My father was a Union steelworker. He was a large man and always bought large American cars.He told me as I approached driving age to always buy American cars to support the American workers and the unions. I took his advice and have only owned 2 foreign cars. A 1968 Volkswagen Beetle and a 1976 Toyota Celica. The only reason I bought the Toyota was because it had a passing resemblance to a Ford Mustang.
Since 2003 we have bought 4 brand new American cars. I like Chevy's, so in 2003 we bought 2 03 Cavaliers. One for me & one for my better half.We had no problems with either car. In 2006, I gave my car to my daughter to use while she went to college. So I went and bought a new Chevy HHR. Fancy styling, a 4 Cly engine that usually gets about 23 to 24 mpg. I had 1 problem with the drivers side door gasket, that was promptly replaced under my warranty.This car my wife and I drove to Ohio, Georgia, and North Carolina from St Pete, Fla. It cruised nicely at highway speeds and on the trip to Ohio I got 30.1 mpg.
Last March, the light of my life decided that she wanted a new car because the Cavalier was too small for the hauling she did in running her craft business. So again we turned to GM and bought a 08 Equinox. She got a great deal on a sport model, V6 268hp burner. I love this ride! We drove this car to Ohio 2 weeks after we bought it, our mileage was about 27 Mpg. Not bad for a hot V6!
So what is the point of my rambling screed? Don't believe the conventional wisdom about foreign cars being made better than American. After buying 4 Chevrolet's, I had a good chance to get a lemon in one of those cars. I didn't. Now does Detroit make some lemons? I'm sure they do, I'm also sure that there are some foreign cars that are lemons too. So if you need to purchase a new car, please consider buying one from the "big 3".