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Mustang Premium $26k, solid V6, decent amount of standard features, low quality.
Scion FR-S, $25k, wimpy four cylinder, stripped of most features, low quality.
Grand Cherokee SRT8? $60k. ML63 $95k. Add in options and that just increases. Is it as refined? Nope. Why would you expect it to be for less than 2/3rds the price. You get what you pay for.
Mustang Premium $26k, solid V6, decent amount of standard features, low quality.
Scion FR-S, $25k, wimpy four cylinder, stripped of most features, low quality.
You are somewhat correct... but the key here is public perception.
All through the 70's, 80's, 90's, and early 00's, foreign car makers were producing VASTLY better quality cars than their American counterparts. It is only recently in the last couple years that domestic manufacturers have gotten their $hit together and started making strides in quality and materials. At the same time, foreign makes have lowered their quality due to cost cutting and the economy, trying to maintain the same levels of profitability.
It'll be a long while before American cars shake the stigma of being lower quality vs other makes. The new C7 from GM looks decent, though I have yet to see it in person. Definitely a good sign of them finally paying attention to what consumers want, and cheap plastic interiors are not it.
Yeah, a lot of people are backwards thinkers. That's one of the rationals of why Ford got rid of the Crown Vic/Town Car... going after buyers whose only perceptions of Ford were antiquated products from the '90s which inferior and thus largely relegated to fleet sales then let alone now. I've always been more open minded about that. My Mitsubishi Eclipse was built on the same assembly line by the same workers as the domestics. Technically, it's an import while the other models were domestics. All basically the same car if you ask me. Similar, my current car is a Mazda. It's not built by Ford but is darn similar to the Focus (global). Maybe it's only 80% the same where as the Eclipse was 100% the same (minus aesthetics).
The first generation Fusion was pretty bullet proof but, imo, did still lack in some refinement. I would have bought it over the CamCord of the same vintage as both are also lacking.
You can drive a used Chevy Cavalier too. Get custom comfortable seats and you are good to go then . You dont even need an AC - just blast the stereo , get a portable fan and a portable heater and you should be good to go then !! What more do you need ??
Ok stop being a d##khead of course we need AC wtf is wrong with you?
Okay, I may be new to the game but I see way too many people and reviewers complaining about the interior on certain cars. People seem more concerned about that than what is actually under the hood. I just cant understand it. I can drive a car and not ever give a crap about how "cheap" the interior is. Just give me good seats and a good feeling steering wheel.
Let me know what deal is.
I guess people dont know what I mean by INTERIOR. Im not talking about an AC, Steering, or radios or navis. Im just talking about materials used. Maybe I should have made that clear. Cant believe some fool singled out an AC as if that shouldnt be standard. What happened to common sense. All im talking about it materials ok???????
Ok stop being a d##khead of course we need AC wtf is wrong with you?
Chill, dude...
When I was an avid poster on the VW Vortex, I remember a lot of guys complaining about how much they hated the then-current Mk4 GTI's and Jettas, because they were big, heavy, had nice interiors, and were less hardcore than the older Mk1's and 2's. A local kid a few years younger than me with a mk2 GTI with a DOHC 1.8 16v got into it with me about how dumb I was an knew nothing about cars, and one of his big points of contention was that modern cars' leather, power-assisted, high-rent interiors detracted from the experience and made you a worse driver. We agreed to meet up and race from one point on Mulholland to another, with some other forum guys in attendance. My then-stock 2000 Jetta VR6 totally stomped his much-more-hardcore '91 GTI, badly, on a technical course. Some of that is because I'm a really good driver, and a lot of that was just because I was driving a superior machine.
A lot of the time, those creaks and rattles that people say they "don't care about" are because of chassis flex that makes your car handle worse, especially at the limit, where hitting a bump on one corner can adversely affect the opposite corner and totally throw you for a loop. I've got TONS of seat time in a variety of different cars, from econoboxes to luxury sedans to hardcore sports cars, and when I get in a car that has a shoddy, afterthought interior, it says to me that the designers didn't care about the aesthetics of the car enough to complete the package or experience... or that the car has just been beat to hell with improper maintenance.
When I was an avid poster on the VW Vortex, I remember a lot of guys complaining about how much they hated the then-current Mk4 GTI's and Jettas, because they were big, heavy, had nice interiors, and were less hardcore than the older Mk1's and 2's. A local kid a few years younger than me with a mk2 GTI with a DOHC 1.8 16v got into it with me about how dumb I was an knew nothing about cars, and one of his big points of contention was that modern cars' leather, power-assisted, high-rent interiors detracted from the experience and made you a worse driver. We agreed to meet up and race from one point on Mulholland to another, with some other forum guys in attendance. My then-stock 2000 Jetta VR6 totally stomped his much-more-hardcore '91 GTI, badly, on a technical course. Some of that is because I'm a really good driver, and a lot of that was just because I was driving a superior machine.
A lot of the time, those creaks and rattles that people say they "don't care about" are because of chassis flex that makes your car handle worse, especially at the limit, where hitting a bump on one corner can adversely affect the opposite corner and totally throw you for a loop. I've got TONS of seat time in a variety of different cars, from econoboxes to luxury sedans to hardcore sports cars, and when I get in a car that has a shoddy, afterthought interior, it says to me that the designers didn't care about the aesthetics of the car enough to complete the package or experience... or that the car has just been beat to hell with improper maintenance.
Sounds reasonable. I respect that, cool story. But you have to understand why that dude pissed me off for a sec. Dude acts like AC's shouldnt be standard like who would suggest that I dont care for an ac? lol come on now.
Sounds reasonable. I respect that, cool story. But you have to understand why that dude pissed me off for a sec. Dude acts like AC's shouldnt be standard like who would suggest that I dont care for an ac? lol come on now.
Probably because AC hasn't been a necessity on cars sold in the northern part of the US. Likewise with heated seats in the southern US. Any 'comfortable' vehicle should have both AC and seat heaters unless it's only going to be used in one place forever.
Okay, I may be new to the game but I see way too many people and reviewers complaining about the interior on certain cars. People seem more concerned about that than what is actually under the hood. I just cant understand it. I can drive a car and not ever give a crap about how "cheap" the interior is. Just give me good seats and a good feeling steering wheel.
Let me know what deal is.
The deal is, the interior is the part of the car you actually spend your time in. And I've spent enough time inside cars that look and feel like they were a collaboration between Tupperware, Fisher Price, and a college-town furniture consignment shop to know I don't want to spend any more time in such cars any more.
Odd question from someone whose screen name is "AstonMartinNY."
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