Foreign cars

We had a 1998 Chevy malibu (bought new). Put on over 110k miles in 6 years. Wasn't in the shop even ONCE for anything major.

Bought a 2006 Sonata (new)......has over 103k, never in the shop for anything major. (knock on wood)

Have had a 2003 Durango (bought when it was a year old). 78k miles on it. Nothing major.....some electric door lock issues under warranty. I did have to replace the oil pan due to rusting......so I guess that is sort of major.

I have a 1992 Dakota...had some transfer case bearing issues when it had 20k miles, taken care of under warranty.....fuel pump issues at around 50k....truck now has over 110k on it...strictly a nice-day driver now.....no major issues (knock wood)

None of these vehicles have had any major rust issues, and to be honest they dont get washed/waxed as often as they should.....and we live in the rust belt.

All of them had some items fixed under recalls. But all have been reliable and worthy vehicles.

We take car of our cars and maintain them, which I believe is what lead to longer service life.

My 2005 Honda motorcycle gets ridden every day, rain or shine, and still looks like it rolled off the showroom and has never failed me yet, at around 80k miles. (Knock wood....LOL). I know guys who have Harleys who ride them the same and have the same experience. Then I know guys who own either import bikes or HDs and have nothing but problems.

I have friends who have various american cars and imports and the experience is similar......the folks who never change their oil or keep the air cleaner clean are the ones who have major issues.

My brother has an import SUV and just had to replace his own radiator due to known tranny cooler problems..seems the integral tranny coolr design is prown to blow out into the engine coolant.....the factory knows its a problem with the rads ...a very common problem....but wont replace the radiator under warranty unless it actually blows and contaminates the whole engine......his warranty runs out in a month so he did the fix himself.

EVERY make out there has some blemishes on their record, even Mercedes and Volvo, two brands that are supposed to be high quality cars......anything manufactured in bulk can have issues.

EVERY make out there now is also not strictly "american" or "import". Parts and labor are sourced from everywhere. The only argument could be "its an american company". Well, even that is suspect.....do some research into who holds major chunks of stock in the various companies.......we are truly now in a GLOBAL MANUFACTURING scenario.