17th Aug 2005, 07:52
Good review, but I must disagree with you on the fact that American cars are of inferior quality. If you look at the recent J.D. Power and Associate's Report, GM took many of the top honors (i.e. Gold, Silver, and Bronze plant quality awards for Oshawa #1/#2 and Hamtramck, MI), and Cadillac and Buick are taking top honors for quality. The Chevrolet Impala best the Honda Accord and its other counterparts in initial quality, and tied with the Toyota Camry. The Toyota Tacoma, according to Consumer's Reports, failed to meet criteria stating that the vehicle was "reliable." Nissan received some of the lowest scores from J.D. Power, and Mitsubishi scored equal or even lower in some respects to the latter brand. If you look at the NHTSA.gov website, the 2004 Chevrolet Impala and Pontiac Grand Prix only received one recall each; on the other hand, Toyota received two on its Camry, and Honda received two also.
The odd point about the Honda was the fact that one of its recalls required a recall of over one million vehicles. It is also noteworthy to say that the Buick LeSabre, which competes directly with the Toyota Camry XLE and Toyota Avalon had absolutely no recalls for the 2004 and 2005 model years. Buick also has taken many top honors from J.D. Power and other awards, just visit Buick.com for more information on those.
I am not saying that the Japanese build a poor product, but I am just saying that people like you that hold this huge misconception, along with a majority of the public, that GM is producing inferior quality cars is absolutely not true.
17th Aug 2005, 08:17
Very interested in this car after reading mostly positive comments. But I wonder how you got the car for so cheap, even if it's without A/C? I can't see it being so cheap, even though employee discount is still on 2005 model!
I noticed that this car's crash rating on safercar.gov has some safety concern though (side impact only, frontal's very good).
28th Oct 2005, 14:55
I am the original poster again. I live in Silicon Valley (California) and my model, the SVM base model, was consistently offered by two separate dealers from March until October 2005 for $6995 in any color you wanted. They kept running ads every week in the San Jose Mercury News.
Ironically, the Chevrolet dealership closest to me told me flat out that they couldn't sell me the car for less than $8,995 otherwise they would "lose money"! Obviously I didn't shop there.
21st Nov 2005, 16:57
I have a problem with your comments on North American "made" cars. GM, Ford and Chrysler have all improved their quality on many models. Apart from that, most Honda's and Toyota's (even Lexus makes some) that are sold in North America are made in North America. Please don't insult our collective workforce.
7th Dec 2005, 13:51
The American versus Foreign debate is interesting. Much of the debate is based on survey research, which tends to be biased toward responders and popular perception. Perception is biased toward historical antidotes and rumor. That said, the data suggests that many improvements have been made in safety, fuel economy, and emissions across the industry. In addition, market competition has kept prices affordable, created more manufacturing jobs as foreign automakers use local labor, and improved automotive standards. Now, the average Jane can move her tush from A to B at a fraction of her annual salary.
On a personal level, I've surveyed mechanics and they tend to respond favorably to the Honda/Toyota name plates. However, I almost always see them hop into an American name plate at the end of the day. Why? They're comfortable with these cars because they're familiar with them and they're cheap for them to fix.
I own a 2004 Honda Accord V6 and a 1995 Plymouth Voyager 3.0L. In my experience, the Voyager requires more maintenance, but cruises nicely on the highway and performs the daily jaunts without hesitation. The Accord never hesitates and the maintenance schedule is long, too long in my opinion, but long trips are less comfortable and interior rattles rather aggravating.
I imagine the Aveo to be a great little car to scoot around in, with a long maintenance schedule required from the tiny 1.6L four banger. I wouldn't put my kids in it, especially in the winter, but for the deal this reviewer got, who could pass it up? If I find one in that range, I might be cracked enough to pick up a third vehicle.
21st May 2005, 10:22
I am the original poster.
I know that foreign cars are not all perfect. The BMW 740 series (now 750) was rated the most unreliable car in America. I recently test drove a $45K Infiniti M35 that had such bad wind noise I thought a window was down. And I would never buy any German car built in America.
But American cars are still inferior in quality. Components may last a long time (as you cite), but the cars as a whole are awful. Case in point is Cadillac. When first looking at my Aveo at a Cadillac/Chevy/Hummer dealership I sat in the $75K XLR. It had such a cheap interior I preferred the Aveo to it.
As for the Crown Victoria, the engines/transmissions may last forever, but they have severe design flaws. Many deaths, especially with Crown Vics used as police cruisers, have been attributed to unpredictable handling in panic situations. Little known fact, but true.
Overall, quality is really a subjective issue. Scion and other "youth" brands are finding complaints increase with young buyers as they have extremely high expectations. As you go up the age scale complaints decrease. My friend with the Focus, who is 45, took his Focus recalls in stride by saying "well, it's an American car and they're all like that". To me, that's unacceptable regardless of the car brand.