[瓦爾特]

American cars are truely terrible, no offense to Americans but you just cant build cars. American cars tend to be cheap and nasty and lack the ability to drive round corners due to the weak and flexible chasis and poor stearing abilities. Even the so called classic American cars like the Corvette and Dodge Viper are truely awful cars. I drove the Dodge viper not long ago and i was amazed at how bad the car was. The Corvette C6 has a great engine, but if you gave an engine that size to a European engineer he would come up with a damn site more power than that.

Just look at the quality of European cars compared to American cars. Look at Jaguar, Aston Martin, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, Maserati, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Volvo, Saab, Volkswagon and Rolls Royce. Compare these to the so-called quality American cars like Chrysler, Dodge, Ford, Chevrolet and Cadillac. Granted the Ford GT is a magnificent car but the chasi is poor and doesnt cope well on corners and bends. This is typical of American cars and as i mentioned before the cheap interiors made of plastic. However the Ford GT was designed on the old GT 40 which was a British designed and British built car.

in my opinion the best cars are Italian, German and British. even though Italian cars can be unreliable they are still the best handeling, the most luxurious and the most fun to drive. European cars have interiors made of exspensive leathers and chromes and handle perfectly. The technologies in European and Japanese cars are also more advanced than American cars. I like Japanese cars, but i just think most of them lack the soul and passion that great European cars are built with.

American cars can be quite good looking, just look at the Mustang and Dodge Charger, but they are so bad to drive and it amazes me how some people can live with cars that are so bad.

French cars i also like although they tend to be quite cheap, they do handle amazingly and are always very comfortable to drive. Peugeot have made some fantastic cars over the years such as the 406, 205 GTI, 306 and the new 407. all these cars handle amazingly, are comfortable and good looking - especially the new 407. Infact i would say that the French make the best 4 door saloon cars designed for families and long trips.

[瓦爾特]

Why do American cars SUCK?
As The Garage is so close to GM Canada’s headquarters, and a large number of Durham Region’s population depend on The General, I have spent some time over the years justifying my position that Traditional Domestics (ie American cars) SUCK. They ask “how can you say that when your neighbour’s income depends on those cars” or “we take great pride in the quality of our cars”.

It’s true, that the Oshawa plant has the highest quality rating of any of GM’s plants. That’s right, us Canadian’s build better cars up here than are built south of the border. These guys & girls have a right to be proud. They build the best cars they can, within the parameters that are set out for them. That’s right, this high end production facilty is predetermined to build crap.

The traditional domestics have some pretty inspired stylists too. Is it their fault? Not on your life.

The technical designers then? Well, let’s face it. Some of the best cars in the world (think Accord & Camry) are built and designed in North America with North American designers. I’m pretty sure the designers and engineers bred here in North American are equal to or better than those from any other country.

So, why are American cars crap?

Because the companies profit structure dictates that the accounting staff decide the quality of the end product. The stylists design a prototype. The engineers put the technology into the car. The accountants determine what quality of raw materials will be used in the manufacturing facilty. Have you ever compared the quality of plastics used in a Traditional Domestic (ie American) with that of a similar quality Traditional Import (ie Japanese)? The Japanese Domestic will always have a richer feel, because a higher quality of plastic is used.

Japanese manufacturers build long term relationships with their suppliers that are based on a mutual goal. “We need this widget. Can we build it for X dollars? If not, How much?” American manufacturers put out a tender for a product and then choose the cheapest bidder. Anyone with any inkling of business sense knows that the cheapest supplier is going to be cutting corners somewhere. In essence, you get what you pay for.

If the Traditional Domestics want to start building cars of the same quality as the Traditional Imports, they should allow their designers and engineers to do their jobs. Give the suppliers and the guys on the line the same raw products that the designers specify. Now that will mean a vehicle with a higher cost. Tough. Rearrange the proft structure. If you are building fewer quality cars that actually sell instead of building cars to keep plants working, the company will make more money. Toyotas are typically a bit more expensive than Fords and Toyota doesn’t appologize. They built cars that sell without sitting on a lot for a year. When was the last time you saw Toyota offering Employee pricing?

Instead of allowing the accounting departments to hold a leash around all the other departments, reign in the accountants and allow the design and productions teams to build great cars. Then we might start seeing some great American cars instead of American cars that SUCK!

[瓦爾特]

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