And yet used Mercedes always seem to have great resale value. Makes you
wonder about the rationality of car buyers doesn't it.....

Ed

I really don't think that's true at all , in the 70's and 80's Mercedes
built terrific cars . It didn't matter if you bought the top of the line or
the least expensive model they made . You were always going to get a quality
car and a good ownership experiece . That being said , German cars require
more service then Japanese or domestic makes . These days quality is hit or
miss . I wouldn't own one if It didn't have a warrenty , and I would
probablly dump it when the warrenty ran out.
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                     -Dana

Huh?  Not quite.

Smaller sample sizes have more inherent variability.

Larger sample sizes to have "more defects" in an absolute sense.  But
as a % of the # sold, a larger sample size wouldn't cause more defects.

HOLY CRAP!!!! Art said something nice about his Toyota over his Crapsler!!!  ;)

LOL - I am almost your opposite. In general I don't like Toyotas, but prefer
the Tundra (or even Tacoma) over the current F150. It has nothing to do with
reliability, since I think neither has much of an advantage in that area. I
am more interested in features. F150s have turned into poorly designed cars.
The bed sides are too high. The whole truck is jacked up too much. The
interiors are too pimp like. The F150s are too big, etc. etc. Actually the
current crop of mid-sized Japanese trucks are probably closer to what I need
(Tacoma, Frontier). Originally I wanted a Tundra, but the Frontier is moving
up on the list. I need to go try one - except I decided last year to stick
it out with my old F150 for another couple of years in hopes that someone
would offer a decent mid-sized 4WD diesel powered truck. A Frontier with a
turbo diesel would be nice. However, if the price for the Tundra had been
anywhere close to reasonable, I would have bought one last year. Somehow I
never could get past the idea that not one Toyota dealer in the area was
willing to sell me a Tundra for less than I could buy an F250 for. I did not
want the F250 (it was too much truck for my application), but it just
irritated me that the local Ford dealer, without any pressure, offered me a
price on a 4 door F250 that was thousands lower than the best price I could
get on a Tundra extra cab. I got so disgusted I just dropped out of the
truck market.

Ed

Mike, your spin assumes buyers have good information and make purchasing
decisions for rational reasons. Reliability is only one factor people use
when purchasing a vehicle. It might be that F150s have terrible reliability,
but because of price, style, features, etc people are willing to buy them
despite poor reliability (and no, I don't think F150s are unreliable, I am
just using it as an example). And what about brand loyalty? Last year was
the first time in my life, my Father actually considered buying something
other than a Ford (he ended up in a Ford anyhow). I know lots of people that
only shop for their pet brand of cars. I know more than few people who are
only willing to look at Toyotas. Also, you are totally ignoring the effects
of advertising. Advertising must work, otherwise companies would not spend
so much on it. I am so tired of car ads, I almost can't watch TV. In case
you missed it, it is Ford Toyotathon Truck Drive to be Number One Moving
Forward Switch Month again......and again.......

As for Wal*Mart - I HATE Wal*Mart, but I go there all the time. The local
Wal*Marts are dirty, cluttered, crowded, staffed with surly workers, and
generally depressing. However, they usually have everything I want and I
only need go in one store that is relatively close to my home. I can put up
with the general crappy condition of the stores because they save me time.
I'd actually be willing to pay more for stuff in  nicer stores with
friendlier people, except Wal*Mart has driven all those out of business.
When I can, I stay out of stores altogether and just order stuff over the
internet. I have noticed that the unionized workers at one of the local
grocery store chains are a lot happier and friendlier than the workers at
Wal*Mart, or Food Lion (my other least favorite store). I wonder why? The
prices for the groceries I buy aren't much different between the stores
(despite lots of "super low price" ads), so I go to the store with the happy
people to buy  my groceries. Heck, sometimes I have to fight them off when
they want to carry out my groceries for me. At Wal*Mart, I am lucky if I can
force them to check me out.

Ed