I think you could make a point in either direction about buying domestic, or buying foreign.
While much of the labor on some of the domestics is done in Canada and Mexico, the real money is made in the corporate arena. The guys in the HQ, the R&D guys, and the engineers. When you buy an import, you send the vast majority of the big dollar out to Japan. When you buy domestic, you send the large portion of the cost of the car back to the US, regardless of where it's built.
As far as the Japan vs USA in quality.... I don't know. There are a lot of problems with Japanese cars you never hear about. Everytime one of the big three screws up it's plastered all over the place. You don't hear when Honda or Toyota has a major recall. I've driven imports, and I've driven American. The import machine I had ('91 Ford Escort GT, everything on it was Mazda) was the biggest POS I've ever owned/worked on. It was also the only car until last week that I had ever purchased with under 100k. It had 64,000mi on it. I've driven my sisters Acura Integra around as well. Felt like my Escort. It required minimal maintenance, but it's only been on the road a bit. Her other Integra also required an alternator, water pump, and a couple other parts. The Mustang 5.0 has between a 4-5 star reliability record, which is as good as any import. The Corolla, until recently anyway, had average or below ratings for problems. I don't trust Consumer Reports either, though.
The new WRX is pretty cool, if you like a hollow go-kart. It's again, a lot like my little Escort was. More power, but same basic feel to me anyway. The sticker price on the ones I saw was about $25,500. I got my Mustang GT for $21,500 with the Mach 460, leather interior, and including the destination charge. The times I saw posted originally for the WRX were in the high 14's, although maybe people have figured out how to drive them better now? It would definately be a fun car in the winter, but honestly, I'd rather have a couple year old 2.5RS cause it doesn't look butt ugly. LOL.
I'd rather have an aging RWD Thunderbird, or Mustang than an aging FWD/AWD import. Those things are a real pain to crank wrenches on,
