Losing ground

[Hughes412]

Is it me or are the Imports losing their touch? Nissan and Toyota both are putting out some blah cars (not the 370). Nissan is going the way Chevy and having Mexico take over building their cars, and we all know how that will go. Toyota has been failing for a while, it's just now catching up with them. And even Mazda and their styling is getting way out there. To me it seems the American auto makers are starting to put the good cars out and the imports are toning down.

Just wanted to hear your thoughts.

 

[genericuser]

To an extent I agree with you.

GM's turnaround started with Cadillac. Caddy has been putting out some great cars for a few years now. Ford isn't even looking half bad. The fusion is a great car, as vanilla as it may be. The new Taurus is a sharp looking car too.

The Saturn Aura and Astra were great cars (though nobody bought them), and even the new malibu isn't half bad looking. The G8 was a nice car for what it was.

Believe it or not, the General has a product coming out that I'm actually excited about. I really want to test drive a new regal 6 speed!!!

As far as the imports are concerned, the catfish looking mazdas have to go. They are hideous. Nissan hasn't been noteworthy since they hooked up with renault. Infiniti on the other hand, looks faaaaaaaaantastic these days. Toyota will bore you to death, and Mitsubishi is circling the drain.

Honda is putting out some decent products. I'll get railed for this, but I like the Civic SI and the fit. Great cars. Although they aren't even exempt. The crosstour is an abomination, the accord is ugly, and don't get me started on acura.

 

[skylar2ups]

To an extent I agree with you.

GM's turnaround started with Cadillac. Caddy has been putting out some great cars for a few years now. Ford isn't even looking half bad. The fusion is a great car, as vanilla as it may be. The new Taurus is a sharp looking car too.

The Saturn Aura and Astra were great cars (though nobody bought them), and even the new malibu isn't half bad looking. The G8 was a nice car for what it was.

Believe it or not, the General has a product coming out that I'm actually excited about. I really want to test drive a new regal 6 speed!!!

As far as the imports are concerned, the catfish looking mazdas have to go. They are hideous. Nissan hasn't been noteworthy since they hooked up with renault. Infiniti on the other hand, looks faaaaaaaaantastic these days. Toyota will bore you to death, and Mitsubishi is circling the drain.

Honda is putting out some decent products. I'll get railed for this, but I like the Civic SI and the fit. Great cars. Although they aren't even exempt. The crosstour is an abomination, the accord is ugly, and don't get me started on acura.

The Mazda 6 was just facelifted and it doesn't have the grin, maybe the smile might become less forced.

The Malibu is disgusting, but I agree with your ford statements, and the Buick Regal.

Honda will always have good cars but the new front end on the Element and Ridgeline makes me hate it. I love the face of Acura's if they are painted the color of the car. I think the Accord is the best looking sedan on the market, esp. in coupe form.

Nissan is dead to me, even the 370's... I'd rather buy a Genisus Coupe.

The caddies as sexy as ever.

The Astra had NO cup holders... NONE!

 

[ottawaP5]

VW seems to be doing pretty good...

 

[skylar2ups]

VW seems to be doing pretty good...

As does Kia and Hyundai.

I would drive a few Kia's and love a few Hyundai's!

 

[Kain]

Toyota will accelerate you to death...

Fixed.

 

[prof15]

Yeah its true I have noticed in the last few years that brands like toyota and Nissan especially have been slacking in designs of their cars. The quality might be the best but the cars are not as good looking or attractive as they were.

Here is the list of brands that have gone from good or best looking to bad or not so good in some of their cars..
Toyota-Matrix Bad
" -Avalon
Acura-TL
" -TSX
Nissan-Maxima
-Altima
-Centra
-Versa
Mazda-3
" -6 ~

The sad part is that most of them are claiming that they are making changes to please the American market while their European equivalent are better looking and often offer better packages..

 

[genericuser]

As does Kia and Hyundai.

I would drive a few Kia's and love a few Hyundai's!

kia isn't quite there yet. I drove a koupe and a soul.. I wasn't terribly impressed with either one. yes, they have a lot of features, but they still feel cheap and chintzy to the point where I wouldn't trust them.

 

[skylar2ups]

kia isn't quite there yet. I drove a koupe and a soul.. I wasn't terribly impressed with either one. yes, they have a lot of features, but they still feel cheap and chintzy to the point where I wouldn't trust them.

For my first car I got a 1993 Honda Civic hatchback, it was teal with purple tint. My parents would have bought me a cheaper new car but I couldn't find one that I wanted to be seen driving, so I just bought a beater car because I knew when I got out of high school I would be getting another car. But Kia's are great cars to start out on or to buy when you want style but know your car is going to get "hurt" like mine does in the college parking lots.

I would rock a Soul or a Forte/Koupe even the Rio is looking better. But I agree I'd look at Hyundai sooner then later.

 

[Hughes412]

The Astra had NO cup holders... NONE!

And when I test drove one it had no MP3 outlet.(yupnope)

 

[mikeyb]

What Nissan models are being built in Mexico? I only know of two that are sold north of the border. Which are the Versa and Sentra. Just about half of the Nissan model range sold here in the States are manufactured here. Altima, Maxima, Pathfinder, Frontier, Xterra, Quest, Titan, Armada, and Infiniti QX56 are manufactured here in the States. The Cube, Rogue, Murano, 370z, GT-R, Infinit G series, M series, and FX series are manufactured in Japan.

 

[mikeyb]

The Astra had NO cup holders... NONE!

The Astra did not have cupholders because it is illegal to drink while driving in Europe. Can you image what would happen if you spilled a cup of hot coffee on yourself doing 100 on the Autobahn? Saturn could have designed cupholders for the North American market but they chose not too.

 

[skylar2ups]

The Astra did not have cupholders because it is illegal to drink while driving in Europe. Can you image what would happen if you spilled a cup of hot coffee on yourself doing 100 on the Autobahn? Saturn could have designed cupholders for the North American market but they chose not too.

Yes yes I know and that's fine for the Opel but not for NA, I get a large sweet tea from McD's or a Rt.44 from sonic way to often and my phone sits in the cup holders but I have 8 cup holders in my 3.

 

[mikeyb]

Yes yes I know and that's fine for the Opel but not for NA, I get a large sweet tea from McD's or a Rt.44 from sonic way to often and my phone sits in the cup holders but I have 8 cup holders in my 3.

I have 2 cupholders in my 325i which are useless.

 

[altspace]

Times are changing.

 

[mikeyb]

Times are changing.

It's called a Global Economy.

 

[Kymerik]

It's called a Global Economy.

+1...yet for some reason people refuse to accept that