To answer your first question, the reason why many of your friends would think more highly of GM and Ford is because they rank higher in the J.D. Power and Associates ratings and Consumer Reports. The problem with those ratings are they are not that acurate anymore, if they ever were. Consumer Reports focuses too much on refinery which doesn't guarantee reliability. They also fail to hold manufactures such as Toyota responsible for their mistakes, such as the oil sludge problems they had, in their reliability ratings.

J.D. Power seems to focus on the initial problems on a car, which let's face it all new cars have some teething issues, such as the fit and finish on the doors. The engine so far appears to be solid. The MDS hasn't been having any problems I'm aware of (knock on wood of course). In fact, the only car I have heard of in the recent cars made with such a system was the system that Honda has.

As for your transmission question, we aren't sure yet which transmission it will have so your guess is about as good as ours. The automatic is the same one used behind V12 powered Mercedes so it can handle the HEMI. From what I have read, all Chrysler Group divisions have better reliability than Mercedes-Benz does. V8s are the American manufacture's speciality. Their V8s are the best engines in terms of reliability and quality that they make. It will be reliable.

I don't know where you read that the auto GTO was faster but all the tests I saw said the manual was faster. The automatics have been getting faster but they aren't their yet. The Corvette with their new 6-speed auto is still a slower than their 6-speed manual. The output will be the same regardless whether it is an auto or manual. What your referring too seems to be a Japanese manufacturer thing only.