AMERICAN, EUROPEAN OR JAPANESE - Choose your favourite manufacturer origin

  • Thread starter Thread starter dynasty_dennis
  • 140 comments
  • 9,681 views

AMERICAN, EUROPEAN OR JAPANESE ?

  • American

    Votes: 27 8.6%

  • European

    Votes: 193 61.7%

  • Japanese

    Votes: 93 29.7%
  • Total voters
    313
Some of the bashing of American cars is deserved, but some of it comes off as rather pathetic. And for you Brits that want to pile on, I have two words for you: British Leyland. Even in the darkness that was the late 1970s Detroit didn't produce crap of that low caliber.
 
For me I like all the same but I voted for Japanese cars. my fav. is the 300ZX : )
 
Japanese. I love the NSXs and the Supras, and is currently collecting them all.
 
Very few Japanese cars appeal to me in the least. They've made a few good ones, but they're just too high-strung for me to really care.

The europeans have made many excellent cars in the past, but again, they're a bit too "dainty". Many of them are very "delicate", and don't like to be abused or else they throw up their drivetrain. They've gotten much better recently, but there's another knock against them and that is that there's really not much you can do to make them much faster thanks to their generally smaller displacement. Many of them are "maxed out" from the factory unless you want to spend tens of thousands of dollars. Again, lots of great cars, just not quite my overall preference.

Gotta go with the US on this one. Nothing like a giant, torque-heavy, low hp/displacement V8 spinning the rear wheels through a clunky-chunky but extremely reliable transmission with a big oversized clutch and undersized tires.

Then again, my car's essentially Australian, but that's not a choice.
 
Australian. Sideways cars from an upside down country can't be beat.

Since it's not a choice though, I go for mid 90s Japanese cars, back before Al Gore and overprotective whiney mothers scared everyone into making garbage with their tales of typhoons and going through the windshield.

My 97 Mazda will do just fine in a crash, and because it's not filled with unnecessary crap, gets 31mpg easily.
 
Every Honda Odyssey ever made was made in ALABAMA, USA.
What does that make it?
And folks just die over those things, apparently. (G)
 
alexleighton
Australian. Sideways cars from an upside down country can't be beat.

Since it's not a choice though, I go for mid 90s Japanese cars, back before Al Gore and overprotective whiney mothers scared everyone into making garbage with their tales of typhoons and going through the windshield.

My 97 Mazda will do just fine in a crash, and because it's not filled with unnecessary crap, gets 31mpg easily.
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You should include quotations there or someone might confuse it as original content :)
 
Personally I'm a fan of the Europeans cars too. I just like the European take on handling, where oversteer is OK and it as assumed that the driver should be skilled enough to manage it. All the American and Japanese cars I've ever owned IRL were nothing but horrible understeering pigs. However, there are some very good cars from both those regions. The RX7 and Miata and Ford GT and Corvette come immediately to mind as some pretty amazing machines. But overall, I definitely have an affinity for the way European cars handle, both in real-life and in sims. The whole classic European take on "light and nimble is more important than power" really speaks to me too. (IRL however I wouldn't even consider owning any kind of a classic European car outside certain German ones which I already own. I know too much about British, Italian, and French car reliability... A modern car from one of those regions? Sure, but not anything that we would consider classic.) One of the reasons I avoid Japanese cars like the plague in GT4/5 is because they really do seem "magically good." It's been discussed before, so we don't need to discuss it again here, but that's definitely my feeling about them. They just never seem to do anything wrong. Way too easy and predictable. So I use them only for those events which require them. Once my A-Spec career is complete, every Japanese car will probably go bye-bye.

(Unfortunately PD has removed nearly all the small/tight city tracks that were in GT4. This vastly limits the tracks where, for example, a stock Lotus Elan will be competitive. I would love to see a lot more classic European cars in GT6 (or a GT5 update?) and a return of the tracks where they are best suited. Citta di Arria, etc.)
 
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I have my likes and dislikes in all regions, but gotta go with the European cars here! Jaguar, Aston-Martin, Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, Alfa-Romeo, and Audi are all some of my favourite makes! There's just a sense of style, sophistication, and driving dynamics that are unparalleled in the other regions. Plus, in the case of Aston-Martin and Jaguar, drop-dead gorgeous lineups!👍👍
 
One car which I think sums up the European market is the C63 AMG. Beautiful looking saloon car that sounds like a hot rod! Yes its refined, comfortable and sophisticated, but that doesn't mean it can't sound awesome as well. Thankyou AMG 👍
 
Definitely American cars. The Japanese cars are nice and filled with tech, but I hate their designs. Also, right now, there are only 2 legitimate "super cars", the GTR and the LFA, one of which is so over priced the only way I would ever buy it is if I already had every single other super car in the world. European cars would be my first choice, but most of the high end cars are well, super expensive. I mean you can a ZR1 Vette for about 150k and it would eat alive half the Euro cars worth 2 or more times than it. If money wasn't a problem, then I would pick European cars, but in my opinions, the Americans give the biggest bang for the buck.
 
Good point, although the Corvette is the only real American performance car. Plus you have to deal with the American build quality...
 
CarreraGT
Good point, although the Corvette is the only real American performance car. Plus you have to deal with the American build quality...
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Viper? Ford GT (though they don't make them anymore). There are only really 2, 3 if you count the GT, but there are few more smaller manufacturer super cars like the S7, Callaway etc. As for build quality, the American cars tend to be cheaper to repair, and I wouldn't say the quality is THAT bad.👍
 
Euro
Love the styling.
 
If I'm going to buy a car in the real world it will be Japanese because I value the reliability and value for money they offer. In the game or a money no object situation you can't beat a Euro car.

Ideally what you would want is an American looking car, with German feeling of quality, British Handling and performance, and Japanese reliability and pricing. Oh and a Dutch interior.
 
xNEVER-ONEx
Viper? Ford GT (though they don't make them anymore). There are only really 2, 3 if you count the GT, but there are few more smaller manufacturer super cars like the S7, Callaway etc. As for build quality, the American cars tend to be cheaper to repair, and I wouldn't say the quality is THAT bad.👍
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Yeah I was just referring to cars produced today. But yeah I don't doubt American cars would be cheaper to repair because they are a lot simpler than most european cars. I'm not suggesting that it doesn't work, but leaf springs?
 
Japanese here, they just keep going forever, you dont pay for the badge + they dont need 36cylinders and 50000cc to output 100hp.
 
Definitely European... Japanese cars are also good though. American cars have too often suspension from 18th century with engines bigger than mount everest and still only 280hp..
 
Spacegoat
We build the best American cars cars anyway.:sly:
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👍

One could also argue that there was a time when we built the best Japanese cars too. The Skaife/Richards Winfield GT-R was the fastest R32 touring car in the world at the time, and NISMO refused to allow Gibson Motorsport to sell it as a kit in Japan because it was faster than anything they were producing!
 
CarreraGT
👍

One could also argue that there was a time when we built the best Japanese cars too. The Skaife/Richards Winfield GT-R was the fastest R32 touring car in the world at the time, and NISMO refused to allow Gibson Motorsport to sell it as a kit in Japan because it was faster than anything they were producing!
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Don't forget that Dick Johnson's Shell Ford Sierra's were also alot faster than the factory Serria's racing in europe at the time.
 
True that thing was a monster! I actually saw a thing the other day where Dick was talking about it, and apparently it was an absolute pig to drive. They ran it on a dyno without the turbo and it made 90hp, then it made 650hp with the turbo! They showed some footage of them trying to drive it in the wet at bathurst and it must have been a nightmare, the turbo lag must have been huge
 
CarreraGT
Good point, although the Corvette is the only real American performance car. Plus you have to deal with the American build quality...
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3 chevys, all have had over 100,000 miles. My first truck i had i sold with 350,000 miles and the only major repair was the transmission at 160,00 miles and was still running great. My Z/28 is at 124,000 miles and has been drove hard but has had no major problems and runs like a monster. My Suburban has 250,000 miles and has had the transmission rebuilt once.

They hold together better than people want to believe.
 
I'm not saying they are unreliable, I'm referring more to interior fit and finish etc. The Corvette interior is pretty ordinary for such an epic car
 
CarreraGT
I'm not saying they are unreliable, I'm referring more to interior fit and finish etc. The Corvette interior is pretty ordinary for such an epic car
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Maybe they have their priorities on the performance aspect of things. Probably keeps price down. You want luxury, get a Cadillac.
 
bjosim
Definitely European... Japanese cars are also good though. American cars have too often suspension from 18th century with engines bigger than mount everest and still only 280hp..
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HP ratings on a lot of American cars are lower than actual output. My 2001 Z/28 should be around 300-310, bone stock we dynoed it at 323hp/338lb trq to the wheels with an automatic 4 speed (382hp/402lb trq at the fly wheel).

On the high end of the spectrum but not 280, last ones i know of being 280 were the LT1 Camaros/Firebirds. A good laugh i get in game is the '69 Z/28 being rated at 290. While thats what Chevy listed it was really between 350 and 400 depending on the which carb option you got. Another good smudge is the 1969 426 Hemi, that engine was good for near 600hp. A friend of ours use to go through spark pulgs and tires once a month with one.

CarreraGT
I'm not saying they are unreliable, I'm referring more to interior fit and finish etc. The Corvette interior is pretty ordinary for such an epic car
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While the vette may be a bit lack luster for it's class most the cars are aimed people 18-late 20's for the most part and the performance you get for the price your going to sacrifice something. I'll take my rather plain interior for the fun at the track.

Also yall think you could ship some utes this way, they look like tons o fun!
 
AHEM Corvette ZR1, Viper, Camaro, Saleen. I hope you understand what side I'm on.
 
Australian, all the power and aggressive styling of American muscle cars but with the handling of European cars due to their love of circut racing and technical tracks like Bathurst and Philip island. And on the Gibson motorsport skylines, the were preparing their Australian touring car champship skylines for the major fuji speedway endurance race (1000k I think) and the boss of Nissan actually called and forbid them to race because their cars were too fast
 
My knowledge of cars from around the world is not that great , but there seems to be a lot of bashing on American technology being behind the time . I would like to point out that the chevy corvette with it's small block v8 is putting out over 600 hp and at a fraction of the cost of so called super cars from around the world that it out performs! If that's not advanced technology then what is ?
 
alexlees
Australian, all the power and aggressive styling of American muscle cars but with the handling of European cars due to their love of circut racing and technical tracks like Bathurst and Philip island. And on the Gibson motorsport skylines, the were preparing their Australian touring car champship skylines for the major fuji speedway endurance race (1000k I think) and the boss of Nissan actually called and forbid them to race because their cars were too fast
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Haha, I mentioned the exact same thing a few posts back.

It's a shame the latest HSV's look so horrible because they are really good cars. Funnily enough, it was the american influence that did it, what with all the tacky bonnet scoops etc. left over when the Pontiac deal fell through
 
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