Difference between American Brand (Ford) and Japan Brand (Toyota) Model Cars
Over the past few decades, the American automobile industry has been on a rapid decline while European and Asian automobile industries have been on the rise. Despite this many American cars are still bought around the world, with the most popular of them being Fords, known for being quick and reliable. Ford is also a trusted car company, being one of the first to make vehicles on a production line and to pay its workers a fair wage.
Meanwhile, one of the most mainstream and international car brands to come from Asia is Japan’s Toyota, being known for having reliable, quick and fuel-efficient cars. As of right now, Toyota is the second-largest carmaker, being behind only General Motors.
So, we all recognize the Ford and Toyota brands, however, we may also think to ourselves, what are the biggest differences between the two?
Is their genuinely any difference made to how a car performs and is built because of the country it is built-in? Which one’s better? Which ones more cost-efficient?
If you have any of these questions and more then you have come to the right article, as here we will be going into the nitty-gritty detail on the differences, the advantages and the disadvantages of both American cars (Ford) and Japanese cars (Toyota)
Interested? Let’s jump in!
Reliability
When choosing which brand to buy from you should first of all consider on just how reliable your car may be, for if you want to put a lot of money into a car that is supposed to last a long time you might be disappointed if it fails on you before its time because you bought from a company who is known for not building as reliable cars as others.
Luckily, to measure reliability, the J.D Power & Associates Vehicle Dependability Study exists. The study works by surveying the original owners of cars from a certain brand they bought a couple of years ago to see what problems they faced with it in the past 12 years. All of these are then compiled into a score which is usually given to the individual cars, however, can also be used to figure out an average score for the company overall.
In 2017, Toyota came out on top with a score of five points (which is the maximum you can be granted), meanwhile, Ford got a sad 3 points. So, if you are looking for cars which are extremely reliable, then Toyota is the brand you should consider.
So far, Japan is coming out on top with one point over USA’s zero. Let’s see if that changes in the next section!
Safety
When you are planning on buying a car one of the most foremost things along with the reliability that you should consider is the safety of the car. However, for this section, we, unfortunately, couldn’t decide a winner. That is because over the past few years, while Ford hasn’t been able to keep up in the reliability front, both of the companies have managed to produce safe vehicles to drive which ultimately didn’t have problems that could threaten your life.
So for this section, we will give a point to both sides as it is a tie, so as of right now Japan is still coming out on top with 2 points compared to USA’s one point.
Performance
If you spend a ton of time on the road and need a car that can take you places at the quickest pace possible with the least amount of hitches then this section is perfect for you. Over the years Ford has been known to pull out a ton of decent mid and high range cars which all have exceptional levels of performance, such as the Ford Mustang, an instantly recognisable car among most road users.
However, Ford has also put out a couple of cars like the Taurus out in which owners have complained over some aspects of its performance.
Meanwhile, Toyota also has put out some good performing cars like the Toyota Camry which is boasted for its excellent handling and general performance by owners and reviewers. Toyota at the same time, unfortunately, has put out a lot more performance-lacking cars than Ford, such as the Yaris which is bashed by reviewers for its disappointing performance
For the performance section, the Americans (Ford) definitely comes out on top. With Ford putting out a bunch of excellent performing cars for budget and premium prices over the years it would be criminal not to award the performance section to Ford.
So, so far the Japanese and Americans are tied both at two points
Maintenance Costs
Now, any of us who have owned a car before knows that a car isn’t a single purchase and that, in the end, they will end up costing far much more money than just the purchase cost in the form of MOTs, repair and parts cost.
Luckily for both Ford and Toyota, their parts are easy to come across, especially compared to European brands such as BMW and Mercedes Ben. However, with both Ford and Toyota having rather cheap parts as well as cheap prices for the cars themselves then we should look at the average maintenance cost of both of them over the past decade compared to each other and other car companies.
Based on a list compiled by yourmechanic, out of 30 car manufacturers the Japanese brand Toyota is the least expensive cars to maintain at just $5,500 over the period of a decade.
Meanwhile, the American car company Ford comes at the halfway point, being the 13th most expensive brand of car to maintain at just over $9,100 over a 10 year period.
So, for the final round, the Japanese win bringing them to have three points while the Americans have two.
Conclusion: Japan wins!
Based on a list of the four most essential things to consider before buying a car, the Maintenance, the Reliability, the Safety and the Performance, the Japanese brand Toyota just barely scrapes past America’s Ford brand.
Despite Toyota winning overall you shouldn’t let that effect on whether you are going to buy a Ford or not. Both brands are near equal in most of the other categories and Ford has advantages that Toyota doesn’t. Such as it pulling ahead in the performance sector.
Regardless of what car brand you may have, Manuel’s Body Shop in Culver City services all brand model cars so be sure to stop by if you have any auto body work to that needs to be done.
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