Originally posted by Bamford: I asked, because they have been getting a fearful hammering on another car forum and i was one of few to stand up for the Yankmobiles.
You have to take them at face value & not expect them to be up to European or Japanese standards.
Americans are different & they expect different things from their cars, so manufacturers make them to suit their own.
I told a guy to take a look at a used 2005 Corvette, 404 bhp, 1475 kgs, absolutely superb performance, more than acceptable handling and brakes, lovely sound (more so once the right pipework is in place), dirt cheap running costs compared to a German or Italian competitor car and available here for £35K. In USA that car would be £22K. Just one example of great American car value.
Have a lot of time for their sports cars, I do like the engines they use .... but have no time for those big flabby saloons they have especially the ones from the 60s to 80s.
As for SUVs and all those other monstrocities they produce ... they should be put on a large ship and sunk in the middle of the Atlantic!
There was the annual Mustang rally at Waddesdon Manor earlier in the year. The cars looked gorgeous (and sounded even better). Style - that's what they've got. Italians have it as well. (French don't - they mistake style for quirkiness.)
---------------------------------------------------- "mad-g" is the display name of "mad-git"
I like a lot of them, but I equally dislike a lot of them........ I miss a lot of cars that are available in the UK, and it makes me trying to find a new car that much harder......... oddly enough I keep seeing a couple Peugeots around here........ not sure if they were sold here once, or imported.
Everyone seems to have forgotten where American manufacturers really excel - heavy duty pick up trucks. Not the F150's or Ram 1500's but their bigger diesel powered relatives like the F450. How does a 6.4l sequential turbo power stroke diesel with 350 hp and 650lb/ft of torque and a towing capacity of more than 12 tons sound to you? It's those kind of vehicles that American manufacturers really excel at in my opinion, big, not particularly sophisticated but oh so much character and the practicality of them (in the right location) is unbelievable.
Originally posted by Bamford: The hell with driving a Pug over there, get a V8 Mustang for the same money!
They are older Pugs......... both I think 405's (although one could be a 505)....... there is an estate (405) and a saloon (either 4 or 505).
No idea why someone would import them though, if thats how they arrived here.
My Uncle had a 505 in the late 80s in Carolina. It cost something stupid then, I think he could have had the top spec Cadddy for less but he loved the looks and drive. (Incidentally, he even looked at a Sterling Sports Sedan Fastback, or Rover 827 to you and I). Funny, when Peugeot disappeared from the US market, he moved to Nissan and later, Infinity. It's strange that he still views VWs as slow, cold tin boxes on wheels with an air colled out the back. He cannot stand the 'tiny' Golf. It's a shame more Brits don't share this view rather than the badge snobbery we are in love with.
Originally posted by Akpo S: Cheap tin that should be banned, keep em in the burger eating fat country!
You seemed to have completely missed the cultural context behind the American automobile industry. Cars in the US were built as tools, workhorses that could stand up to abuse every day of the week (see Ford Model T), while European cars of the time were generally much more routed in being an accessory, a luxury item I suppose, much more geared to comfort and perhaps ostentatiousness...they were a visible display of wealth for the most part.
Anyhow the point here is that this philosophy has (in a somewhat diluted form I must admit) carried over in to the present day, hence American cars are mechanically and aesthetically a lot simpler than their European counterparts. Where a European car magazine may make particular issue of soft touch plastics and the like, while an American magazine may be more concerned with the outright performance of it or how loud the sound system is, rather than the overall ambience. In short America seems to have a different philosophy to car making compared to Europe (although I admit the gap is closing now).
