30th Oct 2009, 08:21
Oh don't start with the recall issues, especially since Ford just issued the largest recall in history! Yes, Toyota slipped in quality a few years back and apologized publicly about it. They are back up now though. They had about the same number of problem vehicles in their line that Ford and GM have good ones now. Mainly the Camry was the problem car.
As far as your past tense comment... Not so much since Asian brands (Japanese and Korean) STILL dominate the top 5 companies for quality. Plus "have been" in that context really means continuing... not really a past tense statement. Nice stretch though.
And I was amused by your "handful of decent cars a decade ago" comment. Honda and Toyota have produced MILLIONS of top notch vehicles for 3 decades or more and have legions of loyal followers that GM and Ford will probably never win back... since GM and Ford have only had a "handful" of cars that are worth anything in that same time period... mostly in the past few years. And what is your point on the Pierce Arrow line? You lost me there.
30th Oct 2009, 16:35
"No Japanese manufacturer has the confidence in their products to warranty them for 100,000 miles, as GM does."
It's not confidence. It's an incentive to get you to buy.
And Ford and GM outclass the Japanese brands with ONE VEHICLE EACH. The Japanese brands outclass EVERY OTHER FORD AND GM VEHICLE. The Ford Fusion and the Buick LeSabre (I believe that's the GM model on top right now, but I could be wrong, but I know it's a Buick of some sort) are the ONLY vehicles at the top of the lists.
30th Oct 2009, 08:04
Okay 1. ONE Ford car, the Fusion, is on par with the Japanese car quality level and Buick is the ONLY GM line that even comes close to Japanese quality and reliability.
2. The 100K mile warranty has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with GM's confidence. It is a marketing ploy to sell cars and they only did this because Hyundai and Kia were so successful with that marketing strategy. The funny thing is their warranty is still only 5 years, so in all likelihood you would be just as warranted with a Honda as their 5 year 60K warranty covers the average mileage one puts on a car. The ONLY time the GM warranty is any more worthwhile than the Honda warranty, is if you are driving 30% more miles than average per year. I don't know too many people that do that. I'm sure there are a few out there, but not enough to make that warranty a valid increase over Hondas.
If GM had any real confidence in their products, they'd have offered the 10 years that Hyundai does.