That is why I'm trying to prevent brand bashing. Some of the disputes at DF get on my nerves, even when I agree with the opinions of the bashers, it just isn't right in my mind but I don't have any real power to stop it over there. I've been to other forums that are like that and what happens is two or three groups are formed and all they ever do is attack each other, then new people try to join to ask questions or to talk and they either get involved with the attacking or they get pushed away by the members that have been their for a while.

Also, I use DF for my more opinionated remarks instead of this forum so then it doesn't destroy a perfectly friendly forum environment. The way I see it, there are lots of members at DF that make tons of opinionated remarks which has alright sort of divided the members to siding with each other. When I state my opinions and debate them over there, the forum environment is already loaded with disputes so it doesn't make a very big difference.

The one thing that I believe is there is a difference between criticizing and bashing. The difference is I list some problem I find with the brands, but I never say things like "they suck" or such. I'm probably the biggest critic on the forum about a wide variety of cars, but the difference is I criticize every manufacturer when I think they are making a mistake.

The thing is I believe each manufacture, whether or not I like them, has great ideas that should be used. For example, I criticize Toyota all the time, but I think they have some great ideas that the Big Three should consider more often, such as having premium level interior on non-premium cars without premium pricing.

Your right about how reliability can be affected by the way a previous owner treated a car. When I first got my Intrepid, it had a few bugs to work out of it. The fool had brought it to places I wouldn't be caught dead bringing my car to, and skipped maintenance. Now its fine, without needing to replace anything too serious.