Why does everyone and their sperm think that American cars are unreliable?
I owned a 2004 Impala from 06 to 16, 10 years, the car was 12/13 years old, and put on 185,000 miles. It was my daily driver, and I drove it across Canada and across the US, snow, rain, summer heat, everything.
Only things I had to change was a head gasket, which was actually under warranty for 7 years, but my first mechanic lied and made me pay to do it. They also did a shitty job and it happened again 5 years later.
Another problem I faced was my alternator broke down, about mid 2013. Left me stranded but it wasn't "a big deal".
Another problem, in 2014, my power steering pump failed. Replaced it with a 2007 - 2013 Impala pump (the fleet model) and it worked fine.
> The only 3 times I was "left stranded" with it was with the head gasket twice, and the alternator.
Anyways, point is, I bought the vehicle used, with like 25,000 miles, and it lasted me all the way until 185,000 miles (I got into a car accident, the car was barely damaged, but it was worth nothing, so it was a write off).
I changed the brake rotors and pads when required, changed the tires when required, did all the fluid work, kept the vehicle rust proofed (the gas cap still rusted though) and did pretty much all the preventative maintenance.
The car never let me down, it kept trudging along, and it kept me totally safe with no injuries in a 60 mph highway accident where I spun out into a ditch after being rammed 2 times by another vehicle.
Is this "not reliable"?
Car could have gone until 250,000 - 300,000 miles before I junked it.