True, those were the standard no-frills family sedans. But I compared them to the same class of vehicles. I couldn't get my hands on really high-end sports cars from either side yet - except one, which was the GT-R, but it was on a racetrack, tuned and set for racing. I didn't dare to push it. I don't know how a (SRT) Dodge Challenger compares to your regular Porsche. Or how a factory Ferrari compares to the Viper. I also don't know how a regular street Porsche would handle on the track compared to race ready Porsches. Or how a regular Viper compares to a track ready Viper. I know that the regular street version Porsche handles vastly better than your standard BMW 3 series - you can see it easy enough on, say, the Nordschleife. I doubt it is as with motorcycles: The most impressive vehicle handling I have ever witnessed was an all-out regular guy (well, an enthusiast obviously, but still) doing the same(!) lap times on the Sachsenring in Germany on an almost standard ZX-10R as the slowest rider in the MotoGP. This was totally mind-blowing. His bike was basically street-legal. He changed the suspension, the sprocket, the tires and the engine mapping. Nothing else. This is a world different from how cars handle: they all handle like crap when bought for the street. edit: still doesn't make me hate american cars. I just feel they handle worse. And the interior (as well as certain other aspects, but here you see it at once) are lower quality, but that's just nit-picking.
here in slovenia is most common car renault clio because its economic,compact,fuel efficient and strong enough for everyday use. nice car to drive those above are prefacelifted (right) and facelifted (left) clios 2nd gen this is the 2014 model
Hi, I'm a Finnish dude. I drive a Chevy and I prefer American cars over others. However I'm also a little sad due those "new" American cars aren't really American because they were made in Korea, at least Chevrolet does that. If it's not made in USA, its not a real USA car even if the company is American. That is my personal opinion of course and it can be ignored. But to the hate question, I believe that is false argument at these days. Some people think/presume that American cars are bad at winter because they won't start at low temperatures. Which is true when it comes to some diesel cars but my gasoline Chevy Beretta starts at -26°C without warming up. Actually I've done it only once because I didn't have time to warm it up. But I know it can happen again. About pickup trucks: the attachment makes it clear why you should take an American instead of European. If it doesn't, I'll give a tip: more size, more room, more profit.
The only issue with that (at least in the UK) is a soon as you find yourself on a narrow B road with hedges either side you will be stopping every mile to try and squeeze past oncoming traffic. Also parking would be a nightmare (once again in the UK) since parking spaces are all to often to narrow for anything but a city car. While more size may be useful to you, it can also be a pain in certain areas of the world. Still not a reason to hate them, just the main reason why cars elsewhere tend to be a little smaller. A while back i saw a dodge ram (from memory and image searching it may have been a 2500, it had 4 proper doors) trying to navigate the carpark at a local retail park. It was somewhat entertaining, but they needed to find two spaces next to each other just to park the damn thing. But it was certainly an impressive vehicle despite being hilariously impractical where i live.
I do disagree with the parking spaces being too small for anything but a city car, the only time we ever had any problems with a mitsubishi shogun was because the person in the space next to it was parked over the lines. If you know how a steering wheel works and how to use your mirrors, hey presto you can back it into any space no problems (that was admittedly an issue on the shogun, not best turning circle, easier to back it into alot of spaces). My only 2 cars so far are only really city cars, plenty of room. All these people you see in tesco double parked I can only refer to as bellends. The fun one was my old 50cc moped, technically I have full right to use a normal space in a car park, I could park that sideways and still be within the lines but then it was only one of these: Same colour too except I had a scuff on the heat shield on the exhaust where I fell off and black wheels, it was also never that clean. Of course a dodge RAM (there is an imported f250 near me actually, close enough) is stupidly huge, it would certainly fit on the roads but in a car park. lolno
Most UK parking spaces are just fine, but narrow ones are not uncommon at least around where i live. In built up areas around me they tend to try and fit as many spaces into as small an area as possible meaning larger cars such as mpv's, estates and 4x4's will need to continue looking for spaces if they want to use the doors to get out of their vehicle. But i would have to agree with you, more often than not bellends are the bigger issue. Personally i think: If you have an actual use for a large truck then i have no issue with the use of one. If you live in a built up area and will never take a truck anywhere near a blade of grass then i guess that's your choice and i shouldn't complain. But im British therefore moaning is one of the things i am best at, so i probably will EDIT: Thought i would create a screenshot of a roadstyle that is common (not to be confused with dominant or prominent etc, you will usually spend a lot more time on major roads) around the UK just for anyone not familiar with UK roads.
Oh I hate the chelsea tractors too. Didnt like us having the shogun too much either but you try and fit 7 people into an MPV, sure its doable but you genuinely have almost no luggage space whereas we needed to fit prams and stuff in too, the shogun would take 7 people + luggage. Stepdad also panic bought it on the basis that we live on a main road which hasnt been gritted in a decade and then we are on a farm which of course has no traffic to destroy the snow anyway so wanted mum to have a 4x4 for safety, absolutely pointless considering how little snow we had and considering I got on just fine in a front drive hatch, she still spun the shogun and then managed to somehow get 3 wheels unloaded so it wouldnt move again which combined with her idiocy when it comes to knowing whether or not to lock the centre and rear diffs (hers had lockers) resulted in her phoning for help... So 4x4, 1 week a year and it still didn't help. Now I disagree with her current car even more. We no longer go anywhere with 7 people, don't have prams and things to load in too as the youngest at 3 is quite happy to walk quite some distance on her own or just get a piggy back (I know 5 year olds which won't walk 100 yards, I find that quite sad, sadder still is the 9 year old I know with stabilizers on her bike still - 3 year old ditched those too but I think thats unusual rather than norm for her to be able to ride a bike unaided that young, trying to copy her 6 year old sister). Not to mention the shogun getting a billion gallons to the mile. Time for a downsize to a normal 5 seater car, am I right? Nope I was wrong. She has to display herself as the perfect mother yet complete with all the latest fashion accessories on the school run. A ford focus would surely be a perfect choice for our family but she put her foot down and insisted she had to have another big car. Stepdad whittled her "down" to a RAV4, at least its a crossover rather than a full blown SUV but we really don't need a car like that. It does do ok on fuel economy and isn't monstrously huge, I just don't think we need much more than the aforementioned focus. The F250 I've seen, its left hand drive still and complete with a square rear license plate (not too common for a UK road vehicle, particularly when bumper mounted) although they are GB plates fitted. The guy that drives it is a tree surgeon, I have seen it loaded with equipment on a few occasions. Lives in a pretty decent sized house in a nearby village (Nkosi if you are still around, same one the phone booth pics came from) and has a huge caravan with a kingpin for towing rather than the usual tow hook setup, I have seen a 5th wheel fitted to the f250 for it to tow the caravan. So in this case its somewhat justified as it is a large vehicle but its large payload size and towing capacity is being utilised, plus he seems to have a fair bit of money so an imported f250 probably has a bit of a status symbol effect to him when he could simply have a ford transit with flatbed and a towable 5th wheel (seen one before, very strange, also seen a transit with a 5th wheel) or something but whatevs.
In europe most american cars are the "euro" versions. You don't see chargers and shit in the streets of portugal, but you see loads of Aveos, PT cruisers etc. However I'd say the most common car I see in portugal is probably the Renault Clio.
I don't know what you're talking about! I live in Sweden and lots of people here love american cars and the rest have nothing against them. http://bigmeet.com
American cars, in my experience, are sluggish and overly heavy (I'm Canadian, living in America for the last 8 years). Most of them are also incredibly bland. Here in Illinois, the most common truly American vehicles are Dodge/Chrysler sedans (Intrepid, Stratus, 2nd Generation Avenger, Charger, Dart, Sebring, 300C), and for some reason 8th Generation Impalas and the terrible, rustbucket GM W-Bodies from the '90s-'00s. All of these are too heavy, underpowered and bloody awful to look at (excepting the Dart, which is attractive, nimble and ballsy but is actually a badge-engineered Fiat). All of them have soft suspensions and most are front-drive, a combination offering LOADS of understeer and piss-poor handling in snow or heavy rain. The muscle cars are even worse... Plastic EVERYTHING (including the Intake Manifold on some Mustangs...) terrible weight distribution, sloppy autoslush gearboxes, single-digit MPG and I'm pretty sure there are fishing trawlers with less body roll. The ONLY half-decent modern muscle cars from America are Pontiacs, (and no, not the fuggin Firebirds, those are for rednecks and are a prime example of everything I just listed about your typical American car) I mean the 4th Generation GTO and the G8, but both of those are badge-engineered Holdens. The compact market in America also sucks. GM offers rebadged Daewoo products for 5x the price, Ford cuts corners on engineering and offers something that looks sporty inside and out but is in for service once a week past 40k miles. The amount of quality reduction that Americans are willing to settle for is absolutely insane. Hyundai/Kia sells a large majority of the compacts here and they are just terrible. They rust out before 100k miles because they are built of aluminium foil and feature ill-fitting plastic components at any price range. I owned, until last year, a First Generation Dodge Avenger (it's a 2nd Generation Eclipse with Dodge stickers on it and a proper boot instead of a liftgate) and I must say it was the best front-drive compact I've ever owned. BUT, it's not American either, it's Japanese. Sturdy, reliable as a sunrise and sporty... I wish I still had it. I've currently got a Cobalt SS... Bought it because it was boosted from the factory and it was cheap as dirt. I hate it every time I get in it. Yes, it's quick, yes it handles pretty well but I am greeted with relative frequency by new rattles from the plastic interior bits. 84k miles and I can no longer open the boot from outside because the lock broke internally... case in point. I guess my operative point here would be that Europeans hate American cars for the same reason Americans hate American cars. Because they suck. Every time I'm with the mates and a Corvette pulls into the carpark, everyone goes crazy. I'm appalled every time... who in their right brain would spend any money, let alone more than fifty thousand dollars, for a wedge-formed chunk of plastic that can't go around corners? The overarching theme with car engineers in this country is to give up halfway through the development phase, "Yup, it's a car, cool. Make as much as you can out of plastic and ship them out ASAP!"
Yeah, no. I have 2 Nissan Hardbody trucks because they are extremely well engineered and reliable. Very easy to work on, great gas mileage, they handle extremely well. Don't have much first hand experience with other Japanese vehicles, but the older Nissan's are fucking awesome. This coming from someone who owns a F250. Owned a Suburban, dodge ram van, etc. I've owned 4 Nissan Hardbody pickups, best vehicles I've ever had. Japanese vehicles have their place too, its really dependent on the specific model and year of a vehicle, not so much the brand that determines how good it is. Generally the older it is, the better. Much simpler in design, generally put together better, more and better materials, much longer planned obsolescence (most vehicles are designed so that components start failing after a certain amount of time, otherwise they don't make nearly as much $$$ from you.) So yeah, it's not so much the country of origin as it is the specific model and year of a vehicle that determines how good it is. Except Korean vehicles, god damn are they built like shit. At least the older ones were.
That would make them rustproof, because only iron rusts The newest kia cee apostrophe d is better than the earlier models, haven't driven one but the quality seems better.
OMG this thread is so funny, someone says one thing about a car, and then someone else has to completely disagree and throw insults at said vehicle. Every country has their shitty cars, and every country has their prime examples of automotive design. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and one mans trash is another man's treasure! - - - Updated - - - Could've just wrote Cee'd lmao Hyundai Kia has DEFINITELY improved it's quality standards 100% since the early 2000's. More than ANY other manufacturer could ever claim. And Im not partial to them either. But a Mid Size sedan with 270 hp Turbo 4 cylinder and GOOD handling (not insanely OMG good handling) and really sharp looks with premium quality materials and a GREAT price deserves a win. And these cars have a Hyundai/Kia Badge slapped on them. I prefer the Optima Turbo over the A4 (non Quattro of course, since Quattro = King) ANYDAY. See that quilted, contrasted interior? Simply gorgeous!! And they don't rattle either. Oh, if they do rattle, then you have up to 100,000 miles or 10 YEARS to get it fixed for free!! And I still don't really like them, but you have to give credit where credit is due.
TOp gear reference. They introduced their new reasonably priced car as the "kia seeeeeeeeeeee apostrophe d"
We have two modern hyundai's. An I10 and I40. The I10 is ok, the suspension is pretty hard but it doesnt rattle and is more refined than the old citroen xara picaso we had before. The I40 is very refined, it is very quiet and very comfy. Recently went on a 13 hour drive to France (that's with time zone differences negated, stayed 8 days then 13 hours back) and at no point did i feel uncomfortable on the way there or back. Touch screen sat nav is standard on all but the base model with as far as i can tell global maps, you also receive free map updates for road layout changes . But we do find that the touchscreen is unreliable on occasion and the speakers sound pretty poor if you are listening to the radio, although plug in a usb stick (or use bluetooth or 3.5mm input jack) and the audio quality is pretty good. So yeah, personally i think modern hyundai's are pretty good cars. We got the I40 very shortly after it was first released so i don't know if the touch screen issue has been fixed since or is just our car.
I love Hyundai. The new Sonata is one of the best looking everyday cars I've seen. And let's not forget that Genesis R-Spec. Mmm, 429 HP...
i don't hate them, i like them. i like how laid back they are, they reflect upon americans perfectly. Up until the late 2000s when they decided to contend with the german sedan market and produce cheap cars which had powerful engines and instantly made americans think that the CTS-V is much better than the C63 AMG when it simply isn't true. Americans are used to the phrase "you get what you pay for" which is a half assed POS whereas in Germany, the C63 has a hand built engine and sublime quality, which apparently doesn't justify the extra price. Same goes for all other contenders such as the ATS vs E/S class Merc and the Escalade vs ML/GL series. They're just not as good and they know it. The only argument they have is "they're nice to drive and they're cheap"
