As for built quality my father bought a Brand new Z06 about a year ago... he sold it 6 months later. Now he drive a new Legacy 2.5GT. He sold it because after about 5000 miles it developed so many squeaks and rattles and had parts just literally fall off that as he said "I'd rather drive a slower car and not listen to squeaks and rattles that make me question why I bought it"
Japanese cars have come a LONG way from what they were in the early 90s, The build quality on most is beginning to rival that of the VWs and Audis. The Interior of that Legacy GT is just as tight and refined, if not more so than my brother's 2000 Audi A4. Even my own Subaru WRX
, now close to 30K miles has a very "European" interior both in style and quality and hasn't developed a single squeak or rattle, not to mention runs just as good today as the day I bought it home with only 5 miles on it.
I'm a huge car nut I've owned at least two of American, European, and Japanese Cars. I can say with Certainty that unless I'm buying an SUV or Pickup I'd avoid American because the build quality just sucks, pieces don't fit right, and they rattle and squeak like it's their job, not to mention in most cases the resale value drops off the face of the earth. Their Strong point is of course their power plants and they're relativly easy to work on. European cars Are extremely solid and offer a excellent balance of power and handling, they'll stay strong and tight a good 10-15 years if you take care of them, they have fantastic resale value, but their initial cost is typically on the high end. Also when something DOES break on a European car it costs an arm and a leg to get it fixed. Also because they're so complex in comparison to the American and Japanese cars it's can be very difficult at times to make upgrades/repairs. Japanese cars are really a mixed bag. One thing is for certain though the price of a new Japanese car is directly proportional to it's quality. The further above the $20K mark for a (new) Japanese car you'll get a stronger, longer lasting, better performing vehicle, the further below that mark... well.. you get what you pay for. Repairs on Japanese cars are easily the cheapest, not to mention they're definitely the easiest to take apart and replace parts, which is part of what makes them popular to the "tuner" crowd.
This is my opinion, take it or leave it, but as I've said I've owned cars spanning all 3 of those continents and as far as all-round "bang for the buck" I'd say the Japanese cars get my money.
