Demystifying Extreme Katana
But this story is old and well known as the paradigm of well known car, we all used to over the years, but the stereotypes we Ve got used to over the years don t bear fully under control more than true look back on history, and even today Yes, there was a time when America was known for luxury and handling, linear speed Europe and Japan difficult trucks But time passes, and today is much like the distant past decades that most of us can remember.
In this article, we'll explore some of the myths and stereotypes that we have accumulated over the years, and see how they compare to the modern reality of course, the 2009 recession has shaken the established order as a globe snow expectations, and we are in a different world now how different.
When Japan first debuted as an automaker in the United States, he was like a budget price competitor to the offers already on the banks of the budget price in terms of buy-in, but especially in operating costs Just after the war, Japan was still very short on oil reserves that started it all to begin with the fuel shortage and not a lot of large reserves left manufacture, Japan began to specialize in small cheap cars who used the least amount of fuel.
Most Americans mocked the idea until the oil crisis hit in the 1970 s that when Japan is in a unique position to offer rides to a very thirsty nation Done as Toyota Honda and Nissan sold here as Datsun quickly made know America fell in love with Japan taking on energy efficiency and practicality.
In these segments, Japanese cars are generally smaller, lighter and more efficient than any other.
Fast forward to 1990, and was still true in terms of reputation But Japan had already begun over-dimensioning with cars like the Infiniti Q45 Nissan GT-R and Lexus LS.
These days, Japan still produces loads of compact cars, but the simple fact is that Japanese cars are competing in segments and classes like other building cars to fit in all market segments and in segments, Japanese cars are generally smaller, lighter and more efficient than any other greatly in fact, many times less.
Exhibit A Nissan GT-R Although undoubtedly a masterpiece of design, the GT-R is the big boy in her class at 4000 pounds and 16 miles city and 26 mpg highway, it is about 900 pounds more and 3 mpg highway behind Chevrolet's Corvette.
In the compact hybrid category where you expect Japan to dominate, you will find some likely candidates in the first three Volkswagen 2012 Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid bests in fact the Toyota Prius in 2014 on the road to 3 mpg and ties for second with 2014 Honda Civic Hybrid in the super-mini class, that Japan had quite decades, the 39 mpg combined BMW i3 Hybrid 2015 is almost a match for the death CVT 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage 40 mpg.
Take hybrid of the equation, and excellent diesel BMW 328D is the 2014 Scion iQ small and Mirage non-CVT to 37 miles per gallon and is a midsize BMW 3 Series one of the best cars on Earth.
Thus, Japan is still small, light and efficient, as well as ever, but their best cars are not of the above, and Europe is as good if not better at all.
European cars are expensive, but worth the extra money in quality.
What's in a badge Maybe not as much as you think.
Europeans like to say you get what you pay for, and why the Euro cars are so expensive course, Germany, long known for its engineering feats, could make a case for this, but funny thing happened on the way to Das repair shop.
As we take a look at two rival often compared Dodge and Mercedes While they recently were part of the same company, Mercedes remains a shining example of European quality, while that Dodge cars for rednecks right for instance but how would a supercar redneck like the Dodge Viper battery against Mercedes best and brightest stunning 2015 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren is part of the production now, but the SLR and Viper were produced simultaneously by DaimlerChrysler They were of the same size and had similar performance in America was built for 80,000; the other in European laboratories to five times.
Looks like a pretty fair comparison of the cost of a quality, if anything, heavily weighted in favor of Europe So, let a glance on service stories of these two cars, from number of technical service bulletins known defects, but not to be confused with reminders issued during running production Merc.
2004 Viper 4 TSBs, Merc has 16 2005 Viper 4 TSBs, Merc has 21 2007 Viper 1 TSB, Wed 22 2008 Viper 3 TSBs, Merc has 23 2009 Viper 1 TSB, Wed 21.
The Viper has never been a single security reminder whole history of two decades, much less everything about catching fire You are apparently thinking of the safety recall McLaren SLR 06V220000 2006 stipulates that under high temperatures the hood could cause the alternator overheated and caught fire in the engine compartment and it was one of three equal, um importance.
So to sum it s zero for the Viper remember in 23 years, and three important reminders in five years of production for the Mercedes which again, is five times more.
And lest you think I'm picking cherries, rest assured that this scenario is not these days especially where particularly atypical performance cars are concerned about price Porsche and Ferrari bit better than Mercedes on supercars self-immolation.
However, everyone would have to admit that European cars are generally more pleasant interiors, better initial quality, and used to stay on the road for a long time when properly maintained properly maintained But the American and Japanese cars usually run on wood and sawdust hate to about 80 percent as long as most German cars maintained as Swiss watches Yes, we tend to build cars a little lower quality than at present but they have far from Primadonnas that European cars.
Well, those who don t burst into flame, anyway.
This is one of those stereotypes that Americans themselves have intentionally helped perpetuate musclecars Brutal, thirsty have kind of been our thing for a long time now, and we have a long and proud history of poorly handling the construction, overwhelmed death machines all the way through the era of SUV, we had a kind of love affair with deliberate supercharged Hannibal Lectors and even that's not exactly accurate; V-8 Ted Bundy would probably closer to the truth.
However, some thousands of SUV rollovers and another gas crisis later, and have come to prefer our musclecars with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.
Case in point, some comparison test published in May 2014 issue of Motor Trend If you're a fan Camaro, you already know this 2014 Chevrolet Camaro Z 28 vs. 2014 Porsche 911 Turbo S vs. 2015 Nissan GT-R this article probably did more to announce a new day in the battle of the continents, overturning decades of assumptions and conclusively prove the premise of this writing.
Chevrolet walked away with a first place on Godzilla and Ferdinand, almost half the price.
The Camaro was not t the lightest car in this test was the Porsche 150 pounds and was less powerful 40 horsepower behind Nissan, which weighed about 245 pounds over the Camaro was the slowest in a quarter of 12 mile 3 seconds, almost 1 to 5 seconds longer than the Nissan and Porsche 2 to 6 seconds Porsche decimated 4 0 seconds Camaro 0 to 60 times, and Nissan was just behind 2 7 seconds, the both benefited from all-wheel drive, while the musclecar were content only its rear wheels.
Overall, the Camaro 75,000 was set for a showdown; it was simply outclassed by 117000 185000 Nissan and Porsche and was a massacre.
Because the Chevy beat both in Willow raceway streets.
Certainly it was not t much, but the Camaro the best handling and brakes made in advance of Nissan and Porsche's best What better handling and brakes From an American car Yes, indeed, largely thanks to larger tires never before mounted a Chevrolet production car built 28 Z chassis together around these massive 305 30R19 Pirellis, which were the same width as the rear tires of the Porsche Chevy was serious about the domination of the racecourse, and he showed in the Z-28 Chevrolet walked away with a first -place finish on Godzilla and Ferdinand, almost half the price.
Based entirely on outside handling and braking to two of the best handling and braking of cars in the world.
Again, this is not particularly unusual nowadays Chevrolet Volt outside handles and out-brakes the Prius competition, Ford Focus-slalom and brakes of the Toyota Corolla and Chevrolet Cruze is roughly the VW Jetta skidpad, slalom and braking, it's the same story at every level for US vehicles to compete with Japanese cars and European, in almost all segments true, some people still prefer the handling and stability ways European cars, and Ford Taurus still doesn t stick to a BMW 3 -Series or even an Infiniti G37 for that matter but the field is so narrow at this point that Europe or Japan would struggle to claim the clear victory on any front.
That said, we are going on comparing the Chevrolet Volt at its closest Japanese rivals, the Honda Civic Hybrid and Honda Toyota Prius system is mild hybrid configuration, which is actually just a very powerful starter generator It's a little more juice that the average start stop system, but it is not very sophisticated Toyota parallel hybrid system is much more dedicated and complex, but it is almost 20 years now and it is extremely limited in terms of pure EV system Mode hybrid Chevrolet Volt allows to operate in parallel, or serial mode plug-in EV complete, and can seamlessly switch back and forth between them of the three, it is the newest, powerful and sophisticated.
Who knows drones like America We invented the Terminator.
From now on, Europeans are a little ahead of the US in terms of high tech gadgets and helps American driver is somehow the adoption of security technologies and driver assistance Mercedes already used for this respect at least, very little has changed it's been an axiom in the industry forever If you want to see what will be on your car in five years, look what Mercedes is doing today.
However, things like radar cruise control, automatic braking and lane assist are already old news, they're semi-autonomous driving functions Today actual border is in building fully autonomous cars; drones mobile robots that can operate without human intervention and knows drones like America We invented the Terminator.
Right now, Google and Tesla are the most prominent in terms of setting self-driving auto pilot cars to the mass market, but GM and Ford aren t far behind because the Germans are catching up, but only in partnership with American companies finish and refine the technology and, for what it's worth, the two most critical technologies to make self-driving cars possible GPS and LiDAR are both of these banks.
American cars are at least competitive with others in terms of technologies such as interior gadgets and in-car entertainment.
Europe builds the fastest, coolest and Classiest cars.
The fastest way is easy to refute the fastest trucks and SUVs in the world Ford better handling car rear engine before the world Chevrolet-powered Dodge Charger 2015 Hellcat and 2015 Tesla S P85D are the fastest and the fastest sedans around, in both electric and gas categories and Hennessey 2014 Hennessey Venom GT is the fastest car in the world, period for now, knowing Hennessey, if someone wins 2 mph, they still have more to ride the push and go 5 mph faster is the Texas way.
Thus, it is probably fair to say that the U S has resumed speed Credentials What style.
Europe could still corner the market on one it depends on your taste if you prefer your cars as following function form of statements, the way some of us, then the Germans win by a mile if you like your ridiculous car , hyper-modern and over-the-top, then Italy is there for you to Trier.
While Italy's supposedly on the cutting edge of style forever, Italians aren t quite as far ahead of the pack as they used to be Ferrari and Lamborghini are both wearing the fashion of the last season and no words are greater insult to the Italians, but the same is true of Alfa Romeo to Zagato.
Part of the problem is that, ironically, Italians leaning a little too hard on the style of the traditional brand for their own good, for example course the Lamborghini Reventon 2008 seems to be a bold risk in terms of style but her style was really just an evolution of the Murcielago's, which itself was a direct evolution of the Chrysler Diablo era that was derived from the Countach the same is true for Ferrari; as modern as the Ferrari laferrari 2014 or 2016 Ferrari 488 GTB can look, both are essentially Resumes Dino 308 GTB and Alfa Romeo used the same basic lines, it has always, until recently, and the fact Maserati Bugatti Citroen BMW, Rolls Royce Bentley Aston Martin and many other Jaguar and Mercedes style leaders are notable exceptions, but they're the exceptions mostly European designs have definitely got safely.
The difference between America retro and retro Europe is the difference between the Sexyback evil and back.
Of course, there's really nothing wrong with this, and no one wants a brand to take its natural course, but the style of revolution is to take risks, not even the Italians really do that these days they have gone, if anything, a little retro and not in a fresh way, either not cool how Justin Timberlake wears a fedora; over the way old man sitting in front of the Post Office did.
Certainly, America is also retro most obvious in the segment ponycar with the Camaro, Mustang and Challenger al In the segment of the sedan, which would include the charger and 300C and Ford Taurus took over some of his looks from new retro-ish Mustang the same could be said for the latest Corvette Stingray and SS with which it shares some resemblance to the same family our vans will subtly old school; square and muscular lines Series F s Silverado and Ram trucks have much more in common with these great old ships of the 1970s and 80s as something more recent.
But the difference between the retro retro America and Europe is the difference between the Sexyback evil and back.
Again, the taste is subjective, and some are sure to disagree But postmodernism is all about irony and perspective is about the comments on the past, not relive it done reference to past days are fine, even encouraged, but those references should come from a modern point of view is what to do with Chevy Camaro and Stingray, Ford makes the Mustang, and Mopar do with good, everything even the Viper, as you know, is a reminder of the 1964-1965 Shelby Daytona Coupe.
These cars are comments on their ancestors, and many of them came out of blue as new models or complete redesigns course, American retro cars wear the fedora but they do it with chiseled abs and not a smirk belly and yellowed dentures.
This article could go on forever Demystifying and a second and a third party may be due to one time.
Now I know that you started to tell a long way that some writers around here have a bias against Nature to American cars and everything, but the build quality, you probably of reason Mea Culpa But the fact is that good many of the changes we've seen in the last decade have been favorable to American automakers not exclusively, but largely yes part, Japan is trying to still make high tech gadgets and build reliable and fuel-efficient cars Europe yet solid construction autobahn cruisers with beautiful interiors but US automakers are running on a world stage these days, and the bad times of the last few years have all pared to only best and the strongest elements.
Certainly everyone has suffered losses in the last few years, but very few of them came so close to wiped out of existence as GM, Ford and Chrysler Question of survival of the fittest if you like, but this new automotive environment seems to have picked the weakest of our herds and left the best cars, engineering and construction of competitive practices.
US automakers are apparently still alive, fighting hard and come back stronger than ever.
Demystifying American vs. European Car Vs Asian Cars News @ Top Speed, American, European, cars.