Myself, I literally judge people if they are driving a foreign vehicle. Right off the top of the bat to me that represents a character flaw, if it happens to be truck then you are not only un-american but also stupid.
I lol'd at this
I've been driving for 18yrs now, and have owned 11 different cars (IIRC). 7 of those were American; 6 of the 7 were GM, the other a Ford. Of the other 4 cars, 3 were Japanese, 1 was German.
I really
REALLY hate to say this, but the build quality of my 3 Japanese cars was far superior to that of my American cars. The fit and finish, the quality of the interior materials, the smoothness of the engine/trans, the reliability- it all was better in my Japanese cars. The only thing that seemed to be consistently better on my American cars was the quality of the paint.
I always come back to USA made cars because:
1) I like to support the local economy,
2) Parts are cheaper and they are usually a bit easier to work on,
3) I don't mind tinkering and fixing little things myself when they break.
I'm about to buy a Sonic because they seem to be of improved quality over the American cars I've had in the past. But in all honesty, if the Sonic hadn't come out I would probably be looking real hard at Japanese and Korean alternatives.
I would hardly call anybody stupid, un-American or flawed in their character because they chose a car that was the highest quality option available at the time of their purchase. I
will call people ignorant for dismissing American cars completely without seeing how far they've come with the latest offerings, but I would never fault them for going with a brand that has been good to them over the years. Cars aren't cheap, and people want something that's going to last. It will take time before American car companies once again gain the level of trust that people had in them back in the 50s/60s. Many people right now only have that level of trust in Hondas and Toyotas.
As for German cars... I don't think I'll ever touch one of those again. I don't see how a country can produce such beautiful vehicles that are so much fun to drive but just SUCK so badly when it comes to reliability (and they always cost $Texas to fix). This isn't coming from my single bad experience, but from the bad experiences of nearly everybody I know that owns a German car. I almost think the last one worth buying was the E30 3-series.
/long rambling post