CNN Article on the Quality of American Cars...

I thought long and hard about the Dodge Charger...gas costs too much though.

 

I wanted to reply to this earlier but kept getting distracted. I was hoping somebody would point this out but it hasn't happened yet so here I go.
The conclusions drawn from that JD P&A survey are somewhat screwed up. I mean the method of averaging the averages of these brand's reliability scores to come up with a "Japan" average and "GM/Ford" average is flawed.

For example, Toyota sells way more cars then Mazda, Subaru, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, and Isuzu however all of these numbers get averaged in like they are weighted equally.

For the sake of argument, let's say Toyota sells 1,000,000 cars with the high reliability rating of 194, and all of the other makers sell 1,000 cars with the lower reliability ratings of 300. To then say that the average reliability of these makes is 247 would be misleading. The fact that you have some Asian makers out there with poor reliability ratings shouldn't be used to drag down the high reliability ratings of Toyota and Honda which sell FAR more cars than those other makes.

And by the same token this is done to juice up the GM/Ford ratings. Lincoln, Buick, Cadillac? How many cars of these brands are sold when compared to Chevrolet, Ford, GMC, and Pontiac? This is using the small-sales figures of some high-end brands with high reliability to bring up the low reliability ratings of the brands that do huge sales. Clever manipulation of the numbers to get the desired result, I would say.

I wish I could find the exact sales numbers to give the real example of how this CNN article is messed up. Maybe Malorn can give us the numbers so I can do the math and really show what is going on.

 

Nice analysis SLORTZ !!

JDP has been 'tailoring' its reports for years now. This article is just more of the same trash. It cracks me up everytime I read three years.

It truly amazes me that Detroit thinks that decades of screwing consumers with shoddy quality will be forgotten overnight. They are going to have to be cheaper than Hyundai, or offer 100K bumper-to-bumper warranties to buy back all the good will they squandered. I'd imagine for a lot of consumers, watching Detroit waste away is sweet revenge for insults delivered.

Speaking of warranties, I am still waiting for malorn to provide dealer/consumer costs of 100K extended warranties for a mix of GM and Ford cars.

 

Just compare Honda or Toyota to Chevrolet. Already a 15% difference in three measly years. A look at CR data tells you that those differences will only continue to widen as the car ages.

Or, to paraphrase GM: Buy a 40K caddy, and you WILL get reliability equal to a 15K Toyota -- at least for three years.

Gee ... let me think that one over, OK ?

 

It should be difficult, since Toyota is still 45.4 points ahead of GM/Ford in quality. Until this changes (and we are talking about GM/Ford improving quality by 20%--assuming that Toyota does decrease it's quality), my first choice will always be Toyota.


EDIT: Malorn, both of the Ford cars I owned had troubles. Funny, both of them were around 125K miles when the trouble started.

 

I owned an oldsmobile, and while it had a few minor issues, it never died on me, unlike a certain hybrid I own.

I'm definetly looking at a Mercury Milan or G6 GTP for my next car. Somehow I don't think either one will die on me.

 

We had a Malibu that would stall all through the winter. Got rid of it in less than a year. I had several recalls in the less than 2 years that I had the Sport Trac. My Ranger was fairly reliable but those damn Ford mirrors are nearly incapable of staying on the windshield for more than a few months. And every plastic part in the d**n truck broke. I am not that hard on things.

Every Toyota I have had had been reliable and gone far beyond what I thought it could do. Toyotoa has made an error in Chasing the American Truck market. There are still plenty of us who would just love the little pick up. The Tacoma looks more like the Tundra use to. Bring back the "little truck"!!!

As far as Ford and Chevy, are their "sheeple" any different than a Toyota Customer?

 

7 Fords (2 pickups) all but one van that I traded had over 100k miles
2 Honda Accords, both over 200k miles
1 Mazda P/U, almost to 200k miles

None of these cars had any problems or mechanical breakdowns. I had the timing belts replaced and did regular maintenance. That's it.

My wife just recently bought a GM (Saturn Relay)
With less than 13000 miles on it, it has been in the shop 7 times.
3 of those times were for the same reason.

My next car... Certainly not a GM.
One bad experience is all it takes.

I am now going to try my luck with a Toyota Prius - if it ever gets here.