What is the most reliable American car make/model made in the last 10 years?

Buicks are decent. The only things I don’t like about them are the styling and interior that you seem to have to be over 60 to appreciate, and the handling (or lack of same) of most of the Buicks I’ve driven.

I also think the perception that they are reliable is partially because of the demographic of typical Buick owners. Let’s face it, older people own Buicks. As such, they get driven rather gently, garaged, and probably get a little better maintenance than say, a Neon owned by a poor college student just starting out. Nearly any car but the most poorly engineered heap will fare well in such circumstances. Ditto for most Cadillac models. Also, the over complicated, hard to work on, nearly disposable Northstar V8 counts against the reliability score in my opinion.

What a silly question. Why on Earth would anyone include Chrysler in a list of “American” car companies? It hasn’t been a majority owned American company since 1998. Currently, its majority owner is Fiat, an Italian company.

No used car can be called the most reliable car just because of its name badge. Once a car is owned, used, abused, maintained, neglected, etc., it doesn’t matter what the name badge is.

The biggest factor in used car reliability isn’t the name badge, it’s how it was treated. Was it driven gently or hard? Was it maintained properly or neglected? If you really care about used car reliability, these things matter much more than make and model, or country of origin.

Honda Accord, Toyota Camary, Corrola all made here in the good old US of A.

Maybe we should start by defining what is an "American" car?   

Final assembly location, nameplate, location of the design team?

My wifes American Made 96 Honda Accord was among the best I ever heard of. We gave it to our niece when it had about 260k miles on it. Only “Repair” was a heater knob ($4). Wasn’t burning a drop of oil when we gave it to our niece…Last we knew it was still going strong with well over 300k miles

A Honda Civic, it’s made in the USA, the Crown Vic-was made in Canada.

If I had to, I’d get a beater cop car like a crown vic.

for comfort and reliability - Toyota Avalon - produce in Georgetown, KY with >95% American made parts

for economic and super reliaability - Pontiac Vibe.

I still drive both with over 200K and still run strong.

“…the Crown Vic-was made in Canada.”

That’s American - North American.

That's American - North American.

Don’t tell that to US UAW workers.

That's American - North American.
That's why you should look for the "Made in the U.S.A." label. If it says "Made in America," it might have been made in American Samoa or one of the other American territories.

Frankly, I don’t blame GM and Ford for moving jobs to Canada. In Canada, they don’t have to pay for health insurance for their employees. That’s why Lifesavers candy moved its factory to Canada too.

It is true that care and service has a lot to do with longivity, but some can be abused more than others, example a Crown Vic.

“Don’t tell that to US UAW workers.”

Do they still have a problem with CAW workers? It seems like each could be the only friends they have.

"Frankly, I don’t blame GM and Ford for moving jobs to Canada. In Canada, they don’t have to pay for health insurance for their employees. "

I think that we may just start to see the reversal of that type of decision, based on current Canadian labor costs vs current US labor costs. Either that, or CAW members will have to agree to the same type of “give-backs” that UAW members agreed to.

Don’t believe me? Then take a look at this recent article:

Why would I not believe you? :slight_smile:

Maybe we’ll get our Lifesavers candy factory back too.

Business conditions change. Did you notice that GM shut down some of the Oshawa plant? CAW expenses are leading to reduced work, IMO. And look at how many Asian and European auto companies assemble cars in the USA now. They even export cars from the USA.

I read today that the UAW wants to unionize VW’s new factory in Chattanooga. The UAW has had no success unionizing any auto assemblers beyond the Detroit 3. I rate their chances as slim, and Slim just left town. I also heard a few days ago that union members comprise 10% of all private jobs, and just 12% of all jobs (including government). Unions are hurting big time. I wonder if there is anything they can and will do to change that?

Canada is not the United States and it’s workers don’t pay US taxes, if you don’t believe me ask any Canadian.

“The most American vehicle for 2012 probably isn’t going to be a Ford, or General Motors product, or even a Chrysler or Jeep. It’s most likely going to be the 2012 Toyota Camry.”

“That’s according to the federal government’s annual U.S./Canadian parts-content figures, as posted on new-car window stickers and required by the American Automobile Labeling Act (AALA).”

"According to Toyota, the gasoline version will have a market-leading 92-percent North American-sourced parts. "

IMO – the Toyota Camry is the most reliable American car made in the last 10 years.

Maybe the question could be…who builds the most reliable cars, union or non union labor ? IMO, the answer to this and the one asked has nothing to do with where it’s built or who builds them. It’s one of the few times trickle down determines reliability. Buick had a string of exceptionally reliable products, even when their brethren used similar components. They encorporated real time subcontracting parts manufacturing along with instant communication between service centers and manufacturing lines which provided immediate corrections to prevent problems from being persistent.

These and other strategys have less to do with location and more to do with philosophy. Honda built solid products in Japan, the US and probably subcontracts reliable parts from China…same as Apple, same as John Deere etc.

I have a friend with a C5 Corvette with 325,000 miles… Engine has never been apart (no smoke, runs like a scared rabbit!) , transmission replaced at about 275K with a used one and the original shocks! Seems like a pretty reliable car if you don’t need four seats :slight_smile: