POLL: Are you done with domestic brands or will you give them a second chance?

I agree, Mazdas are often overlooked, having a bit more of a niche following. Of course their flagship Miata has led the sports car world in many areas since being introduced in 1990. The 12 years 100k miles I owned / raced one it was quite trouble free.

In terms of sedans though, don't overlook Hyundai's. Sure, it's an appliance. But a pretty good one at a value price.

With what I'm seeing watching family and friends in the appliance market (non hybrid) I'd go Mazda, Hyundai, Honda, Toyota.

 

I really only have a first hand perspective of vehicles spanning over the last 16-17 years tops. But in my opinion foreign cars were superior to domestics in the late 90's and early 2000's but around 2005 the domestics really started to pick it up. Once 2010 had rolled around they were producing some quality stuff. Now days, I think there is quite a few domestics on the market that are superior to foreign produced vehicles but of course vice versa. However, I am currently in the market for a new vehicle with a budget of $40k and I am about 99% sure I am going to get a Tacoma. So...no domestic for me despite their improvements.

 

I wonder with that partnership, does Toyota use Tesla to "steal" their technology, or is it scratch my back, I scratch yours.

 

I think it was Ford that recently screwed over Toyota with some type of partnership. I've forgotten what I read about on one of the online rags.

 

I'd give the Ranger another shot if it's comes out in 2018... I love my current ranger. Too bad ford didn't own up to the shitty 2.3l engine they designed to fail...

 

I will be interested in it but only if they replace that torsion bar front suspension with a double wishbone. I had a '07 FX4 with the 4.0L and it was a great truck but I hated the front suspension. Came pretty close to welding in custom coilover conversion brackets but ended up selling it instead.

 

I'm going to buy whatever fits my needs and whatever I like the most when I drive. When I drove the Colorado, I didn't really like it and I didn't really think it would be super capable off-road in its stock form, whereas with the Tacoma I liked the way it drove and I was fairly confident in it's ability to get me down a muddy path. When it's time for me to get a new vehicle, I'll once again drive all my choices at the time and then go from there, whether they are from a domestic or foreign company.

 

They had a pair of ToyoBuru twins aka BRZ FRS.

 

I'm willing to take my chances on Domestic, I've never owned an American vehicle. Probably a Truck or Muscle car if I do.

 

I don't care too much about where it's made as long as it's a quality product. I've owned a couple Rangers and the first was stone cold reliable, my second one didn't have problems until I start hacking it apart and building it for desert sports.

All my friends who've had tacos like them so I thought I'd give it a shot.

 

I've never owned the same make of car twice. Ford, Pontiac, Toyota, Isuzu, Volkswagen, and now BMW. They were all good. I never had much problems with any of them. I'm easy on cars though and stay on top of maintenance. It's probably also an expectation mindset to. I don't expect them to be perfect. Moving parts wear down and break.

 

Some us companies have made strides in reliability, like Buick. Yeah, I said it.

Ford 150 has also gained some reliability ratings for its turbo charged Bud Light can on wheels. Although I would reservation judgment to see how they hold up after 10 years.

If ford put the 2.7 eco in a midsize and maintains reliabilty it could be one heck of a truck. That thing would scream.

Chevy silverado has been predicted to be 95% below average on new models. If that is any indication of a Colorado's reliability than I wouldn't consider it ever.

For mid sizes that leaves honda with its new rendition, and nissan. Both should be worthy competitors. I hope honda learned something about the pickup vs cars differences. Ridgeline has never seen one itself (its actually true irony)

It would be very hard for me to buy domestic. I would need to like it, have it fit my needs, have a solid reliability history, and not be chromed out. I don't mind chrome, but come on ford it's not a Harley.

 

I can only say what my personal experience has been.

My most recent vehicles have been split:

Wife:
02 Ford ZX2- awful, eng problems, a little over 100k and it needed and engine so we just donated it.
07 Lexus RX350- nice car, a/c problems, water pump went out, not cheap to fix, approaching 100k
Me:
96 Ford Explorer (with 5.0), awesome, pulled well, wrecked at 150k, no maj problems
00 Mercury Mountaineer (with 5.0), awesome, pulled well, tensioner arms needed attention, now has right at 200k
-only reason I don't have it still is I gave it to my father-in-law
09 Tacoma DbldCab= great, but I barely drive it as I have a work car now, no issues at 65k, but it shouldn't have any at that mileage
-Tacoma is now pretty much relegated to off-road, hunting and hauling/towing.

Work Cars (we trade them in after 80k)
06 Ford Escape-garbage
2011 Ford Escape- much better, super slow, had throttle body issues
2014 Ford Escape-pretty nice, no issues at 50k

I don't like GM and I think dodge is getting better, but still not what it should be in terms of quality.

So that leaves Ford. If ford would make the 4 door ranger(global version) in the states, I'd probably buy one for my next vehicle assuming they don't cost what Tacomas do. F150's are too big for my off-road applications. I'm patriotic and would by a domestic if the made one I wanted (the GMC/Chevy twins are close, but I don't trust GM)

 

The XLT was double wishbone, Edge was Torsion Bar.

 

Bottom line for me is I want to buy quality products regardless of their origin. Seems like the US manufacturers have improved over the last few years but they still have alot of work to catch up with Toyota/ Honda.

 

All 4wd Rangers were torsion bar, right? I had an FX4 model and it had tbars.

 

I started wondering so I went and checked TRS since I've only owned 2WD Rangers and turns out you're right. I didn't know that a out the 4WD Rangers. Probably done because it's cheaper and easier just to bring already designed and tested Explorer parts over than redesign it further.