Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Anyone that has played Gran Turismo on the Playstation can confirm that Japanese cars are more specialized especially in Japan where many race spec editions are released.
Just look at the different versions of the GTR, STI, EVO, TypeRs, and many models never released to stateside I can say that Japanese cars have more personality than American cars.
The only problem is that majority of Japanese cars released for US market are appliances.
European automakers make fewer specialty cars than Japanese automakers.
The Japanese have 2 cars specifically engineered for Nurburgring race track. That's the Nissan GTR V Spec Nur and the Subaru WRX STI 2009 Nurburgring Edition.
Scion and Honda both have some imaginative and sleek designs, which it sounds like is what you prefer. Honda CRZ is one of the best looking "regular run around vehicles" on the road in my opinion. Brilliant design & looks!
Not my thing. They look sort of pointy-- like an old Porsche 944. Which I guess people like, but is not my style. I like rounded styles.
Last edited by confusedasusual; 02-19-2014 at 03:56 PM..
When I started driving I considered myself anti-import; not because of any kneejerk feelings of patriotism, but because at the time all the import badges were made overseas and all the domestic badges - and the vast majority of their components - were made in the US. In those days you really were supporting the US economy by buying American.
These days that's not the case. Domestics and imports are both made in the US out of a combination of imported and domestic components, so regardless of what you buy about the same amount of your money is staying in the US vs going overseas. beyond that, quality has improved exponentially for domestics over the last 20+ years, and styling has improved on the imports.
So while I certainly respect loyalty to a particular brand or model that has served a person well, there's really no rational explanation for assuming that all imports are bad or that all domestics are bad.
I'm strictly a used car buyer, so the impact of my money on the economy is the same no matter what I buy and how well or poorly my car performs is going to depend just as much on how it was treated before I got it as what brand it is.
All that being said, I tend to stay away from imports for practical reasons. I live 50 miles from the nearest import dealer of any kind, and 100 miles from any variety of dealerships. So those rare occasions when I might need to take my vehicle back to the dealership for repair because it needs a specialy tool or some proprietary knowledge that non-factory techs aren't likely to have are much more of a headache with an import.
I had two grandfathers that worked for the American auto industry their entire lives-- one for Chrysler and one for GM. They both fought in WW2. They both were vehemently opposed to Japanese cars.
I find that I have this same bias, though Japanese cars have been demonstrated time and again to be reliable and affordable to own. When I look at cars, I never even consider Japanese cars. I know this is silly, as many are now made in the US, but I can't shake it. Am I nuts? I also find that I really don't like the design of most cars, and Japanese cars tend to be pretty unimaginative when it comes to that. So I have an aesthetic bias as well.
How do you feel about Japanese cars? Does this even matter anymore in 2014?
I knew a WWII vet who still had flashbacks of a Mitsubishi tank running him down every time he saw the three-point symbol on the road.
But I think after a few generations any bias from that era is long gone. Ever been to L.A.? Every Jewish person in town drives a German car
I had two grandfathers that worked for the American auto industry their entire lives-- one for Chrysler and one for GM. They both fought in WW2. They both were vehemently opposed to Japanese cars.
I find that I have this same bias, though Japanese cars have been demonstrated time and again to be reliable and affordable to own. When I look at cars, I never even consider Japanese cars. I know this is silly, as many are now made in the US, but I can't shake it. Am I nuts? I also find that I really don't like the design of most cars, and Japanese cars tend to be pretty unimaginative when it comes to that. So I have an aesthetic bias as well.
How do you feel about Japanese cars? Does this even matter anymore in 2014?
Japanese automobiles had much higher quality, up until American auto manufacturers caught on sometime in the 1990s that Japanese-designed autos lasted much longer than their American counter-parts.
I used to feel the same about Japanese cars as both of your grandfathers. I know times have changed since then and at one time when I was a kid in the 1970s, people were afraid of buying Japanese autos because they thought they were not as powerful and reliable as American automobiles. But, the quality of American automobiles started declining in the early 1970s, then the gas crunch we experienced in late 1973 created a surge in the sales of Japanese autos, mainly Toyotas and Datsuns/Nissans, for the better gas mileage.
Sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s, Toyota and Datsun/Nissan built manufacturing facilities in Tennessee because it's a right-to-work state, so there was no unions to interfere with the manufacturing process. Unions used to stand up for the average factory worker in the past, but now some of them are corrupt and greedy, but that's another subject.
If I were to buy an automobile now, I'd pick either Japanese or American, their quality are about equal now. On a side note, my neighbor has a 1983 Datsun/Nissan truck with over 250,000 miles on it and it's still going.
I had two grandfathers that worked for the American auto industry their entire lives-- one for Chrysler and one for GM. They both fought in WW2. They both were vehemently opposed to Japanese cars.
I find that I have this same bias, though Japanese cars have been demonstrated time and again to be reliable and affordable to own. When I look at cars, I never even consider Japanese cars. I know this is silly, as many are now made in the US, but I can't shake it. Am I nuts? I also find that I really don't like the design of most cars, and Japanese cars tend to be pretty unimaginative when it comes to that. So I have an aesthetic bias as well.
How do you feel about Japanese cars? Does this even matter anymore in 2014?
If I were to buy an automobile now, I'd pick either Japanese or American, their quality are about equal now.
Trust Consumer Reports, Edmunds, and the ilk for one reason and one only: high volume of examples, for many models, leads to better averages around dependability, resale, etc. There are other legitimate sources out there, too. Not anecdotes: statistical models.
The majority of "American cars" (whatever that means) are not "about equal" to most Japanese brands in quality AND value over time, still. Consumer Reports, KBB, and others who use real data around depreciation, repair costs, consumables consumption, and etc. almost always list the likes of Lexus, Toyota, Honda, and Subaru among "lowest cost to own" over a realistic time period. That is, 5 years or more, since the average American keeps a car "about" 6 years these days. There are a smattering of Fords and GM products in there too, to be sure. I'm again speaking to "on-average," which is what matters.
A bought a JPN truck for, among other reasons, highest resale value over time (lowest cost to own due to minimal depreciation, repair, and other average costs). Turns out I see no reason to replace it, now at year 7 and coming up on 100K miles: mine has been average for the brand and model, meaning "doesn't break much". Yes, that is an anecdote (my one particular case). Turns out, mine is average to the thousand(s) other Toyota Tacomas they've surveyed. Specific examples (data points) do not, however, a valid data set make.
I bought a sports car and seriously looked at Ford and GM products (Mustang and Cadillac CTS-V, respectively) because I really don't care about cost to own, on-average, for that particular use: fun car, not a work car that I depend on. Big difference.
Growing up in the 1980s, in the Motor City, most of my dad's pals were rah rah for the auto industry and wouldn't hear another word about it. Mid to senior managers, and executives, at Ford Chrysler and GM. My dad was in tech and didn't have a dog in the race, but had to live with the opinions of his friends and didn't challenge it too much. His loss.
A teenager (me) debating stupid arguments with plain facts about "reliability", "resale", and "TQM Quality system" went nowhere with the adults. I stopped arguing and moved 2,250 miles away as soon as practicable. I don't make decisions for practical stuff on emotion, only facts. Fun stuff, however: see earlier paragraph.
Anyone that has played Gran Turismo on the Playstation can confirm that Japanese cars are more specialized especially in Japan where many race spec editions are released.
Just look at the different versions of the GTR, STI, EVO, TypeRs, and many models never released to stateside I can say that Japanese cars have more personality than American cars.
I wouldn't use a video game (designed and produced in Japan and missing an inordinate number of Euro licenses) to illustrate any points pertaining to vehicle variety. It's about the same as saying that a basketball player should be shooting 40% from the 3-point line because he has a 80/100 3-point shooting attribute in NBA 2K14. Games aren't real life.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
