An Open Letter To Chrysler About It's Reputation
c5flighteng
Member Posts: 4
Dear Daimler Chrysler:
Your company should start bringing some standard of integrity to it's communications and business practices.
BEFORE I bought my jeep I called your customer assistance and inquired about the BRAKE ROTOR WARPING problem being reported by 1999,2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee owners.
One of your customer assistance "specialists" told me the problem had been fixed by a TSB that had the rotor replaced with a newly designed rotor to replace the weak one which was warping as early as 3000 miles.
All I can say is thank God I didnt buy your 4 wheel drive model (It's got lots of problems too from what weve seen)
My rotors warped on my 2000 JGC at 11,000 miles.
There is no way I will buy MOPAR parts to fix my brakes because,in fact, your company hasn't redesigned the rotor!
I WAS LIED TO BY YOUR CUSTOMER ASSISTANCE AND I DON'T LIKE BEING LIED TO.
Why should I put another set of "Mopar" brake rotors on my jeep when they will fail between 3000 and 12000 miles? Why can't you build a better brake rotor?
Another thing I don't like about your company is the fact that your dealers tried to sell me replacement brake pads (just the parts) at a ridiculous price of around $300 (front and rear)
300 dollars for just brake pads is a little bit (no kidding) excessive.
I ended up installing after market rotors and pads (Stillens) which are far superior to your Mopar junk and cost a hell of a lot less. Bottom line is, I walk with my money and you lose DC.
Your company's relationship with it's customers and the public stinks.
Your probably going to end up like Firestone/ bridgestone.
DC lacks integrity, excellence, world class products and service.
You can't build and fix cars until you first fix your companies "anti customer" practices.
XXXXXXX
also...when I spoke with your customer assistance folks and a local dealership (Vacaville Jeep, Ca) both the service adviser and your people in Auburn Hills were the rudest and snottiest customer service people I've ever seen.
I suppose this is "world class 5 star" treatment and service too!
THIS LETTER IS BEING POSTED ON THE INTERNET (EDMUNDS / JEEPS UNLIMITED) AND AT DEALERSHIP SERVICE CUSTOMER WAITING LOUNGES AND OTHER PUBLIC AREAS. I WANT AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE TO SEE HOW DC TREATS ITS CUSTOMERS.
Your company should start bringing some standard of integrity to it's communications and business practices.
BEFORE I bought my jeep I called your customer assistance and inquired about the BRAKE ROTOR WARPING problem being reported by 1999,2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee owners.
One of your customer assistance "specialists" told me the problem had been fixed by a TSB that had the rotor replaced with a newly designed rotor to replace the weak one which was warping as early as 3000 miles.
All I can say is thank God I didnt buy your 4 wheel drive model (It's got lots of problems too from what weve seen)
My rotors warped on my 2000 JGC at 11,000 miles.
There is no way I will buy MOPAR parts to fix my brakes because,in fact, your company hasn't redesigned the rotor!
I WAS LIED TO BY YOUR CUSTOMER ASSISTANCE AND I DON'T LIKE BEING LIED TO.
Why should I put another set of "Mopar" brake rotors on my jeep when they will fail between 3000 and 12000 miles? Why can't you build a better brake rotor?
Another thing I don't like about your company is the fact that your dealers tried to sell me replacement brake pads (just the parts) at a ridiculous price of around $300 (front and rear)
300 dollars for just brake pads is a little bit (no kidding) excessive.
I ended up installing after market rotors and pads (Stillens) which are far superior to your Mopar junk and cost a hell of a lot less. Bottom line is, I walk with my money and you lose DC.
Your company's relationship with it's customers and the public stinks.
Your probably going to end up like Firestone/ bridgestone.
DC lacks integrity, excellence, world class products and service.
You can't build and fix cars until you first fix your companies "anti customer" practices.
XXXXXXX
also...when I spoke with your customer assistance folks and a local dealership (Vacaville Jeep, Ca) both the service adviser and your people in Auburn Hills were the rudest and snottiest customer service people I've ever seen.
I suppose this is "world class 5 star" treatment and service too!
THIS LETTER IS BEING POSTED ON THE INTERNET (EDMUNDS / JEEPS UNLIMITED) AND AT DEALERSHIP SERVICE CUSTOMER WAITING LOUNGES AND OTHER PUBLIC AREAS. I WANT AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE TO SEE HOW DC TREATS ITS CUSTOMERS.
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This discussion has been closed.
Comments
1984 Dodge Charger 2.2
1987 Dodge Daytona
1989 Dodge Dakota
1995 Dodge Neon
1990 Jeep Commanche Pioneer
1991 Jeep Commanche Eliminator
1992 Dodge Ram
1996 Dodge Ram
1999 Chrysler 300M
1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited
2001 Dodge Ram
and a few minor problems with:
1976 Dodge Powerwagon(or whats left of it)
1975 Plymouth Duster
1970 Plymouth Barracuda Gran Coupe
so you see you have left me little to complain about,so I just can't fit in here.
But I've heard that's a common way to warp your rotors...they're just built to much tighter tolerances nowadays, and are lighter and more succeptible to damage from abuse that wouldn't even faze an older rotor. I don't know if this is true or not, but I also read (I think on www.allpar.com), that it's common for Chrysler trannies to fail right after a transmission service, and it's often because the mechanic put the wrong type of fluid in.
I figure that the tires aren't warranted (for all intents and purposes - you might get treadwear allowance but they'll always blame air pressure or alignement) so I never really worried about being consistent. On the other hand, I've never had a set of tires go bad quickly on me either.
The BMW has been an interesting adjustment though -
You change the oil when the computer tells you too, and BMW says that you shouldn't/don't need to rotate the tires.
I sort of feel like mom after we got the dishwasher - it just doesn't seem right somehow to have those responsibilities taken from me.
In any case, I've heard a lot of reports about overtorquing warping rotors - on a lot of different vehicles including Hondas...
So it seems a plausible explanation to me.
Shortly afterward, I got rid of it and would never buy another vehicle from that dealership. Not only for my suspicion that they caused the failure, but also for the way the situation was handled when I tried to get it fixed.
I cannot prove the link between the transmission service and the failure, but it sure is very coincidental.
Care to correct your statement or prove it?
These figures are based on the vehicles as ready to pick up at the dealer.
Disproves Shiftwrong again.
Shiftwrong, you have been wrong too many times and it obvious you have a bias against American cars. If you can't be unbiased as a moderator give thre job to someone else.
Dodge Caravan- New(no rating)
Dodge Dakota- Poor
Dodge Durango- Poor
Dodge Intrepid-Fair
Dodge Neon- Worse
Dodge Ram- Poor
Dodge Stratus- New(no rating)
Jeep Wrangler- Worse
Jeep Grand Cherokee- Worse
Jeep Cherokee- Worse
Here is a satisfied Jeep customer?
http://www.cs.cornell.edu/Info/People/kreitz/Jeep/main.html
Holy Mackerel, D.C. sure builds some good "stuff"!
I got get me one of them bad boys, hehe!
-Larry
There is no quesetion that the domestic manufacturers have improved the assembly of their vehicles substantially over the last five years or so. Whether that translates to better reliability is very much open to question - there are a number of manufacturers still using trouble-prone components in their vehicles, whether that be Ford with its Taurus-Sable transmissions, or DaimlerChrysler with just about any 4-speed automatic transmission it manufactures.
Is Ford any better than Chrysler? Well, if my recent experience at a Lincoln-Mercury dealership is an indication, I can safely say no. I went there with a friend, who wanted to check out a Grand Marquis. Some of those cars on the lot had fit and finish so poor that they probably wouldn't have passed by 70's standards! I have no idea how they slipped past quality control. Misaligned doors, body panels, trim, cheap plastics that again harked back to the 70's, etc. As for fit and finish, the only thing that's really out of place on my Intrepid is the fact that the plastic on the front and rear bumpers is a slightly different shade of silver than the rest of the car. Sometimes it's not noticeable, but in a certain light, it's very obvious. But guess what? I've also seen this trait on Ford, GM, Honda, Toyota, and other cars from just about every company out there.
I haven't closely checked out a new GM car lately. Well, I had a Malibu rental car back in May, and this thing felt inferior in comparison to a competing Chrysler car, like a Stratus/Sebring. It didn't feel like a total piece of junk, like so many GM bashers might like to say. In fact, I actually preferred it to the Mitsubishi Galant that a co-worker was renting. But there wasn't anything about the car that stood out as remarkably good, either. The body panels lined up pretty good, but whenever I closed a door, hood, or trunk lid, it just felt fragile. Too much plastic on the inside, wheezy engine, etc.
So, while it may be fun to make Chrysler out to be the whipping-boy of American reliability, Ford and GM are far from innocent. Heck, even the Japanese could learn a few things. From my family's experiences, Nissan has yet to learn how to build an automatic tranny that will reliably last more than 100K miles. GM and Chrysler learned how to do that when? Oh, around 1957?
First of all, there seems to be a genuine misunderstanding of the word "bias". BIAS is a "prejudice based on no evidence"
All I'm doing to telling you what I read, research and hear from owners. I don't make it up so as to slam domestic cars, so don't kill the messenger!
Okay, some publised data:
Read Consumer Reports Used Car Report, Fall 2001 issue and get back to us with a summary. Also the Car Book (Jack Gillis' Guide to the Best and Worst used cars). And Road and Track's various long-term reports are very helpful as well. The one on Camaro is not too flattering, even though the owners still liked their cars more than not.
I'll save you some time and tell you what it (CR) says, more or less. What it says is that there was not ONE American car that scored better than average, and most, nearly all, were below average or worse. It was a pretty dismal report, and even I was genuinely surprised and concerned. And Gillis' book---well, read the section on the Best and Worst resale values on used cars. American makes dominate the Worst List. They OWN it.
I will submit this data, then if not as my "proof", at least as my opinion based on some published research owner surveys regarding long term ownership and "real" experiences. Total proof it is not. Bias it is not. A credible indicator I believe it certainly is.
If you might be tempted to counter that you don't think Consumer Reports is accurate, then I would like some proof of that. Maybe someone else's study of the faults in their statistical methods. I'd like to know if I'm relying on bad data so I can change my mind.
And let's say Consumer Reports was, say, only 75% right, and we boosted every American car UP one rating based on grievous CR errors--well, it would still be bad news for American cars overall. Think about it. It's not good news. America's best overall car is apparently the Malibu.
Okay, let's have your proof that it is otherwise. The JD Power report you folks cited is a start, but as was pointed out, this is initial quality and has nothing to do with longterm results. I'd like to see something that shows domestics equal to foreign makes after 5-6 years on the road, or even 3 would be fine. Or even number of warranty claims per car, something like that.
namfflow----name-calling is "flaming" and whether it's aimed at me or anyone here, you'll be deleted for it and sent an e-mail. Try not to flame, it isn't necesary, we are all friends here.
Well, I'm just a simple carpenter so I'm one of the foolish ones who trust my own eyes and makes my own judgments,I know that makes me a stupid redneck but I am what I am and thats all that I am. I went to the local Pick-a-part on Friday with a friend who was looking for a domelight lens for his Thunderbird. The one thing I noticed was that they had about 4 rows of GM products,4 rows of Ford products,2 rows of Mopar products and 17 rows of various foreign cars. Seems like an awful big proportion of foreign cars compared to the number on the streets in my area. We literally seen as many foreign cars in that junk yard as we seen driving to it. Now I know that many will argue that all this proves is that I spent way too much time walking around that junkyard but there isn't much to do on a Friday afternoon in rural America. I won't go so far as to say this proves that all these statistics everyone likes to shoot out are false,but it certainly raises suspicion in my simple mind. The American people have certainly had the wool pulled over our eyes on things much,much more important so why would we even hesitate to doubt.
Their Relibility data is flawed. They 'Select" responses and don't publish them all. I know I used to fill out their forms and when I said something was good they said "Insufficient data" They won't admit their bias.
Consumers Reports is good for getting an idea of what to look for but don't believe their ratings. These are the same folks that said Fram Oil Filters were the best. Check out the comments in the various Oil topics.
I've had Chrysler products since 68 only 1 bad one, a 76 Dodge Van, but then in the mid 70's pretty much every vehicle was junk.
I would trust the delivery data as it is not biased by personal opinions. Thinkl about it. Many people if they buy a 90000 buck fancy car and it spends time in the shop, do you really thionk they'll swallow their inflatedf pride and admit they got ripped off? No way.
Now I don't know how much what you see in the junkyard relates to the outside world, but the last time I was at this particular place, they had maybe 20 LH cars, most from the first ('93-97) generation. Every single one was wrecked, though. None were in there because of a bad engine, transmission, or some other catastrophic failure. Same with the Neons. They had plenty of Neons in there, all wrecked. Now maybe these cars are still at the age where an engine or tranny failure wouldn't be enough to total them, so they'd just get rebuilt. But I can't see how a '93 or '94 Intrepid could have much book value nowadays.
As for Consumer Reports, I've always taken their reports and surveys with a grain of salt, anyway. The last time they had anything truly nice to say about a Mopar that I can remember was a '68 Dart 270. Maybe that's the one you were thinking of, Namfflow? One thing I thought was kind of neat, is that in a later issue, when they tested a V-8 Impala, they actually referenced back to the test of the Dart, saying that the 225-equipped Dart actually had more legroom and better performance! As much as I like big cars, that might have been a good indication right there that some of our cars were getting too excessive.
Except for my current '00 Intrepid, all of my Mopars have been purchased used, so I honestly don't know how much trouble, if any, they caused their previous owners. Of them all, I'd say the worst was an '88 LeBaron turbo. My uncle bought it when it was 2 years old, so I do know most of its history. It was good to about 70K miles, when it started to act up. After the 90K or so mark, it was nothing but trouble. I sold it for parts around the 110K mile mark, when it was totally shot...bad engine, turbo, a/c, power antenna, and some other things my memory has chosen to forget! But sadly, I also know people with Japanese cars that have been more troublesome.
So I guess unless I get seriously burned by a Chrysler product, I'll continue to have a good perception of them. And no, the time I got my Dart to backfire while I had the top off the air cleaner, and set a small fire on top of the engine doesn't count ;-)
Now, that I go to court for arbitrations and trials, I have a very bad feeling towards Chrysler's customer attitude based on the attacks of defense counsel that reduce the car owner to tears. Two different Chrysler service/warranty reps have lied in court. If we could have a camera in the proceedings to show Chrysler owners how they are torn apart by the warranty rep and the "hired gun" attorneys, I think CPDJ owners would look at service issues in a different light. I am totally shocked by the aggressive, lying, cheating actions of these "corporate representatives" once faced with a Chrysler owner in court.
I'd own a Chrysler product, but would hope not to have trouble since I'd face the Spanish Inquisition and the Invasion at Normandy while in arbitration!
What are we saying here? That CR gets kick backs from Honda? What is the conspiracy that's afoot? Meanness? The editor run over by a Chrysler as a child? I don't get it.
Your evidence of observation could be valid for your area. Nothing wrong with observing things. It's a good start, anyway.
I think further "proof" of Americans growing disillusionment with domestic products is the eroding market share of American cars in the market. We keep losing more and more business to the imports, and the only good explanation for this, given that American car prices are pretty cheap for what you get, is that people are shopping quality, not price.
So I don't think this is Chrysler's problem alone. I think the entire American auto industry needs to put out a better product.
http://www.allpar.com/cr.html
In other words, if in fact Honda ratings and Chrysler ratings were all "skewed", it would be by the same process for both. You'd still end up with more positive data for Honda than for Chrysler.
Anyway, there's still the problem that most of the other consumer publications are reporting the same basic relationship between imports and domestics (with certain exceptions).
Could you list some recent consumer publications that have a comparison of the relibility of imports to domestics? I would just like to see them.
Now let's suppose all the Intrepids were this reliable. What mark do y'all think Consumer Reports would give it? Still, I can see somebody looking at these failings on my car and saying "typical Chrysler" or "just the tip of the iceberg", "sign of things to come", etc. In contrast though, my Mom has a '99 Altima that needed a tranny replacement at 35K miles! Now again, I realize that's only one data point. But suddenly, the phrase "Chrysler-like reliability" starts to sound pretty good!
However, here's someone with access to warranty data....the former President of Chrysler. Here's a quote from him:
"Out of 100 vehicles, we're apt to build 10 that are as good as any that Toyota has ever built, 80 that are okay and 10 that cause repeated problems for our customers."
Robert Lutz, President
Chrysler U.S.
Chrysler Times, July 17, 1995
So there you have it from the horse's mouth.....1 out of 10 causing repeated problems says the man who made them. And 80% average (okay) and 10% as good as imports.
I can tell you that percentage wise, that 10% he quotes is a very high rate for serious defects. To be fair, Saabs of that time may have been running about 8% according to Saabnet.
Someone asked so I'll say again,in my little corner of the world domestics out number the imports at least 20 to 1 on the street,but it seems the imports out number the domestics in the junk yard. This was a all makes combined junk yard(no not an AMC junkyard,they just carried everything). Proof positive no,something to make me wonder...yes.
One quick question for you Shifty..no offense meant but why does everyone have to prove you are wrong or take your word for it,even though you can't prove you are right? I think the bottom line here is that there is no way to prove anything. Perhaps the imports are gaining ground only because they have better advertising campaigns,perhaps it is only because they grease the pockets of major consumer magazines and therefore give the readers a false image of their products,or perhaps it is because they are superior in every way to domestics. Doesn't really matter by the year 2010 Chryslers are scheduled to be warmed over entry level Mercedes,Dodge will build only Mercedes based truck,and Jeep will either build entry level Mercedes SUV's os be no more,and we will have lost another peice of Americana. Everyone will be happy except me and a few of my diehard Moparmad friends.
The way I remember the exchange of posts here was this:
"Okay, Mr. Shiftright, prove your statement"
"Okay, here's this magazine, that magazine, these stats, those stats...not proof but shows tendencies"
"those aren't good stats. You haven't proven you are right"
"True, but you haven't proven that I'm wrong either. You asked me to show proof, I felt I did, and you didn't accept it. So, ball in your court. Also, here's more evidence (Lutz quote)"
"That's not a good quote. That's not true"
" why does everyone have to prove you are wrong or take your word for it,even though you can't prove you are right?"
"They don't, but if they always reject my evidence, without offering any in return, what exactlly have I done wrong?"
So, mopar, in other words, I have the former president of Chrysler, Consumer Reports and Jack Gillis backing me up. Maybe it's not proof, but I don't think it's very fair to just keep saying "Oh, those facts are no good. You haven't proven anything". What kind of counter argument is that?
It's like putting your hands over your ears and saying you have won the argument.
I don't care, really, to be proven right. This board is supposed to be fun. I'm only interested, as host, in putting up information that at least shows I'm not snatching statements out of the air. Maybe my "facts" are no good, but at least you and the others know that the host isn't just making things up out of his head.
At least give me credit for trying to put some data on the table. It takes me time and effort to find these things and bring them here.
Now, if your premise is that "all published stats are fraudulent", then yes, no sense talking about it anymore.
Here's another one: Ward's Reports Ten Best Engines for 2001:
8 imports
2 domestics
Or, you can just pick out any domestic car at random at the MSN Carpoint Reliability Ratings, and read the results.
I understand you say that publications are with you on this and no one has shown evidence(ie. other publications)to the contrary.
But if,as others say that possibly these stats that all these publications use are flawed,then it would stand to reason that all the publications would come to the same conclusion and therefore support your views even though they may not be correct. In other words if all parties are looking at the same evidence and it is all flawed then it is reasonable to assume that the conclusion all parties come to would be flawed in the same manner. Therefore there would be no contradictory information to use to prove you wrong.
As for Bob Lutz he may know what Chryslers warranty claims were but I doubt the CEO of Toyota called him up and said hey Bob come on over I'll show you my warranty claims if you show me yours. So I seriously doubt the accuracy of that qoute. It is not proof positive,but it does shed reasonable doubt in my mind.
Somehow I think if it was proven well enough so they wouldn't get sued that any car brand was superior in reliability they would post it in the ads in letters 10 feet tall,and I haven't seen that yet.
I find difficult to accept that every single published reliability study is completely wrong. One would think somebody would get it right, since every other set of statistics in the world seems to have two sides--well, except ones like "percentage of people who are injured after driving into tree at 100 mph ------100%". Now that's a stat nobody argues with.
I really don't take some gruesome delight in this. I'm just passing onto you what seems to be the results on paper. Of course, you can take them or leave them as you wish. I have to say that while they don't 100% convince me of anything, they do sway my current opinion.
Some years ago, I used to think Audis were terrible cars, based on statistics & personal experience. Now I think exactly the opposite, also based on statistics, personal experience, etc. So I'm not entrenched in an opinion, I don't believe. But I give the stats some credibility at least.
http://www.lemonlaw.com/lemonlist.html
If the domestics are "average or less" what's the ratings for everything else?
If you find CR complaint listings flawed, you'd have to outright disregard these, seems to me, on the basis of them being undifferentiated. Or if not disregard, further investigate before making any kind of conclusion.
Still, it is a heads up on some cars that would be worth further investigating, that is, finding out the nature of these complaints and what they really are/were. How many are actually complaints against dealer service (probably half)? How many are minor? How many are inaccurate?
You see the problem? Data is only as good as the discrimination of the persons gathering it and those reading it.
And from the site I posted, looks like the imports can't do that either. Every company has some duds. No doubt about it. And it doesn't matter where they are sourced. If anything, your statement proves how flawed your ratings are. And if they are from Consumer Reports....enough said.
Ultimately, the proof, such as it is, is in the sales reports and the people you talk to. People vote with their checkbooks.
Here's an interesting quote from our own Edmund's editor:
"But increasing erosion of domestic market share indicates that traditionally American brands
are not selling the cars that Americans want to buy. Did you know that one out of every 10
vehicles sold in the United States is either a Toyota or a Lexus? Grapple with that statistic
for a second. By contrast, General Motors, with no fewer than eight American brands, fails
to account for even 3 of every 10 sales, despite dumping large numbers of vehicles into
fleets.
And, more generally about the quality crisis in US production--Here's another quote taken from a survey of 296 U.S. corporate executives, done through Xavier University. The data for this study was collected from 296 corporate executives (e.g., CEOs, Presidents, or Vice-Presidents) of the U.S. firms included on the list of Engineering News Records.
"Product and service quality were considered by executive respondents to be the most critical
competitive issues facing U.S. businesses. Also, better internal management (e.g., improving
quality and productivity through teambuilding and training) was cited as the most important
strategy to regain and sustain strong U.S. competitiveness."
Someone somewhere made the comment that Foreign cars are competing in markets they never had before such as luxury cars,trucks and SUV's,so it stands to reason they would take a larger slice of the pie. I don't think that alone proves they are superior to American makes. Your claims to discredit Ibthedog only serve to shed further doubt on your own sources.
In the end it boils down to using your own judgment,and making your own choices,but isn't that what makes our America great.
Also factual, are the figures for American manufacturers continuing loss of market share to imports. You can look those numbers up in any trade journal.
What IS an opinion, however, is that this loss of market share is due to American car buyers disenchantment with domestic automakers quality. It either has to be quality or price or ???. I don't know. My opinion is that American car buyers are increasingly wary of American cars in terms of overall durability. Not EVERY car buyer, certainly, since many people still do buy American cars and always will. But it's a plain fact that the imports are eating up domestic market share for some reason. What do you guys think is the reason then?
I can only speak from personal experience, but over the past decade my wife and I have owned several different vehicles, all purchased new. This includes 2 BMW 3 Series, 1 Honda Accord, 2 Toyotas (1 Camry, 1 Avalon), 2 Pontiac Grand Prix and 1 Chrysler 300 M. We still own the Avalon and the 300M. None of these cars would be what I would consider "troublesome".
When we purchase a vehicle, we always inspect and drive the new cars. Inspection usually takes 30 minutes (trying all of the features to make sure they work as promised, closely inspecting fit and finish for flaws, etc). The pre-delivery test drive also takes at least 30 minutes (driving said vehicles on bumpy roads, interstate, curves, etc.) to check for operation and squeaks/rattles. We never accept a car with the dealer's promise that they will fix anything that we find sub-par with the new vehicle. If it doesn't perform, opreate or look the way it's supposed to, we don't buy that car.
Further, we also maintain our vehicles religiously according to the manufacturers "severe service" maintanance procedures.
Not one of the cars have left us stranded.
With regards to vehicle quality, I've certainly seen a huge jump in American quality and assembly over what the Big 3 was putting out, compared to what we owned from them in the 1980's. Truth be told, I prefer the build quality of the GM and Chrysler cars over that of our Toyota Avalon.
BMWs are great cars from a build standpoint (and any other performance standpoint to boot), but very costly to maintain compared to any other make I've owned.
I don't think CR is scientific in their ratings so I discard them outright.
There is very little, if any, differences I can tell between makes and models from any of the "major manufacturers". I can't speak for some of the newcomers (Kia, Hynudai, etc.) because I have never driven them.
One humble man's opinion.
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/commentprint020501e.html
-Larry