On the subject of quality, my limited knowledge of Japanese society is that they still have a high regard for honor and discipline. The shame of failure is not well received there. It's true that we have benefited from their pride of workmanship in the automotive industry as well as others. The competition they give our automakers has certainly caused them to raise their standards and as a result, we have more features and options to choose from and both performance and economy has improved.
There was a time when ‘Made In America’ was a badge of honor. Our products were built with pride and craftsmanship. They were dependable and made to last, sometimes for a lifetime, usually longer than any other. Unfortunately we have seen a change in the last 25 to 30 years. Our standards are not as high as they once were. Our work ethic has waned. We’ve become bean counters and clock-watchers. We’d like to have shorter workweeks and longer weekends. Of course we’d like higher wages too, thank you very much. And, while we’re at it, we want early retirement.
We need to get back to doing a good job because it’s the right thing to do and because we enjoy it. Work is often hard but it can be fun and rewarding. Not just monetarily, there can be a great feeling of accomplishment when we look back at a job well done. It doesn’t matter what your job is, if it’s sweeping the floors sweep them well, sweep them better than anyone else. If it’s bending tin and hanging duct, do it to the best of your ability. Build a better mousetrap, design a better system, write a best seller. And while we’re doing these things let’s see if we can do them in such a way that customer satisfaction is no longer a problem but a given.
Kev---I was a Boilermaker out'a Local 1 in Chicago for 34 years. I retired last year when I turned 55.
Now my wife and I travel alot, we're driving down to the Gulf next week. The CTS is a great road car, I gotta drive.
Alright! SMWIA Local 273 is my home. I expect I may work for another 20 if I beat the average life expectancy for a tinner (it was 54 when I started the trade, I hope to help bring that up)
Sounds like quite a drive you are undertaking, how many miles do you figure your trip will be one way?
What stinks is that this started off as a hilarious topic and it blew up into a Japan vs America debate, honestly, the truth is that they blow us away technologically speaking, it's not even a contest, small example is how insanely advanced their cell phones are compared to ours, it's almost embarassing to walk around Japan with our highest, top model cell phone, most expensive etc to their worst version.
The topic itself was entertaining, this thread, however, is pretty much dead from its original intentions.
Last year at this time, I was in a full blown battle with my Cadillac dealer to get problems with my brand new CTS taken care of. Not a pleasent experience.
I traded in my CTS for a new Lexus on Oct 1st of last year, and nothing, and I mean absolutley nothing has gone wrong with it. No squeeks, no dashboard or sunroof rattles, no defective scratched up paint, no rear differential whine, etc.
A very pleasent ownership experience. What a difference a year makes.
I have experienced a number of the same problems with my CTS and sadly the problems are ongoing. I just returned from the dealer this week for the driver's seat belt mechanism breaking.
Besides wearing an American logo is the CTS really American? The CTS has a Getrag German built rear diff, French built auto transmission, the manual is imported from Asin of Japan, the 3.6L engine is manufactured in Canada, the overhead VVT is sourced from Asin Japan, the Nav system is a Japan import, so most major CTS components are imported. Does the location of where all those imported parts get screwed together add up to "Made in USA"?
I have experienced a number of the same problems with my CTS and sadly the problems are ongoing. I just returned from the dealer this week for the driver's seat belt mechanism breaking.
Besides wearing an American logo is the CTS really American? The CTS has a Getrag German built rear diff, French built auto transmission, the manual is imported from Asin of Japan, the 3.6L engine is manufactured in Canada, the overhead VVT is sourced from Asin Japan, the Nav system is a Japan import, so most major CTS components are imported. Does the location of where all those imported parts get screwed together add up to "Made in USA"?
It's a world market today. When changing my hard drive for my Dell computer I found most of the parts including the hard drive were made in Malaysia. Darrell I wish you hadn't told me my transmission was made in France of all places
don't get happy, but for the 1st time, i soooo agree w/ u
imho, i don't care if my car lasts for the nest 22 years or 350,000 miles. i don't keep them that long. i'm kewl if it lasts a few years & still has less than 100k on it. once a vehicle gets over 100k i don't wanna get near it, REGARDLESS of the year/make/model. i look at car payments like a house payment... i'm ALWAYS gonna have them so might as well enjoy the heck outta it while i got it. for me, vehicles are like heroin, i'm addicted baddddd ! ! !
I am the same way, after a few years the entire car market changes and its time to get something newer. I love my CTS, but I don't plan on owning it for more than 4 yrs. It could be built like a tank and drive for a million miles, but I will eventually get tired of it.. So in the end, buy what you want, all cars today could handle 100K miles without trouble so it doesn't matter whether its American or import.
When it came out it was so unique, then various other cars start to mimic its look (imo the Acura TL, Chrysler 300, Infiniti G35 all took styling ideas from the CTS). I'm just proud that caddy came out with such an original design, and a car that handles and performs on par with the competition. I seem to forget that a few years ago Cadillac was seen as a joke to the competition, but now its setting the trends.
2. 2006 Mustang GT(upside>style/power/regular fuel/ lower TCO per mile)(downside>limited availability if current sales hold into 2006 MY, no satellite radio/no heated seats/no xenon/stick axle/school boy image)
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Re: Japanese Quality 
