I love to tell people who say that foreign cars are built "better" about my old 1989 Ford Taurus. Yup, a FORD of things went BEYOND 500K miles before we sold it for 700 bucks. Not a typo, 500,000 miles and going strong before we found out later the guy who bought it had it towed and crushed. I PERSONALLY have gone through Multiple Mopar's over 100K. An 80's era Dodge Ram van went to 230K before my dad gave it to my uncle (I was like 8 years old then), a 1989 Plymouth Grand Voyager went to about 196K miles and three shot transmission halfshafts at the very end of its life, (this was before I did research onto auto tranny problems), a 1994 Dodge Grand Caravan ES, Went to about 120K miles still running great but my mom totaled it. My current 94 Chrysler New Yorker still runs great, doesn't leak oil, tranny shifts smoothly (always ATF+3), and has 110K miles on it. My own 2001 Neon is nearing the 100K mark. I don't discredit the Japanese build quality, but am always careful when buying older Mopar's and very selective about it's prior history and whatnot. I've always been able to find a well-cared for Mopar in excellent condition at a can't say not to price so far, and will probably continue to buy Mopar's in the future. Build quality is a matter of economics an Manufacturing engineering. My mom, who worked at Hughes for over 20 year (now Boeing, soon to be something else), always joked about american assembly lines and that you shouldn't buy a car built on friday cause they want to go home soon. I've got more than a few friends who get all huffed up about the reliability of a Honda... but I digress.. they do little more than put gas in and go... I maintain my cars as well as I can.. maybe that's why they last... such a novel concept.. actually maintaining your cars... (I'm being sarcastic). Anyways, Neon's are great cars, drive just as well as, say, a Civic, and don't cost as much. My mom raised me with this mantra: "When you buy something to drive, you drive it until IT dies, or You Die." If you're looking for resale value, I say look for a Honda. Someone will eventually buy it for KBB price... cause it's a Honda.