Why would anyone buy American cars anyway? Outside the US, for as longs as I can remember "american cars" was a joke and just synonymous with poorly engineered, janky and horrendously unreliable pieces of junk. Also comically huge and drive like a boats. When Asian cars are cheaper and more reliable I don't see any reason to buy american, I don't understand it
American cars in europe come in different smaller models, typically. Ford is actually the #2 brand in europe..
In Europe, apparently VW is considered quite reliable. In the US, it's the opposite. (Your opinion may vary.)
Some of it is familiarity with the cars or parts. Anywhere you go in the US, you'll find somebody who can fix a Chevy. If you drive a Saab or something even less common, good luck.
Except VW was using cheat devices in their cars in europe as well as the US. Other european car manufacturers were also using cheat devices for their diesels. That's why americans scratched their heads for so long wondering how diesel in europe was "cleaner" than the US. If you've spent any time in large cities in europe you will smell the diesel and if you bike around a lot it will affect your lungs. They say approximately 5000 people a year die prematurely from diesel related pollution in europe. I think those european manufacturers have lost the trust of the public.
Yes, Euopean cars are well-engineered, reasonably reliable, but expensive to buy and repair. Well, really German cars. French cars are cheap junk, as are italian ones. And British ones have always been known the be expensive, and reliability nightmares.
This doesn't change the fact that American cars are just crap. Barely cheaper than Asian ones, but terrible reliability, and shoddily engineered. Yes you can find someone to fix it, which is good I guess since you'll have to go there all the time.. I'd rather just not have to fix my car. You get none of the tight tolerance engineering of European cars, but the same bad reliability and repair issues, yey? Why? Just because they're cheap I guess? But these days that isn't even true anymore. Unless I really needed a car the size of a small apartment I wouldn't drive a Detroit car if I got it for free.
Did you write this in 1987 (when it was actually true)?
When we were going to make a TX to NY trip last fall, my wife insisted that we take her BMW (50k miles on it), because it's "reliable" rather than my old Chevy truck.
Of course, the BMW conked out just outside Louisville, KY. A complete fail on it's first long distance trip. Fast forward a couple of days and a $4,000 in repair costs (plus hotel costs) and we were merrily on our way.
That darned BMW is so over engineered/overly complex/sensitive that it's almost as if it's designed to fail in anything more rugged than a daily commute to work.
I've made that same trip at least a dozen times in my 2002 Chevy Silverado. I'm 99.9% sure I could hop in it right now and drive straight through, stopping for nothing but gas, food, and restrooms, and it would run like a champ. I'd bet my next paycheck on it.
BTW, my wife's previous car, an Acura, wasn't all that reliable either (though not as expensive to repair).
She also, of course, believes the "American vehicles suck" myth. But I think she believes it a bit less every time she has to shell out big money to fix her fancy German and Japanese luxury vehicles, while my ugly old Chevy truck keeps on truckin'.