I'm an equal opportunity car guy. I'll buy whatever will pay off in most fun for my money. I certainly wouldn't turn my back on a new Z06 and buy an NSX because of fear a domestic vehicle would crumble to dust the instant I drove off the dealer's lot.

 

Must be that Euro mentality in us

Ive just bad luck with Fords in general so i dont know if id ever buy another american car again. I can remember when i was living at home, my mustang would leak oil all over the driveway after numerous trips to the shop! However a friend of mine who works construction brought up a point, for big "work trucks" you really have to go with a solid big american truck. So i guess if i was in that field id probably end up buying one.

Also, in my dealerships days i started at a Ford dealer and you wouldnt beleive the stupid things that would happen to those cars. Auto trannys were getting fixed or replaced on a daily basis! We had 3 mechanics dedicated to just transmission work!
Then i moved over to the Audi/Porsche dealership and those problems didnt exist. but i saw issues that were owner infused. Such as the woman who ripped up her leather door panel with her 5 carat rock on her finger and she wanted us to cover it under warantee

By the way, my co-worker wears a t-shirt that says "Jeep- Just Empty Every Pocket"

 

I get the same point made to me constantly when I hang out at my friend's shop. He and most of his customers are hardcore Chevy truck guys. I can't argue with that logic, you simply can't get an import that can do what they ask of those trucks on a near daily basis.

 

Domestics have certainly got the big stuff down when it comes to durability (although an old buddy of mine worked for a GMC dealer in NH and said axle failures on the big utes and pickups was VERY common), something that the imports can't match (yet). Right now, the Tundra's and Titan's of the world sell more as "personal trucks" than hardcore work trucks. Same with the Ridgline, a competent offering that is HEAVILY criticized by the Big 3 customers.

 

My next door neighbor got his, its red blech!!!!

Nice car, it moves pretty quick go to go for a ride.

I personally own a saturn and would get another in a heartbeat. Of the cars I have had and put through hell this car has done the best.

I kinda like these little hondas but physically I could never own one, too small and just not for me. They are hot though

 

Personally, I think American made cars are getting better just not fast enough to keep up with the imports. One thing with American cars at least IMO is that you can always tell where the money was spent and where it was not.

Look at most American cars and usually you'll find a poorly designed cheap looking interior and a monster V8. Exterior design is sometimes good, but not always (remember all the body cladding Pontiacs used to have ).

The Corvette is a great example of what I mean. The C6 performs almost as well as cars costing twice as much and the interior of the C6 is definitely a step up from the older vettes. However while the performance of the car matches that of cars costing much more the material quality of the interior matches that of cars costing much much less.

It would be nice to see an American car that is a good all around car.

 

What was sad about the Vette that I see at the Auto Shows is they paint job on them is atrocious. Even more sad is that if you check out a 20k Hyundai Tiburon the paint is 100x better. This wasn't a rare case either, Vette paint quality has been horrible on every example I have seen at more than 2 dozen car shows over the years.

Thing goes like stink so the price of admission is somewhat valid.

 

[QUOTE=MikeyC,Mar 23 2006, 02:00 AM] Look at most American cars and usually you'll find a poorly designed cheap looking interior and a monster V8.

 

I saw it at the Auto Show in November (?) at the Bayside Expo Center. The interior design looked really nice. However, the material quality looked pretty low at least compared to imports.

 

What about Kias? I found them cheap in every aspect. UGH!

Ill admit there are some things on my car that are cheap, IE its not a metal car. Big deal, the reinforcements are there and that is what counts to me. Its an overall safe car. Ive got 160k miles on my car, car has had 15 owners, burns oil bad right now but I am in the process of figuring it out.

Personally I am in love with Dodge/Chrysler. My dream is a chrysler pacifica and i love them. I had a dodge van and I did EVERYTHING i could to blow that sucker up, I mean everything. I took it mudding and got stuck, blew a whole tank of gas trying to get out and I did at the end LOL. Had a sunbird, ran that car hard, fast and put it up hot. Never an issue until I moved to illinois, and my ex didnt change my antifreeze. Engine cracked. I still drove it from Illinois back to Florida and for 6 months after. Yeah it ran like crap but it still drove.

As far as materials in the Sky? I think it looks pretty good. Its not a benz or bmw interior but then again you arent paying 50k for the car. The leather is stitched nicely, very soft and supple (I ride horses, I have a leather saddle, cost me 9 grand, the seats are comparable to the feel), interior does not seem like the fake plastic type stuff, seems muc hbetter. I of course am anxiously awaiting the new Aura or Outlook from them.

I hope GM does well, they need a boost. I hope that Honda and Toyota, etc does well also. Purposefully trashtalking another car manufacture just because you dont like their cars is not really nice.

I also hope that GM does well for the sake that they keep plants open. If they have to close plants, it means more people without jobs, will be on federal assitance, which means more taxes and more harm to us. So its a win win if they stay in.

Ok now I just wrote a book...