Dollar for dollar, the Japs make the best cars in the world. Period. And Toyota stands head and shoulders above everyone else.
When I drive in a place for the first time, I rent Japanese, for the reliability. (I remember exploring the entire Western Australia in a Toyota Camry yonks ago – the ride was as uninspiring as it gets, and the car almost planed when it hit 180 km/h, but I had peace of mind throughout.)
There was this Toyota consultant visiting the Porsche plant in Stuttgart in the '90s who came away with culture shock. It was medieval; there was no automation, no robots, mechanics were scrambling up cat ladders to search for spare parts in cabinets that weren't labelled, so many man-hours were wasted locating stuff and getting it to the assembly line where everything was manually put together ... he understood why it took Toyota only a third of the cost to make a car of similar design, quality and sophistication.
That said, the Japs just don't make cars that stir the soul, both in styling and in driveability, Mazda being the sole exception. (That's why the Brits and HKers dig Mazdas, unlike Sinkies.)
But I've long given up explaining these things to Sinkies, and Sinkie migrants to Canada. When a person is operating at Maslow's 4 & 5, it's well nigh impossible to lift him to Maslow's 1 & 2.
