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I've often been accused of having it in for American cars.  That's probably because I do.  Ever since my first car, a Ford Pinto station wagon, I've been disgusted with the quality, ride, handling and general refinement of American-made cars.  

The first time I got behind the wheel of a Mercedes, I understood quality.  The first time, I drove a BMW, I understood ride.  The first time I drove a Porsche, I understood handling.  The first time I saw a Ferrari, I understood art.  

So here we are, more than twenty years later, and the status is still quo.  American cars are praised for their quality, yet I've driven nothing made in this country-- I mean by one of our Big Three automakers-- that makes me think that Detroit "gets it".  There's no American car I know of that can live up to its foreign competition in [an admittedly subjective] measure of quality.

Chrysler has some good stuff, Caddy has some better stuff, but close your eyes (on a closed course with a professional driver) and you'd never think for a second you were anywhere but in a Yank tank.  In the main, American cars still float and drift alarmingly and offer-up gobs of model airplane plastic.  They still feel drive, look and feel cheap.

Have I been so traumatized by American cars that I've become reverse xenophonic?  Someone please tell me what American car can meet or beat a 3 Series or Lexus in the overall sense of here, by God, is a well-made car that handles like a dream. Will this American car nightmare never end?




 

preach on brother  

sounds like the reason for this is your snobby attitude. try working on anything designed in germany and you'll buy a horse and cancel your driver's license.

i'm sure you've bought parts for them...price an alternator for a 2001 mercedes, porsche or BMW anything vs the same for a 2001 olds 88, then to really scare yourself, price the same thing installed by a mechanic at a professional garage. the labor will be unreal on the euro cars, merely exorbitant on the olds. hence the reason i do all my own car work.

those elite euro cars probably do handle better & rider better, they ought to for the price they charge. if the only american car you've ever driven was a pinto, you haven't given america a fair shake. in the 70's when imports first came in large numbers, american cars had a lot of catching up to do. today, i can buy a new ford taurus and not have to do anything to it but change the oil and drive it for 100,000 miles. i don't think you can call that status quo.

this is america. i would rather buy american and keep americans working than send my hard earned dollars (not euros) overseas to support people who spend their time bad mouthing america. this country became great by supplying it's own needs and figuring out a better way to do it.

i drive a '98 dodge ram 3/4 ton 4x4 quadcab V10 pickup. it has the smoothest pulling power i've ever seen. (probably pull your mercedes and BMW backwards together) it has 165,000 miles and is still pulling. cost me $6500

last truck was a '87 ford f150. sold at 266,000 miles & still running because i needed the larger cab & capacity of the dodge. the only thing i ever did to this ford was starter, alternator & water pump. the major driveline components have never been open. cost me $2000.

also drive a '84 pontiac parisienne. yep it floats, but it rides nice, holds all 6 of us, gets 21 mpg and will run the highway all day long at 75 mph. cost me $800.

lastly is my 86 jeep wagoneer. holds all 6 of us, climbs walls, tows trailers, rides great, eats up potholes and railroad tracks. gets the family to town in ugly weather. cost me $100.

the only euro car i ever owned was an austin healy sprite. could'nt get parts, leaked rain, no heat. HORRIBLE shocks, could hear it rust on a quiet night and wouldn't start in the rain.

only japanese car i ever owned was a '75 civic. rewired it, put 2 engines in it, every electrical part got replaced twice. all this in 3 years.

these 2 junkers cured me of ever owning another overpriced, over rated import of any stripe.

you can have your euro cars. i'll buy american, drive american and defend american. if euro cars are so good, move where everyone drive them.
 

I have purchased American made cars ALL my life. Some better than others but none as reliable as the Japan made or German made products. I am all for supporting the American workers, but until I'll find an American made car that is as reliable as a Japan made car followed by service and support, thanks but... no thanks.
Buy American like I did all these years and you will support not only the auto worker labor union, but the tow truck operators, illiterate service workers, poor service or no service/customer support centers, OPEC nations etc. It is all good for the economy, just not yours.  

I have had american cars since 1976 and have never had a major problem yet. Some have well over 200,000 miles.
Proper care and maint. are KEY. Try supporting americans and we will all be better off.

Why is it that whenever anyone defends America cars they focus in on reliability?  Reliability is important, but excellence is about a lot more than just not breaking.  It's about tactile satisfaction, aesthetic excellence, sonic sensuality and more.  Just becuase your car doesn't break doesn't mean it's a good car.

Seems kind of counterintuitive to compare a BMW 5 series to let's say, a Chevrolet Impala. It's pretty much comparing Luxury to Average vehicles. The US only has a couple luxury brands that garner any attention, those being Cadillac and Lincoln. Although Caddy seems to be revamping it's cars towards the performance end I don't think too many people have had any illusions of Cadillac or Lincoln being on the forefront of performance and road feel. Let's bring Hondas, Kias, Hyundai's, and Suzuki's into the mix and maybe we can paint a more even picture between American cars and their foreign counterparts. Or are we gonna start noting the glaring differences between a Civic and a 3 Series?

On a sidenote, Caddy might be turnin' it all around with the new V Series line. I believe it's 3 cars that have the capability to do 0-60 in 5 seconds or under. Not too shabby.
 

Yes, OK, obviously:  go like-for-like US vs. foreign.  Compare any GM mainline product made to a Honda Accord.  Or any Cadillac to an Acura RL.  Hell, go US-owned and domestically manufactured vs. US-made but foreign owned and see who make the more satisfying steer.  

But remember what we're comparing: overall subjective excellence, not objective mechanical reliability. For example, although VW's engineering is now on the wrong side of abyssmal, and Ford can build a Hell of a car, would you still say a Ford 500 is a better car than a VW Passat?  




 

Nothing's wrong with Volkswagen engineering aside from that junky Jetta 5-cylinder engine.

The Five Hundred and Passat don't exactly compete, partly because they're in different size classes, appeal to different demographics and the Ford is pretty much a Volvo, which makes that debate Europe vs. Europe.

On that note, bringing up the Passat doesn't exactly support your point seeing as how Passats break every other day.
 

"You can have your euro cars. i'll buy american, drive american and defend american. if euro cars are so good, move where everyone drive them [sic]"

WTF?  Why does an honest criticism of the products of American-based corporations always end up here?  Please.

Drive whatever you want.  But spare me the flag-waving.  Detroit implores us to "support American jobs" and buy their demonstrably inferior products at the same time they produce an ever-increasing percentage of their rolling abortions in Mexican Maquiladoras in a vain attempt to combat a long-standing tradition of very bad business decsion making.  And the UAW is the scorpion on the frog's back.  

Consumers will ultimately vote with their dollars, and Detroit's play on patriotism is wearing so thin that the likes of Toyota and Honda are now forced to cosider raising their prices to prevent some sort of weird, misguided nationalist backlash.  Yeah, clearly, GM and company are on the right track.  My Toyota and Honda?  Both produced in the U.S., by the way.  That's a smart car manufacturer.

So I should move to where everyone is driving foreign cars, hmmm?  I already live there.  It's called the United States of America.  A place with no greater freedom than that of spending my hard-earned money on a product and manufacturer I can actually have some confidence in, without someone telling me to "love it or leave it".  Drive on.

 

Well, I have never owned one of the above mentioned luxury cars, but I have had my fair share of American built ones. Recently I purchased a spanking brand new Dodge Dakota Quad Cab (my second one), and it has been back to the dealers garage 2 times going on 3 times.  I think someone was asleep when they put my vehicle together. There is more hard plastic in this one and it makes it look cheap. Maybe the non-American made models have stricter quidelines that we Americans should be using. I am very disappointed in my new "ride", quess I should have bought something not built in the good ole USA. So, to answer your question....I'm begining to think so.

 

I recently tested an '06 BMW 325i and was shocked by the build quality, or lack thereof.  

I'm talking engine wires [poorly] wrapped in black electrical tape, heat shielding tacked on to the side of the engine bay (presumably to keep the windshield wiper fluid from boiling off), an electrical relay sitting in a tray underneath the leading edge of the windscreen (just waiting to short-cicuit), a nasty hood latch (what happened to the neat little hook that used to protrude from the grill?), a tire pressure monitor that refused to reset, headliner made out of hamster fur, etc.

Remember: this car was made in Germany.  So those of you who rejoice at Big Three products that are well-made and reliable, and claim that journalists and enthusiasts are Euro-biased snobs, have something to crow about.  And yet...

The stripped-down 3 was one of the most satisfying sports sedans I've ever driven.  I challenge you to show me one American car with a six-cylinder engine that's half as ready, willing and able to rev all the way to the limiter; one US product with a manual gearbox anywhere near as smooth and accurate as the Bimmer's slick shifting six-speed, one sports sedan with steering as meaty and direct, one automobile that can corner with such conviction.

Corvette?  Nope.  Cadillac CTS?  Uh-uh.  Mustang GT?  Close but no cigar.  And that's not even comparing the new $30k 3-Series to more mainstream fare.  In fact, it's not a question of money.  US cars are still made by people who don't understand driving, who cater to the Living Room on Wheels School of Ride and Handling.  One drive in a Toyota or Honda or BMW or Acura or Infiniti and you know what I'm on about.  And if you don't, well, you'll get the car you deserve.    

 

As someone who works on plenty of Euro-trash, they do have a better ride yes but the main purpose of any vehicle is to carry you from point A to point B all the other stuff is secondary. So your $35,000 status symbol is not worth two cents if it will not start or you can't get parts or cannot afford them or the repairs, then you have to find someone with the skills to repair it. American vehicles have come a long way in driver comfort and reliability also most are a pleasure to service. In a nutshell all car makes have problems Aisan, European, and American but when you are broke down on I-95 with your 3-series I'll wave to you as I'm passing by with my 2000 GMC pick-up with 150,000+ miles and the only repairs have been air & fuel filters and spark plugs...yea they were in stock!  

Oh please.  With proper care and feeding, a 325i is no more likely to break down than a GMC product.  And even if it did, many Bimmer owners would gladly suffer a breakdown or two rather than put up with the wild and wooly handling of a gi-normous, gas guzzling vehicle with a coil leaf suspension.

As I've said before, reliability is the last refuge of a man driving a crap car.

First of all there are not many smooth roads left in America so where are you enjoying your smooth ride, you asked for peoples opinions I gave mine from a automotive technicians standpoint American cars are much easier and less expensive to service than any BMW 3,5 or 7 series, sorry but that is a fact.  Oh by the way even at $3.30+ a gallon I can still afford to keep all my vehicles slam full thanks to working on your dream car.