Poll: OK, American Muscle or Japanese Sophistication?

[3615buck]

NOX, we don't use gallons in Europe, we use liters.
One liter costs exactly one dollar and that hurts !

How much liters is a gallon ?

How much does gas cost in the US ?

 

[Zucchini]

In california where i live gas costs ~1.90 for regular.
1 gallon = 3.785 liters so your gas is still more wahahah!

 

[kyutip]

I'll take Japanese car anytime. They are cuter in design and easier to handle

 

[DABANSHEE]

The best balance between the 2 are Australian Sports Sedans like the 225KW (310BHP or 350 HP SAE) 5.7lt (350ci) LS1 all alloy V8 powered Holden SS or Ford Falcon XR6 (VCT OHC 4LT straight 6) or XR8 (5LT Windsor V8). Here's a pic of a Falcon XR8 setup for production touring car racing (actually probably 'Group A' by the look of the front 'n rear spoilers), from the Tickford website (Tickford did the development & engineering of the drivetrain & suspension/steering mods for Ford)

Plus unlike American cars, that are virtaully all now FWD, the Australian sedans are RWD & also handle (I remember when a British car magazine was reviewing an Aussie car & he said that the good thing about them was that they had bullet proof American style Drive trains with European style chassis dynamics) - the Holden has a MacPherson Strut front-end with the best varible rate power rack 'n pinion system in the world & a semi-trailing arm IRS rear-end & a Getrag 6 speed gearbox (similar to what's fitted to M class BMWs). While the Falcon has twin wisbone Independent setup both front 'n rear & also has the same type of variable rate Rack 'n pinion steering (unlike most variable rate systems which vary the asistence depending on how far from off-centre the steering is, the Aussie system varies the rate depending on the speed of the car - UK 'CAR' said in a reveiw that the Aussie Holdens & Falcons steer better than BMW M3s) & comes with a Borg-Warner heavy duty 5 speed 'Toprail' (T5?) gearbox. .

Also there are pickup versions of both the Holden SS & Falcon XR6 & XR8. They are the same as the sedans from the 'B' pillar forward, but have a longer wheelbase. There's a Pic of a XR8 Pickup on this webpage. Oh, & they all cost arround only US$25000.

 

[Passions]

silvia is such a sexy name for a car!!!

 

[MC]

yeah silvia rulez

 

[3615buck]

Aaaaarrrggggghhhh Zucchini, that means gas is twice as expensive here !
Do you understand why we prefer smaller engines here ?

 

[Sunner]

In that price range, Japaneese anyday.
Sorry to say, but all American cars cept for a few are so butt ugly :disgust:.

The Vipers and more recent Corvettes are all cool though.

My dream cars would be a Viper Venom 650 for its sheer brutality, and a Porsche 911 GT3 for its beatiful style.

But a 360 Modena wouldnt be all wrong either

 

[nickdakick]

Hehehe Buck you're right, that's exactly why I like my 180 HP Civic AeroDeck so much. 9 l/100 km isn't that bad for a car with that HP.

 

[nickdakick]

<< Let's leave the Germans out of here >>


Ahem, I hope I'm allowed to post though NFS ?

 

[Sunner]

The Saab 9-3 that Im used to driving(Its my dad's though, wish I could afford one) has 205 hp and draws like in between 0.6-0.9 depending on how you drive

And thinking of Saab, does anyone know anything about the new Variable Compression engines they're developing?
Supposedly, they reduce thirst(the engine's thirst that is) by quite a bit, while at the same time increasing power by a very significant marigin.

 

[Teatowel]

No-one around here fancy the Lotus Esprit Turbo or the TVR Speed 12? TVR not have enough muscle?

 

[Sunner]

The Speed 12 is certainly muscular to say the least but it looks so friggin' wierd

 

[PCAddict]

American all the way. I'll take a Mustang for $20K and spend some $$ on upgrades such as a blower, and improved suspension components.

 

[StageLeft]

Oh man, tight poll results! I said japanesse because thats more likely to be my next car (I want a slightly used maxima). However, I'll be honest - if I didn't have a &quot;wife&quot; who doesn't care much for domestics I think I'd find myself test driving a mustang. Their quality sucks but really now...so much power for so little money!

Of course there is much more to a car than straight-out power, but look at the new muscle cars. For not much over $20k brand new you can have a V8 that is doing 0-60 in 5-5.5 seconds flat. No japanesse car does that for such a low price. You can buy a Type-R and give it some mods but by the time its doing that sort of 0-60 the same money put on mods into your V8 you'll be doing well under 5 We all know these vehicles are not so refined, and that is the reason why people go with japanesse quite often.

 

[Doggiedog]

Another reason why people go Japanese is because they hate looking at the cheap plastic dashboards and non-ergonomic design (though Chrysler is ok) on American cars and having to take the car into the shop because the power window doesn't open on the passenger side.

Lexus GS300@225 HP
BMW 325is@178HP

Coming soon:
BMW M3@333HP

 

[Demon-Xanth]

&quot;Balls. There, we said it&quot; --Car and Driver

 

[Zucchini]

Buck,

Thats not the worst of it It seems we in california pay more for our gas then the rest of the country... so the real difference is greater

 

[HoopDogg]

viper gts knows where it's at
american muscle = crap
mass displacement for minimal horsepower (viper? 8L, 400hp!! porsche 4L, 495HP)

oriental? very efficient! but, not classy enough (excluding the new maxima, and the 3.5 RL)

gotta be eurpoean! 355, 360, diablo, super diablo (new for 2001, please check it out)
anything european

bmw alpina, whatever
m5
s600
ooooooooooo I'm getting all hot!!

 

[SuperGroove]

hoopdogg,

Please be considerate, use Politically correct terms. Not Oriental. ASIAN is what we're looking for. As for American cars being sucky...

Ignoramus!! I use that word a lot

Corvette ZO6. Nuff said. Even someone as biased(j/k...you Bavarian brown noser you!) as NFS4 will tell you that the ZO6 is far from american crap. Won't he?

Paul

 

[Doggiedog]

Name me some other Super American cars.

Umm..hmmm..Iroc Z? Monte Carlo? Maybe Plymoth Prowler? Not!!!

Don't just focus on the Corvette. I think what we're discussing is in general terms.

American cars just plain suck.

 

[urbantechie]

BMW M5, nuff' said .

 

[burnedout]

For price, reliability; definitely Japanese for a daily driver.

On the other hand, for thrills and G-Forces, gotta stick with American Iron.

 

[LAUST]

&quot;American all the way. I'll take a Mustang for $20K and spend some $$ on upgrades such as a blower, and improved suspension components&quot;

Heck yea thats what &quot;American Muscle&quot; is ALL about, we can get a Vortec 7lb Blower for $2200. A hair dryer for a Import.... about twice as much after you get all the exhaust work in.

I buy American Trucks and Cars for POWER
I buy Japanese and German for Economy, long term commuter car.

My truck 460HP 550lbs Torque 17Mpg $4500 in mods Blower, Exhaust, intake, and some small upgrades
My Civic WEAK somewhere around 40Mpg

NFS4.... Actually a Corvette and Viper are known as &quot;American Muscle&quot;, If your referring to a &quot;Muscle Car&quot; (Charger, Cuda, Roadrunner, Dart, GTO)then that is different, there are none of those left in production anymore. The Mustang is not known as a &quot;Muscle Car&quot; either it is known as a &quot;Pony&quot; car. But in today's world known as an &quot;American Muscle&quot; car.

 

[vi edit]

If you are a limited budget, and want speed, comfort, options, saftey, and semi-decent reliablilty, it's hard to pass up good old american steel.

A little over a year ago I bought a '97 Monte Carlo Z34 w/ 11,000 miles on it for around 15,000.

My car decks in just a hair under 3800 pounds with a full tank of gas and me in it. It'll do 0-60 in around 7.5 seconds. I can cruise 90 MPH on the interstate with 2.5 on the tach. I get about 30 miles per gallon at this speed. All of this on 87 octane. Not to mention that I doubt any Japanese cars will take a head on collision as well as this beast. I can comfortably fit 4 grown adults in there with enough room for 3 dead bodies and a couple suitcases in the trunk.

It's no canyon carver, but how often in daily driving do you REALLY drive in the twisties?

When I was shopping around, the only Japanese cars that I could find in this price range with equivalent options/performance/size were 4 year old Maximas w/ a lot miles, some unspirited Camrys, a cramped accord, and a rinky dink civic.

No thanks.