INTERESTING CAR RELIABILITY TID-BITS (gleaned from statistics in this month's (April '07) "Consumer Reports" magazine on automobiles:

AMERICAN:

Chrysler/Dodge has the worst quality & reliability, including Jeeps.

General Motors is slightly better, which is still awful, but Buick makes a couple models worth your RISK, if you're determined to TRY. Want Hell on Earth? Buy a Hummer, Cadillac, Saturn, Chevrolet, Pontiac.

Ford comes in ahead of GM, but is still bad. Jaguar is part of Ford.

EUROPEAN:

Mercedes is the ABSOLUTE WORST. I don't care whose HYPE you've bought, we're talking lousy cars.

Rover comes in next worst.

Porche should NEVER be relied upon as your daily driver.

Minis are bad and way dangerous. (Think rear end crash.)

Volkswagen/Audi/(Porche) occasionally has an acceptable car, but mainly creates BOMBS, especially after 36 months of ownership. Then, you're in for a major hurtin'.

BMW/(Mini) has a narrower range of awful-to-almost acceptable, but NO WAY would I want to rely on one, or pay the repair bills.

SCANDINAVIAN:

Saab has nothing you want to try driving across the state.

Volvo - yeh yeh, I KNOW what you're "heard" - but they make lousy cars that only look a little better these days.

ASIAN:

Suzuki is sub par, equal to about the Mini. Not good.

Kia is also sub par, but not quite as bad.

Hyundai has a narrow range of above average, but I sure wouldn't want one.

(Now to JAPAN):

Mazda is the weakest of the Japanese car companies, with quality that varies from model to model and year to year.

Mitsubishi is close to Mazda.

Infiniti (Nissan) barely outperforms Ford/Mercury, and has more problems!

Subaru quality is equal to Hyundai but has more problems. Ouch!

Lexus (Toyota) has very high quality OVERALL, but HAS created a couple models with problems.

Acura does not reach the quality of Lexus, but has fewer problems. Decisions, decisions...

Scion (Toyota) is equal to Acura but with fewer problems...and is a BUDGET car!

(and now we head to the TOP TWO, which shouldn't be any surprise):

Honda is entirely above average to very good,
and,
Toyota is entirely above average with the range going a tiny bit higher AND lower than Honda.

Of the TOP Ten: The first 9 are Asian, Mercury fills out the 10.

Of the BOTTOM Ten: 5 are Euro, 5 are American (which includes Jaguar). Within American, GM makes the most junk, Chrysler makes the worst junk.

A TRICK the companies pull when trying to affect the Reliability Stats:

When a company renames a model - calls it "all new", gives it a new number or name, etc. - they get to start with a CLEAN SLATE. I am convinced this is why American companies "change" models so quickly. In the past, I believe it was because their consumers wanted the "New! Improved! Most Stylish" (and that desire still exists), BUT, over the last 40 years the Japanese have - slowly - given consumers a realization about and an alternative to typical, self-satisfied American quality.

The "Quality Gauge" American consumers used for their cars (through my father's generation, and passed to mine - who then encountered the Japanese products) was: "You have a GREAT car if it lasts 10 years & 50,000 miles." THAT was standard wisdom. THAT was all you could expect. After that, you drove the thing off a cliff because it was more rust, duct tape, and blue smoke than vehicle. American cars have come along since then, but too little too late.

It's sad, really. It's a classic case of resting on laurels, and having ABSOLUTELY NO INTEREST in noticing Winds of Change. "Detroit" Decision Makers have no vision or ethical core - and their employees - and their buyers - thus our economy - WE - are who pay the acidic trickle-down price for such deluded self-righteousness.