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Today in class, my engineering professor got on the topic of Japanese car manufacturers and American car manufactures. He says after being dominated throughout the eighties and early nineties, American car manufacturers are up to the same level of Japanese cars in reliability and quality ever since the mid to late nineties.

Discuss...

 
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This should be interesting......

 
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ive never owned an american made car before, so im pretty much biased on this subject

 
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its so not. if you look at our repair forum it has like 3 issues that arnt from us modding our car. if you go to ford or dodge boards they have 3 pages of threads with different problems

 
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Not all manufactures are same...Even for Japanese manufacturers. They all have different standards for quality and reliability.

 
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In my opinion it really depends on the car and what they put into it. You cant say that the 4.3L V6 from GM that they use for small trucks and SUVs isnt reliable, theyve been using it since about 1984. They also have the 3800 Series II engine that they put in the impala, and buicks, and pontiacs etc. which is an incredibly reliable engine. All cars will have problems, too many moving parts to not have them. But i hear just as many people saying "Ive had nothing but problems with this 01 civic" as i do saying "stupid buick broke down." Ive owned both american and imports, and they all have postives and negatives. One thing i can say though, the american cars sure are a hell of a lot cheaper to repair and easier to work on than most imports.

 
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IMO, the top name manufacturers are okay, it is the generic ones you need to stay away from. Other than that, even the best made american car cannot help but be ugly. Corvettes to camaro's, all junk boxes to me.

 
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I was watching a car show, which looked at the cobalt.

It had gaps in the chassis welds. This is unacceptable for a North American car.

 
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That's pretty huge..

 
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i've never owned an american car before either but i have to say i've been in a fair share of them...dont like them the dashboards still look like they're out of the 80's and the fitment of everything is crap...only good american car i've been in is a Dodge Viper/saleen s7

 
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F-150's are a good reliable truck. Gots the power and it's not too expensive. I got a mustang that's almost 40yrs old and it's still going strong. Biggest probrem i've had is a flat tire

 
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I don't know, he is a engineering teacher and he just express his opnion.

Actual professional engineers in the car manufactuers would say something totally opposite.

Everyone is entitled to have their own opinion...persoanlly I would not take his word officially. I am sure if you ask him if you can take his word in the court one day, he will just have a disclaimer saying that it is just an opinion.

 
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i would say in the past few years that GM qualityu on thier 4 sylinders have gone up quite a bit. and it is very easy to work on. my parents ahve a sunfire and have never had a problem with it.

 
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You cant be serious. My mom had a 97 f-150 nuthing but tranny and electrical problems and that was in the first year she had it. that POS was in the shop every 3 months. Even with the newer ones they still have brake problems. There not big enough and there crappy. no way are fords any way up to standards.

 
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I am serious, my dad still has his and that thing is old as hell. He's the original owner and hasn't had any problems except for a carbuetor recently

 
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There is too much going on to ever answer this question. Quality and Reliability, like beauty, are all in the eye of the beholder. I know people who own American cars and have had several little problems, fuel pressure regulator, rattling noises, electrical issues and had to make a trip to the dealer to fix them. However, they still consider their cars to be rock solid and reliable as hell. I've never had a single problem with my Honda so I would think that having 3 problems in 60,000 miles would be huge. Now, on the other side of things, people that have American cars and drive my car think it feels like a japanese tin box and hate the way it drives. Yes we can measure panel gaps and **** like that, but if the customer buying the car doesn't give a **** about panel gaps then it doesn't really matter. If you think a car is a good car, then it is. Thats all that matters.

 
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my friends dad came to america from pakistan a very long time ago and he told me that he wanted to buy an american car since he never had that luxury over in his country so he bought a chevy celebrity along with a ford pickup of some sort and they both gave him nothing but problems for the few years that he owned both the cars....then after his bad experience with those two, he was running low on money and needed a car so he bought an old toyota corolla that ran perfectly but had some body issues for a cheap price.....he still drives that car to this day and he has put a very very minimal amount of money into it...i think the only thing he's had problems with was the clutch which he replaced and has been alright since then...

 
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That's why there are standards for quality, so we can actually compare cars. Your reply is missing the point of the post which would be to first define those criteria of quality. How can we possibly have a discussion on the quality of something if we don't work on a common ground i.e. a criteria for quality...

Then there's being qualified to answer this question..Who has honestly owned a statistically significant number of different cars to chip in... If your dad's friend's cousin's F-150 needed a transmission change whereas your own did not, is not enough for affirming that japanese cars are better or worse than others.

Then there's the fact that car companies (with some exceptions) own large parts of their competitor's business.

What I CAN say, however, is that civics are the most popular brand here in Montreal, Canada, and for all the times I have either been to a garage or passed by one, I have never seen more civics than any other car being serviced. Actually, I've seen more domestics than imports. What does this say on their quality? Absolutely nothing. You need a deeper analysis than this to actually make sense...


For whoever actually feels like it, one can always run a few queries on Statistics Canada, or their equivalent in the states.

There's always various reports on the net, which would be really interesting to post here.

 
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My dad has a 96 Dodge Ram with close to 150,000 on it. So far its needed a fuel pump, alternator and a bearing in the axle. He got a new LSD for $200 to slap in it while the axle was apart. Thats it aside from expendable parts like tires, brakes, fluids, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, etc... Its held up well over the last 10 years. The paint is starting to peel a bit on the roof, but he doesn't wax it. The exhaust has a hole in it, but I blame the great white north winters for that, and by white I mean salt.

On the other hand my cousion had a 96 Neon that he drove to 100,00 miles. A new tranny, head gasket, fuel pump, ecu later he sold it.

Comparitively my brother has a 97 Civic that I just did the Axles on, and thats the only non regular maintaince item thats ever been done to it. It even has the original battery after 180,000 miles!

I see America as focusing quality on its trucks, and crapping on small cars like Focuses, Crapaliers and Neons. My uncle has a 92 Crown vic thats been pretty reliable. My other brother has a Cherokee thats been decent over the last 5 years. Its hit or miss. Different manufactures have varying standards on quality on different vehicles. I don't mean to knock on Amrican cars, they make plenty of decent ones. japan has its fair share of **** cars too.

Enough ranting, NOTHING I've seen has been as reliable as my 3 Honda's.

 
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No one is talking about engines..... any engine can last for 300k miles if its not abused and the oil is changed.

When it comes to reliability in a car its everything besides the engines. Most American cars start falling up around 70k miles where fuel pumps, water pumps, alternators, ECUs and a whole bunch of other stuff starts failing.

Take a Cavalier and a Civic for example, the odds are that before both cars reach 100k miles the Cavalier will have a lot more things replaced/repaired then a Honda. I'm not talking about engines... I'mt alking about everything else around the engine.

 
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I say if it does what you need, and it doesnt break, then its a good car for you. You dont buy a buick and go to the track. At the same time you dont buy a civic and expect a soft smooth ride.

 
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Are u talking about the mustang or the f-150 cuz the older versions of the f-150's were built alot better than the ones they put out in the 90's.

 
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the F-150, I got a 67' mustang though

 
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you professor is an idiot. get your money back. american made will never be as reliable as japanese. period

 
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All I can do is LAUGH!! Japanese cars are way more reliable the american junk. My family owned a few GM's and Ford's and just endless problems.....my friend owns a denali and his brother has an escalade nothing but problems there.....

I've also owned a nissan and this is my second honda. I had a few problem but not asmany as i've seen my family or friends go through.

 
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My friend's Ford Escape had tranny that screwed up... less than a day after leaving the car lot. My other friend's 2-yr old Ford Taurus has had nothing but problems.

Sure, once in awhile you get a nice-running American car, but they are *far behind* Japanese cars. Don't take my word for it, just look at the reliability ratings of the American manufacterers--it's always below Toyota and Honda.

 
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Nissan Titan/Armada has had brake problems that STILL might not be fixed with the latest update.

 
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Everyone can stop it with the personal experiences, your cousin's car, your dad's truck, your sister's van.. none of that means anything in a discussion like this. There are studies in 'initial quality' and other studies, all the statistics are out there now.

The answer is that the 'big 3' are catching up, but they still have a ways to go.

 
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He used to work in the automotive industry I believe. He wouldn't just pull this out of his *** to 150 engineering students.

Also, keep in mind the Japanese were DOMINATED by Americans in the automotive industry until the gas crisis in the late 70's. He's saying we've pretty much caught up with them.

 
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I think this is getting real messy.
It all depends on how you drive IMO.
I owned a 2002 Olds Alero (100k miles) with a 'bullet-proof' 3.4L, which is basically a bored 2.8L which they used in the 80's. (pushrod) Anyways, I had the dreaded intake manifold gasket leak...which 7/10 3.4L's have. I had my wheel bearings go 3 times, on either side. The front bumper caved under the lights *design flaw, the lights are too hot and too close to the bumper...check out an alero next time you see one*
what else... The window design flaw, the guides were too close to the windows, so it would scratch them every time it went up and down. It got so bad i had to have them replaced...right after my warrenty was up I read they actually recalled this, but you had to have warrenty, and you had to bring it up, or else they charge you.

I had a few other things go, battery went, power window motor went, cd player black coating on the bottons came off because it got too hot, the front driver seat broke, the frame actually cut through the padding..hard to describe... The cd player wouldnt play CD's right before i traded it.... OH, I had a real wierd noise from the passengers side front wheel, I brought it in a few times..they couldnt fix it...
Anyways, Im missing some stuff...but what a POS --- and I didnt drive it hard, most of the problems were flaws

On the other hand, my father owns an 03 yukon XL denali...and we havnt had one problem with it.

I havnt had anything go wrong on the civic, and its built better then my alero, but it also cost me an 02 fully loaded alero and 11 grand *canadian* to trade up for the civic. Great resale on American made cars eh?

Anyways, I've had some bad luck with american cars.... And I know plenty of people who have problems with them as well, my friend has an 05 cobalt, 12,000 kms on it, and hes had it in the shop twice. Wouldnt start once, and the power locks wouldnt lock the 2nd time....