Two things of note here:
1) My '02 is "Made in Japan"
2) "Fit and Finish" or assembly or whatever is part of engineering in my book. Engineering specifies tolerances and manufacture spec. If you then have idiots put it together, all the spec goes out the window, things rattle, break, wear out faster, etc.
It's kinda like those fools on American Chopper: all the focus is on design (i.e. think of a theme then look up a bunch of parts from a catalog), fab a few bits, weld 'em on, then they send it all out for paint and chrome. When they try to put it together, it never seems to work so they end up jumping on parts (literally!) or just getting a saw or a big-ass hammer and banging on it until it "fits." That's "American" assembly for ya....