my humble opinion.. my fren who works in a jap hi-fi firm (along
the likes of sony, pioneer, national, etc etc) told me something -
he said that japan and asian workmanship will ALWAYS be
different..
this stems from e cultural background. the japs take SUPREME pride
in work, and will never bring their troubles and moods to work, ie:
the end-product is consistent..
asian workers (read-malaysian, thailand, etc etc), however, are
less consistent, and if they happen to just have a quarrel, for
example, they will 'anyhow do'...
my fren's conclusion was - he always buys jap made hifi (even from
his own company)..
if the above theory applies to cars, you guys have your answer