#1 is why they get away with everything, leading them to become#2. Same reason people put up with certain brands of somewhat unreliable Italian sports cars. Also: Any more crap car stories where the car catches on fire/has comical catastrophic failure?
Easily the worst "modern" car I have driven in this century is the Smart car. It has a horrible, jerky transmission, returns much lower fuel mileage than one would expect for a car that size with such a small engine and requires premium fuel.