BrownPride

Let's look at the Big 3's product portfolio in a nutshell:

FCA: Everything they produce from every division is mediocre, with the exception of the Grand Cherokee which is still dogged by reliability problems. The entire company is literally surviving on the outdated Ram pickup and ancient Jeeps.

GM: Chevy sells a bunch of mediocre sedans and SUVs with the exception for the Impala and new Malibu. Camaro isn't selling, Tahoes/Suburbans do fine but that doesn't mean they aren't dinosaurs under the skin. Cadillac division is in shambles from a sales perspective, Buick's entire portfolio with the exception of the new LaCrosse is mediocre and dated. GMC are just a bunch of tarted up Chevy SUVs/trucks.

Ford: looks the best of the Big 3. Pretty decent lineup with the exception of their small cars, Taurus, and Escape which despite being a seller has been dogged by reliability problems and recalls since day 1. I think it had over 20 recalls in its first two years of production! Lincoln is on the upswing but still has a long way to go.

All three companies trail the Japanese and Koreans in reliability and resale values. Overall, to me it's a no-brainer why the Big 3 dominate this list. For every product they get right they have 2-3 others which are mediocre even if they do happen to sell.

Toys4RJill

Overall the American automakers have never excelled in reliability and resale values have always been difficult for the American vehicles. The strength is not their reliability, its the wide assortment of models, huge dealer network, and big discounts in the form of rebates. On an individual model by model basis, the American brands also do well in offering cool features such as cylinder de-activation, WiFi hot spots, pretty decent infotainment systems that are usually easy to use, I have also noticed that American vehicles usually have better HP numbers than the Japanese cars.

I have always had a soft spot for GM cars, especially Cadillac. I remember my father owned a 1990s STS model, in some ways it was nicer and more luxurious than his new 2015 ES350. He finally ditched it in 2006 for his second Toyota, I still remember coming over and visiting them and I remember the last few years, the trunk would not close and would have to my roped shut, the power drivers side window was stuck in the closed position, and he would tell me for the last few years, the car would not exceed 50mph on the highway. There were so many reliability problems. But it was such a nice car, the leather seats were amazing, nice thick carpets, excellent features for the time and the V8 Northstar was outstanding at 295HP at the time.

The sad and unfortunate part is that American cars are not as reliable and easy to own than Japanese. I would lease a GM car, but no way would I own one for the long haul.

BrownPride

Fair enough points. If I were on a strict budget for example I'd certainly give the Dart a look over some of its competitors.

My folks and some family friends had cars like the SRX, STS, DeVille, etc. during the '90s and early '00s. I definitely had fond memories of them, but every GM product my folks had (probably 15 in total, each of which they leased brand new) with the exception of a Saab was a POS as far as build quality and reliability went. After getting duped with the first couple cars my folks never would've gone back but they had to b/c my dad worked for GM and would get the stink eye from brown-nosing managers for driving anything else in such a bureaucratic corrupt pathetic incompetent crooked company soon-to-be surviving on the taxpayers' dime.

mmarshall

We've got several owners of newer Grand Cherokees right here on this forum, who are (or were) quite pleased with them, and had only minimal problems. I could list who they are, but I'll let them speak for themselves;

So the Holden-based SS is mediocre? Have you driven one? I have....and found it anything but mediocre, though I'll admit it didn't have quite the punch of the E63 AMG I sampled a few years ago.


Then why are sales of the Encore so brisk? They go out the door faster than they can be kept in stock.

Yes, in general, they are, though the GMC Equinox does have much different styling from the equivalent Chevy Equinox, inside and out.

Toys4RJill

Buick was offering 20% minimum off MSRP for a while now. So I am sure any car will sell well with 20% off. In Canada, right now today Buick is offering $4750 off MSRP. Take the huge cash rebate away and Buick would never be able to sell the Encore.

mmarshall

I think you're a little off base on this one. Sure, rebates help, but I know several people (some of them colleagues of mine) who have bought or leased a Encore, and they are very pleased. One said he was grateful to me for having mentioned it....he wasn't even aware of that vehicle. The Encore has genuine appeal to a lot of people....and I say that while being objective, since I myself don't particularly like the vehicle......though plush, well-built, and reliable, IMO it's overly-stubby front and rear, awkward-looking, and has what IMO is a Mickey-Mouse engine.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

forbes is so annoying with click bait and an 'article' that requires going through 14 web pages so they can spew more ads

also, the article itself is obviously not relevant to a lot of consumers (nor is their quoted CR rankings over and over) as jeep for example is having its best years ever by miles. the dart and 200 are very nice, but the segment is so crowded not to mention not very profitable that they're bailing.

mmarshall

Forbes or not, beauty is also sometimes in the eyes of the beholder. I remember, while helping my ex-supervisor (who had just retired) look for a new GMC Yukon XL, we were at a local Pontiac/GMC shop. While we were checking out a silver Yukon XL (which he did go home with that day), a fairly young couple stopped in and were immediately stricken with (can you believe this?)...........a white Aztek, the vehicle many consider the classic ugly duckling. They went out for a test drive, went back inside with their sales rep, and took it home a couple of hours later.