It's not built for safety, speed, or fuel economy. It's just a cheap car that the average lower class person can afford.
Well the modern ones are fairly safe and they do fairly well on fuel economy. I imagine it was the same for that version when it was originally made, Its not really fair to compare an 8 year old model of car to modern ones. 65mpg is what the new one should apparently do which isn't too bad for that size of car provided it gets close to that. But the new vauxhalls are not really all that cheap, if you want something cheap and economical you will find yourself mostly looking at the Korean and French cars. Since they seem to be doing fairly well, if you want the car to last for a more than a few hours after the warrenty date then you can already rule out most of the french cars.
That just pisses me off. Its easy to test for the presence of various chemicals in water without needing a government run lab. Therefore it is easy to prove or disprove that being the case. Funnily enough not one claimant to there being any chemical added to water by the government has actually come forward with substantial evidence in the form of chemical testing on the water to back themselves up. Tested tap water in my school. Calcium and flourine in it as expected.
also aliens exist and are secretly controlling all humans while doing experiments on them. oh wait, this isn't the "ridiculous conspiracy theory of the day"-thread...
I am more than happy with my 4.6 grand marquis. I get around 19-23 mpg, which may sound bad to Europeans such as some of you, but right now in St. Louis gas is $1.63/gallon. My car has 185,000 miles on the OD and I expect it to easily reach 220,000+ if I keep it that long. It sounds like a mustang with flowmaster 40s and will light up the rear tires when pushed as well, all while being good in snow and caring 6 people comfortably. While I understand why such a car would seem impractical in europe due to various reasons, it seems ridiculous that Europeans would say all American cars are terrible. Also, my grandfather has been through 3 chevy 2500hd 6.0 v8 trucks in the last ten years. all had 450,000+ miles before he got rid of them, and were used to haul heavy trailers back and forth the United states for construction companies. Id like to see a transit truck haul a 20,000 lb drill 2,000 miles. This shows that while the interior may be a bit plasticy and cheap on some, There are some very reliable and long lasting American cars. btw I love Euro+Jap cars as well, just wanted to put in my two cents on an old ass thread.
From 93-98 Lincoln a division of Ford made a car called the mark VIII (8) and it was more like a European sports car than an American car. Even more so with the 97 Redesign.
DOHC 4.6L V8. 290HP. Not bad for 1993. I love these things. To bad there are literally none for sale anymore. Anyone who has one keeps it away. Another reason could be that our cars are SUPER overpriced in Europe compared to the USA. The Town & Country starts at $43,500US in Germany ($56,680US in Luxemburg) when it only costs $29,995 in the US. The 300 is $30,000 whereas it's $45,700 in the UK.
The design of the Lincoln MKVIII looks still very American to me, the only European car with the same flying saucer like rear end design was the 90's Ford Scorpio, which wasn't a great sucses because it's rear end looked to "heavy" for the European taste. The sedan style car fell out of favour anyway from the late 80's in Europe, hatchback and estate cars were more popular. The high pricing of cars in Europe has to do with taxes, most countries in Europe have some form of tax appart from VAT on cars, in most cases related to carbondioxide emisions. Some countries like Denmark and The Netherlands have a "luxury" tax as well, 45% on the netto price in The Netherlands and even 180% in Denmark (percentages changed with the introduction of the emision tax). The Chevrolet Corvette Stingray costs $55,000 in the US, GBP 65,500 ($97,595) in the UK, €125,000 ($137,500) in The Netherlands and dkr 2,000,000 ($294,000) in Denmark (searched al prices at Google). The same car does also cost more than double in the Netherlands and 3,5 times as much in Denmark as it does cost in the US. But these differences apply to all brands of cars, US brands or not. What this example shows very clearly is that driving susch a car may be well possible for a middle class American, but is only for the really wealthy people in a country like the Netherlands (where wages are in general on or above the average in the US). This aplies to driving the car as well, as gas costs 2,5 times as much in West European countries as it does in the US. So 30mpg may be a good figure in the US, for us it's still too much ( we consider a 50mpg car as economical)
They're nice, but suffer from some fit and finish problems. I use 1988 Mark VII as a daily driver, which is more "american" but still has a sophisticated flair and it benefits from from Ford's 1980s quality run. 19 MPG and 225 HP from a 5.0 liter V8 isn't bad for the 80s. If you want one I'm in PA and have a 1995 Mark VII that's just sitting around.
Firstly, "hate" isn't fitting. Most europeans love american cars, they are exotic and cool. But, at the same time, most europeans would never consider to buy one. There are several reasons for this: europeans wouldn't get an american car for the practicality of it. That's leaves ut the exciting muscle cars. The problem with these is that they are fueloholics, they handle like an ancient truck and they are expensive to import and buy. Also, they're not super reliable. The reasons above is why some dislike american cars. Me personally, I think american cars are cool, but would never buy one. I'm the japanese cars kinda guy. I think that people might find them boring because they're not showing off, they are made with science and precision, american cars are more primitive and in history we see the manufacturer spewing out bigger and bigger engines, rather than optimizing and making them more efficient. Japanese engines are great, but they don't have the torque or brutalness of the american ones. One of my favorite cars are Honda S2000 and Honda NSX. That's something you can call engineering art. They are efficient, cool and fast. I also like the way japanese cars doesn't show off, they are humble and still kick ass. They are made with advanced science and not by just making things bigger and use the same old primitive technology. Honda even tilted the engine a few degrees to perfect the weight distribution of the S2000. And they made this quick and agile car without the use of turbos. There's just something special about the japanese cars. Honda NSX, S2000, Prelude and Integra. Nissan Skyline, 200SX, 300ZX, 350Z, Silvia S13 and GTR. Mazda RX-7, RX-8 and MX-5. Subaru Impreza and Forester. Mitsubishi Lancer, Eclipse, 3000GT, GTO and Galant. VR-4 models are worth mentioning. Lexus LFA, IS200, IS300 and most other model. Toyota Supra, GT-86, FT-1, Celica and MR2. And besides these cars the japanese have made a ton of reliable, practical and generally good cars. I also like Porsche, they too make very efficient cars. The power is spent really good and they have made great efforts to make the most use of every single horse power and put in to the road. From a sports car point of view that is of course.
I can see the point of poor fuel economy and ponderous handling, at least for American cars made before 1980 or so. But really neither apply to new(ish) American cars. But unreliable? Really? Nearly any V8 US engine is robust if nothing else, as are most of the sixes. Several of the V8's (such as the GM 350, Ford 302 and 4.6) are known for lasting 400,000 miles or more. US cars are certainly simpler and longer-lasting than european cars, and often equal to the Japanese. I think he biggest reason why people avoid buying American cars these days (new ones, that is) is usually resale value.
Sorry to derail the topic here a bit, but I can't help but to...*twitch* love this *twitch* amazing beautiful corsa.
Because Ford and Chevy sound to formal. They have Renault and Vauxhall. Maybe... Or maybe because the only American car they know is an Ford Pinto. Maybe...
I made that post here because of the corsa discussion up in the top of this page from...oh, last year.
