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      09-03-2008, 04:09 PM   #181
methodtim
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DuckofPrey View Post
Well, unfortunately, this was not the case for my dad. His previous car was a 1995 Camry, which was built in Japan (I know from the vin number). Despite being crashed rather badly twice, the ONLY thing that broke were literally the self extending antenna and a light bulb on the dashboard. Apart from those, not even a rust spot... Amazing!! So, when that car was written off after a second accident, 10 years and 370,000 km on the clock, my dad got another Camry without a second thought. In fact, he didn't bother with a test drive.

The second one, a 2005 made in Canada I guess, was a lot less than impressive. The car makes a god awful buzzing noise at highway speeds (something in the engine room is vibrating as the car gain speed), there are rust spots everywhere and one of the window regulators work intermittently. All this on a car less than 4 years old and around 60,000 km... Also, there's the feel of the car. The older one, despite being smaller and being crashed twice, still felt surprisingly solid. The 2005 feels... well... flimsy... (although, this could be distorted as I'm used to my BMW... which still feels solid as a rock at 9 years old). .
Hmmm... your comparison between a 95 Camry and a 2005 Camry leaves a lot to be desired. A lot of things may have happened to decrease quality over that time, which may or may not have anything to do with the location where the car was manufactured. It sucks that your dad's brand allegiance had negative results, but really, the only way to be sure whether this has anything to do with where the car was manufactured versus how the 2005 generation was designed (i.e. whether economic compromises were made with regards to materials, structural rigidity, etc., to cram in more goodies) is either to purchase two identical cars made in different factories or to find a study that compares things like that. I'm much too poor to do the former and much too lazy to do the latter. I'm just saying that your conclusion is a bit faulty.
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