Top Gear: Why American’s Build Bad Cars

omarrana submitted on 01/11/2007 Official AutoSpies Timestamp: 4:33 PM
from: www.egmcartech.com

Tags: Top Gear, GM, Ford

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Top Gear: Why American’s Build Bad Cars

Here is a Top Gear episode where Jeremy Clarkson disses American cars and says that we use dispose cars as we dispose razors. Do we agree with him? Of course, we do. Most American car interiors are built of cheap plastic and of course than you have the handling which, to Americans, is all about under-steer! Hopefully, Jeremy gets through to American manufacturers. Read Article

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bmwdrvr - 1/11/2007 5:12:51 PM

-2 Boost

thats a bogus ignorrant sterotype, first all american cars dont drive alike, and two under steer, why dont you read some mags reviews of japanese sedans, nissan/infiniti are just starting to fix its quality issues, just like cadillac is so whats the point......people take this car stuff to seriously as a way to attack countries, their just cars, different cars at that, pathetic story

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Rupert - 1/11/2007 6:11:07 PMView My AgentSpace

+4 Boost

american cars, in general, suck.
recently they have got better, but still lag behind europe and japan. would you honestly say a cadillac STS is as good as an a6, 5 series, e class or gs?
the main problems of course are the ones we all know: cheap interiors, soggy handling, and questionable looks, with inefficient engines and lazy 4 speed automatics.
but since gm is putting 6 speed autos in lots of cars (but why not the tahoe!), cadillac interiors have got a lot better and many cars are now looking good, things are getting better.
but the inefficient engines are still everywhere. i'm not saying europe or japan doesn't have inefficient engines but the american market doesn't take too well to small engined cars. and the only american sports car is still the corvette. the rest are squishy beanbags. you know suspension settings are changed for almost every car sold in the US and europe? does the cts have a noted hard ride in the states? sure does here. but think, what you class as a firm ride, here is even firmer!

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S4cabriofoxone - 1/14/2007 10:16:35 AMView My AgentSpace

+1 Boost

I know, the inefficient engines are depressing. But, you must admit- there's no replacement for displacement, and Mercedes plays up on that philosophy about as much as GM does. I mean, a 6.2 liter V8 when both competitors have 5.0/5.2 liter V10s??? A 5.5 liter V8 in its supposedly "normal" non-AMG version, when the RS4 makes more power out of a 4.2? I'm not complaining about the 3.5L V6- though it needs more power to keep up, as does Audi's 3.2.

In GM news, the Corvette Z06 needs a 7.0L V8 to make only 500hp; with that size, it should have at least 600hp. Although, it's still a sweet car. But, the Porsche 911 Turbo puts it to shame, making 20 less horsepower from 3.6L!

There are plenty of other American cars just like this.

But, when the only thing we can complain about in Cadillacs is their big engines (and their Northstar V8 is not big), then they've come a long way.

Magjuan - 1/11/2007 6:45:53 PM

+2 Boost

Yes, quality is often cited as a department domestic autos have a problem with. My question is why on earth do 'most' American cars have to look so damn...ummm....unpleasant. You first have to attract buyers to your product before they can even discover that it might be a piece of junk. We can't even seem to tackle the first step.

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Designer1 - 1/11/2007 7:52:07 PM

+3 Boost

100% true and SAD!! Why our cars are among the worst? I'll tell you why, because the junk 3 DISS the Americans and rip them off and don't pay the damn about us, they make their money and screw us all, that's why. To me they're nothing but theifs that have destoryed the American car image for their personal benefit. So TopGear is 100% right about it, so don't get offended but make the junk 3 to FIX their problems.

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Sauceboy01 - 1/11/2007 8:11:59 PM

+4 Boost

i support Jeremey on this matter 100%. I could go on and on about this, but i'm just so sick of this topic. In addition, nothing ever changes.

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Neverfollow - 1/11/2007 8:12:07 PM

+8 Boost

Oh here we go. Let's go and make this political.

As a purveyer of fine German automobiles myself and extensive experience with both Asian and Domestic makes, here is my take on all of this:

If America's top engineers where not dreaming up the next smart bomb and working in the auto industry, things might be different. Apologies to all domestic auto engineers currently in the industry. I don't say this to diss any of you. Domestic engineers take the budgets they are given and do the best they can with what they have to work with. Having said that, if the US were more like Germany, the nation would be spending a whole lot less on national defense, and the industry would be spending a whole lot less on insurance and retirement benifits for it's workers. A college education would be a whole lot easier to get and pay for but at the same time, we'd be paying a whole lot more in taxes. In other words, we'd be living in a socialist state.

If we were more like Japan, we'd have all new industries and factories paid for by some other country. Then we'd all start off with some really cheap labor so we could make amazing amounts of money for several years. We could then educate our brightest people in the country at the finest Universities throughout the world, bring them back full of nationalistic pride in getting to be a key player in rebuilding our nation's economy. With this mindset, we'd seek out our best customers and build cars specifically for the masses, right up the middle of the bell curve. This last part is exactly what both domestic and Asian manfacturers are doing. Nothing wrong with that from a business perspective.

As in any other country, a German engineer has to take into account how the vehicle will be used by it's primary customers. Last I checked, that's still the European market. Conditions exist there that do not exist in other parts of the world. Yes they have autobahns, but it goes much further than that. They have historic districts paved with cobble stone streets that are 500+ years old. Historic buildings that they aren't willing to tear down for the sake of a parking garage or the widening of a street. European cars must therefore be built to handle the constant exposure to these environments as well. What we Americans would barely consider a sidewalk, is still considered a street in Europe. Parking is a nightmare in many areas. Parallel parking is the norm, not the exception. Steering systems have to be capable of very tight turning circles as a result. I could go on and on.

When was the last time you drove on a 500+ year old street of any kind in the US? When was the last time you could blast from town to town at unlimited speeds without worring about law enforcement or some idiot pulling out in front of you? When was the last time you saw an interstate highway in good enough condition to do those kinds of speeds to begin with? How much of this country is covered in mountains? Is al

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Talli - 1/11/2007 8:21:10 PM

+4 Boost

100% true but there is a reason. I too hated american cars but now I know why they suck. The reason is simply that american cars are not targeted towards the rich thats why they have low prices and thats why they are filled with cheap stuff. I can only think of the cadillac sts as the most expensive american sedan. Now that costs around $60k. Now where does the most expensive european car costs what?? +$300k. Hope u guys understand.
ps. by car I don't mean exotic, a four door production car.

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Talli - 1/11/2007 8:23:29 PM

+1 Boost

sorry for the sentence errors :(. Was't concentrating.
*Now what does the most expensive european car cost??

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EL34 - 1/11/2007 9:03:54 PM

+2 Boost

Jeremy sure does like to run America down as being too civilized, but that's not always the case, because when I visted England and went to see Stonehenge I must confess I did get a little crazy and I chipped a 1 inch by 3 inch piece of stone off one of the blocks.

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A4ORCE - 1/11/2007 9:04:54 PM

+4 Boost

I'm always behind Clarkson and Top Gear since we seem to have similar taste in cars, but playing devil's advocate, all those negative statements are coming from someone whose country couldn't make a car that didn't break down. Rover, Jags, Astons, Minis... Furthermore, how many British cars do we have now? They're all owned by Ford, BMW, some Russian (TVR), Chinese, and Malaysians. It's like he has to talk about us since there's nothing to talk about in his domestic market.

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Rupert - 1/12/2007 9:15:35 AMView My AgentSpace

+2 Boost

thing is, we know that britain doesn't have a car industry. we don't try to make a big deal about it like they do in america.

S4cabriofoxone - 1/14/2007 10:24:09 AMView My AgentSpace

+1 Boost

And VW, lol. (Bugatti and Bentley)

True, Rupert. True!

Except, there's a chance that American cars might make a comebackin their home market. Saturn and Cadillac seem to be the light at the end of the tunnel, at least for GM.

And, the British don't make "bad" cars. The Range Rover, XJ/XK, Mini Cooper, R-Rs and Bentleys, all of them-or most of them-are beautiful, but they're just terribly unreliable.

It's kind of the opposite for American cars. They're very reliable, but most of them aren't "beautiful".

kart1 - 1/11/2007 10:25:52 PM

+3 Boost

Until the big 3 start to build better cars this type of comments will keep emerging, in this situation talking will not help the big 3 need to show that they are up to the task to show that they are good as well.

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Matthew1 - 1/11/2007 11:47:36 PM

0 Boost

A4ORCE,

His comments may seem rich considering what you have just mentioned -but they still ring true.

And he does conveniently put himself in the European camp, rather than the British one.

However, if you quiz him on it, he would most likely point to the fact that Britain has a very high number of skilled engineers, some of which are responsible for America's only good cars -including the Ford GT.

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AmazingBimmer - 1/12/2007 12:04:46 AM

+2 Boost

we do build the worst cars.. whcih car woudl any of you own in any segment?. the malibu? the 500? the corvette? crap cars with old engine designs, cheap interiors and cut rate engineering.

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A4ORCE - 1/12/2007 4:11:47 AM

+1 Boost

As far as the Malibu or 500, no real argument there, but with the Corvette, you've got a lightweight, reliable and compact engine that can pretty much overpower most engines out there and can put out a lot of power with minimal bolt ons for minimal cost, all while being able to get realistic MPG figures in the 20s for a rather low engine cost.

Also, if you watched the Top Gear episode with the C6, Clarkson totally dogs the Vette about the leaf springs it has, but guess what? It handles great and there's no mention of it handling horribly.

So, the conclusion is if you have two products that perform equally, why use something that's more costly? Despite some (er... a lot of) cheap materials used to build the car, there's no denying that it's got great bang for the buck.

There's a lot of great engines out there and the GM small block is one of them. Just because it's old, doesn't mean it's bad, right?

99gs400 - 1/12/2007 10:15:14 AM

+2 Boost

Saleen S7 twin turbo is the only american car i will consider buying. NOTHING ELSE !!!!!

ElSparquito - 1/12/2007 9:04:12 AM

+1 Boost

GM is building better cars - or is at least making headway towards building much better cars. Ford is still building lame cars (minus the Mustang & Fusion) & all still with crappy interiors. Chrysler, well, I guess it's all about the Hemi and straightline performance & crappy interiors. I would like to own a domestic car one day, but not yet.

As far as British cars - A4orce - you're right. Lotus Elise and Exige are fairly reliable though - maybe it's because they're powered by Toyota.

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Rupert - 1/12/2007 9:18:07 AMView My AgentSpace

+1 Boost

we make a lot of specialist cars in britain - like morgans, ariel atoms, ascari, mclaren (well it was), etc.
we're rubbish at mainstream cars. wait, this is a heck of a lot like america...

AmazingBimmer - 1/12/2007 9:21:07 AM

+1 Boost

A4... the corvette is not a match to the m3, M6, M5, RS4, RS6, or just about AMG Product. The german cars charge 10-20K more, but are still so much more desireable. f its bang for the buck you are looking for, the new m3, beats the Fisher Price Corvette anyday. Plus you dont look like a bald, middle aged, loser driving a red corvette as a surrogate for a midlife crisis. I hate american cars and the lack of ingenuity they stand for.

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paul3230 - 1/12/2007 11:09:25 AM

+1 Boost

First of all, I don't consider the M3 to be in the same class a corvette. It's more like the 911...and bang for the buck, the Z06 spanks anything out there that costs almost twice as much as it does.

Heyhuub - 1/12/2007 12:51:36 PM

+2 Boost

The TVR Sagaris beats the Z06 at bang for the buck.

Rupert - 1/12/2007 5:50:52 PMView My AgentSpace

+1 Boost

it does at european prices, the corvette in the UK is 80000-100000 dollars.

A4ORCE - 1/12/2007 11:25:45 PM

+2 Boost

Your not liking the Vette or anything American is up to you. But that said, mind explaining how it's not a match to the M3 in performance? Here's some lap Nurburgring times that you can take a look at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordschleife_fastest_lap_times And Top Gear's power lap times: http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/powerlaps.shtml And last I saw, the Vette does pretty well in Le Mans. Also C6 costs around $43k. So there are some numbers for you. BTW, all of this is for bone stock Vettes. Once you start tinkering with that small block, there's no telling how much power you can extract.

I can already feel this turning into some kind of domestic vs. import war, but before I'm labeled as some sort of Chevy fan as I'm sure you already have, please note that I am a fan of performance... It's not your taste I have anything against, just your statements about performance without backup, and maybe even your failure to acknowledge that the Vette, no matter how hideous, is a performance bargain.

Last few things... As you mentioned, yes, the Bimmers do cost a lot more. And there's no denying the fact that the Vette's got plastic inside that belong on kids' toys, but also look at things like price, target market, etc. It's not for everybody. The Ms are really nice (I just wish they didn't weigh so much), but as far as performance goes, it hasn't really beaten the Vette. Oh, and it's kind of hard to make a statement about the new M3 when it's not even out, no?

Heyhuub, it's a bummer we can't get TVRs in the states. I've had days when I looked through British classifieds for those... Even more of a bummer that the company's got a good chance to just die.

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AmazingBimmer - 1/13/2007 10:35:26 AM

+2 Boost

Quick Poll: in your driveway.. upcomming M3(54K) or stock corvette ($45K)?

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BMWMPower - 1/14/2007 5:56:35 AM

+1 Boost

Lol, i think my name says it all ;)

BMWMPower - 1/14/2007 5:56:04 AM

+1 Boost

Yes american cars are crap, but god was the lexus rant really necessary?

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Rupert - 1/14/2007 7:03:18 AMView My AgentSpace

+2 Boost

yes, you're not crazy....
take some pills.

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MattMan - 1/23/2007 5:10:44 PM

+1 Boost

Well, I must say that Jeremy Clarkson is quite bias to begin with. I don't know what American flipped him off while here in the states, but he certainly has his issues with the country as a whole. Even more so, he has MAJOR issues with the America politically. I don't really think you should listen to a man who has way too many opinions about a country that go beyond just cars. So as a car critic, he does most of it for the shock factor. Even if you ask most Brits what they think of Jeremy, most will say, "he's barking mad most of the time". Mind you I'm a huge fan of Top Gear, and think we something close to it here in the states, that doesn't focus on cars doing 0-60, but how they handle as well.
As for the guts of this report of his, Americans have built bad cars. The 80's and 90's in general were bad years for cars, which is where Japan made up all of it's ground on the US market. Citations, Pintos, Taurus, Tempo, Intrepid, Stratus and I could go on and on. However, as for Trucks, no one makes them better. Look at Toyota and Nissan, they all make trucks here in America and let Americans design them. I don't know if people have noticed, but the US is making better cars. The new Chrysler platform is a VERY good!! Charger, 300, and Magnum are very good cars for the price and handle much better than any of the previous Intrepids or 300M's. Besides, Jeremy's supercar is a Ford GT. Yes, the GT has had a hand from A LOT of countries, but I don't car what you say, it's very high majority of work came out of the States. Bottom line, don't get too worked up about a guy who owns a car from a country he claims to hate.

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