"......Toyota buyers tend to me (sic) more highly educated, higher income, and more likely to follow the maintenance schedule....."
personal observations of one who is old enough to have been around when imports really took off:
Datsun, Toyota et al took off because they were CHEAP......an average American car would set you back about $4500+, but you could pick-up a new Japanese car for less than $2000.
yes, I had friends who bought 510s, Mark IIs etc: they were mostly buying their first new car, i.e. a new import vs a used American car....and....they were graduating from $400 beaters. In those days, at least, they weren't better educated surely not more affluent. In most cases, new import owners were greatly satisfied with their new car....because.....it was better than the 10 year old, 200,000 mile Valiant or Fairlane it had replaced - big surprise!
but I'll agree that they tended to take better care of them: people expected their Chebbies and Fords to go 200,000 miles without any maintenance other than adding an occasional quart to the never-changed oil. But the new import owners treated them like gold......don't know why: was it better dealer service or because other shops wouldn't (couldn't) work on unfamiliar imports......but people tended to to take their imports back to the dealer for frequent maintenance. Maybe fear that a little 4 cyl engine demanded better care than a 400 ci V8.
From experience, some of the maintenance required back then:
had a friend with a 60s Mercedes.....the suggested maintenance included items like having the main bearings measured for wear once a year. I'm thinking that ANY car treated to service like that would tend to last. An extreme example, but people took better care of imports.
we were all impressed with the precision assembly of early Civics and Accords. We didn't know much about those suspension struts: but the Honda owners manuals said that all 4 should be replaced every 20,000 miles. (can you imagine Ford telling you to replace the suspension on your Torino every year or two....but import owners didn't object).
then there's rubber timing belts: American car owners (other than a few Pontiac 6 drivers) had never heard of such a thing....we had timing chains that normally lasted forever. But import owners dutifully went back to the dealer to have their belts changed, along with a plethora of maintenance American cars never got.
andsoforth. Yes, American cars had a stretch of poor assembly - crooked chrome, poor panel fit, etc. - that peaked in the mid-70s as makers rushed to adapt big, heavy cars to safety, emissions and fuel efficiency standards that hadn't existed when the cars were tooled. But cars were cheap and disposable back then (memory fails, but seems that McNamara even stated publicly that the Falcon was designed as a "throw-away" car to be driven into the ground in 4 years and junked). If American cars were such crap, why are collectors paying a fortune for restored 60s/70s era specimens.....haven't seen any Datsuns on RM lately.....maybe there aren't any left to restore.
Toyota owners more intelligent? I'm sure Prius owners would all agree - just ask them. They're the same ones who are buying those new, "miracle" electric heaters to lower their home gas bills.....or can't figure to turn off the ignition when the poorly designed gas pedal sticks to the floor.
But, I've owned 5 imports over the years: the Volvo was a fine, reliable car. The other 4 were cheap, tinnie scrap that dissolved after a couple winters.