He’d have to catch you first if you riced it up 
Seriously, to respond to the OP, Consumer Reports has made its new car guide available without a subscription for the next month or so. I see Calculus posted a specific article from that site…
My “Japanese” Honda Civic was built in Lordstown, Ohio.
My “American” Ford F150 was built somewhere in Canada–Windsor, I think.
I have a 98 Civic EX, with 50,000 miles on it. I just had to replace the starter, but that is the only problem I have had. When I was looking for a new car, I was checking out all of models in the same price range, including the Civic, the Miata, the Camry, and a Chevy, I don’t recall what model. They all had the percentage of American and foreign parts used in the car on the sticker. Any guesses as to which had the least percentage American parts?
For some reason I want to say the Miata, even though it is essentially a Ford Escort chasis, with a smaller body. I think it is b/c the Miata/MX5 is marketed as the same vehicle in so many countries, whereas Civic, Camry, & most chevs are pretty much built in whatever nation they are sold in.
Did you know there are four different types of Honda Accord? between EDM, ADM, JDM, & AODM types & the various 2dr, 4dr, wagon, etc permutations, there are probably dozens of subtypes looking almost nothing like one another with the name “Accord.” Pretty cool, eh?
Well… I’m not too sure about the Miata consistancy there, IeatFood!
A lot of Miatas are imported into Europe as bargain models, and from what I hear, they are of lesser build quality than their European and Japanese counterparts (they’re probably still reliable cars, just lesser build quality). I believe the European MX-5’s are built in the UK. Are the US ones from Japan, or built domestically?
FWIW, I don’t think the Miata has an Escort chassis either. The Miata/MX-5 is always praised for its fantastic handling and road holding. While spring adjustments can be beneficial to a car, I doubt that Ford Escorts (American or European) could be accused of the same. Hell, even monsters like the Escort RS Cosworth are basically uncontrollable monsters.
Do you have a cite for the Miata=Escort claim?
I had an '88 Nissan Sentra (basic model) I left it in Italy when we came back to the states. She was still running beautifully. That says a lot considering my lack of car knowledge.She survived a lot of crap from me and still took care of me.
1 - She was rear-ended 3 times in her first four years.
2 - Ran on her original spark plugs for 9 years. Was getting the car ready to go to Italy when this was discovered.
3 - Got me around for two weeks on an undiagnosed broken axle,(Interstate speeds included) before dropping her transmission in the turn lane in front of my bank and a mile from my mechanic. The replacement transmission came from a wrecked car. I drove it with that transmission till I sold the car in Italy, about 7 years.
4 - She drowned in a sudden rain in Va. Bch, Va. (She was parked beside a stopped up grate in the lowest spot in the parking lot.) Had to replace her, what’s it called?, a cpu unit or something.
5 - Got me safely around with nicked brake calipers ( I think a mechanic did it but can’t prove it) Brake light on for 30 miles till I got it to a mechanic I trusted.
6 - When her clutch cable broke (second clutch cable, only one to break) it broke a 1/4 mile from my husbands work and in a place I could coast to park her safely. (Italy)
7 - Except for clutch cable, no mishaps in Italy.
I sold her to a navy guy in Naples for $800.00 in 2001, she had a little over 165,000 miles.
Our current car is a 2001 Ford Focus Hatchback. So far so good. The Nissan was still in good shape but we were planning for the next few years. In the next five years, Hubby retires from the navy and we hope to buy a house and didn’t want to deal with a car payment too.
You should check out Nissans also, I had planned to get another Nissan but the car place on base in Naples only represented the Big 3 US car-makers.
No, it was the Chevy. Not by much, but the “foreign” cars all had more American made parts than the “American” car. It also had the worst handling and the worst gas milage. It did give me an extra 1/2 inch of leg room though.
Lok
I’ve been driving a '92 Honda Civic since…well '92. It’s got about 180,000 miles on it and has yet to give me a serious problem. When it dies, I’ll definitely buy another Honda.
We’ve had very good luck with Toyotas for the past 15 years or so (Camry wagon, Corolla, Sienna, Matrix.) No major problems, and very willing warranted repair of any little things that came up. Tho we don’t put too many miles on our vehicles, we simply wanted the best reliability possible. We asked a buddy at a garage what kind of cars he NEVER saw come in for work. He answered “Camry.”
Honda makes fine cars as well. And depending on you particular needs/desires, a Honda product may well suit you better at a better price than the equivalent Toyota. We went Toyota because the dealer, where we have it serviced, is very close to where we live and has very convenient hours.
I am not familiar with Honda practices, but whan you buy a Toyota, they give you a coupon book for considerable $ off routine maintenance. And they frequently run specials for such things as oil changes.
Yes, I would far prefer to “buy American.” But overriding that preference is my desire to have a reliable affordable car.
Always consider that the used car that you are thinking about buying was someone else’s car that they wanted to get rid of. It may have been because of a desire to get something new, but it may have been because the car was just plain givin’ them too dern much trouble.
After you decide on a particular car as the finalist, take that car to a shop that does nothing but used car inspections for prospective buyers. It’ll cost you about $100 to have it looked over thoroughly, but chances are that you might spend much more on worn calipers or struts. It might cost you several hundred dollars in inspections before you find a car that passes muster. I remember the days when $5 was a lot of money, but sometimes you have to just spend the money in order to save even more money.
P.S. My '90 Civic (bought new for $7,676) has 195,000 miles on it and has had about $3,000 in repairs (AC, alternator, engine seals, struts) over the past 13 years. As it has been paid off for 8 years, not a bad trade off. I’m saving it for my son for when he’s old enough to drive.
I’m driving a Subaru '93, so far no repairs have been needed, though she needs a new clutch (still on the first one).
180k miles.
I used to drive an '86 Subaru. My parents just recently sold it. It had ~180k miles.
Depending on your dealer, you might have problems with service (my parents didn’t have good experiences with a dealer in CO). However, you probably won’t need the service.
I have to post a vote for GM.
My first car is a 1994 Opel Corsa. I bought it new and I’ve had no problems with it. It has over 200,000km (120,000miles) It’s a subcompact. I’ve never seen the model in the States but I hear they’re available in Brazil. In the UK it’s sold as the Vauxhall Corsa.
My second car is 2000 Opel Zafra, a small mini-van. It still has low mileage but so far it’s been a great vehicle.
Seems to me GM should transfer some technology from the Opel division to the US divisions. Also seems to me that the us car makers never really got a handle on how to make a good high quality small car. They’ve spent 25+ years downsizing and reshaping boats instead of starting from scratch.
I’ll chime in for Mazda. I have a '98 626 with close to 57,000 miles. Every car I’ve ever owned has had nagging little problems, like knobs or switches that break, or things that don’t fit right. What amazes me is this car has absolutely nothing wrong with it. Everything works as good as the day I bought it.