Hi Scotty, your videos are great, keep of making them.

I am writing to provide info about cars reliability. You always say that you would prefer Toyota from Japan, and if you had to get a Mercedes, you would prefer then one from Germany. And despite all the nowadays modern Quality Control procedures, cars made in the original country ARE always better than the cars made elsewhere. There should not be a perceivable difference. There should not be, but it is. Listen to my story.

Just keep in mind that all the to-be-mentioned units are converted into the units that you are probably the most comfortable with, and the currencies are equivalent to USD of today's money.

I bought a 7 year old 2003 Toyota Corolla E120 for $7,475 of today's money. It was 2.0 liter diesel, 5 speed manual, hatchback, "5 doors", with AC, 98k miles, 114 HP. It was manufactured in Northern Ireland, used in Italy, then sold and used in Lithuania. And almost everything that could go bad did go bad. AC issues, including the dashboard microchip; turbo, cat, engine seals leaking, suspension, struts, and the radio went bad over time. It was literally an endless money pit that required major works every 8 months. It was, however, pretty good on fuel; my record was 52 US MPG. After 6 years I sold it for $2,897 (in today's money) and was happy that I got rid of that, and the poor person who bought it thought he's getting legendary Toyota reliability product.

I felt brave and later I got a French car, that was made in France. I bought a 13 year old, 2006 Renault Modus for $1,616 (of today's money). It was 1.4 liter diesel, 5 speed manual, hatchback, 5 doors, with AC, 85k miles, 87HP. Let's say that the French are very particular with planned obsolescence. From 85k to 102k miles it ran perfectly, just did the regular maintenance and natural wear and tear works. From 102k miles the "shlt hit the fan" and it turned into an endless money pit that I was expecting it. AC had such a well timed planned obsolescence set up that one thing was breaking after another. The French design made it extremely hard to work on, you had to take half the car apart to replace a light bulb, and the labor was not cheap to have somebody work on them. The diesel injectors were going one after another, and they cost a fortune. I sold it for $872, because it drops in value like a stone. It was incredibly good on fuel: 58 US MPG, hard to beat that. But to me it was such an expensive bugger because of regular issues.

Then I got  12 year old 2008 Honda Civic. It is made in England. 1.8 liter petrol, 6 speed manual, 104k miles, $2,395, AC, 5 doors hatchback, 140 HP. So far it has not broken yet, but AC will probably need some serious work (maybe when/if the weather gets hotter). It has comparably bad gas mileage, it is my first petrol car, the fuel economy is depressing: whether I drive like an old man, or like a maniac, it's still bad (as expected for petrol). So what the heck, then I drive like a maniac if that's the case. It is getting 30 US MPG on 80% highway (up to 85 MPH) speeds. The medium grade petrol here in England costs $5.22 per US gallon, and up to $5.67 for a high grade diesel. Owning that Honda to me is much much cheaper than the previously mentioned French car, despite having twice as worse gas mileage. If it continues to not give too many problems, I'll drive it until the wheels fall off, or at least when I move to different countries.

What this story can teach us? - well, maybe that same model cars that are made in different countries have different levels of quality that come with them. Maybe except the French or Italian cars. If they are not money pits at first, they will become once the planned obsolescence kicks in.

Keep up making great videos!