice people. Very dedicated to their jobs.

I went on a factory tour as well. Amazing! They treated us like gods. The factories are extremely clean. The workers are paid well, and have incentives for them to work better. Each worker gets paid for suggestions made to improve cars, no matter how seemingly insignificant the idea is.

The assembly line is varied. They don't just pump out thousands of the same car at the same time. They actually mix them up. I think it helps prevent boredom on part of the assembly line workers, keeps them on their toes.

The robots too are amazing.

Toyota!

Fords are built to break down. GM is better quality. Toyota is awesome. Honda's pretty good, better than GM. The European cars are usually great, but they cost so much!

Answer 8

Go with the Fit. The fortwo is to small and oesn't get much better mileage. The Yaris is okay too but it costs more and the honda is probably more reliable.

Answer 9

Japanese

Answer 10

american is a NO... i would say japanese... I have a vw and i love it... but im pretty sure it would give me less problems than a honda. the Smart is an awsome car... but is it really usefull? i would say either of the two japanese cars. dont let the incentives get to you because it will get you in the long run

Answer 11

Made in Japan. Avoid cars made in France or made by Ford. The best car made is a Lexus followed closely by Toyota. The worst car made is a Mercury. My 1st car was a Ford and I am lucky to be alive today.