No thanks I still have common sense when it comes to how I spend my money.

 

The first car I bought was a Saturn ION back in 2004 and it had the same engine as the Scion Tc, well in all fairness they weren't 100% the same: the one in the Saturn was smaller and had about 10hp less. But, my question is, did the GM have a Japanese engine or did the Toyota have an American engine?... My money's on the former.

Which leads me to another point, up until recently the only product you could purchase with 100% certainty it was made in the good ol' US of A and buy an American company was domestic beer. But, now it seems air quotes for 'domestic' will be needed when speaking of Budweiser too.

Local News: Budweiser sold to Belgian brewer | budweiser, belgian, piece : WWMT NEWSCHANNEL 3

On the plus side, I heard every twelve pack comes with free waffle batter!

 

i'm pretty sure that GM had the toyota engine... just as the same deal as the toyota matrix is the same car as the pontiac vibe... toyota and GM work together in a partnership called the 'New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc'

 

Alcoholism and Diabetes!! Awesome combo!!

 

Alcoholism is a domestic product we can all be proud of right? And if you were to say that one would have to be drunk to consider buying a (insert name of domestic auto here) then you could say that Detroit is a contributing factor. Seriously, It would be a terrible thing if one or all of the big three were to be sunk by the current trend in the car biz. But they probably have had it coming for decades.

 

Some Domestics are ok, Buick and Cadillac are posting great reliability ratings lately. But in our class cars like the Aveo are just junk and don't compare. The closest domestic competitor is the Saturn Astra right now.

Well no... if you don't consider the entire US economy will go into a massive reccession. A lot of analysts say GM is the thermometer for the US economy. When it gets sick, so does the rest of the US.

 

I would have to agree. I would see it as a terrible thing. Problem is at the same time, I have very little sympathy for a company that knew what it needed to do but didn't have the balls to do so.

Now the fun part. Will the government have the balls to let them sink and go under? As far as I am concerened the reason they are in the state they are is because of piss poor management, ignorance, and greed, so they deserve no help.

From the looks of the mortgage industry however, the government doesn't have the balls to let the chips fall where they may. So they will probably bail them out some how, which means we the tax payer, PAY, for the mistakes of someone else, yet again. Instead of investing in our future with our taxes, we are paying for the mistakes of the overpaid and retarded managers and executives who walk away with wads of cash.

 

Ya, this pisses me off to no end. I love how the news talks about the "government" bailing out these companies. The government isn't bailing them out, WE ARE. Basically, we are paying for other people's failed mortgages. Why should I do that when I haven't even had a late payment on my mortgage in the 5 and 1/2 years I've had my home??

It's because we have an economy BASED on debt, and the only way to get more stuff is to go into more debt. The housing prices skyrocketed because lenders kept throwing money around, approving irresponsible loans left and right until the whole system blew up... Add to it the high gas and food prices, and we got issues...

But, the taxpayers will bail them out, and the executives that run these companies will continue to collect their $xx,xxx,xxx salaries.... How does the world work like this?


Anyway, as far as domestic companies... I could give a crap about the management. I just hope that they start making good decisions and get their heads out of the sand... You think I am worred about a few hundred executives? How about the tens of thousands of people they employ? THAT'S what they need to protect!

 

buy domestic!! get a honda accord or acura TL hahhaaa


the accord is more american than the camaro now

 

Sigh....there is a lot of ignorance from both the guy who told you to buy domestic, and everyone in this thread hating on domestic cars.

Each vehicle has different purposes. If i was in a Ford/Chevy truck and Ridgeline owner told me to buy a honda, I would have told him to get bent and then run his piss poor excuse for a truck over.

People purchase cars for different reasons, and applications. I bought the fit over a chevy because it was more fun to drive and that was it.

Gaurantee that if you take a chevy, honda, toyota, ford, kia, mazda and hyundai vehicle in the same class....drive them fairly similar to eachother, and do the same preventative maint. on all of them, they will all last roughly the same amount of time.

 

My thoughts exactly

 

Here in Alabama we have import plants for Mercedes Benz and Hyundai, as well as parts plants for some others. My fiance's 2006 Honda Civic stated on the sticker that it was something like 80% manufactured in Ohio. So when you buy these cars you are supporting peoples jobs here too.

For me, I don't care. People should drive what they want. I was driving a Jeep Cherokee getting about 17-18 miles/gal and was sick of it. When I decided I wanted a small fuel efficient car, I didn't even look at the American cars because resale on them stinks. I chose the Fit for a variety of reasons, attractive gas mileage being one of them, but mainly just liked the car.

American car companies don't have anything similar to it to compare it to. The Aveo is cheap and it looks cheap. How do you think the resale value is on it, as compared to the Fit right now? I suspect not very good.

The reality is, American car companies are losing out because they've never had a small car niche. They have basically been caught unprepared for the high fuel costs that are plaguing the American public and have nothing to offer. While imports like Honda, Toyota and Hyundai are cashing in, American car companies are trying to play catch up. Times are too tough now to do that, as American families are feeling the sqeeze, and not just at the gas pump. Just my $0.02.

 

Does the same Ford owner go home aat night and watch his domestic TV? Are Zenith TVs still made in the USA? They are the last domestic TV manufacturer.
I would consider a Ford IF they brought from Europe the Ford models which are turbo-diesel. Bring diesel cars to NA and the sales will increase greatly. As is.....by 2012 there will be two major makers of autos in the USA. At one time there were a hundred, the same with motorcycles. Each city had a maker, slowly they folded their tents and now there are what four domestic motorcycle builders of any volume.

 

Tell ya what, sell your Fit (if you have one) and buy a domestic if that is what you want. I, will spend my money on the best product I can for the money. At this point in time (and for the last 20 years) it has been a non-domestic brand. When the domestics come out with a comparable product (quality, dependability, resale value) I will consider them again. No one here buying non domestic brands caused the problems that GM/Ford/Chrysler are suffering from. Their wounds were self inflicted.

 

Did you read the rest of my posts? You are mirroring what I said!

The new Fiesta might displace the Fit, here's to hoping! (Who knows when it will actually be on sale here)

 

That's only partly true. I've seen subcompact Chevys and Fords around here that are only sold in Mexico and other countries. They have the designs and ability to build a car 'comparable' to the Fit or Yaris, they just chose not to make a USD version. GM and Ford sat back and prayed the gas prices wouldn't go to high, but they did and now they're years behind.


But, if someone told you to buy a Toyota Tundra, you might want to think about it. After all the Tundra was slowly becoming the #1 truck sold in the US. Of course, it never claimed the title from the F150, but I think it started to prove that Ford and GM just don't make vehicles equivalent to their foreign counterparts.

 

Looking forward to the Fiesta as well. The name though, awful. If it is the Euro copy I may by one as a second car, if it is too NA I will buy a Civic.

 

I once saw a report (NA newspaper) from a year ago showing the new cost of a Toyota, Ford, Dodge and Chevy truck. Also shown was the projected sale price five years down the road, all things being equal. The Toyota was something like $7-8,000 more new than the NA trucks and it retained that "extra" and much more in the projected sale price. Lesson, NA trucks are a poor "investment". Honda makes a fine truck as well, ask any owner of the Ridgeline. You cannot give away trucks in the Calgary or Canadian market, other than to companies and those who need the trucks for work. The truck era is dead and about time. Frankly gas at these prices suits me fine and it is up to the NA makers to do the business that they need to do.

I wish the NA markets had all those fab Euro makers of vehicles. Watching Top Gear and others UK/Euro TV programs reminds me that we in NA are the losers for our restricted import policies. I am sure the Euro makers would be building plants in NA to sell their wares if allowed.

We in NA made our beds, not comfortable sleeping in them though.

KK

 

2009 Fiesta 5 door, good looking car! The diesel is supposed to have incredible mileage:

 

Yes the diesel is terrific, great environmental marks as well. The problem is we in NA will not see this car in a diesel from what I have read. Sell it in diesel and I will but it, not in that colour though....