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Unit 5302 · 03-26-2006, 07:59 PM

US manufacturers don't need to cut corners, and their sale prices are often proof. Their die hard old marketing campaign features cars that undercut the competition in price. They hope the cheaper vehicle will get buyers to jump at their model line rather than spending more for a foreign car.

Hyundai and Kia can point to the fact that sales practice works.... but the car people are buying MUST be of nearly the same quality.

While it's true that some domestic cars do quite well in terms of reliability, they do little to enhance the overall image. Even the some cars are good, some cars are bad reputation serves to provide an poor image of vehicles manufactured overall. It implies sloppy engineering and quality control. If Ford could build a 5.0 Mustang which was very reliable, why were their other cars such junk? There's no good reason for it because they proved they could build a good car. They just didn't want to.

Cutting corners isn't an option anymore. If the domestics want to remain viable, neither is undercutting the competition with lower prices until their quality reputation is restored.

It's true that a lot of German manufactured cars have poor reliability despite the "German Engineering" catch phrase. The Volkswagen/Audi 1.8T is the epitome of a piece of engineering junk. While powerful, smooth and refined, it grenades at 60k-80k with alarming regularity. The cause? A poorly designed/constructed timing belt on an interference engine. It's a well documented problem, but I don't believe they've ever taken care of the issue. Volkswagen is pretty hit or miss it seems. I've talked to a lot of people that have never really had a problem, and some that have had lots of problems. Regardless, I see a TON of high mileage German cars commanding a LOT of money in the used car market. I think most of it has to do with the driving experience behind the wheel. I know I was very impressed with my little brother's Jetta. He has an '01 Jetta, nothing special. It felt 10x nicer and newer than my brand new '02 GT though.

There are, of course, other problems besides just quality with Ford/GM. Marketing. How bad are the Ford commercials we all see? Oh man. They're awful, awful, awful. The music and the car names. Minor styling mishaps flattened out (new edge) quarter panels on the now defunct Cougar. With just a touch more work on the quality of the Cougar (it doesn't seem to have major issues, just a lot of minor ones) and some better advertising, it would have been a huge hit for Mercury.

Anyway, I digress. If the domestic manufacturers are doing poorly, and they need to cut costs, the very first place they need to look at is the executives. They claim the right to huge pay when the company does well so they should take the blame when the company does poorly.

03-26-2006, 07:59 PM	#3
Unit 5302 Registered Member Join Date: May 1999 Posts: 5,246	Re: Buying Domestic, Good or Bad US manufacturers don't need to cut corners, and their sale prices are often proof. Their die hard old marketing campaign features cars that undercut the competition in price. They hope the cheaper vehicle will get buyers to jump at their model line rather than spending more for a foreign car. Hyundai and Kia can point to the fact that sales practice works.... but the car people are buying MUST be of nearly the same quality. While it's true that some domestic cars do quite well in terms of reliability, they do little to enhance the overall image. Even the some cars are good, some cars are bad reputation serves to provide an poor image of vehicles manufactured overall. It implies sloppy engineering and quality control. If Ford could build a 5.0 Mustang which was very reliable, why were their other cars such junk? There's no good reason for it because they proved they could build a good car. They just didn't want to. Cutting corners isn't an option anymore. If the domestics want to remain viable, neither is undercutting the competition with lower prices until their quality reputation is restored. It's true that a lot of German manufactured cars have poor reliability despite the "German Engineering" catch phrase. The Volkswagen/Audi 1.8T is the epitome of a piece of engineering junk. While powerful, smooth and refined, it grenades at 60k-80k with alarming regularity. The cause? A poorly designed/constructed timing belt on an interference engine. It's a well documented problem, but I don't believe they've ever taken care of the issue. Volkswagen is pretty hit or miss it seems. I've talked to a lot of people that have never really had a problem, and some that have had lots of problems. Regardless, I see a TON of high mileage German cars commanding a LOT of money in the used car market. I think most of it has to do with the driving experience behind the wheel. I know I was very impressed with my little brother's Jetta. He has an '01 Jetta, nothing special. It felt 10x nicer and newer than my brand new '02 GT though. There are, of course, other problems besides just quality with Ford/GM. Marketing. How bad are the Ford commercials we all see? Oh man. They're awful, awful, awful. The music and the car names. Minor styling mishaps flattened out (new edge) quarter panels on the now defunct Cougar. With just a touch more work on the quality of the Cougar (it doesn't seem to have major issues, just a lot of minor ones) and some better advertising, it would have been a huge hit for Mercury. Anyway, I digress. If the domestic manufacturers are doing poorly, and they need to cut costs, the very first place they need to look at is the executives. They claim the right to huge pay when the company does well so they should take the blame when the company does poorly.