And it was STILL more reliable than 90s and 2000s American cars.
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Not by my experience.
Absolutely true in my and many others’ experience. There are reasons people bought and continue to buy import marque cars despite them being more expensive.
See for yourself what the real world reliability rankings are like: https://www.consumerreports.org/car-reliability-owner-satisfaction/car-brands-reliability-how-they-stack-up/
Only one American maker in the top 10 and that’s because Buick recently dumped most of their American designed product line and is now importing a lot of rebadged Opels and making Opel designs as Buicks in their North American factories. And this has been the state of affairs for a very, very long time now for domestic quality.