Steve is pointing out that American automakers are fairing very well in the recent J.D. Power dependability study. Mercury, Buick, and Cadillac were ranked 2, 3, and 4. They were behind Lexus, but ahead of Toyota, Acura, and Honda.
A lot of American manufacturers placed above the industry average in the survey. I found the results especially interesting because while American and Japanese top tier automakers faired well, the Koreans and Germans (with the exception of 9th placed BMW) were all below average. So much for their reputation for quality.
I don't love the J.D. Power methodology though. They are ranking manufacturers (instead of individual models) based on problem from the first 3 years of vehicle life. For most people (except me with 78k miles on a 2003) this essentially covers problems that occur under warranty. While that's nice, I would much rather have information on problems that occur after the warranty period ends and I am paying my own money to fix them. I don't think that is unreasonable considering the average US vehicle age runs 7 to 10 years.
Steve really likes his Saturn which gets good gas mileage and has been pretty reliable. He would love to own a Sky if someone else would pay for it. Wouldn't we all like a sports car if someone else would pay for it?
My Mazda Protege, which fits in the 3 year J.D. Power study criteria, has had one problem to date: a malfunctioning side impact airbag controller. It cost me some money, but I'm ok with it. I've put on a lot of miles in three years with very little to complain about.
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