Because it's an import!

[dkjones96]

Question. Why is everyone so hung up on imports being better? Be it Asian, European, whatever. I'd prefer a car from the big 3 way before pretty much any import being offered today.

I was reading the new motor trend and it has the stats for a bunch of head to head comparisons. The one that spoke to me the most was the 2009 BMW M5 vs the 2009 Cadillac CTS-V.

Cadillac won, it's easy to see how too. It has a supercharged 6.2L 16 valve V8 making 556hp @ 6100 and 551ft/lbs @ 3800 while getting 14/19 MPG. Not bad! The BMW has a 5L V10 making 500hp @ 7750 and 383ft/lbs @ 6100 while getting 11/17. I'd take the CTS too. That has to be an amazingly awesome sedan to drive. Not to mention it's 30k cheaper than the beemer.

Other comparos:
2010 Chevrolet Camaro 3.6L 17/29 vs
2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8L 17/26
They said at higher speeds the Camaros extra 100 pounds started to show.

2009 Ford Fusion 2.5L 23/34 vs
2009 Honda Accord 2.4L 21/30
Their acceleration numbers are really close with the Fusion only lagging behind in the quarter mile by .1 seconds but .4mph faster.

2009 Ford F150 5.4L 14/18 vs
2009 Toyota Tundra 5.7L 13/17

It should be noted that Motortrend most often prefers the imports.

[GasSavers_maximilian]

I always assumed that a lot of that attitude is a legacy of previously bad American cars. I have no idea what the current overall state is. How is globalization effecting the domestic/import definition split anyway? The Chevy Aveo is what I'm thinking of.

[theholycow]

I suspect that the Daewoo-built Aveo is a piece of junk that does a disservice to GM's overall reliability statistics. I am not confident that Daewoo has stepped up their game to match Hyundai, American companies, and Japanese companies.

[GasSavers_maximilian]

Originally Posted by theholycow

I suspect that the Daewoo-built Aveo is a piece of junk that does a disservice to GM's overall reliability statistics.

Based on the research I did on it, I'm inclined to agree. Ironic that they seem to have sold so many of them! But does it count as an import (built overseas) or a domestic (marketed and backed by GM)? I guess since most consumers will just remember that it was made by Chevy, that it counts as a domestic.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by maximilian

Based on the research I did on it, I'm inclined to agree. Ironic that they seem to have sold so many of them! But does it count as an import (built overseas) or a domestic (marketed and backed by GM)? I guess since most consumers will just remember that it was made by Chevy, that it counts as a domestic.

I consider it an import...

[slurp812]

Originally Posted by theholycow

I suspect that the Daewoo-built Aveo is a piece of junk that does a disservice to GM's overall reliability statistics. I am not confident that Daewoo has stepped up their game to match Hyundai, American companies, and Japanese companies.

I suspect you are very correct.

[GasSavers_BEEF]

my personal opinion is the branding that honda and toyota have made for themselves and the good mileage to power ratio of most of their cars.

the corolla is an awesome example. rated at 130+ hp and still gets 35+ mpg on the highway along with room for the whole family.

honda has the civic as well. don't know the exact stats for that.

there is a guy here at work that has a 2008 corolla S which has ground effects but more importantly 5 speed manual. he rags on me because I have tried so hard to get my 38 mpg best and his last tank was 43 with virtually no effort at all. you aren't going to get that from a domestic other than maybe a hybrid. his corolla was also 17K brand new which beats the crap out of all the hybrids pricewise too.

I do like domestic, don't get me wrong but it seems like in the small car market, they are lacking. if you have ever driven an aveo, you know what I mean.

[GasSavers_BEEF]

they make hondas and toyotas in the states.

I can't remember right off hand where their factories are but they make them in the good old red wite and blue.

....but they are still imports???

[jcp123]

Originally Posted by BEEF

....but they are still imports???

Where's the money going? With American-built import marques, ultimately, the money's going overseas, therefore, it's import. I would wager that GM's Aveo is sending a fair amount of money over to the Koreans as well. Plus, I can't help but think that even though a lot of import makes assemble here, they're still using imported subassemblies made of imported materials from imported suppliers not to mention the incentives that localities often give to attract the factories in the first place...

As to why imports are more highly regarded...a lot of this reputation was built in the 80's when much of it was true. Anymore, I find all cars to be on a very low plane of quality (plastic? bleagh...), but more or less equal. Still, the imports work very hard to retain this notion of superior quality.

FWIW, we have had only one Japanese car in my lifetime, an '04 Toyota Sienna. It was the second most problematic vehicle we had behind my Mom's New Beetle. We traded that Sienna at 20k miles and never looked back. OTOH, the most reliable car we ever owned was a VW Passat - 5 years, near 60k miles, and not one single solitary problem. Weighed 3800lbs with the AWD and made a lifetime average in excess of 22mpg.

Then there are cars that are a chop job of American and import stuff? We had some '96 Dodge Caravans carrying Mitsu 3-litre V6's with a Mitsu trans...the only stuff that ever went wrong on them was stuff related to Mitsu's powertrain, although they were el-strippo models with nothing much else that could go wrong anyway.

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by jcp123

Where's the money going? With American-built import marques, ultimately, the money's going overseas, therefore, it's import.

Don't forget the context of this thread: It's about reputation, not about where the money goes. For that purpose, a car is mostly considered per its badge.