| Alby_da_Wolf said: I was envying Americans for getting Volkswagens so cheaper than here, but now I understand, the ones they sell here are rock solid and high quality, except that crappy Fox, built in Brazil, that has also jurassic engines that drink more fuel than far bigger and faster VW models. About Chevrolets, Corvette and Camaro are the only ones I'd ever buy, and I don't like GM's in general, Opel too heavily disappointed me when it lost its legendary reliability (my maternal grandpa's 1973, model year 1966, Kadett still works, despite having been used on bad country roads in the last 23 years, we don't use it anymore only because we can't find anymore shoes for its drum brakes). About important factors, for me build quality is important regarding mechanics, less regarding body and interiors (as long as equipment isn't faulty and body doesn't get pierced by rust. I drove my dad's old Fiat Uno Diesel many years ago, they left the engine supports unchanged, the same as those for the far lighter gasoline engine, so after suffering country roads and all the holes and bumps in my town's roads for 70000km, the engine fell to the ground three times before we eventually changed the car, but the engine never suffered, apart some lube and cooling pipes torn. So my list for a fun car, also considering that driving a 911long enough I could learn it enough to fully enjoy it, could be: 1) almost equally at the first place: Mechanics, Electrics and Electronics Build Quality, Lightness, Power/Weight Ratio, Driving Position 2) RWD (not amongst the first features as there ARE also fun FWD cars), Engine Layout (but in a forward engine, RWD, having the engine forward-central, like in BMW's, forward engine Ferrari's, Viper the Corvette is very important and beneficial both for traction and handling) and Body and Interiors Quality 3) Appearance (but there are some cars ugly, for my tastes, beyond my toleration, like VW Fox) 4) last, far behind, I'd say not even considered: Exclusivity, I really don't care about it, it's for insecure people that won't ever really be happy of what they have even if they become rich. Final note: I'd like an extended authonomy electric car made this way, a generator run by a small, light twin cyl high efficiency diesel engine, batteries with enough capacity for short range trips at most a few tens km, but not too heavy, and four independent electric motors, one per wheel, making possible traction and stability control and torque vectoring without using the brakes, so avoiding their unnecessary wear, leaving them at maximum efficiency whenever needed and even recovering energy, instead of wasting it. |
Is driving position more important then build quality? Where does power go in?
Without power a car with a good engine position and RWD platform, or an engine munted close to the axel mean nothing. I hate driving old low end BMW's for this reason. They are fun car to own if you are low on cash, but I'd rather have a more powerful FWD Japanese car for the price.
Build quality of the mechnics I agree is the most important. This is something american engineers don't understand. I want a car I know I can push and has an engine and chasis that can take what I trow at it. Corvettes use leaf spring suspensions, the same as trucks, and most North American muscle/sports cars are based off truck platforms. They drive like shit at low speed, and the fall apart fast (not just rust, but suspensions loose stiffness, engines leak and loose pressure).
This is why I like German and Japanese cars.
Final Note: I also think about electric cars a lot, and I find it a shame that GM makes the only pure electric, gas range extension car. I agree they should use a more efficient deisel engine, it makes no sense how a plug in prius is still able to get 70mpg after it's 20km electric range, but a Volt can only get 35mpg after 60km on pure electric.
I read a lot about electric cars, but do you know any non volt electric w/ gas extension cars? Gotta reccomend one to the old man, and right now it looks like he is waiting for a plug in version of the Lexus CSH (The Lexus branded Prius, trust me you need the improved interior). The Volt is GM, and garbage, the range is only optimal at trips under 100km, and overall the car is not viable (not with GM reliability). I know BMW and Audi are working on pure electric small cars, and BMW has a few concepts (that Vision Concept which is 3.8L/100km, and hyrdrogen cars).
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