greathornytoad

price, performace, workmanship.
just wondering what you guy think. which is generally better?

FastShark85

I prefer imports, but US cars are getting better.

Car Quality Study

Casdin

Depends what mood I'm in, but I usually go import. Sometimes domestic.

In the end they all get you drunk, what's the difference

Nyenrodian

European and Japanese cars are generally a LOT better than American cars.

Spyder_Venom

It all depends on what your looking for - thats all I will say :P

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Scorps

I like domestic just because they got bigger engines, plus I hate Jap cats because to maybe kids put them fag pipes on them so they sound like a motorcycle. and them spoilers. You don't do that to a chevy so why to a Import?

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big_bubba

Cause imports already look stupid, they might as well make them worse (ricer logic).

Personally I think all new cars are gay, but the new '05 Concept Mustang, the Dodge SRT/10 Viper and the Hemi Ram are the coolest things to come out of detroit (Okay, a car designer's drawing board) this side of 1980.

TwistedFate

Import for me. Quality on domestics has come up a lot, but I still prefer imports.

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FastShark85

Allow me to clarify my view

German > Domestic > Honda, Nissan, Toyota, etc.

Exsai

I prefer domestic, but its just because of what people do to imports that makes them bad.. i hate sunfires with those coffee cans on them just as much as a civic with one

Curving_Edge

If I wanted a fast 1/4 mile car, I would definetely buy an old muscle car, imports will never be able to beat those for the same money/speed ratio.

If I wanted a good autox car, I would take an import over any american car. Personally i would prefer an old RWD celica or datsun, but even FWD will mop up domestics on a course with turns. Not always true, but just in general.

If I was just looking for a car to get me from point A to point B, I would take an import. Better gas mileage, better craftsmanship, overall higher quality.

I would never own a new domestic, only an old american muscle car.

89transam

I bought an oxygen sensor today. Cost me $21 .

An oxygen sensor for a honda civic costs $211.


Something to think about

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Nhanced1

I personally use both. I have a 1977 Chrysler Cordoba for my crusing around town and driving around the ladies. but for going back and forth to class and home, I have my fuel efficient 1980 Toyota Corolla aka the rolla, aka the yoda.

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Elitegibson

As far as reliability goes, the Japanese Imports beat out the European imports and the Americans by quite a bit. Performance is so varied between different models, but import manufacturers have traditionally done more with less (e.g. price, displacement). Recently lots of the car manufacturers have been borrowing ideas from each other and quality of all cars has improved, so the lines between the different manufacturers are blurring.

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-Erik

Stupid people shouldn't breed.

cougr

I would never by an import just because I don't want to be associated with the kind of people that rice out their vehicles. Also why it took my 1 year and a half to find a new vehicle, I can't escape that horrible noise...

I think all the money I plan on spending on my next vehicle will get dumped into making my 67 chevelle a sleeper, so I can show them what a real car is.

big_bubba

Whatcha got in the 'Doba? Big blocks were still available in '77, but I've never seen one. I'm guessing a 360?

iam_immigrant

ditto

i've had too many troubles with domestics. so i switched over to imports and never looking back. Another reason is the fact that imports retain their resale value much better.

350Z

imports for me, while I like V8 displacement, they dont offer the handling that I enjoy on the road. or the little luxury bits that makes a sports car a daily driver.

*my toy*

Moonduck

What price range? What purpose/intent will the vehicle serve? What level of maintainence will you put into it?

All are important questions when asking import vs domestic. Depending on the qualifiers, the answer will change.

newman

Domestic all the way. Just my preference.

I do like some imports, just not as much as I like domestic cars.

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Tickford

I reckon the japs have got it going on. They export to every where. The US dont export anywhere near as much. On a global level I think that japan would make more cars....

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Samuel Goldwyn

rival

350Z -- Nice!

As long as votes are being cast, I vote import.

Rippley

That's a nice 350Z, dude... How's it drive?

's far as import v. domestic. Well I'm Danish, so we don't have domestics...(rimshot) But seriously, folks, I'm gonna go with the Germans every time. Give me an Audi RS6. 0-100(km's) in just over 4 secs. Pretty damn nice for a wagon, I think.

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SiphonX

Yeah...generally imports > all. Domestic cars lack quality, reliablity, and affordability. You get all those with an import, but sometimes i feel that nothing touches a german car when i sit in my girlfriend's M3 and she smokes everything in a mile radius.

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Asharus

I generally like imports, but there are some domestic cars that I would own also, such as Mustangs and Corvettes. While we're on the subject, how is Buick still in business? Are there that many old people in this world that still buy from them?

Atomic Pinkie

Import, fuck the japanese cars, im talkin GERMAN baby!

W00t!

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Where dem bitches at?

merkerguitars

Domestic for high performance....there is no replacement for displacement.
Import for reliability and gas mileage.

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acpower

import

32v4c

This argument gets sillier every day. There are only 2 "american" car companies left, and everythings publicly traded anyway so what does that mean?

In the globalzied world it really doesnt make sense to compare country of origin for a sign of quality. Its gotta be company vs. company - and really - product vs product.

Sure, german cars have a reputation as being super right, extremely well made - but look up "engine failure" in google - first up is the m3. Doesnt mean BMW makes bad engines, but they make mistakes too. That doesnt happen to corvettes costing the same amount of money....

Toyotas are super reliable - they go forever and ever. That didnt help them when all their 4cyls started sludging up a few years back.

The automotive world is filled with those kind of examples. You just cant generalize so much, other than styling really.

fezman

Who cares where a car company's headquarters are located? I mean, some Toyotas are made in the us, I think some hondas are too, alot of GMs are made in Canada, and bunches of Fords and most VWs are made in mexico. So does that mean you have to buy a Honda or Toyota to get a car made in the US?

Anyways, domestics have made very big strides in quality (as have most other companies), so really there's not a whole lot of difference, it all just comes down to personal preferrence. Whatever you do however, when it comes to buying your next car, drive a couple different ones from different manufacturers. Take the ones that you like driving, go look up what previous owners say about them on the net (not just biased reviews), and then decide.

If you do decide to go with a GM/Ford/Dodge 'domestic' then you will most likely end up paying less for the car than an equivalent import, you may get a better warranty, and repair parts will almost certainly be cheaper than the 'import' brands. That's about the only real difference left.

james t kirk

I bought a $45,000 Buick in 1997.

In 2002 after 122,000 km (65,000 miles) it needed an entirely new engine because the cheap useless plastic upper intake manifold cracked due to thermal fatigue and destroyed the engine when the coolant mixed with the oil. That engine cost me over $5,000.00.

My old Toyota has over 300,000 km on it, just passed its emissions test with flying colours and is still going strong. Last year, I put a new muffler on it at $400.00

Something to think about.....indeed.

james t kirk

GM is the king of crap.

Everything they do is about bells and whistles now. They used to build the best cars in N.A. Solid as a tank, reliable. You could punish the crap out of them. Hell, i once drove an old Nova with a straight 6 with NO coolant just to see how long it would take the thing to go ballistic.

Guess what.

It kept going.

Now a days, the engineers at GM are more interested in giving yuppies more coffee cup holders, map lights, cigarrette lighters, and air bags all over the freaking car than they are worried about producing a quality engine with solid engineered parts from top of the line materials.

It's all about the flair now saddly.

Stare At The Sun

if you want raw power cheaply, i'd go american(z28,svt,etc)

If you want fun, i'd go import, AWD cars w/ I4's and turbos,

If you want style and class along with power i'd go german...

Overall, i'd say american cars suckass in reliability and have the worst interiors ever.

Still though, just depends on what you want.

Scrub0

Imports will never have the attitude that muscle cars have. I'd take a V8 domestic over an import any day. But I gotta say, the Eagle Talon TSI AWD's and Subaru WRX STi's are very slick.

Pragma

I'd tend to agree with UnlikedOne (awesome avatar, by the way).

The only argument I have with the "raw power cheaply, go american" comment is that the cars won't last. You rarely see heavily-used American sports cars that are over 10 years old - they just don't last.

Still, pretty accurate summary.

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bleet

import, although domestic seems to be doing tons better than before.