Am I an asshole and a hypocrite for considering buying a foreign car?

[SyracuseDemocrat]

I'm currently kind of in the market for buying a used car, and I am looking at mid to late 90s Honda Accords. I consider myself an opponent of free trade, however, which is why I feel like kind of an ass for even considering this. I look around my house, though, and most of my electronics are foreign made :(. What do you think?

[aquaman]

1. I have never owned an american car.

I have driven VW's all my life and will stick with them.

[KeepItReal]

2. Buying an Accord might make you a genius

"Honda reached a major milestone in North America last week (2001) with its 10 millionth North American-assembled vehicle since local production began in 1982 at Honda of America Mfg. (HAM) in Marysville, Ohio, American Honda Motor Co. Inc. (AHM) announced.

Honda annually manufactures and assembles more than 1 million vehicles in North America, including the Honda Accord, Civic and Odyssey, and the Acura TL, CL, MDX and EL (Canada only model). It also produces both V-6 and 4-cylinder auto engines and automatic transmissions."

http://www.autointell-news.com/News-2001/April-2001/April-18-01-p3.htm

Just beware, I think they may have a high theft rate, though.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

3. Why would you be against free trade?

Besides, doesn't Honda have a plant here in the US? Trade is good when FAIR trade exists.

[SyracuseDemocrat]

5. very true

NSMA, but when i think of free trade I think of what we have now with NAFTA and the WTO. That's certainly not fair trade, and I would like to have that definitely... but since we don't have it now, i'm not for free trade currently.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

9. Trade creates customers for our good too

What is worse is the deliberate manipulation of ever shrinking and concentrating corporate power having the ability to shift all manufacturing out of the US and with economic power install governments in other countries that will loosely enforce laws and actively intimidate to avoid unions but I tend to regard that a bit apart from the greater issue of trade.

[sweetheart]

4. honda's are great

I've owned several honda's and have one now. No shit, i bought an 82 honda civic in 1992 at 100,000 miles... and drove it to 205,000 miles without putting anything but gas in to it... no oil, no maintenance, no problems starting... no nothing.

After early experiements with low quality american crap, i would never touch an american car again...

The more real question is regarding global car companies, since there is no such thing as an american company given the inter-trade in shares and supply chain of the car manufacture.... being an american car company simply means that the shares are traded on a US exchange... nothing else. Then its a question of ethics in a murky world of big industry manufacturing... and toyota and honda have a more socialist corporate operation than any of the "american" ones.

[Booberdawg]

6. No. Just smart

:)

[CarlBallard]

7. A bit of a hypocrite, but not an asshole

I mean really, Honda Accord or a K. Just ask the dealer if they know where it was manufactured. And when you're looking at buying your car, look in the upper right corner. The other boxes are just there to confuse you. I mean don't ignore them, but focus on the upper right because that's the actual cost.

[FloridaPat]

8. American cars don't last.

My goal was to get a nice foreign car that had a 100,000 mile warrenty on it because I had been spending 3,000-5,000 a year on repairs on my Olds after the warrently ran out. The car died and I was suppose to pay $3000 more for things that were fixed just last year. Because the car wouldn't run, I got I think a good deal on yet another American car. But this will be the last one. The car with the 100,000 warrenty was a lot less than mine. I bought a Grand Am that I had good luck years before. It's a shame we can't produce a car that won't run after 35,000 miles.

[Tikki]

12. American cars, maybe.....we wouldn't.....

....know because it has been over 25 years since we owned a car. BUT, American PICKUP TRUCKS.....well.... we still have our '59', '72', '82' and '00'.....all with original engines and running just fine. Thank you Ford and GM.

The Tikkis

[redeye]

10. No, you're not

First of all, Hondas have excellent gas mileages; the Honda Accord is the most fuel-efficient midsize car there is (33 mpg highway, 24 mpg city). Second of all, there's nothing wrong with buying according to what is best for you rather than what is best with your principles. Third and finally, Japanese people deserve jobs as much as Americans do.

[Sirius_on]

14. Sure they do

But why are there no American cars in Japan? I doubt you will ever see a Ford or GM car in Japan. The day that happens is the day I consider buying one.

[Punkingal]

11. I hope not......

because I have a BMW!!!!

[Sirius_on]

13. American cars are just the same

I have experienced both and the outcome is the same. A detailed report was done about a week ago and the results were found that Buick actually was the least problematic car on the road. My last car was a Buick Century and it has 150,000 miles are shows no signs of letting up.

I guess you just need to ask yourself where your priorities are. Living in Michigan I refuse to own a Foriegn car. Our entire economy is built on the auto industry. In Michigan 1 out of 15 cars is foreign on the roads. I am glad people around here realize the importance of supporting local workers.

[Upfront]

15. No Wqy

Honda Accords are made in Ohio. I own an Oddsey which is made their also. Being union all my life I had to give this a lot of thought. I am not sorry. Also have a big Chevy one ton and it has about the same amount of American parts. No problem. :)

[KG]

16. accords are built in the US.

my last car was '99 ford escort. built in mexico - piece of junk.

got right and bought a ford ranger truck.

[dani]

17. are American cars made in America?

Or are they made in Mexico and Argentina? I'm not sure if buying American will necessarily create more jobs in America.

[trof]

18. Good point

Half the stuff on my Dodge Caravan comes from outside of the U.S.
Oh wait, Chrysler-Plymouth is now Daimler-Chrysler.

[Sirius_on]

20. Assembled in America

I live near Detroit and personally drive next to the factories that make the cars/trucks. Many of the items are brought in from overseas, but are assembled in Detroit/Michigan. By buying American cars in Michigan I first hand see how increased production raises the bonuses and hours of the employees.

Dont forget, most of these autoworkers are union as well as democrats. I would like to think that my $25,000 spent on a vehicle ends up in one of there pockets. Plus, most of our stadiums/sports teams are partially owned/payed for by the auto industry.

[Runesong]

19. We were looking for a new car last year,

and all of the american cars we looked at were junk.

We finally settled on a Kia Spectra. We've had it for a year, and it has been great. Recently we got into an accident, and it's in the shop now for bodywork. They gave us a 2001 Pontiac Sunfire as a loaner. I can't beleive what a clunky POS it is, compared to our Kia.

[Sirius_on]

21. Kia is American I believe

nt

[Lost4words]

22. No, US car companies helped bush get into office.

Corporations in the US have screwed all of us. I have always favored made in US products for the sake of US jobs. But it is evident that US corporations dont give a shit bout the us worker. So fuck them, right now if I had a job I would go honda 100%. Much better engineering and a better value. Bush was at the Harley Davidson plant and one of the workers had bush sign his crotch of his jeans, well after years of dreaming of a sportster for myself it aint ever gonna happen. Too many great foreign products. American corporations havent done shit for me, they can go fuck themselves as far as I am concerned.

[sam sarrha]

23. Americans don't make good cars. i think the ford escort maybe the best

but they quit making it.. i have a Nissan Sentra,1987, gets 47 mpg. the oil companies are a real trip... as we all know.. but much worse than we all know. like agricultural hemp oil could make us oil independent, could run trucks nearly pollution free, and is renewable. a product called AMSOIL, could nearly make us oil independant.... it has a system that uses a better filter system, takes out all chemicals and particles down to 1/10 micron. the oil flash point is about 980*. you can get over a million miles on an engine with it, commercial trucks in one test showed that 500,000 miles produced produced about 40,000 of wear on the engine, their bearing grease prevents nearly all wear. you can use a single common spin-on oil AMSOIL filter and their oil and only change the oil/filter every 12,500 miles or one year + extended engine wear reported in the million mile range , using from 40,000 miles. the dual system is reported to have gotten over 200,000 miles pr/oil change, + 8% better gas mileage, the single bypass unit cost me $120.my brother put it in his 'maxed out' hot rod engine and had to reset the idle down 200 RPM. the company is anti coporation, and sells its products thru independent salesmen that get a commission.. it costs a little more than Corporate oil, but the change schedule and engine wear makes it much cheaper in the long run..