I must admit - this IMPRESSES me, and it is by a magazine that I don't really care much for lately. I can only hope this trend continues for Ford and GM...

2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid - Short Take Road Test
Shock! Ford beats the Japanese at their own game.

"The first thing you need to know about the 2010 Ford Fusion hybrid is that it’s the best mid-size hybrid sedan on the market. Yes, that’s right: it wipes the floor with the Toyota Camry hybrid. "

Those are VERY HEFTY WORDS of praise to throw onto a US vehicle in a comp/test. I am used to seeing it the other way 'round, but this... well... wow.

They go on to heap prise alll over the new hybrid Fusion - interior, exterior, even it's 191hp performance numbers.

Nevermind that I want Ford and GM to put out good product and recover from this economic mess, but if they can continue to garner press and praise like this - I will be amazed. I will be the first to stand up and say that things have changed and I will stop banging on them for bias. Mind you, I'm not saying I was wrong before, because I think it was obviously true, and when Consumer Reports admitted they gave the new imports good prise before they ever even had the cars to test - well, that did it for me.

At any rate - I like what I'm seeing. Let's hope it continues.

 

IMO the media will always have biases but they aren't automatically anti-domestic like everyone around here believes.

The simple truth is that if the domestic manufacturers were to build a car clearly superior to its competition then it would get generally good reviews. If it's only superior in some ways and not others then its reviews would depend on the priority of that publication.

I think the clearly superior thing is being demonstrated by the Fusion hybrid. The 'depends on the priorities' thing was already demonstrated by the new Malibu and CTS which got some great reviews and some 'ok' reviews.

It sure does help if you can knock home run after home run out of the park though because then the media starts giving you the benefit of the doubt, and so does the general public. That's not bias, it's just human nature.

 

Call me a cynic (and I guess this makes me just as bad), but I think the general public has thier collective heads shoved so far up thier *** that they are incapble of being anything more than indifferent at best no matter how positive the press.

 

The guy who does Science Friday on NPR thinks that GM's problem is they fought fuel economy standards, electric cars and hybrids. He's totally clueless about the auto industry...

Gee, if only GM had build Priuses and EV1s instead of trucks, they'd be profitable....

 

I agree that alot of car testing magazines have been overly supportive of the Japanese cars, but there was, in the 70's and 80's, many poor cars that came from Detroit- How many Malibus and Fusions do they need to build before the smell of the Citations and Pintos goes away? They earned a reputation for shoddy cars back in the day, and now have spent a good decade trying to turn that perception around- They have been building world-class products for quite a while, and, slowly, people are beginning to notice-

 

I've said this many times before, the non-auto press that does auto coverage just doesn't understand how the industry works, how long it takes to come out with a car, how much cars cost to develop, and which segments have the best and worst profit margins.

These just are not car people. They cover cars like they are covering consumer electronics or some other product.

GMs mistake was never making lots of trucks, they made huge profits and still do. GMs mistake is they gave up on cars.

2003 was the worst year ever for GM cars,every division sucked and had old product. 2003 was the only year I can remember were Pontiac didn't have a V8..dark times

 

It would be blatant bias to write a few bad reviews about the 2010 Fusion Hybrid as all indications show it to be a great car.
I think some of the perceived bias is due to public opinion. In the end the magazines and internet reviews need to appeal to their audience. If public perception is down on the Domestic brands the testers will scrutinize them more. As Consumer Reports already admitted to giving Toyota a free pass in the past one could say they were more than harsh on the Domestic Brands although sometimes deservedly so.

 

Your point is taken and understood, and I agree with your comment at the end - they are slowly tirning the corner of perception. But there is another point to be made here too.

Any of you guys old enough to have driven a 1978 Datsun B210?


Any of you guys old enough to have driven a 1985 Honda Civic Si?


Any of you guys old enough to have driven a 1979 Toyota Corolla?


Any of you guys old enough to have driven a 1984 Nissan Maxima?


How many of these now vintaged but "legendary" cars do you see on the road today? at car shows? being raced? being sought after in any way? I personally see more Pintos, Vegas, Monzas, Pacers, Gremlins, and Sunbirds today than I do B210s, Civics, and Corollas.

Though their nameplates continued on and they may be contenders today, they were all very poor sellers and had notable quality issues. A guy I graduated with (we spent all 12 years together in school) had a 1984 Maxima that we used to beat around in when Mike would be designated driver. The headliner fell, the door panels were delaminating, the fabric on the seats became threadbare and then tore, it smoked like a coal-burning freight train, the paint went thin and let go... it looked like crap, but it was something to ride in when you are 16-18 y/o, so it was OK for us young working stiffs.

Todd Calloway was almost a year older than me, and he got a used Honda Civic when I was only 15. I helped with gas and he drove us to and from school in the 10th grade. That car was reasonably tough as far as the driveline, but the body and interior were JUNK. The cargo panels faded and started crumbling within a couple years (they had holes jabbed through them from soccer and Baseball gear sliding around in the back). The cloth seats also were threadbare and open to the foam, the dash had a dozen or more cracks in it, the paint faded and came off the front fenders and hood (hatch and rears stayed on much better strangely, but it made the car look "repaired" with a rear-clip ).

I had an 81 Mustang notchback. The dash had 1 crack in it (as they all do in those models), the lights in the "diagnostic" disply would all stay on if you hit the test button, the rotors warped on a bi-annual basis - regardles of use, after 4 or 5 replacement hubcaps I finally spring for some aluminum American Racing rims (figured it was cheaper than continuing to buy Ford's sh1++y hubcaps). It had some issues, but - it ran well, the interior held up better than anyone else's, the paint stayed on (actually I prided myself in keeping it clean and waxed - surely that contributed), and the car was running/looking fine with 14k miles when I traded it in on a new '86 Bronco II I still own today.

My point is - I have personal experience with the cars of that time period - domestic and imported. IMPORT CARS WERE CHEAP. Nobody expected much from them, so it was easy for them to over-achieve, or at least not be lambasted for not being stellar performers. That was a handicap given to them by their pricing, and it has carried over almost 2 decades, to where even recently, people are brainwashed into thinking that it's acceptable to have a rattle in a Honda, but it makes a GM vehicle "undesireable and poorly made" (eludes to the lady in the CNBC special last fall that told the interviewer that when she hears"GM" she thinks of ***** falling off, rattles and noises, and windows that don't work). We have shown on this very board that people who drive a Lexus or Infinity are less likely to report a nonconformity than someone in a GM or Ford. Hence, the perceived quality as documented by JD Powers and others indicate that the Lexus and Infinity are "better cars", when in fact, they are as bad or even worse.

So please, don't just bash on the domestics for having poor quality in the 70's and 80's... truth is there was junk on both sides of the fence. As I have said before, if you want to fault the domestic auto industry for anything that helped them fall from grace, fault them for all buying in to the planned obsolescence strategy for a decade. IMO, THAT was the trojan horse that led to their ultimate demise as auto industry leaders.

 

When companies make great things, the media will write about it. There will always be bias, one way or the other--to certain brands, companies, countries, etc. When truly great things are made, editorial comment is just that.

 

Proud,
My mother bought a '81 Corolla Coupe Deluxe in '85. Looked exactly like this (except I put on 13x5.5 chrome Superior wheels with Eagle STs).



That car served her well, that is, until I got my hands on it.
We used to do smoky burnouts (one wheel peel) with it. Of course I needed a couple of friends to lift the back of the car to get it started. One time I did such a long burnout the belts came out of the right tire and removed all the paint from the RR wheel opening lip.
Once we had a tug-of-war contest between it and a friend's '68 International Scout. It was the winter, so the traction was terrible for both vehicles. It was a tie until my buddy put the Scout in 4wd and it was all over for me.
In the winter, my mom ran studded snows. I left scratches in the pavement all over my village.
I drove it thru a corn field once.
The best part? The door strikers. Most cars back then still had the post style sticking out of the door jamb. This Toyota was one of the first we had seen with the U-shaped type. Why were the strikers so good? They double as bottle openers.

But that little car didn't last. If it got around 30-35 degrees with a lot of humidity, it wouldn't start. The tranny went bad by 1990. It went thru rear wheel bearings constantly. Anti-freeze leaked everywhere. The rear quarters flapped in the breeze.
By 1991 and 101,000 miles on it, it left the house on a hook. I don't think my mother got any money for it from the scrap guy.

A lot of good times in that car. (sorry about the hijack)

 

I had a 78 Datsun. It was literally a death trap. I could run faster than it could accelerate onto a highway from an onramp. I am not joking. The Japs have come a long way since those steaming piles of crap.

 

HuJass and 2MCHPSI - both GREAT posts... not really so different from mine.
As I said, I had great times and have fond memories of my younger years in cars of all makes and models with friends and relatives, but when I am HONEST with myself, I also remember the crap we had as low-budget teenagers that simply needed wheels.

My point is/was that the Asians did not come out of the gate with stellar quality, but due to the recent praise and media (and yes, due in part to the better quality that came later for sure), there is a generation or two that think that the japs have always "had it" and they "always will".

OK - up on the philosophical soap box for just one paragraph...
I personally think that all things in life come and go... trends, fads, power, control, etc... you name it. Things can also be like a pendulum swinging sometimes... back and forth. One thing is for sure - NOTHING stays the same.
I think the domination of the auto industry has succumbed to this tidal movement due to several reasons, and we have seen the tide take our US domination away from our shores. I also believe this could be the "pedulum" scenario for a few personal reasons - I sure hope so anyhow.

That said, it is my most sincere hope that the domination of the auto industry, and the ability to design and build the fastest, safest, most stylish, most luxurious, and most desireable cars on earth can come back to the US carmakers. We have all the resources to be dominant... but do we have the leadership? Will we be willing to change our habits, wants, and desires to achieve lofty goals? THIS is the point of divergence where I think we are at today. We are about to do 1 of 2 things...
1) we will succumb to corporate greed and personal greed (the Me, Myself, and I syndrome) and sell our souls to the asian markets and watch our auto industry go the way of Great Britain's (Actually that applies to ALL manufacturing IMO, not just autos.), and become a neutered, service-only nation that will slowly dwindle into 3rd world status.
2) we will get off our @sses, kick the lard-@ss-leaders out of the corporate penthouses and put some honest folks in there with some ballz that are not afraid to make a decision, INVEST in ourselves for a change (instead of investing in Japan and China), and start kicking major @ss and taking names.

As far as how this all pertains to the media... We must stay vigilant and be sure that they report FACTS, TRUTHS, and OBJECTIVE DATA, not opinions, conjecture, heresay, and approximations. If the reporters and writers will just do that much, then I agree with the other posters in this thread in that things will work out fine. Now... do I trust all editors and writers to publish facts with virtue and disregard those who pay premiums to advertise in their publications? The jury is deliberating on that one.

 

[edit]
Sorry for the double-post... modem problems last night! PP

 

It's going to take more than just a few positive stories here and there for me!

 

You refering to the product, or the media bias?

If you mean the media bias, I agree.