[Rancid]

And no, American cars are still shit.

I personally don't have an opinion on the matter..

however, it would be interesting to see test data on both American and Japanese cars..

i currently own a Japaneses though

[profitprophet]

Good for jumping too.

If you look at the vid and freeze it as it goes up and down the hill, it's obviously a CGI car. Look at how fast it goes up the hill.

Yeah, not to sound like EVERYONE OTHER YOUTUBE POSTER EVER, but that's probably fake. Still cool tho.

[Adrien]

If you have a latest generation Range Rover, it should be quite reliable actually, it even received Clarkson's seal of approval. If you have a first generation (phase I or II) Freelander though it would explain it, Land Rover wasn't big on quality craftsmanship in the 90's.

On a side note, Aston Martin is purely English now, but Jaguar and Land Rover are on the brink of being sold to Indian consortiums. What goes around comes around I suppose..

[hannu]

^How is Aston Martin English?

Arabs own it.

[Abood]

I read the first half of the original post, and I'm suffocating. Use periods.

[Kiroff]

shutupabood

[Doomhammer]

I read the first half of the original post, and I'm suffocating. Use periods.

It's fine so long as we understand it, Herr Abood. We all know you are giving Oxymoron a hard time because he is Jewish. ^^

shutupabood

Yeah!


btw... How are you, Herr Abood?

[Abood]

I am good, Basha Doom.

[Adrien]

^How is Aston Martin English?

Arabs own it.

The British company Prodrive is now the owner of Aston Martin, with David Richards at its head. The fact that Kuweiti investors happened to be part of the deal doesn't mean that much, Prodrive is the leading element in the deal.

[Abood]

I don't know what 'Kuweiti' means.

[Kiroff]

shutupabood

[Abood]

shtpkrff

[Kiroff]

heyaboodhaventimademyselfclear

[hannu]

The British company Prodrive is now the owner of Aston Martin, with David Richards at its head. The fact that Kuweiti investors happened to be part of the deal doesn't mean that much, Prodrive is the leading element in the deal.

Not so according to my Aston mole.

Richards was just a figurehead to enable the deal. I'll find out more when I ask him about the Polish manufacturing option.

[Thunderhawk]

I've also heard that American cars have caught up to Japanese cars as far as quality goes..

In the top end, yes. My friend's magnum is top end and Id say it is nicer for driving, passanger and appearance in and out, then many other japanese cars.

However, that is his top end model. The entry models, and even the middle end, still feel cheap (poor material).. and Id argue that it is cheap.

[Far-Right Sage]

Japanese automobiles are certainly somewhere near the top.

American cars aren't as terrible as one would think when listening to some people.

I'm still particularly fond of the VW though.

[Oxymoron]

I read the first half of the original post, and I'm suffocating. Use periods.

Well I had a kind of "heavy piece of furniture on the right toe" kind of moment; where proper grammar was not a priority.

[Adrien]

Richards was just a figurehead to enable the deal. I'll find out more when I ask him about the Polish manufacturing option.

I've heard about the rumour according to which they'd outsource production to a cheaper country. But honestly, that's what would logically happen with the sale of some regular brand, we're talking Aston Martin here.

It's like a swiss watch, it requires special, top of the line even, knowledge, craftsmanship and skills. If Aston is what it is today (that is to say, to put it bluntly, profitable) and if it has found back the glitz it used to have, it's because Ford made it a real, super fine brand of supercars. Not just the bling and glutton kit cars they used to be in the past..

Richards may have been a handy figurehead to seal the deal, but he comes with the knowledge it'll take to run the brand. You just can't appoint some bean counter from the Middle East and hope it'll work. That's why I think he'll be a real central figure, he and his British associate whose name I can't remember, in the future of Aston Martin.

And the moving of the production line to Poland is a joke, they can't even make Fiat 126s properly there, how do you want them to hand build something as precious and fragile as an Aston?

If anything, they'll move the said line elsewhere in Britain, like what has been done for Bentley, or Rolls, or Jaguar, or all three of them I can't remember.

However, that is his top end model. The entry models, and even the middle end, still feel cheap (poor material).. and Id argue that it is cheap.

I'm surprised you speak so highly of the Magnum, for having seen the pre-2008 model here in Canada, and I suppose you're refering to that generation, it looked horribly cheap and poorly assembled. But then again I must have European standards.

Honestly, the quality of cars is appalling all around here, from American to Japanese, only the most recent models strike you as out of the lot. Acuras for instance totally impressed me, the most recent Lexus too even if I knew them already, or the most most recent American ones: Buick Enclave, and the Ford Five Hundred (Taurus again since 2008) are two examples that come to my mind, the Ford having really impressed me.

But other than that, it's all pretty nasty. Even among Japanese.

[hannu]

I'm still particularly fond of the VW though.

I have a VW Golf PD130 which I have owned from new & done about 90k miles. The engine is fine but the rest of the car sucks.I've had loads of small quality issues & last week the clutch pedal snapped off in traffic leaving me to drive home using the ignition key to start the car away from traffic lights.

The car is outright dangerous in the wet as it handles like a pig & just suddenly lets go. It's OK in a straight line though.

[Kiroff]

And Oxy, why do you have a car that costs more than what you make in a year?