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That was not my experience, nor anything I've ever heard.

As a broad and imprecise statement, American cars in the 80s rarely ran past 100k, while Japanese cars commonly did. I read a few stories of American cars reaching 200k, but I saw a lot of Toyotas sailing past 200k.

And considering how awfully I saw those Toyotas treated, I don't think it had anything to do with maintenance.

Yeah, I haven't seen any actual data. But it seems widely accepted that American automakers in the 80s and 90s lost a lot of market share to foreign makers over (real or perceived) reliability issues.

Japanese makes were much more reliable when they hit the market, but US automakers did step up during the late 80s, although never to the level of the Japanese.

Detroit, moreover, built itself a reputation in the 70s and early-to-mid 80s for building overpriced junkbox boat-anchors, which continues to this day.

The reputation may continue but American cars are much more reliable today. They may not match the best of the Japanese but they seem to beat the European makes significantly.

On some vehicles.