I feel the domestics (such as chevy) do get a bad rap. Cars these days are MUCH more reliable, and comparing a complex 4x4 vehicle (like the Jimmy) to a FWD passenger car (like the Corrolla) just isn't a fair comparison.
Look back even 20 years, and it was very common to scrap cars that were even 5 years old, let alone 7 or 8. Complaining about having to fix a 7 year-old car also is not very fair.
And just because one person you know has owned a car for 10 years without repairs, but only drives it 10,000km a year doesn't mean the car is any better than a 7 year old car that needs fixing at 200,000km. There are a lot of factors to consider here.
People these days suffer from what I call "the McDonalds mentality"...have it your way, right away. They have unrealistic expectations from their vehicles; they don't maintain them, abuse them, and then complain that the car breaks down.
A funny little anecdote...we had a customer in a while ago that had a shake at highway speed, I showed her the loose tierod ends and told her it would cost $120 + taxes to fix. Roughly $60 for parts, and another $60 for labour. Bear in mind, this is the person that decided to "give the car a treat and do an oil change this year", and has
never spent anything on the car in the previous six years she owned it (and this car is a chevy, btw). She clutched her chest and staggered back "I CAN'T PAY THAT!".
A week later she was driving a brand new $35,000 car.
