Grew up on the east coast. After spending a lot of money on their first new car, from AMC, and having nothing but problems with it from the start, my parents sold it and bought a Subaru. My dad was a Pacific Theater WWII vet but apparently that was not an issue for him (while Japanese and German cars were a huge issue for his WWII vet brother).

I don’t recall anybody ever catching any crap for having it, though it was not easy to service and it had its Japanese quirks (like the defroster clearing the passenger’s side of the windshield first because that’s where the driver sits in Japan). My dad drove that car until somebody in a Cadillac failed to stop at a red light and the car was totaled. Then my folks went out and bought another Subaru which they drove for years. By then the public was catching on that Japanese cars were well built and economical even if they didn’t exactly scream “status” to the neighbors.

I drove VWs for almost 40 years. When it was time to replace my latest VW not one model of theirs was on my shortlist. Aside from the hotted up Golf, all they have are trucks. I. Don’t. Want. A. Truck. Especially not one that size for size can’t haul as much as my wagon did.

I did have a chancde to drive a recent Jetta and walked away from that feeling like the car did nothing that Mazda, Honda, or Kia couldn’t do except be cheaper to won. So why pay a premium for the car and for service down the road?