Are american cars like jeep, gm, chevy, chrysler cheaper because they are made locally or inferior to imports?

Question

i already own an old buick bought second hand before.

now, i am thinking of buying a new one. i really have no preference to cars as i just would want something to get me from point A to point B.

found out that american car prices are dropping and if there is a reason to believe they are inferior than honda, toyota and the alike, then i would think twice.

i also hear about depreciation and resale value. is this really a factor?

Answer 1

No they are not inferior, but they have an image of being inferior. Left over from the 70's and 80's. Ford had more vehicles top rated in the 2007 JD Powers survey than Toyota. You can take advantage of their poor image and reputation by getting a good car at a lower price before the rest of the world wakes up, and Fords have high value like the foreign brands do. My Mustang is over 134,000 miles with no problems.

Answer 2

right now the prices are dropping because the American  cars use more gas than the same sized car from japan.

Honda and Toyota have very good reliability ratings.

and usually have a long lifetime.

I drive my cars to death ( really) so resale value is not an option.   but if you like to change cars every 2 or 3 years, resale value could be a substantial incentive.

Answer 3

As far as quality, GM cars are certainly no worse than foreigners. I would say generally they are better. The problem with Consumer Reports is people with foreign cars HAVE to write in and tell everyone what a wonderful thing they did by buying a Hyundai, Toyota, Fiat, whatever.

Someone with an American car usually only writes in to complain about the one problem they had. Otherwise, they're out there using their car and not worrying about what others think.

Have you had problems with your Buick? You didn't say, so I'm going to guess " no". If your car has a V6, the engine was designed in the US and originally appeared in 1963 It was constantly updated and improved in the years since. You don't put an engine in millions of cars for 40 -50 years if it's a piece of junk.

I would highly recommend another Buick. If I didn't have enough vehicles already, I'd buy another Buick.

Answer 4

imports normally have a better resale value because they tend to have less problems....by the way, many American cars a made in Mexico and Canada, while many imports are built is the U.S.    American car prices are dropping because they are losing too many sales to imports.

Answer 5

That is a misconception.  The prices are fairley even MSRP to MSRP.  You can buy domestics cheaper because of rebates that arnt matched by the imports.  The reason resale is "better" on imports is because they arnt discounted as much.  Also fleet sales hurt resale value.  Remember supply and demand rule the market.  When you lease a couple of hundred thousand cars to rental companies, and they hit the used market, the "value" drops because there are alot of them available.  Imports dont do alot of fleet sales, so the supply stays low.  Resale values are calculated on the MSRP when a car is new vs. the book value later.  Compare the actual purchase price to the later book value.  Sometime its actually better on domestics.  Example, 300C MSRP around 38000 has a 4000 rebate and then if you get another 2000 off you get it for 6000 less than sticker/ Avalon loaded 39095 w/ no rebate.  NADA values on 05 300c = 25325, Avolon = 25250.  Who had the better resale?

Answer 6

avoid Jeep & Chrysler

Answer 7

American cars say in the last 20 years were not made to last, they wanted you to drive it and then trade it in and get a new one.

Hondas and Toyotas are more reliable

today Buick and many makers are very much improved.

but if your looking at used cars the so called american cars are not the most trustworthy