I have a nissan Altima. GOt it new in 97 and I haven\'t done a thing with it other than brake pads and a new battery.Extremely reliable. Has 87,000 miles on it. Granted that isn\'t much, but it\'s a descent little car.
I don\'t think I would buy anything american EXCEPT for a Corvette or a truck. Although I don\'t think I\'d ever own a vette either. I\'d take a porsche over a vette any day.
My BMW runs like a dream too, but it only has 30k on it so that doesn\'t count.
Before I got the BMW I owned Fords for 10 years. ALWAYS ran like shit. Horrible ride, etc. etc.