It's not about where it's made, but what it's made of.

We had a Toyota Camry that was the biggest piece of junk ever. The 4 cylinder engines on those things are bombs waiting to go off. The bottom let go right after the warranty ended, and Toyota gave us no help. Other people with the same issues, but Toyota says, screw them.

That myth of Toyota reliability is such garbage. Never again owning one of those things.

 

My Scion xB1 (rebadged Toyota bB) has been perfect for 190K miles. My Fit LX has been perfect as well. Both were built in Japan and I don't think that it is coincidence that they are both holding up well.

Early production Fits were pretty good, because they had the Japanese inspectors hovering and turning a lot of cars back to be reworked and reinspected in Celaya. Later first year Fits don't seem to be as good. Lots of issues with fit and finish, the EX infotainment system, and other issues. We've seen very few problems with '16s built in Japan.

 

1985 toyota pickups built in japan,,, 1986 built in the US.. Quality was like black and white different. The Japan built ones were indestructible and about as close to a timex ownership experience in a car as you can get. The US built ones got crappy mileage and had NO power and were shop queens. (The V6 being the WORST of them.)

 

Just wanna give my belated personal experience of an 80s Accord.
Bought one of those early Accord made in Ohio (or was it Tennisee?) in the 80's.
I think it was the first or second batch that came out of the factory.
Wow, it was very poorly put together. We couldn't open the back door because the side moulding would bind the front door. The interior rubber lining thingies also came unglued. The A/C died after just one year. Clutch was weak, had to be replaced often. The pop-up headlights had problems...like it would jam or something. Spent alot of time back and forth at the dealership. I sweared I thought Honda was like Yugo and wasn't going to last long in America (what did I know...they grew from tiny car company to be #2). But the engine was very good. My conclusion was that a new factory is going to put out junk for the first few years, no matter it's in Mexico, Japan, Phillipine, or whereever. Apparently, Ohio made Accord now are very good.

So, I wouldn't worry about Mexico.
I bet their workers are more diligent and hard working than Japanese counterpart.
In Japan, standard of living is getting higher and higher...so a auto assembling job is not desierable anymore...and workers are not very happy anymore. Standards slip when workers unhappy.
Probably different in Mexico, where build cars give you a very good wage, and make you very happy. Happy worker equals good workers.

 

Totally disagree. I'll take a Japanese made car over a Mexican made one any day. Your assumption that assembly workers in Japan are "unhappy" is silly and not based on anything. I have seen nothing to indicate that quality coming out of Japan isn't still the best in the world, and I'm not just talking about cars.

 

It's based on Japan's 2 decades of stagnate economy.
The best days of Japan are behind 'em.
Workers no longer expect their kids to be better off than themselves.
No more life time employment for loyal workers. Workers fear layoffs.
Jobs are being replaced by robots.
The general optimizm of the 80s and 90s Japan workers are gone.

 

my Mexican made fit is one of the best built cars I have owned

 

My CVT Fit cruised across the Pacific Ocean.

 

how much of the parts that went into the truck were made in the USA? Isn't that more have to do with quality than just assembly? I suspect problems have more to do with design as quality control of the design should weed out the parts that do not meet specifications. An engine is an engine regardless where it is assembled if the final assembly meets specifications.

 

weird, my 2017 EX CVT is made in Japan, but yeah, I'm seeing all the Manual 2017's in my area also being made in Mexico.

 

I got my 2017 EX Silver first days of January in Central Florida, it is the Japanese version.
I am very happy with my Silver Tardis (is bigger in the inside than the outside).

 

Will Trump slap on 35% tax if the Fit crosses the border?

 

You mean that manual transmission Fits exist? I haven't seen one since I bought mine two years ago.

 

Well, that's what he says.

 

You sure of that? Fits have never been built in the US. Japan, Mexico, and several other countries. As I understood Trump (not always easy) the 35% would not be on all cars made in Mexico. If Honda closed one of their made in the US (Civic, Accord, what ever?) and made it elsewhere to imported for sale in the US ...well.

The auto industry is too entwined internationally to get involved in tariff wars.

 

Your assumption is that if the cars were never was built in the USA, tariffs would not apply to those cars coming in. That is wrong. BMW is building new plants in Mexico and Trump plans on taxing those cars. I am not saying that will happen since he has such a shadow understanding of world economy. He never thinks his ideas hurt not only "American companies", but American consumers as well. I will stop now since I don't want to turn this thread into a political discussion.

Trump threatens BMW with border tax on cars built in Mexico

 

Read the article and it indicates that BMW is currently building cars in the US. If the cars being built here now, that would be basis for the "reentry" fee.

According to the general opinion here, that would produce a crappy BMW. Novel, eh?

 

Just got my 2017 Fit EX-L and it states 100% made in Shizuoka, Japan.

 

My 1981 Japanese Corolla wagon still runs well. Got 31 mpg the last time I took it on a highway trip which is the reason why I got a Fit. I took a look at EPA est. mpg for other new model cars and found few that got better highway mpg than my 35 year old car already got. Sure, they designed motors to be more efficient, then they increased the size of engines so cars could cruise comfortably at 80 mph, thus taking away all the efficiency savings again. My '81 wagon has a 1.8 liter engine so it is a bit like the Fit with its even smaller engine.

Once I do have to replace a part in my Corolla I will have to replace it every few years. The first set of spark plug wires lasted 25 years. Once I replaced them I now have to replace them every 3 years. Same for alternator, water pump, etc.