Like you, I too subscribe to consumer reports, I have been since the dawn of man. To be honest, many times I have read the reviews and have gone against them for I was always one of those people that was swayed by styling.

Short of that, aside from the Jaguar that I now own which I got before an Indian company bought it (TaTa motors and boy I sure could have fun with that one) Every vehicle I ever bought was American including the Ford Van which I now drive on a daily basis. With 130k miles on it, it has received 1 set of tires, 1 set or brakes, air filters, wiper blades and oil changes. It hasn't even been tuned up until last week when I figured it was just time.
My last two vans both went 250k miles almost trouble free though I do remember replacing a power window motor.

I do think American vehicles have come a long way and though cars like the Chevy Malibu are now rated up there with many of the imports, we still have a long way to go it seems.
I don't blame that on the American auto worker though nor the unions. I blame that on engineering and design.
Frankly I don't think the quality of cars would be this good if we weren't almost forced into turning out a better product.

What really gets me is that unlike the Japanese who disect everything to see what makes it tick, you would think that we would take the time out to see WHY the satisfaction rate on these imports is that much higher and do something about it.

Years ago I read a book about the auto industry called Wheels. It was written by Arthur C. Hailey I believe. You should all read that. Though the book is quite dated now it gives you great insight showing you how screwed up Detroit actually is.

The Ford Windstar you mention was a disaster from the word go. It was just the modern day Edsel, for everyone that I knew that had one said the same thing. They all said owning a Windstar required you to have another vehicle...a tow truck.
I suppose that only proved that you can by lemons in other places than the supermarket.

There have been numerous posts on this subject including quite a few by me and several by you. We have cited examples bot pro and con, so have others.
The thing that needs to be looked on is not how you and I fared but what the overall satisfaction level was on a vehicle just as you cited.
Consumers draws it's conclusions from their reader surveys and to me that pretty much says it.

I believe in buying American, I believe in supporting the American worker but I also will not hesitate to buy foreign if I feel that it benefits me