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Comment by Spivak | Hacker News Reader

Genuine question, we have manufacturing strength in the US auto industry?

Even among Americans, American cars aren't considered that good. There's a massive reliability premium you pay for Honda and Toyota. Even cars with 100k miles on them (frustratingly as a buyer) keep their value. And they're manufactured in the US, inasmuch as any car can be said to be manufactured in a single location.

I've been searching around and I can't even find data about other countries importing our cars which to me would be the biggest signal of strength.

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I own a Chevy Bolt EUV, made in the US. After 18 months driving it, I was happy enough with it that we leased a Chevy Equinox EV to replace my wife's gas car. The Equinox is made in Mexico, not the US but we've also been happy with it for 9 months so far.

We've owned Hondas (Odyssey) and Toyotas (Camry, Prius, Corolla). They've been great. We also changed the oil whenever the car's display said to and did whatever other servicing our independent mechanic advised. I suspect that a lot of cars would also be reliable if they were maintained.

Toyota is recalling 100,000 Tundra trucks because debris was left in the engine. https://www.haleytoyota.com/blog/the-2022-2023-toyota-tundra... There's no perfect vehicle although I'd say EVs get a lot closer when you can refill at home and do basically no maintenance except tire rotations and cabin air filters.

That perception is outdated. Many American cars are good now, especially EVs.

Teslas are great cars.

I've only been in BYDs in Mexican Ubers and I would not buy one, it felt cheap and plasticky and creaked.

I have a 2018 Model 3 and your description of BYD is exactly how I would describe my Tesla. It feels cheap and plasticky and it creaks. I also briefly had a Model 3 rental car that was newer than mine (but I don't know what year it was) and it also felt the same.

I had thought about throwing an exception for Tesla because they did manage to create cars that people outside the US want. So I guess that does count but I doubt they're what anyone thinks of when they think of American car makes.

Oh I would for sure buy a BYD today if I were able. The ones I've ridden in have been really nice. I mean they are literally plastic but so is every car in the "economy" price range. I don't think their interiors were noticeably different than any other non-luxury car. I've been told that their higher end models don't have this problem.

Teslas have never been good “cars”. Their production quality is miserable.

They do have significant advantages on the software side of things. I’m not sure how that compares to Chinese companies however.

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