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A 2009 Pontiac Vibe.

Of the 7 cars I’ve owned in my 30 years of driving, 3 were foreign (with one POS banger), and the rest were US made.

The best cars were the Saab and my current car, the Ford Five Hundred. The worst ones were the Fiat and sadly, the Taurus, whose engine imploded on me 4 hours after I’d paid it off.

I try to do my homework where cars are concerned- and Consumer Reports is a relatively reliable data source. I try not to find myself against the wall in a car-buying situation, but I’ve been fairly lucky in my choices. Price and reliability are my considerations when I purchase a car, and I tend to buy off-lease fleet cars.

Maybe someday I’ll get another foreign car- if the price is right. But the build and quality of my Ford is just fine. They’ve learned their lesson. It’s just too bad that the ‘junk myth’ is so persistent.

What struck me was how remarkably modest all these cars were. The most “luxurious” car on the list is the “small-sedan” class, psuedo-luxury brand Acura TSX.

Not one Merc, Bimmer, or Audi on the list.

Jeep Wrangler with soft top - not as much finese as the imports, but her legendary inline 6-cylinder engine has 150,000 miles on it and she still purrs like a kitten. And a legendary American history.

Also Harley Davidson Sportster 1200 custom. Not as smooth as it’s Honda or Yamaha counterpert, but love that thundering steel, and better than twice the fuel economy than the car.

I grew up in a “buy American” home, and for the first ten years I drove, I only drove GM cars. At 5’2”, I could never put my whole foot on the accelerator of any of these cars and thought that driving with just your toes on the accelerator and getting leg cramps after more than 100 miles was just the way it was. Then, in 1973, I drove my first Toyota. What a revelation — a car that was designed to be comfortable for a short person (but also worked for my over 6’ tall husband)! I never looked back and am now on my 4th Toyota (a 2003 Prius). I use rental cars several times a year and have driven many compact American cars, but these always seem to be small cars designed for tall people and just don’t “fit” the way the Toyotas do (not to mention the legendary Toyota reliability and the fact that none of my four decades of Toyotas has gotten less than 35 mpg).

“…it shows how difficult it will be to reverse the perception that is now ingrained in the minds of many Americans - foreign cars are better.”

Unfortunately, it is not just a perception. While GM et. al. have made great strides, they are still behind in quality. Don’t quote worthless JD Power surveys to me - they survey only initial quality. The cars darn well ought to be perfect 3 months after purchase. Talk to me about the maintenance cost over 10 years. Consumer Reports is the only good source for that kind of data and the results are pretty clear. Honda, Toyota and a few others leave the Big3 in the dust. There are certainly some American built and designed cars that are in the top ranks for quality, but on the average this is not the case. My Dad has been driving various Lexus models for the past 15 years, and they’ve almost never required non-scheduled maintenance. Mom’s new Cadillac needed 3 repairs in the first year - absolutely inexcusable for a car in that price range. She won’t buy another. All that said, my 97 Wrangler has been very reliable and my wife’s 2000 Imprezza was not, so beware of anecdotal evidence…look at the data.

How are people expected to buy American cars when their own salaries are falling. Even through losing jobs, it causes the job market to pay less?

I think the best model they could adopt would be to make vehicles more modular.

You could buy the body you want, then couple it with your selected drive train, interior and other packages.

With a setup like this, you would enable people to purchase particular parts to improve or rehabilitate what they already own, as well as make future innovations (particularly hybrid and electric) more easily adaptable.

To be honest, it is absurd to expect people to buy a new car every five or so years, unless people start making more money compared to the real cost of living.

I understand and agree with the mission of NAFTA, however it is a fact that all of the auto makers have moved many operations out of our borders for cheaper labor. The people who they want to buy their cars, no longer have decent jobs to afford them. Why do cars need to be replaced every 3, 4 or 5 years? Shouldn’t they last a bit longer? Many of the Japanese makers excel at making products that last for more than just the length of their loans.

It may not be the most “profitable” business model, but we need more for our money, not less.

The whole auto business model is just not sustainable while massive profits are being sought.

True, GM, Ford and others are really cutting back, but after how long? As the wages have been scaled back over the past two decades through new contracts, there has been no ground recovered for the working person. The money has been sucked out of the system, moving to the top as well as out of the country. There is a lot more to look at than what we are being shown.

Most people forget that American labor and American parts go into many “Foreign Cars” like my Nissan Frontier. It was built on the land that used to belong to my sister-in-law’s family by Tennesseans and has a majority of American made parts. Better than a Crown Vic or the GM cars made in Canada. If GM or Chrysler goes belly-up, the cars Americans buy will still mainly be built by Americans.

Many Hondas, Nissans, and Toyotas are more likely to be made in the US than so-called “American” cars.