Questions, Coffee & Cars #85 // Japanese VS build N.A. Quality?

This is a Motormouth couple car video answering your questions from Instagram, Like: Japanese VS North American quality? Any models that standout as duds? Will Mazda continue to move it's cars higher into luxury? Cadillac XT4 Vs Honda CR-V? Is cash king when buying? Replacing a Nissan Murano with something German feeling? When to change oil as per dealer advice? Does resale value matter?

0:00 Intro
0:29 When to change oil as per dealer advice?
2:48 Replacing a Nissan Murano with something German feeling?
4:55 Is cash king when buying?
6:37 Does resale value matter?
8:02 Cadillac XT4 Vs Honda CR-V?
9:47 Will Mazda continue to move it's cars higher into luxury?
12:54 Any models that standout as duds?
14:59 Japanese VS North American quality?

[urbo]

I toured the Toyota Cambridge plant last year. The workers on the line SMILE. If they have an issue on the line, it is addressed immediately. If the workers need minor medical attention, they have a clinic on the line. After you take the tour you will be inclined to buy a Toyota. People are a precious resource and anything Toyota can do to make the workers job better or safer are top priority.
I did the Corvette plant tour a few weeks later and the contrast was staggering. At Corvette where workers are building a special, low volume car with a huge fanatical fan base, you really don't get the sense the workers love their job. The exact opposite. Full disclosure: I come from a GM family having owned Chevs, Olds, and Cadillacs and love my Ford pickups. I have a Prius Prime XSE on order.

[MonkeyPunchZPoker]

If you are going to exchange cars every few years the owners manual service schedule will get you through the warranty period, if you want to keep it longer term then 5k/6 months max and do transmission fluid 30k max.

[isimonsez]

I’ve had several vehicles (that are all garage kept and driven short distances) I check the oil for smell, level, color etc. and judge for myself if I need to change it sooner than the 10k recommendation. Never had problems

[foxlake]

We have three Toyotas and the oil change interval is supposed to be 16, 000 kms or 10, 000 miles, we change them at 8, 000 kms or 5, 000 miles. Given our annual mileage, it means two oil changes a year vs. one……cheap insurance.

[lgbunbury]

We offered “cash” to a local Nissan dealer (Hunt Club Ottawa) for a 2023 kicks and THEY WOULDN’T TAKE IT and said we had to finance… They accused us of wanting to sell the car for a profit. Crazy!!! We were so shocked and insulted that we purchased the vehicle at another dealer!

[djplonghead]

I don't understand when people complain that all cars are the same. Then companies release vehicles with different shifters, trackpads, the Crown sedan, etc and the journalists complain that it is too different and no one will buy it. Also, a friend has a Lincoln Natalis and is mad that they had to take it to the dealer to replace the wipers because of the heated wipers... Keep up the great work.

[BrianPetersen-lw]

Love your reviews. Personally, my madden Japan 2008 Toyota 4Runner still looks and drives like new after over 15.5 years. Nothing has failed and the interior and exterior look and work like new. I doubt that kind of long term reliability is common with most other brands.

[kellingtonlink]

Great episode. A couple of days ago, I got to get a proper road test with a Mazda 3 4-door sedan in ‘Soul Crystal Red’. It wasn’t something I’d buy (I’d of gone with the hatchback), but I was really impressed. Especially being in that hypnoticly (not a real word) mesmerizing colour-scheme. That painting technique was a masterful a achievement (it is worth a video in itself). The Mazda 3 was purchased by a close friend and was directly based on my impressions, based directly on your impressions and based on the impressions on your viewers. It was a great choice. I appreciate everyone’s … and your insights. And as always… Thanks for the video.

[Nietzscheable]

Agree with Andrea, especially if still under Warranty, get the Oil Change the Dealer recommends. If you Blow your engine, what will "your Dealer" say? No these are not, Crown Victorias with big engines, most today are these little, turbo'd 4 bangers, and they need all the clean oil, gas, and air they can get. Oh, don't trust your Dealer? Go to another one. Mine tells me: "oh, you're too soon", yeah, Change it.

[frh-freerangehuman]

I’d err on the side of caution with oil changes and go every 5K miles. Every independent mechanic I’ve delt with, and as a former chev tech in the 90’s myself, has said 5K. I change mine every 5K kms (ford recommends 8k kms which is around 5K miles).

Personally every car I’ve ever owned ive changed oil at 5K kms regular or synthetic. I’ve never had an engine blow nor major engine work and all my cars reach 300, 000 kms or more before trading in. I had a Plymouth Horizon with 477, 000 kms when I got rid of it.

It’s really cheap insurance.

[msmoniz]

When it comes to oil changes always remember; oil and filters are cheap, engines are expensive. With today's engines, especially turbocharged ones, somewhere between 5000-8000 miles or roughly every 6 months, do your oil change. If a well designed engine, you should never have an engine oil related problem for your entire ownership.

[ricatiman]

Driving since the 60's, I recall how most people thought very little of Japanese cars as they started to arrive in numbers. At first I agreed they were sub-par, but by the mid 70's and selling Toyotas, after years with Fords, I changed my opinion. Now in 2024, as all the "Imports" from the East are actually built here, the quality still appears superior in the "Import" brands built here. The newest domestics still struggle to deliver consistent quality. Those hidden incentives are called "money in the trunk" by the dealers I worked at. Note that All 4Runners have been built in Japan at Toyota's plant in Tahara, Aichi, or at the Hino Motors (a Toyota subsidiary) plant in Hamura.

[charlesdudek]

Since 1990 my wife and I have been buying Accords and Camrys built in the U.S. and it has been all good.

[Outsider.Reviews]

Hahaha I absolutely hear you with the Lincoln seats! I had the exact same reaction! I could not get comfortable in the whole week I had that press car

[melvinjacobs]

I always change my oil at 5, 000 miles. It's the cheapest form of maintenance, and keeps the car running well.

[msmoniz]

My 2012 Honda Fit was made in China before they moved production for 2013 onwards to Mexico, and after 12 years of ownership, other than normal old car wear and tear, still a solid car inside and out.

[palebeachbum]

I love your content. Clear dialogue. Professional and unbiased delivery with humility and humor. The banter between you two is great. Are you two exclusively Youtube auto journalists or do you have other income streams? I've always been curious about how one becomes a professional auto journalist and how one generates income.

[gregnorton]

I was going to pay cash for a new Subaru Outback WIlderness, but when I got to the dealer, they were offering financing for only 1.9% APR and I was getting better than 5% on my money, so I financed it and put the money back in the bank! BTW, the Outback is made in Indiana

[TheGbeecher]

If you can pay in full with cash - do so...my wife and I recently had a bad experience...we financed a 4 year old car, only to hit hard times, two years later - we got behind on payments and the vehicle was repossessed...what made us angry, was our house was closing for sale, in 18 days and the lender refused to wait...another 18 days and we could have paid it in full +...

[stuntmonkey]

Japan vs NA production: the country doesn't matter as much as the company culture.

In the 80's GM's Fremont plant was one of the worst performing and rife with personnel issues like absenteeism and substance abuse. But GM went into partnership with a little company called Toyota and applied the Japanese methodology to that plant and that plant, NUMMI, became on of the best success stories in automotive history. Except that GM couldn't replicate it in their other plants because the other non-Toyota-partnership plants had too much culture inertia to take up the lessons learned at NUMMI. In the end, all car companies did pick up from what happened with NUMMI, it's just that GM bungled the good thing that they had.

... And that plant was closed and is now in the hands of Tesla, making cars of questionable quality again, because like I said in the beginning, corporate culture matters.