UberNoob

ahahahahahaha
so many americans are clueless with world geography

pretty sad...

thats one point to show us that a lot of americans dont really care about what the rest of the world is doing and that many countries are surpassing USA or is way ahead of USA in terms of many characteristics

94lex83457

While the Brits cannot make a reliable car they certainly (with some exceptions) make beautiful cars, and that is something we haven't been able to do. I blame design by committee.

However, I will say our halo cars (z06, viper, GT) are impressive, but everything else is typically garbage.


and yes, our knowledge of geography is pitiful at best.

Lexmex

I remember my parents had two XJ6s in the 80s. And true to form, the joke that you buy 2 Jaguars, one to drive and the other to keep in the shop, was very true.

It also seems like every friend I have had down here who drove a Land Rover Freelander always ran into a disaster of sorts.

@lpher

Ask me, ask me! ...or is this competition only open to US residents?

Cornellian

Just US

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

I think that's a major oversimplification. While a lot of 'domestic' sedans have been very weak, don't forget U.S. manufacturers still own the truck segment, invented the SUV and minivan segments and still do well in them, and have been doing much better of late in both sedan and sporty car segments.

There's probably a lot of 'management' in Japanese car companies that keeps them far too conservative also, but no one can doubt their skill at quality volume manufacturing processes.

The U.S. manufacturers also have a gigantic problem with simply too many workers they can't easily get rid of. They've tried growing their way out of it, but they can't. GM is hoping enough retirees die, and Ford is buying out HALF of its workforce at a GIGANTIC cost. Ford and GM will be saddled with astounding debt for a long time, putting them at a severe disadvantage. I personally think Ford might still declare bankruptcy to give it a better chance of turning it around. But they're fighting hard to avoid that because of other problems that causes - most obviously consumer confidence and dealer support.

GM and Ford's product lines are improving quite rapidly in recent years so the engineers are definitely being given opportunities to shine.

But with the strongly anti-domestic sentiment on this forum, and frankly a ton of ignorance mostly rooted in knowledge from the 80s and 90s, that isn't always understood. Check out the interior of a new Chevy Silverado truck for example. Not exactly 90s Chevy like! And blows away the new Tundra.

sc3boost

he's a little bit of a sarcastic ****.........but be honest he has a point on the american car thing, after all we are toyota/lexus owners not domestic owners...why?

i've owned american suv's, pick ups and a car or two, but i still reverted to japanese and euro.

and personally my list of dream cars, future purchaces and the cars that i want, there is not one american car on the list, and it's a shame because i watch alot of discovery chanel and see the smart bombs, weapons ships and as he said the aircraft's and see the technology and research that goes into everything america does, but i don't think the car companies have anything to do with that, so maybe that is the reason some of the cars are lacking...

and also most of the people who keep cars more than 3 years are either the drive it till it breaks crowd, broke or car buffs like us who will gladly hook up a 92sc 5speed and be proud of it, so in a sick way everything is (in the car makers eyes) the way they want it, i will bet that if GM wanted to whoop the range/land rover with the hummer they could but the price would go up right, thats why the range is $60.000+

corvette viper and the ford GT sports cars

cadilac sedan

and most people would put a couple of non american cars ahead of those above

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWaQsgSfwCc&NR

Big Andy

Bollocks. British owned car companies are few and far between now. However, there are nearly 1.8 million cars made in the UK each year. The Nissan plant in the North East of England makes cars to a quality equal to or higher than those in Japan and some models are exported back to Japan. The Toyota plant turns out cars so well made there is talk of it building Lexus models as well. The Jaguar plant in Liverpool has been awarded the JD Power Gold award for quality. BMW also own and operate plants. Also don't forget the Rolls Royce, Aston Martin and Bentley plants.

Anyway, the US is starting to turn out some excellent cars again with original designs - maybe it's all the British designers now working for US manufacturers!

LexFather

lmao!!!!!!

dreyfus

You do have a bit of a point there. American vehicles have improved immensely in quality since the 80s, just as the Japanese cars had improved immensely between the 60s and 80s. Jeremey has another video comparing American versus British auto quality in which he fills both cars with water to see which one seals better. But both cars he uses are from the 80s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWaQs...elated&search=

Still, with all the improvements, the US cars still can't match the Japanese. But the gap is definitely closer. And yes, we still make great trucks and minivans. If Detroit ever gets its head out of its *** we should make some excellent non-gasoline cars too. All it takes is the committment.

LexBob2

I saw this quote on the CBS News web site. I guess the full report was on their Sunday Morning Show. It talks about changing people's perception on automotive quality:

Steve Spear, an M.I.T. engineering lecturer who used to work on the assembly line to study the Toyota system, said that a culture of paranoia persists at the company.

"If someone goes in and has an experience that doesn't disappoint, they won't tell anybody. If they have an experience which absolutely delights they tell one person. And if they have a disappointing experience they tell nine," Spear said.

Threxx

That's a very very brief clip of an approximately 1 hour long unabridged 'special' he filmed all about America and American cars.

It's absolutely sickening how biased he is. I understand some of it is due to the entertainment factor - everything in his book is either automatically some varient of the worst thing in the world, or some varient of the most awesome thing in the world. Rarely is there an inbetween, and rarely does a Euro car go on the 'worst' side of the equation, and rarely does an American car go on the 'greatest' side of the equation unless it's primarily a euro built and designed car with an American badge on it like the Ford GT.

I remember watching one segment where he was trying to find bad things to say about the Caddy CTS and so he started complaining that it makes a 'bong' noise when you don't have your seatbelt on or when the door is open and the keys are in the ignition. Then I saw him review my car, a Audi A4... well, actually I think he reviewed the S4 or RS4, but still the same car in terms of electronics and 'bonging' noises. Well my A4 is THE most annoying car in the world with 'bonging' noises. It bongs if either myself OR my passenger don't have our seatbelts on, if the lights are on without the motor on it freaks out too (and won't stop freaking out), if the door is open on any part of the car with the motor running it freaks out, and if the lights are on with the door open and the motor off it really freaks out. It's so much more annoying than the Caddy CTS, and yet he complained like it was the most horrible thing in the world on the CTS, and neglected to mention it at all on the A4/S4 review.

Just one of countless examples of extreme bias in his reviews.

It's strange... it seems like a lot of people in the UK have some serious issues with America - always trying to show how they're better.

I saw a review of some dragster in England and they were talking about how it was pure genius engineering, better than anything else in the world - pretty much acting like it was the first of its kind. They neglected to mention there are thousands of dragsters in the US that are as fast or faster than that one.

SCRUFFDOGG

You can edit a 5 minute piece of tape ANYWHERE in the world to show the same results. He wanted to show that americans did not know anything about Europe, do you think that if someone came along and rattled off 5 countries he would have included it in his footage.

UberNoob

yeah but what are the chances of some adult not knowing what the capital of Great Britain is?
apparently it isnt so low in the US
im not bashing the americans, just the education system needs to be looked after better
as said by Bill Gates, if there is no drastic change done soon to the system, the future generation of USA is looking bleak.

my previous point is that many Americans dont really care whats going on in the rest of the world
IMO, that is one reason why the american auto industry have been ignorant in the past and reluctant to get off their high horses and start improving themselves while the japanese auto makers were catching up fast

CNN's World News is like 80% has to do with US
lets not even talk about Fox News, Fox is only good for making movies...

now GM realizes that and so does the new CEO of Ford
I just hope that it isnt too late for GM and Ford to catch up
I do see a glimpse of life in both GM and Ford lately
mostly GM
they have been doing so many things right and I just hope that the public can be more aware of the changes taking place and not be so biased like Clarkson