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Yes, I would buy an American car. What is wrong with american cars?
Edit: This thread is strange, there is no initial post all of a sudden :S
Edit: This thread is strange, there is no initial post all of a sudden :S
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Yep, Toyota and Honda.chroot said:The best cars on the market almost inarguably come from Japan.
- Warren
Probably not.Would you buy an American car?
If an American car company wants to give me a free new car to drive for a couple of years to convince me they no longer suck, I might buy another one.FredGarvin said:I don't think that people don't necessarily think that they never want to buy American again. I think most will. However, the recent developments are exactly what the American companys need as a kick in the ass to get rid of the old mentality they have had for doing business. They are realizing (painfully slowly) that they don't have a captive audience any longer.
I don't know if that's the reason behind them. I think they messed up on their marketing strategies. Several years ago, when loan interest rates were up ridiculously high, people weren't buying ANY new cars...not just American, but were just plain avoiding car loans if they couldn't purchase outright. So, they started these promotions of 0% interest, or really low, like 0.2% interest to entice buyers back. It wasn't just the American manufacturers who did that. But, the American manufacturers kept it up a few more years as a promotion to get the leftover cars off the lot before the new model year came in (usually they arrive in August or September). They've now done it long enough that people won't buy a car any other time of year because they're waiting for the promotional deals with low or no interest loans. Even if you can afford to pay cash, why not sign up for a 0%, same as cash, loan and spread the payments out a bit while you earn interest on your money instead of paying interest on it?Kurdt said:I did hear recently that GM and ford and other american car companies were really struggling to stay afloat so I presume all these deals they're offering are just a gimmick to try and get people to be loyal to them again in light of flagging sales.
chroot said:Electrical problems that no one can solve?
turbo-1 said:I have bought only Japanese vehicles for decades. I bought my Datsun 4x4 pickup the same year they were introduced. The same with my first Pathfinder, and my 240 SX. I would NEVER advise anyone to buy an American vehicle in the first model year, but I trust Nissan. My Pathfinder lasted 17 years with not a single mechanical problem, just routine maintenance. I finally sold it because the winter road-salt had eaten a good percentage of the frame and my mechanic told me that he felt that it might be unsafe to keep driving it. I went out and bought a 6-year old Nissan 4x4 (2400 cc 4-cylinder) with about 70,000 miles on it and hope to get at least a 200,000 to 250,000 out of it.
My only American vehicle is a H-D Softail.
My wife's car is a 2002 Subaru Legacy. It is remarkably stable in all situations - better than my 4x4 in snow or dicey ice/rain conditions. It's an AWD with traction control and anti-lock brakes. The power-to-weight ratio is very good, yet you cannot make it slip a tire under heavy acceleration. Not a squeak. It just throws you back in the seat.
GM vehicles are notorious for bad electrical systems. My friend's GM Safari (minivan) has one tiny wire connecting the battery to the power windows, so if you try to close 2 windows at once they both slow to a crawl and you can smell burning plastic inside the vehicle.Pengwuino said:Holy crap, my Grand Prix (pontiac is american right? or am i not a guy) has like a ghost inside its electrical system. I think we've sent it into 3 people and the same problems keep coming up (and with the last "fix", i lost the ability to use cruise control). What a bastard! But no 34k mile transmission problems at least...
I'll lay you dollars to donuts that it's a ground issue. Trying to find an intermittent ground is a pain in the arse. I have had a few of them. Not fun at all.Pengwuino said:Holy crap, my Grand Prix (pontiac is american right? or am i not a guy) has like a ghost inside its electrical system. I think we've sent it into 3 people and the same problems keep coming up (and with the last "fix", i lost the ability to use cruise control). What a bastard! But no 34k mile transmission problems at least...
The Koenigsegg CCR is using a supercharged engine, the Z06 engine is naturally aspirated. So yes, the Koenigsegg CCR is a much faster car, but it cost 10 times as much. There are a few cars faster than the Z06. The Porche Carerra GT (600hp), Ferrari Enzo, Veyron, ... but all of these cost a lot more. The Corvette can always be souped up, but there's a point of diminishing returns. First gear pulls to 60mph and would smoke the tires it wasn't for the traction control cutting fuel to one or more cylinders as needed. Class "A" gas dragsters can make 1600hp from supercharged V8's, but those engines aren't going to last long.Kurdt said:7.0 litres and only 500 bhp. The Koenigsegg CCR has 806 from a 4.7 litre engine.
Kurdt said:Well yeah the supercharging helps but the BMW M5 is normally aspirated (I think) and that pulls 507 bhp from 5 litres capacity. I'd imagine the corvette costs a fair bit in fuel. The new honda civic has improved its performance and power by taking the rev line up to 10,000 revs and many of the companies involved in formula 1 are taking similar steps. Should be interesting to see what can happen.
Stingray said:Quoting power/liter is really pointless. The Z06 Corvette is actually the most fuel efficient car in its performance class.
Displacement also has little correlation to physical size. Pushrods are very efficient at saving space. For example, the Z06 engine weighs less than the 5 liter V10 in the M5. It even weighs less than the 3.6 liter flat-6 in a 993 turbo (I don't know about the newer ones).
Also, all performance cars try to maximize power by increasing revs. If you can maintain torque and reliability at higher speeds, you automatically get more power. That's nothing new. There are just a lot of tradeoffs that have to be dealt with in practice. By the way, no stock Civic (or any other production car) revs to 10k.
The first year S2000 came close, 9000 rpm with a 2.0 4 cylinder engine, but now it's a 2.2 liter engine that revs to 8000 rpm, both make about 240hp. The new Honda Civic puts out 160hp at 6500 rpm, so the redline is probably a bit over 7000 rpm.Stingray said:No stock Civic (or any other production car) revs to 10k.