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4 bangers regardless of make are inherently out of balance. Hence why almost all of them use balance shafts. Over time they wear heavily on the motor mounts that are there to absorb the vibration. Switch out the hydraulic mounts for solid mounts in a 4 banger and you can feel the car vibrate, especially at idle. This isn't a Japanese thing, a European thing or an American thing...it's a 4 cylinder thing.
V6's are better, but still have the same issue as most of them don't have balance shafts. V8's (or more) are inherently balanced and hence far easier on motor mounts.
As for not needing alignments...ever, well that really comes down to how long you keep the cars, where you drive and even the car itself. I've had cars that needed alignments quite often and others that rarely needed them. I've even had a couple that I never had aligned. Definitely not the norm, but as the car ages and bushings start to fail and loosen up, it certainly becomes more necessary.
Engine mount failure is definitely a problem with 4 cyl engines. I've replaced a ton of Camry mounts over the years. But I've also replaced about as many Taurus and Windstar V6 mounts. All were hydraulic and all were leaking.
As for your alignment habits, how do you know you've never needed an alignment without actually having it aligned?
Re: alignments. None of my vehicles have uneven tire wear and my vehicles track straight.
Set aside all the other stuff and ask yourself if Toyota or Honda could build something that stands out other than the Supra which is no longer available? Let's face it that their designs are about as boring as watching paint dry! I'm sure these new mugs will be "tight" in 50 years!LMAO......
Last edited by 2RUGGED4YOU; 05-18-2010 at 05:42 PM..
Set aside all the other stuff and ask yourself if Toyota or Honda could build something that stands out other than the Supra which is no longer available? Let's face it that their designs are about as boring as watching paint dry! I'm sure these new mugs will be "tight" in 50 years!LMAO......
I agree with you in 99.9% of cases. The only Japanese car which looked exciting ever, was the former Acura NSX (Yes that's my opinion,I know styling is subjective etc, but many sports cars enthusiasts feel the same way). While a nice car, I wanted an exotic that was more wild.
Americans and Germans build a mix of some boring cars and some exciting cars. Most British cars have attractive styling and can be quite fun to drive (think Lotus/Jaguar/Bentley/Aston). Almost everything out of Italy does (Ferrari/Maserati/Lamborghini). The Japanese, well, they build appliances - not exciting cars.
I agree with you in 99.9% of cases. The only Japanese car which looked exciting ever, was the former Acura NSX (Yes that's my opinion,I know styling is subjective etc, but many sports cars enthusiasts feel the same way). While a nice car, I wanted an exotic that was more wild.
Americans and Germans build a mix of some boring cars and some exciting cars. Most British cars have attractive styling and can be quite fun to drive (think Lotus/Jaguar/Bentley/Aston). Almost everything out of Italy does (Ferrari/Maserati/Lamborghini). The Japanese, well, they build appliances - not exciting cars.
The Japanese have a small handful of exciting cars IMO
NISSAN/INFINITI
300zx
350z
370z
2009-Present Maxima
2002-Present V6 Altima, and 05-05 SE-R
GT-R
Skyline R33 and R34 (I never liked the R32)
2000-Present Sentra SE-R
G35, G37
TOYOTA/LEXUS
2007-Present V6 Camry SE, XLE
Supra
Corolla XRS
Lexus LFA
HONDA/ACURA
V6 Accord Coupe (2008-Present)
Acura NSX
Acura RSX
Civic Si Coupe
MITSUBISHI
Any Lancer Evo
Eclipse
SUBARU
Impreza WRX
HYUNDAI (Korean I know)
Tiburon
Genesis
It seems to me the only Asian automaker that really makes a good number of exciting cars is Nissan. Thanks Carlos Ghosn!
bangers regardless of make are inherently out of balance. Hence why almost all of them use balance shafts. Over time they wear heavily on the motor mounts that are there to absorb the vibration. Switch out the hydraulic mounts for solid mounts in a 4 banger and you can feel the car vibrate, especially at idle. This isn't a Japanese thing, a European thing or an American thing...it's a 4 cylinder thing....................that is so trueJapan was smart enough to install the gel filled motor mounts on the Lexus to help with the problem when they introduced the LS400....very impressive back then
Set aside all the other stuff and ask yourself if Toyota or Honda could build something that stands out other than the Supra which is no longer available? Let's face it that their designs are about as boring as watching paint dry! I'm sure these new mugs will be "tight" in 50 years!LMAO......
Many Japanese cars have been relatively uninteresting. But please don't tell me that there haven't been complete hoards of boring Amercan cars over the last few decades.
How about:
All GM small cars - even Saturn with it interesting plastic body panels produced ugly cars with terrible engines. Has GM ever made a good small car? Has Chrysler/Dodge?
Pontiac is the excitement division and what happened to them? Plastic cladding makes them exciting? The TransAm has been a ugly dog for twenty years.
What about complete dogs like the Impala, Lumina, GrandAm, Sunfire, Windstar, Aerostar, Transport, Aztek, Commander, Caliber, Tempo, Mustang II, Neon, and fifty more? Are these memorable? Only for their crappiness.
Besides the Corvette and Ford GT, what American performance car is world class?
Until the recent re-start of Cadillac, why have all American luxury cars been just better equipped Buicks and Fords?
Jeep stands out as being unique.
Memorable Japanese cars:
Datsun 240Z
Mazda RX2 through RX8
Toyota Supra (although more popular as a tuner car)
Mazda Miata
Nissan Z
Acura Legend (original)
Acura NSX
Acura Integra (various models)
Subaru WRX and STI
Subaru Outback
Mitsu Evo
Mitsu 3000GT
Toyota MR2
Toyota FJ
Nissan Xterra
Toyota may be the most guilty of boring cars. But if you're gonna make a boring car, make it reliable. Which they have done a good job of for a long time. All those boring American vehicles I listed above unfortunately didn't do anything well. The majority of American buyers seem to prefer solid cars that don't break over exciting but unreliable.
Set aside all the other stuff and ask yourself if Toyota or Honda could build something that stands out other than the Supra which is no longer available? Let's face it that their designs are about as boring as watching paint dry! I'm sure these new mugs will be "tight" in 50 years!LMAO......
I think American manufacturers understand that a solid portion of Americans still want affordable vehicles with powerful engines, that are wide and stable on the highway, with rear wheel drive. Japanese and Euros tend to offer these qualities only in luxury vehicles.
Toyota may be the most guilty of boring cars. But if you're gonna make a boring car, make it reliable. Which they have done a good job of for a long time. All those boring American vehicles I listed above unfortunately didn't do anything well. The majority of American buyers seem to prefer solid cars that don't break over exciting but unreliable.
There is a HUGE market for boring cars that are very reliable and are durable. Unfortunately, Toyota has pretty much cornered the market.
I do disagree with you on the Chevrolet Impala. That car does not belong on the list as it is both reliable and durable.
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Japan was smart enough to install the gel filled motor mounts on the Lexus to help with the problem when they introduced the LS400....very impressive back then
