18th Sep 2010, 09:41

I am willing to pay more for a domestic car vs non union, less pay jobs, but people want cheap. I also feel the Internet stripped away much of the businesses in local communities.

I am thankful that I made a good living for 30 years; nice home and a pension. I wonder how many of the young commenters who want to drive the little imports and have to invest with less on their own today. In 20 years from now, I wonder if they may have wanted a pension and benefits.

I like the quality of my current domestics; better warranty ride and less issues. Time will tell if the quality of life is better for those retiring later down the road for future import car assemblers.

18th Sep 2010, 10:18

You're right, why sugarcoat it? GM cars have sapped $1,000's in repairs from my bank account. Even my brand new Ford had to be flatbedded to the dealer at 8K miles. ANY import I have ever owned has been flawless. Gee, I should support American industry so I can go broke? I think not!

Also, the profits do go to the domestic companies, but the salaries that the average worker gets are going more and more to Mexicans and Canadians. Sorry, but supporting America means supporting the U.S. worker, not an industry that continually looks for routes to outsource their labor to cut costs.

I'm really tired of the ratings quotes on here too. When the imports were on top for over 25 years, everyone said CR was being bought and C&D was a biased magazine, etc. etc... Now that the domestic cars are on the top of the rankings, they are the word of God. Please!

Funny, I just read a story about the top cars that mechanics hate. The reason they hate them is that they make no money on them due to their high reliability. All of the cars on the list were imports except the Fusion and Fusion Hybrid. Honda, Toyota, Subaru... etc, etc. This was just the other day and not 10 years ago that the story was written! I would much sooner take the word of a group of mechanics as to what lasts and needs less work, than some rating company.

18th Sep 2010, 15:51

In other words 10:18, you go along with the group saying what you want to hear. I'm sure if Consumer Reports changes their tune again, you will probably be quoting them on this site. I have always owned GM products and been very pleased for the most part. I would gladly pay a little extra in repairs over the long run and own a domestic that is larger, more comfortable, and better looking. They are usually cheaper to buy new as well. But go ahead and buy an import, no skin off my back, I'll just keep buying Buicks until I have a reason to do otherwise.

18th Sep 2010, 17:40

And my new Corvette far exceeds the quality of our new Acuras. If you save on import repairs, it's a great car to strive for. No issues and the best car I have ever owned. Many new cars owned, and the GM LS engines are outstanding.

18th Sep 2010, 17:58

Yeah, if we could all afford Corvettes and didn't need more than two seats to haul the kids around with, your logic would be sound. Not sure what your point is on the whole China statement. How many of the parts of your Vette do you think come from China or some other far away land? I bet a whole lot more than you think?

The argument is pretty tired for domestic versus import, as it is pretty much a global industry. GM and Ford would have failed long ago if they didn't sell cars in foreign countries. There is a give and take in the world economy, and the balance is held by equal support of all companies. If we shut down trade in the U.S. and only support our own companies, how long do you think they would survive? Foreign countries would boycott our products and surely tax the heck out of them, so our companies would lose the revenue they currently gain from around the world and fail anyway. People think that import buyers are causing problems for U.S. companies, but they fail to see the ramifications of a complete boycott of imported goods such as cars. Try looking at more than one side to the economy before going on about "support America".

America's self centered attitude is why we are pretty much loathed by the rest of the world. It would be nice if we could end that trend wouldn't it?

18th Sep 2010, 19:12

Huh? What does the incompetence of the domestic auto industry have to do with people's retirement? Imports have been sold for decades in the U.S. and have outsold domestics for at least 15 years, so why all of the sudden is this such a big deal? The domestic car companies got themselves into a hole by building second rate cars, and mostly by mismanaging their companies and overpaying assembly line workers. To continue to support this type of business is more detrimental to the future of America than to let it fail. We can go along living in the fantasy world that we've become accustomed to, or we can opt for a change to a more honest real world business strategy. Hmmmm, the way it has been is working real well isn't it? Yeah, I'd opt for change myself!

As far as the Internet closing down businesses. Well that too is a product of cost cutting by businesses to fatten up their bottom line. Of course, no one is looking to the future when all of the low end retail jobs are wiped out and there are no young people to buy their goods anymore because they don't have jobs. Our population keeps growing, yet people seem to want to shrink the workforce more and more. How does this make sense to anyone?

19th Sep 2010, 08:21

I'd buy a Canadian built car any day. Let's not forget who supported America during the war(s), lost lives, etc. Canadians, who also happen to buy the most goods produced by Americans from the States. So please show some respect to our neighbours to the north...

19th Sep 2010, 11:21

The jobs lost are high paying jobs. It wasn't quality to have to slash pay, eliminate pensions and benefits. I have no issue paying more for higher quality, and own GMs today vs Acuras also bought new. The economy was good and I could care less at the time about the American economy for years I bought what I wanted and didn't think. But now, the point is work another 20 years and see what kind of retirement pension you will have as a new import autoworker. It seems like even now younger people are remaining home with mom or dad or roomates everywhere.

The bleak import warranty I had caused me to leave. With major mechanical woes at under 30000 miles. That's poor quality when you spend over 35k, especially in this day and time.

I liked low production imports better, but not now.