Uhh...why? Some sort of space aged materials? Some sort of special heads up displays that we don't already use in American cars? Can the car give you a blowjob while you drive?

Don't get me wrong, I like 240s...but don't go trying to say that they're more advanced than modern shit. We have v8s that would dust that fucker in every way possible getting better fuel economy. I'd say thats pwned.

 

the mustang with the old school live axel, is handing everyone with their better import designs, their asses in grand am cup racing(996,rx8,M3,350z)

 

great statment, and facts?

typical response, "its better becouse i say so"

 

while i like any car that is fast and reliable...my dad has made a few interesting comparisons between japanese and american autombiles.

he used to work exclusively on american v8 powered chevy's/fords etc and did so until he purchased an 86 honda crx. after working on the honda (it needed a head) i remember him talking to one of his friends about the quality of materials and the closer tolerances found in the honda motor.

at this point i think the gap is closing between the japanese and americans. however, when you look at the history of american automakers (relying heavily on very reliable v8 platforms which didn't require the same tolerances) they are simply playing catch up to a market the japanese have dominated for quite some time.

the sport compact market has also made these differences more and more apparent. car enthusiasts will gravitate towards the vehicles that are most reliable and best designed. say for example, one were to choose a turbo setup for a particular car, it isn't hard to see why most would elect to build a b-series honda motor over a 95 cavalier motor. the b-series motor flows better, has a stronger head, more advanced design and will allow for more potential over just about any mid 90's american 4 cylinder engine.

now...i haven't forgotten about the late 80's turbo dodge 4cyl cars and the american muscle cars which offer great performance...and i'm sure there are other examples which i'm forgetting although i'd say the japanese tend to make a better overall product.

 

I've found that my of the domestics I've worked on have lots of little problems, but nothing truly major. GM and Ford for example have both gone to a cable style power window regulator (sometime back in the EARLY 90s) and they always fail. ALWAYS. Go to a used car lot and find a 94-95 crown vic and try ALL of the windows. 9 times out of 10, at least one of the windows won't work, and in many cases, the window regulators break one at a time over a period of about 4 years. I thought it was exclusivly a Ford thing since I always saw it in Ford products (Grand Marquis, Crown Vic, Explorer, ETC) until a customer came in with a 2003 Caddi Sedan Deville. His driver window fell to the bottom of the door and wouldn't return. I removed the door panel (PAIN IN THE @$$ on this car) and bingo, regulator is bad. Can't get one aftermarket, none in the local junkyards, and almost $400 from Caddillac. He decided to have us get the window up and jam it in position. It wasn't a month later, he was back with the Passenger window in the same condition. We're talking a high end car here, with low miles, and what I would consider to be relatively new. Fords window motors were very prone to failure due to a plastic bushngs inside them rotting away and leaving nothing to turn the gear. A quick fix is 3 nuts or pieces of pipe (or anything metal) about the same size as the bushings. This design lasted for A LONG time and the problem always remained.

As said however, Domestics are generally cheaper to upgrade. A set of 8 domestic pistons costs what 4 import pistons does, even if made by the same company. This works with almost everything from exhausts to camshafts.

The power argument is a bit unbalanced since you often have Domestics running 4 more cylinders than the Imports, and complaining that the imports don't have the same power. Well gee, they have half the cylinders and usually less than half the displacement. Instead of saying "Damn, your 4 cylinder import with the displacement of a soda bottle really kept up (or smoked) my massive V8 Domestic" you often hear "I beat you by .5 seconds, your car sucks."

Aside from the SRT-4, I haven't seen much in the way of Domestic 4 cylinders that impressed me, and I can't understand why the Domestic makers stepped away from Turbocharged engines. In the 80s the big 3 all had something turboed. GM had the Grand National, Ford had the turbo Mustangs, Chrysler had the turbo: Shelby Rampage, Spirit, Lebaron, Daytonas, Chargers, and Conquests. It seems to me this was/is the best way to get good gas milage and still have good power yet the big 3 got away from it for whatever reason and are just now getting back into the FI game.

 

Well said. Just what I say every time this shit comes up. GOtta give the Japs credit where its due, but the American manufacturers are catching up. Rep for j00.

 

So true. Napoleon complex maybe? -Mark

 

No not space age material and not even the HUD...

back in 89 american cars had square shaped interiors nothing that looked like "The New and Up and Comming" .. how long did the F body keep that interior? 14yrs? or longer?

my point is in 1989 nissans 240 had a interior that can be put in a car today and still look great b/c it has flow not the box look that the f body had for 14+ years.... and thats one reason why i think american car companys are far behind import car companys(nissan etc.)

 

The majority of Import cars take the award for holding their value better over time when compared with Domestics. We're not talking classic muscle cars, but regular daily drivers. You can still get $2,000 for a late 80's Civic hatch or CRX in good shape, what can you get for a Dodge Omni, Plymoth Colt of the same generation?

As for the interiors, I have yet to see an import who's plastic panels have turned to dust, but I quite frequently see GMs from the mid 80-early 90s doing this. The plastic paneling in the Impalas and Caprices had a grain stamped/cast in from the factory and over time it rots and you can literally scrape the grain off of the plastic piece with a finger nail. Also, I have NEVER seen a headliner fall in a Honda or Nissan but I frequently have to replace them in GMs and Fords. Try to remove a headliner from an 80s or even early 90s GM and see how many plastic clips you break in the process, then go try to find a replacement clip somewhere. I work in a shop the does mainly interior work so I can honestly say the import interiors are better designed than Domestics. A good example for the newer Fords is the dashes in mustangs all the way up to 1999. Instead of making a dash that was molded grey, or a 2 piece dash that had a black upper and grey lower, they cast a black dash and PAINTED the lower half grey. Guess what happens when something slightly rough and hard hits it? It scrathes the paint off exposing the black dash underneath. This to me was a poor design used in hopes of saving money. I haven't seen an import to date with a factory painted plastic dash.

 

Oooh, you mean in style, I've gotchya. Well, see, its a sign of the times. That was the style back then. In 20 years, those nice G35s and Vettes are gonna look old and outdated as tastes change to something new. I agree with you there, they had a styling a bit ahead of their time...but it might've just been that a few of their planners were gay.

And for the record, I can't stand F-Bodies after owning one of them. They're pretty much junk...the newest ones are okay..but thats because they're not that old yet where TOO many things have gone wrong, and they were a last ditch effort to get shit right that came when GM had its shit together.