BEST BET

I am very pleased with My Mercury Milan which as you may know is the Ford/Fusion Lincoln/MKZ. The Milan made in Mexico, is tight, quite, high MPG (with the I4). I bought it used at 39K miles for only $13K. It compares more with the MKZ than the Fusion as far as quite ride and "luxury" appointments. Mine has every option available with two tone leather seating. Reliablity is the same as the Toyota Camry. I owned a '98 Camry XLE which was a gorgeous car having the same level of "luxury" as this Milan. It rate the two cars the same.

My MPG on this Milan is always at least 34 at 70 mph. I've gotten 36 mpg at lower speed and watching the electronic gage for best mileage.

I test drove a Fusion and this Milan back to back and the difference was easily apparent, and the Fusion was a year newer with 10K less miles on it.

I've read from a number of industry insiders that both Ford and GM have made huge strides in quality in recent years. Chrysler - not so much, but maybe Fiat's ownership will change that. I drove a 2 year old Buick LaCrosse CXS 3.6 at a Subaru dealer recently and both I and the salesperson(who was a Subaru fanatic) were shocked at how good it was. Also, everything I've read about the new Impala is glowing. The new Ford Fusion is also quite good. I drove the newest Ford Taurus SHO and was unimpressed. I'd go with a Fusion over the more expensive Taurus, in part because the Fusion is or seems bigger from the inside. The Taurus felt cramped.

The American cars have spottier reliability than a Honda or Toyota, especially the first few years, but the problems are often minor. You're much more likely to have an expensive repair out of warranty with something German.

Check our reliability stats to see which have been doing best. As mentioned above, many years of the Fusion have been solid. You can also view the repair descriptions pages (links on the reliability stats pages) to get a sense of whether repairs tend to be expensive.

With a few exceptions, cars have gotten reliable enough that how much you like looking at and driving the car should be a higher priority (unless you absolutely want to minimize the possibility of repairs--as many people do). Many of the latest domestics do look good and drive well.