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

i think i may have posted this already. my wife is leasing,thank goodness, a POS ford focus. 2014 ,22000,oo mi,it has tranny problems. been in 3 times, they can't fix it. come october it's lease is up, here ya go ford here is your POS back. having said that, i do fell better.

 

Sounds like it's time for a Camry or a RAV4...

 

skrain, she was looking at the rav when i got my 15 back in sept. i took del of my truck, but had to go back for a hitch and undercoating. the loaner was a 15 rav,wife loved it, smart sales guy.

 

Owned nothing but GM since I was 17 and never again.

My 2006 Colorado at 70K puked the head. I am a commuter, never plowed or towed with it. GM tells me it's just normal wear, 5 grand please.

In 3 minutes online I found the secret warranty that the dealer knew nothing about. They certified it through GM and got approved to do the work.

4 weeks later they say they don't think it's the head and won't fix it unless I pay cash.

Second dealer fixes it and charges me $1800 that "GM will reimburse". No loaner car for the 2.5 weeks they were fixing their fuckup either.

GM points the finger at the dealer who says it's GM. Dealer then tells me he's replaced dozens of them, contradicting the statement 4 weeks prior that he didn't know a thing about this warranty.

Meantime a few years ago Toyota bought back my wife's 96 Tacoma for double its value and gave her a free rental for 90 days.

So why did I hop right out of that piece of shit Colorado into a Tacoma, hmm..had the issue happened and they took care of it that would be a different story.

I'd still buy an older GM as a hot rod or something but never again as a daily.

 

I loved my 09 V6. Just needed a little more towing grunt..

 

You mean like this??

 

Nice..my folks had an Elky when I was about 6. Loved it but they didn't keep it long, tough to have with 2 little kids

 

By age 26 I had owned 6 or 7 domestic cars. Few of which had over 100,000 miles on them. I had some pretty bad luck with many of these cars. When you are in your late teens and early 20's and have to constantly worry about repair bills on cars that really aren't all that old, you quickly develop a bad taste in your mouth for domestics.
I got my 2002 Tacoma in 2008 and I still own it. Still purrs like a kitten. This is why I feel obligated to get another Toyota. I have 8 trouble-free years of positive ownership.
My Tacoma has never been garaged and paint is still sparkly and dashboard not cracked in the least. Not bad for 14 year of sitting in the sun all day.

 

I prefer domestic produce. Haven't had much luck with the avocados from South of the border. Though some of my favorite Tequila is imported.

Did I miss something?

 

Buy American is a bit of an economic fallacy. Every dollar we spend abroad is a dollar that a foreigner can spend on American made goods. It is a two-way street, and Americans like to sell goods abroad too.

 

No, the only problem we had was that the throttle was a tiny bit sticky off idle, so it was hard to be smooth taking off from a stop. They replaced the throttle body (under warranty). It was better after that, but not quite perfect.

 

The only domestic I would consider is a Ford. If they offered their international Ranger here I'd consider it heavily. Ford is making some damn nice stuff now. It doesn't have the rugged simplicity of a Toyota but they are miles better than 15 years ago.

 

I had a 2014 Chevy Silverado and it was a POS. What made it worse was the horrible customer service when trying to get problems fixed. Engine idled rough, drivers seat would actually shift and move side to side and the dealers explanation was "it operates how it was designed".

I didn't learn my lesson and got a 2015 Chevy Tahoe, another real gem. This thing rattled, problems with the drivers seat again, leather stitching ripped completely at 600 miles, back up camera went out to many to list.

Every vehicle will have a problem or two but it's how they handle it. For GM, it's always a problem. For equal price or less you can get a better foreign vehicle that has better fit and finish and reliability.

I will never own an American car again.

GM and Chrysler should've went bankrupt back in 08

 

So In my experience, I will always stick with Toyota. My family has had nothing but Camrys and Corollas and wow do they last decades. We made the mistake to buy two 2005 Nissan Pathfinders and although Nissan is a foreign company, the cars and parts are made here and assembled here. Those goddamn cars had so many issues it was like I was driving a rolling coffin wondering when it would shut off on the road next. Merging? Make sure you take into consideration that your truck might die while you match traffic speed and leave you rear ended.

I put so much $$$$ into fixing it, it was in the shop every month and my buddies would be used to seeing me in a different car all the time (grandma's camry or rentals). I got fed up, bit the bullet, found a buyer to buy this SUV, and walked into Toyota with confidence. Just FYI, the 2005 Nissan Pathfinder is the #4 worst car on carcomplaints.com. Lol!!!! Worse part is they didn't stand behind their product when the coolant and tranny fluid mixed and ruined the car. No recall for the DEFECT that affected 75% of frontiers, xterras, and pathfinders...just a smirk on the sales and service reps.

I drive a 2016 ford fusion for work and used to drive crown vics (before we scrapped the fleet for fusions). So driving a new Ford and I have to say it has some of the most CLUTTERED, COUNTERINTUITIVE, AND CRAMPED console button layout I have seen. Microsoft Sync is absolute horseshit too!! I will admit, those crown vics could take a beating....but they were the P71 variant. Also, I can malfunction the fusion's electronic parking brake by pushing the button down 10 times and cause it to not work anymore until I play with the button some more. Wtf?!

Bottom line, Ford is okay, Chevy is worse. But If you want your cars to last 20 years, stick with Toyota and Hondas. Just my two cents.

 

As soon as Ford releases an Ecoboost Ranger and I'm ready to buy my first new vehicle, Toyota can kiss my ass. They lost my business post-2004 models. Any pre-2004 Toyota models are still good in my book.

 

My Last Domestic .. ......

 

What a beaut!

 

When Ford integrates their 10-speed transmission into the F-150, and they're on the road for a year or two, I plan to take a serious look at swapping out my Tacoma. I like my Tacoma a lot but I don't think I'll be a return customer. Ford is moving their trucks forward in big ways while Toyota seems to be treading water and falling way behind the curve. Just my opinion and it all boils down to what each buyer is looking for in their vehicle.

 

I have to wonder how many of the things Toyota, as well as ALL the automakers are being forced to put on new vehicles, like 6, 7, 8 or even 10 speed automatic transmissions, auto shut-off and start systems, reduced power, different cycle engines and the like are being driven by CAFE regulations, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and the like? Could that be part of the reason you can't order a new Tacoma TRD Off-Road or Sport with the V-6 and a 5 or 6 speed MANUAL Transmission??
Have vehicles now gotten SO complex trying to keep up with all the regulations that they are now at the point where if you don't have a degree in mechanical engineering and another in computer theory that you can't really do much more then basic repairs to them? What happened to the days when you opened the hood, you saw an air cleaner, valve covers, the plug wires and everything else, right out there in the open? Open the hood of almost any new vehicle, and you see plastic. It takes you half an hour or more to get all that out of the way so you can even begin to work on the engine!

O.K. Rant Over.

 

Yeah, it's bad when there are threads started to answer "where's the oil filter?". I felt like less of a man when I had to read said thread to find out. I had to go chop down a tree to offset it.