18th Oct 2010, 16:21

You keep bringing this up, so I just had to look up your source. Funny that the ratings from J.D. Powers do rank Ford 5th, but it is right below Lexus, you know the Toyota based Lexus? Acura is #2 on their list, amid a flurry of supposed transmission problems. Honda is below Ford by one. Toyota has a low initial quality score due to the recall mess. They will very well rectify this, and the ratings will reflect it soon enough. Look at J.D. Powers overall quality ratings, and Lexus scores perfect all the way across the chart in all categories (the ONLY company to do this). Ford is 4 out of 5. Look at the chart of initial brand quality, and imports still edge out domestics overall.

Really, to base things all on initial quality ratings doesn't make much sense, since no one can tell the future, so who knows which car will last the longest. All brands have strong and weak examples, so it is luck of the draw, and you have to hope you get a good one. Domestic cars have made strides to improve, but in J.D. Powers own words...

"Domestic automakers have made impressive strides in steadily improving vehicle quality, particularly since 2007," said David Sargent, vice president of global vehicle research at J.D. Power and Associates. "This year may mark a key turning point for U.S. brands as they continue to fight the battle against lingering negative perceptions of their quality. However, there is still a long road ahead, and domestic manufacturers need to consistently prove to consumers that they can produce models with quality that equals or beats that of the import brands."

So there you have it... the source you list all the time still ranks imports better than domestics overall. Toyota will recover soon enough, as is evident by the perfect scores of their luxury brand Lexus. Most of the lower scores are based on people's perception of Toyota right now.

19th Oct 2010, 09:14

"I thought you could care less about what JD Powers says."

I could care less, but this poster keeps bringing them up so I thought I'd see why. Turns out they don't really see things the way he does. Funny how people can use certain minor details of someone else's information to make an argument look stronger isn't it? Next time maybe they will list ALL the facts behind a source like J.D. Powers instead of just the facts they want to believe as truth.

Now I know... Lexus pretty much beats every other car company across the board period, end of story... so guess what Toyota still rules! I was right all along... huh.

19th Oct 2010, 20:13

"I thought you could care less about what JD Powers says."

This is a classic case of "If it helps my case I'll USE it, and if not I'll IGNORE it." The FACT is that Toyota IS ranked 21st out of 33 car makers in build quality. Look it up if you don't believe it. Ford DOES outrank both Honda AND Toyota in build quality. And initial build quality surveys are based on problems found in the first three months of ownership. Believe me, if an IMPORT OWNER, who is already obviously biased, reports so many problems that a car ranks TWENTY-FIRST out of THIRTY THREE car makers, just imagine how many problems it REALLY has and how many things are waiting to fall apart in a few MORE months. More problems up front equal WAYYYY more problems down the road.

As for Lexus, it is not truly a Toyota, but is a separate division with more rigid quality controls. And IN SPITE of the alleged high quality, Lexus has still been trading places with BUICK (a DOMESTIC) for top slot as Best Car for a decade. If you question that, CHECK IT OUT. Buick outranked Lexus last year in long-term reliability, as did Jaguar (at that time a Ford product).

Long term reliability reliability surveys go back three years, so that means the 2006 Buick and the 2006 Ford-built Jaguar were more reliable than the 2006 Lexus. This was well before Toyota's many flaws had become daily news.

The top personal/sport category has been dominated by the Ford Mustang (beating out Toyota's dorky Solara) and the Pontiac Grand Prix was top pick for Best Large Sedan (beating out the unreliable Toyota Avalon even before

Toyota was exposed as a highly questionable source of quality cars).

If ratings DON'T matter (and apparently only the parts that misleadingly seem to put imports in a better light DO to the above commenter) you might want to ignore Consumer Reports as well, since it rates Ford's world-class Fusion as higher in reliability than Honda's Accord or the now-disgraced Camry. In 2009, CR ran an article on the longest lasting vehicles. Better avoid THAT one!! It featured a Ford Ranger with nearly HALF A MILLION trouble-free miles. By all means don't check out the "Million Mile Club". DEFINITELY no Japanese imports there. The bodies won't even last that long. There are, however Ford and GM cars in that select group.

And how about FAST cars?? NO Japanese contenders there either. Cadillac takes the spot as the fastest sedan on Earth. In a recent head-to-head test, the Cadillac CTS beat out the Mercedes AMG63, which costs nearly three times as much. The Corvette has increased sales 300% since entering the European racing circuit, competing with cars that cost four times as much, but are far less comfortable or reliable. The 412 horsepower 2011 Mustang is the most powerful bang-for-the buck car on Earth, and sells for less than a Honda Accord.

Yes, just keep on blindly following the crowd of brainwashed import fans who feel that the current crop of Japanese imports are "better". Your local mechanics will sing your praises while laughing all the way to the bank!!

20th Oct 2010, 12:47

Please tell me where I can get a 412 HP Mustang GT for around $20K. That would be less than an Accord. I'd like ten of them so I can make some serious money on Ebay reselling them for their actual $28K price.

As for the rest of your post. Yes, it is easy to find what you want to find on the Internet. My point overall was just that, which is why I really could care less what J.D. Powers has to say about cars. You already proved that point by finding conflicting information elsewhere. This only proves that there is no accurate info on cars out there, and it is all hearsay.

I just got tired of the quotes about J.D. Powers and went to see for myself. I should have known that the facts were skewed in favor of certain likes or dislikes. Seems to be what many people want to do on here, like they are changing people's minds with their opinions.

I'll continue to drive what has proven to be the cheapest overall vehicles to own and operate, which are clearly imports. I am not trying to get any Chevy fans to buy Toyotas. Really, just drive what you want to.... it's okay with me. I like to see a variety of cars out there! I am merely stating the facts about my personal experience... you know like what this site was designed for?