8th Feb 2009, 23:20
"Remember, however, that we live in a country that is rife with legends (Bigfoot, UFO's, Japanese cars being better) that are not amenable to logic or rational thinking. When the scientific method can't validate these myths, the "true believers" start chanting "Consumer Reports... High sales... My uncle Ichabod owns a 7,000,000 mile Tacoma...""
So..."Consumer Reports" and high sales serve as a response to Bigfoot and UFOs huh? :)
Actually I've spent a fair amount of "ink" pointing out that CR and other organizations have shown that the reliability of some models and years of American trucks are on a par with or better than any of their Japanese counterparts as far as reliability goes.
Some might be chanting, but I'm just sitting here typing quietly pondering patriotic purchasing vs. purchasing strictly on the merits of the product. I've done my fair share of both. I've owned both Japanese and American cars. I've owned many American made, German made, Japanese made, and Chinese made products. I prefer to buy American and often will pay more to do it -- as long as the USA made product is better. But I won't tell you what to do.
Maybe I'm just not enough of a "true believer" to shout along with either of the types of blind followers represented here on this thread.
"The playing rules change with each game."
Or perhaps with each person. You aren't only talking to one other person on this forum. To one, high Japanese sales is proof of their superiority. To another, high domestic sales is meaningless. It's only a double standard if the same person believes both.
8th Feb 2009, 12:57
"And to another commenter, NO, I WOULDN'T buy a Tundra even if it could walk on water, because with the U.S. auto industry in desperate need of help, NO WAY am I sending my American-earned money to a foreign industry (even if the product WAS better, which it definitely is NOT)."
Amen brother!!
Watch how everybody attacks this comment and we will be able to plainly see why the US economy is in so much trouble. They can drive their Tundra's to the poor house (assuming they can even make it there), which is where we are all going to be because of this utterly stupid "global economy" and "patriotism is for dumb rednecks" mentality going around today.
I know my parents and grandparents (WWII generation) did not think that way. They loved our country and did not take a single thing they had for granted, nor assume it would magically continue without them contributing to it, instead of constantly taking away from it - sending money to Japan and putting another nail in the coffin of US industry every time you buy a Toyota.