The State of The Car

[henk4]

I don't know if that is a common theme with French cars, but I guess the German think so....

you just said it....

[pimento]

The various Volvo 850s I've driven have had good brakes, good suspension, good visibility, good high speed stability/ride and good radios, so it's not just the germans.

[Ferrer]

The various Volvo 850s I've driven have had good brakes, good suspension, good visibility, good high speed stability/ride and good radios, so it's not just the germans.

The Mini has an average radio, a sat nav system that's not simple, impossible suspension and there is pretty much no space in the back at all. However everything that's related to driving is top notch.

I also remember the Renault Scènic Mk 1 we had ages ago. Again, a nice place to be. But if you wanted to test the laws of physics not the car to be in. and something similar can be said for the Hyundai. Despite the entertaining handling, I must admit.

[NSXType-R]

Just curious- why can the Hyundai Accent reach 40 mpg highway while the Fiat 500 only gets 32 mpg highway?

These are EPA figures of course, but the price of both cars is approximately the same, but the Hyundai seems to be the better buy, just on the fact that the Hyundai is a bigger car.

Forget about driving dynamics, I'm looking at it from an appliance standpoint.

[Ferrer]

Another thing in favour of german cars, as far as driving is concerned, is that they don't seem to have suffered from the supersizing trend as much as other cars.

[f6fhellcat13]

Also, this has nothing to do with the thread topic.

Yes, please. Can we keep this thread to the hardware, not the software behind the wheel?

Another thing in favour of german cars, as far as driving is concerned, is that they don't seem to have suffered from the supersizing trend as much as other cars.

Are you saying that they are still as engaging to drive or that they haven't grown as much as others?
I haven't driven a contemporary German car, but they certainly have grown in weight ad size. I would say that they are a more pure drive because everyone is trying to build a German car, however the Germans have been doing that for the past century so they have a bit of a head start.

[Ferrer]

Are you saying that they are still as engaging to drive or that they haven't grown as much as others?
I haven't driven a contemporary German car, but they certainly have grown in weight ad size. I would say that they are a more pure drive because everyone is trying to build a German car, however the Germans have been doing that for the past century so they have a bit of a head start.

Growth thing.

The Hyundai is a big car, especially you consider width, and the Lancia is downright massive. The Germans on the other hand seem to make their cars relatively compact. The 3er for instance is about the same size as the Delta, and far narrower IIRC.

[NSXType-R]

Yeah no kidding, I saw a woman on my drive to work doing a U-turn into traffic while still texting on the freaking phone....

Distracted drivers are scary drivers. Agreed.

I had a good discussion with a member of the California Highway Police the other day while waiting for the Pebble Tour Cars to come by. The use of the cell phone while driving seems to be one of things that they very keenly after and a ticket is about 200 dollar (first offence). He also mentioned that not wearing a safety belt was still an issue. He once had stopped a man who said his belt did not work, because when pulling it down it got stuck. It already did not work for 14 years...however the CHP officer gently pulled the belt down, et voila, it worked. Yet the driver said he had no intention to ever use it...

NY made it a bigger deal now, they can pull you over just for being on the phone. Before it had to be that you could only get pulled over if you had other violations in addition to being on the phone.

However, there was a massive ticket fixing scandal and cops don't pull you over for stupid stuff anymore. I heard it's a sort of protest.


I think it's a sad state of affairs right now, the car. Especially when Ford is focusing on bringing internet into cars. I think that's more of a marketing thing- "Hey look how cool our cars are, we have internet! So you can go on Youtube while driving at 100 mph and check your texts all at once to save time while your 6 kids are pacified by the 24 DVD players and screens in 4 rows behind you!"

Did anyone think that a moving car is actually a projectile?

I haven't even mentioned the fact that getting a license I think is way too easy...

[pimento]

EPA testing inaccuracies? The Hyundai was probably developed with those tests in mind, whereas the Fiat would've been looking towards Euro tests.

[Ferrer]

Aerodynamics probably, as well as taller gear ratios and a more efficient engine maybe. Those are the possible explanations I can think of.

From the appliance point of view a Panda or a Punto are far better options than the 500. Maybe even a MiTo.

By the way, does anyone know if the following actually translates to real life? When there are several cars based on the same mechanical hardware it's usually the more expensive that gets the best advertised performance and fuel consumption, is it true when you drive them on the road or are it's just better official figures and nothing else?

[pimento]

There are probably citable examples that will 'prove' it both ways. There are many variables in the castle.

[Ferrer]

I would like to test pairs of cars to see if it really does happen or not. Like A3 v Octavia, C30 v Focus or the aforementioned MiTo v Punto.

[RacingManiac]

Or Prius vs CT200h....

On that Hyundai vs Fiat thing, maybe Hyundai does a more US style gearing and has a really tall top gear?

[Ferrer]

Having the gear ratios would help, altough in eco conscious commie Euroland gear ratios are getting taller as well, sometimes ridiculously.

Also, are we comparing manuals or automatics? And what sort of engines?

[RacingManiac]

Its really vehicle dependent I find.....my old Camry was a 4 speed auto and 4th gear was a tall overdrive for the 2.2 liter 4 that makes only 130bhp. But that means at 85-90mph, I am still under 3000 rpm, and I am still getting over 30mpg. At that point though you'll be hard pressed to pass someone in 4th, so pretty much any kind of tip-in on the throttle the car will kick down to 3rd....My dad's G35 with its 5 speed auto at the same speed is pretty similar in rpm, but relative to that motor the car can still pull pretty hard at speed and I think it actually may be geared close to the limited top speed of 145mph. A rental 04 Pontiac Grand Prix I drove once with its 4 speed, electronically limited to 110mph, in 4th I think its turning @ 2500 rpm, driving at 110mph.....