Quote:
Originally Posted by ToySub1946
I'll be 73 yo on this coming Halloween...and I've not yet learned how to drive an automatic transmission equipped vehicle.
I drive a 2015 FRS, which I bought new almost exactly 5 years ago.
Car has only 67,000 miles because I did not take any trips last year.
I've driven this car Round Trip, coast to coast 5 times so far, yea, that's 10 one way trips.
Why did this car come with a warranty ? I've never found a use for it before it's expiration.
Cars actually Made In Japan are the only cars to buy. Must have a J as the first digit of it's Vin number, otherwise, forget it.
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ToySub1946, I'm increasingly feeling the same way as you, that 'made in Japan' cars are the only way to go. I keep wanting to like 'American' cars. But the quality just doesn't compare. I also have a 2015 Mustang GT. It's a lot of motor for the money (on a hp:$ basis), but the build quality, quality control, and reliability are laughable compared to the BRZ.
I don't completely blame the management of US car companies. After all, any publicly-held US company is bound by law to 'maximize shareholder value'. If they leave a nickel on the table, shareholders can and often do sue them for not 'maximizing shareholder value'. It's all about how to boost the stock price in the short term (of which executives also benefit with their stock options). Squeezing every penny in the short term is mutually exclusive with building high-quality cars for the long term.
Back in the mid 1980's, I remember an interview in one of the business magazines (Business Week? Forbes?) with Roger Smith, Chairman of GM, and Soichiro Toyoda, President of Toyota. The writer asked each of them, "Is your company in business to make money, or to make cars?". Smith answered (I'm paraphrasing from my dim and age-addled memory), 'We're in business to make money, any way we can, we don't care how'. In contrast, Toyoda said, 'We are in business to make cars. By making the best cars in the world, we will make money and be successful'.
Looking at the market shares of GM and Toyota over the past 40 years, history has shown which approach works out better in the long run.