Quote:
Originally posted by HardDrive
They need to start scraping for market share like KIA and Huydai. They need to take apart a Camary, and build a car that is better. And DON'T release another f*cking car until it is. The constant game of catchup is pathetic.
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You can be right that some of the cars are behind the competition. But do YOU aspire to own a Camry?
The Camry is the most mediocre car ever built. Take off the rose-colored glasses, the interior is NOT what you see in it. For crying out loud, the outgoing V6 makes less power than a GM pushrod engine, while the Camry comes in last on gas mileage. Don't give "pushrod rattle" - think about what a pushrod is, what it does, and tell me if it's in any position to rattle, and if you could hear a rattle in 1/60 of a second's duration. If you want to say the valvetrain characteristics influence the tone of the engine, fine - but there's no "pushrod rattle," just like there's no pushrod rattle in the fairly refined Vette that just passed you. My aunt's Oldsmobile was more refined at idle than my dad's same-age Volvo- at least the Olds engine never shook the entire car. I also remember the engine never straining to move the car around town with the low-end torque, the Volvo tends to need a stab at the gas pedal, maybe a downshift. Then the ruckus begins.
Toyota only recently realized that their engine offered
no significant advantage, and now they've built an engine that gets a whopping 8 hp more than GM's OHC V6 available in the LaCrosse. I'm sure GM left it a little low, and would have no problem upping the ante. Don't forget that the Japanese also rate horsepower on a different scale, and the SAE only recently tightened the procedure down. Did you notice the 10- 20 hp revisions recently?
What does the Camry do well? It goes. From A to B. Like any other car. You sit at a kitchen table, and your senses fall asleep. I'll give you this-the Camry engine is refined in that it doesn't transmit vibration, but it does buzz like a castrated vacuum cleaner. I've driven and valeted multiple Camries. I was unimpressed by the interior - it was no better in fit and finish than the Malibu. I'd easily buy a late model Jetta over both of them, although VW scored big with the redesign in the silhouette of an overweight Corolla.
Maybe the Lexus is a nicer car, but from what I've seen, Toyota-badged cars skate by on reputation, media idolization, and some reliability - they are not cars that evoke a reaction of "nice." No experience with the trucks, so I'm not commenting there.
I'm not especially biased towards domestics. Given equal cars (like the Camry and Malibu), I'd buy the Malibu simply because the profits stay here. I just said I'd lean towards a Jetta if I were shopping in this price range-the other snoozemobiles don't offer a standard. But I see no reason why domestics always have to strive and beat imports, not just be as good. Frankly, all companies should have to work equally hard to impress the consumer.