18th Aug 2009, 11:06
My aunt traded her 2007 Ford Fusion after the intake manifold failed at 43,000 miles, transmission slippage at 48,000 and complete brake failure TWICE, before 23,000 miles. She is now driving a 2009 Camry (a brand she used to own before) and is again as happy and satisfied as ever.
18th Aug 2009, 23:16
I'm proud to own a Honda. Especially since it's actually made in the U.S. when the domestics are outsourced to Canada and Mexico. I honestly don't get the whole debate here though, the domestic lovers saying "I had a bad experience with an import so they all suck." or the import lovers saying "I had a bad experience with a domestic so they all suck." If you drive an import and love it, good for you. If you drive a domestic and love it, good for you as well.
I personally like Honda's the most. I've had many, my first car was a Civic with over 450,000 miles on the original engine and drivetrain (and I know they were the originals because it was passed down to me by my grandfather.)
I've owned domestics as well, and I've liked some of them too. I had an '89 Ford Taurus that I loved, it died at 130,000 miles. (Not much in my book, but not that bad.) And I had a '95 Chevy Lumina that I liked as well. I didn't keep it very long (only 80,000 miles) but it ran well for the time being.
More recently, I had a 2004 Ford Focus that made 140,000 miles with no problems. I see all of these as perfectly acceptable amounts of mileage considering domestics are only designed to last till the end of their warranties.
19th Aug 2009, 08:47
Why do people forget so easily that most Japanese cars are built, and even designed, in America by Americans. In addition to that many of the Ford products are based on Mazda platforms with Mazda drivetrains in them so they are of Japanese heritage almost as much as the Honda is. This is freedom... or free enterprise as it would be in the U.S. The domestic automakers made their own bed by producing horrific products in the 70's and 80's and the foreign car brands capitalized on that creating an unbelievable following over the last few decades. Is a Honda any better than a Ford today? I don't really think so. I have owned both recently and one is as good as another in everything from drivetrain to interior components. Let's face it hard plastic is hard plastic and it doesn't feel any better just because it is in your preferred brand of car. My Accord had plenty of it inside as well as a very whiny transmission... from brand new. I'm not saying the Accord is a bad car but it has the same issues as any Ford I have driven.
For me it comes down to features, performance, appearance and most importantly the price you can get the most for. I am not brand loyal and I like to try different cars as there have been very few that have not had any issues over the time I have owned them. The only brands I will never own again are Nissan and Mitsubishi. Both are similar in their lack of build quality with nickel and dime parts failing very early on. The Nissan also had a transmission issue that the dealer refused to fix after they couldn't get it right the first three times. Not the manufacturers fault completely but an unsupportive, incompetent dealer can make a brand less attractive. My best two cars over the past 27 years were a '90 Cavalier Z-24 that was rock solid no matter how hard I drove it and more recently an' 05 Saab 92X Aero, which is essentially a Subaru WRX. These were both absolutely trouble free for the entire time I had them.
19th Aug 2009, 21:26
I was having lunch with a group of fellow company owners (and patriots) a few days ago and we were discussing the complete apathy toward our fellow citizens that is displayed repeatedly by import fans on this site. We hit upon a great idea. Import owners tend to feel it is OK to destroy American jobs by buying from foreign interests. As has been pointed out numerous times, only 10% of U.S, auto-related jobs are provided by Japanese (and German) companies. This fact is, of course, always totally ignored by import fans. We decided we'd reward our customers who drive domestics. For now I'm giving a 15% discount to any client driving a new DOMESTIC vehicle. Import owners will pay full price. Seems like a GREAT idea to me. I hope more patriotic business owners will pick up on this idea.
19th Aug 2009, 21:32
"In addition to that many of the Ford products are based on Mazda platforms with Mazda drivetrains in them so they are of Japanese heritage almost as much as the Honda is."
Not any more. We had both a Japanese built Honda and a Japanese built Mazda in the 80's. Both were absolute GARBAGE.
Ford bought out Mazda and improved the quality dramatically. Mazda became a very good car ONLY after Ford took over and demanded better quality. The GOOD heritage is from FORD, and in NO WAY related to Honda (Thankfully). We now own the highest rated car in reliability in the world. It is a Ford Fusion, which is based on the (Ford inspired) Mazda 6. Please don't equate these great cars with Honda. Most domestic cars have warranties that are longer than our crappy Honda lasted.
20th Aug 2009, 11:33
To the above comment: I personally am glad that you think your getting a higher quality car when you purchase a domestic, because it's people like you who keep mechanics like me in business. I've seen Honda's with over 400,000 miles on them, I've yet to see a domestic with anything over 140,000.
20th Aug 2009, 12:55
So what kind of discount would you give someone that never bought a Japanese TV, or computer, or... anything else foreign? (good luck finding someone!!)
Please. This is so short sighted. To nail the people driving cars that are foreign is a ridiculous practice. Many of our own companies that used to manufacture products here sold out to foreign companies long ago. Even your good old Ford, Chevy and Chrysler cars use many foreign parts. You think those cranking stereos were built here in the USA?? How about the NAV system or computer?? Heck all three of the domestic car companies have had models that were rebadged foreign cars for sale right along with the domestic models, so if someone comes into your business driving a Saturn Vue with the Honda V-6 in it do they get the discount? How about a Ford Fusion which is basically a Mazda 6? Maybe someone would still have a Geo Prism.... or Chevy Prism as it was called in its final years which was a rebadged Corolla. This is kind of confusing isn't it? Takes a lot of effort to really discern one brand from another doesn't it? How about a Saab or a Volvo which are (or were) owned by GM and Ford respectively. Point is... what constitutes a domestic as opposed to a foreign car in your mind? Even Honda's are mostly built in the U.S. these days by good old American workers.
Picking one product to "punish" people for owning is as unpatriotic as you feel their owning it is. America is about freedom of choice.
If we didn't want foreign competition then they shouldn't have allowed Honda and Toyota to sell cars in the US 40 years ago. And if the domestic brands were so concerned about loyalty, then they might have wanted to put out a product that was worthy of buying against the foreign brands over the past 3 decades. They have caught up in quality recently, but there are so many people that just wanted a good car that lasted and still won't trade their Toyota for a Ford no matter what Consumer Reports says. Is it their fault they had to endure decades of junk from the big 3?
And now people like you talk about patriotism? What is patriotic about a huge corporation ripping people off for decades with sub par quality products and then mismanaging themselves to the point where they need billions of dollars of tax payers money to survive? (only Ford has escaped that necessity... for now) Seems they have never had our interest in mind... so why should we now have theirs? Please explain your side of this argument... and don't talk to me about 90% of Americans jobs etc, etc...
The mistake was made of putting so much faith into a failing business long ago and America should have stopped exporting the production of just about every other type of product so we could stay viable no matter what happened to the auto industry. You should really be thanking the foreign brands, because without their superior products over the years, the big 3 would not have upped their quality to the level that it is now and we'd still be watching our domestic cars rust in the driveway at two years old!!
Competition is a good thing and should not be shunned. Let the domestics try harder to win over the foreign car buyers. I believe they are as good, quality wise, today as any foreign brand and most of that is because of the joint efforts with the foreign brands over the years. Unfortunately, they are looked down upon socially due to the economic troubles they have brought down upon themselves.
17th Aug 2009, 20:20
If you choose to turn your back on the 90% of Americans who work in the U.S. auto industry, you have that freedom, just as you have the freedom to ignore starving and homeless children and people being thrown out of their homes because Americans don't support their own industry. If you want a car with less warranty, transmission issues, and rated lower in reliability than Ford's Fusion, be my guest. Mechanics all over the country will thank you in three short years when your puny warranty is out and you are making them rich. In the meantime your fellow citizens will be unemployed and homeless. I guess that's the price of freedom?