Opinion

[Wayne Goodwin]

Which Car's best . USA Made or Overseas Made ?

No shouting Match Please ....

[Wayne Goodwin]

I have owned way more bad Chevy's over the years just didn't have the money to buy better one's . That was the problem . Never have had a new car or truck . I have a 1996 Silverado extended cab  . !93000 miles . I'd had it five years now and love the truck . Never owned a Dodge . Have owned two fords that turned out to be good vehicles...So you get what you pay for.... My heart still says Chevy , cousin is a dedicated Ford man ...There some good cars to be had if you can afford them ....

[Mickchick]

What's best for ME is which car will give me everything that I am looking for at the best price - gas mileage, warranty, upkeep, low maintenance and some luxuries ... I've had Fords, Chevys, Dodge, Chryslers, an MG Midget, a Honda, a Subaru, and my last two cars have been Hyundai Elantras - I had the first one for 10 years and 180K without any problems, got great gas mileage, came with the 100,000 mile warranty and 5 year road service plan as well as leather interior, sunroof, power locks and windows and CD player for @17K (can't remember for sure what I paid back in 2001!)  I replaced it in 2011 with another of the same ilk but added the package with heated seats (for my bad back), the built in GPS (for my lousy sense of direction) and back up camera (you don't even want to go there!) It was less expensive than many cars with less luxuries and I do get 39 MPG on the highway if I don't stick my foot in it!

[Mickchick]

Ohhh... I forgot, my late husband and I had a used Jeep Cherokee.  It didn't have any bells or whistles on it, just a radio and hand crank windows, but I LOVED that thing because it was built well and I sat up high and could see everything, plus all the room in the back.  It got totalled by a Ford F150 that ran into it when he was stopped at a stop light.  If it had been one of our small cars, he could have been seriously injured.  As it was, he insisted that the EMTs bandage our dog's paw and that I take the dog to the Vet before I took him to the hospital to have his head looked at!  Got another used one after that but we had engine problems with it from the get go and I couldn't afford them after that, especially with the gas mileage they got, but .. man, I loved it!

[Lifesighs]

The Toyota Tundra is the only truck made in the USA today I believe, the rest are made at least partially in other countries. I had one for about 3 years until my husband totaled it. I loved that truck it was great for living in WY. 

I've had Fords, Oldsmobiles, one Nash a few Pontiacs two Nissans and four Toyotas, I liked all of them for a few years however I found the GM's started falling apart sooner, little things and noises. That was before they went bankrupt. I currently own a Rav 4 (V6 with a tow package) and a Scion both are 09 and in great shape. The Rav needed new tires after about 18 months.

[P.A.]

It is very hard to tell what is an American made car now days. Recently I saw an article about that. You might be surprised that the Toyota Camry is the most Ameican made with 84% of it parts and all of the assembly are American.
I have owned all sorts of cars over the years. My favorites were a 1969 Mustang Mach I, a 1976 Corvette(a piece of junk but it looked good), several Nissan Maximas and my current car, a 2010 BMW 525i. I have kept a Nissan Truck of one kind or another for the last 30 years. When my father died I could no longer borrow his truck so I had to buy one. I get Nissans because they are made about 50 miles from me and I know people who work there.

[blithe spirit]

I know I had a man friend who told me I must not be a real American cause I didn't have the car gene. I have only owned five cars in my life...I keep em till they fall apart. I really don't have an opinion as to where it is made...a car is a car. I remember reading in the old days the US makers planned for cars to last only about three years...planned obsolescence.

My first car was a Ford Maverick...I paid $999 brand new for it in 1970...took it to school. The transmission tore up in two years...it was pretty much a piece of crap but had the lowest gas mileage of any other Ford...my Dad was a Ford guy so I felt obligated had to buy a Ford. Then I got a second hand VW bug...lasted for years...I traded it in for a 1976 280Z...a Datsun....real sporty...my ex loved that car..LOL....he got a couple of tickets.... I traded it out for a Mercedes sedan. I loved that car had it for 20 years...sold it to buy Toyota Highlander that I have now. it's a 2002 and still looks brand new. I will keep it for as long as the Mercedes I imagine. I like that it sits higher off the road and as a lot of room to haul stuff. Drives like a car even though its a SUV. 

[Shadowman]

Alway love Ford Maverick stories.  A drinking buddy of mine in the olden days once won a 1972 Ford Maverick in a raffle, door prize, or something. He always liked to say it was the worst thing that every happened to him. ;-)  Another aquaintance bought a used Maverick and ended up in a legal scrap with the dealer and threatened to take out a full page newspaper ad disparaging the dealer's reputation. Most Mavericks that you see at cars shows have very low mileage (due to all the down time). :-)  The Mercury Comet was the Mercury clone version. I drove mostly old junkers of various types, mostly Chrysler products and Ford trucks, AMC and Opels that I pasted together and revived thus stalling their march to a junk yard. Since 1987 I have been driving vehicles I bought new. Kept my new 1994 Nissan pickup for 17 years. Sold it then on Craig's list.  The guy that bought it drove into my yard with a 1994 Nissan pickup, exact same color and everything else!

[blithe spirit]

My sister's exfather in law was a salesman who traveled alot by car....he put well over 300,000 miles on each of the Toyotas he drove with nary an issue other than normal maintenance. So I bought one. So far so good.

[blithe spirit]

Did all the Maverick's have that ugly blue and black cloth upholstery? I was smoking a cig one time and the tip of it blew into the back seat and burned a hole in the seat and I almost got in wreck trying to pull off the road....and I got two flat tires at the same time...I think a little black cloud followed me around when I drove that car....really bad mojo.

My ex used to say FORD stood for Fix Or Repair Daily.....

[frenchy]

kinda funny you guys didn't like the ford mavericks .. i remember back in the 80's my cousin had a 1970 maverick and we used it for roofin .. it was more like a truck than a car .. we put a roofrack on the top that was pretty much a pallet we made ourselves and hooked up a ladder that we chained down from the front and rear bumber with chains .. we beat the livin piss outta that car and it just took a lickin and kept on tickin . we used to call it sherman cause it was built like a tank . and as the years went by i started to notice a lot of mavericks still on the road .. in the 90's and into the early 2000's . i haven't seen too many lately tho .. but 30 plus years is pretty good .. i don't think any chevy vegas made it thru the 80's .. and the pintos which came later than the mavericks were gone too way before the mavericks were .. but i'm sure there's lemons in every model car you can buy .. far as american made there's not too many of them anymore .. at least not totaly anyway . we live in a global economy now .. one of the reasons we really can't have a war cause so many economies are dependent on everybody else it would be like shootin ourselves in the foot . and over the years i've owned chevys, fords, dodges, had an amc hornet station wagon with a 3 speed on the column , a few datsuns .. a 310gx a great little car , i'd love to have one of them again , a 200sx and a pickup truck too , a totyota , and for the last 20 years i've had 3 dodge caravans .. i suppose i'm due for somethin else .. i'm not sure what but i'd consider a hyundai or a nissan or a ford .. somethin a little smaller than a caravan .. a scion maybe .. or a subaru forester .. i dunno .. i don't do as much drivin as i used to anymore anyway .. i guess the most important thing is it runs good .. 

[Lifesighs]

I was laughing about calling your car sherman, I forget about my husbands mercedes, that car could not be killed no matter what it kept going. We loaned it out many times, it became for us the dog car, for taking the dogs to the beach, my friend Jennifer used it for about 6 months she named it Kate because it shimmied a bit at lights. It was a diesel. She said it was like driving a couch. We finally gave it to my husband's son who's girlfriend took it to Mexico and sold it. It's probably still running as a taxi down there.

[blithe spirit]

I'm thinking my Maverick was a lemon...I also think that was the first year they were manufactured. I was so bummed with that car...being the first one I ever bought and it was brand new and all.

My Mercedes was also a Diesel...maroon with tan leather a 4 door. It had all the bells and whistles for the time. I remember I could lock and unlock the doors with just the key in the driver's door lock. It was before remote controls. I lived in AZ and drove it almost like a truck off road and on...and it was almost like driving a couch...funny!