MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
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The makers of the iconinc Trans Am have gone out of business. How sad.
I once drove a Firebird. It lived up to every cliche, being slow, crude, thirsty, and generally dreadful inside.
Should have been allowed to die a decade or so ago.
Jim won't be happy
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Pretty soon the American car industry will be in the same state as ours. IE: Non-existent. Mind you. They do make crap cars. As did we
they did make some lovely motors;
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With any luck it could spell the end for all overweight, overpriced lumps of bad-handling, poorly-made, unreliable American pig-iron. However; as long as their are gullible half-wits with far far more money than sense in the world, Harley Davidson's future seems assured. Pity
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Lovely, beautiful cars for not very fast drivers.
beautiful bodies on the old ones, shame about the engineering behind them.
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At least one of them (makes) is still going
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Have a look at their "current" range and you will see why they are going out of business.
Some American car makers are upping their game but USA maker cars in the USA are generally fairly non-descript or poor by Europen standards.
Just been to the mid-West last week. It's unbelievable how many people drive pick-ups. Pick-ups have propped up the US car industry for a long time - until the Japanese worked out how to make them.
they did make some lovely motors
For example? Indulge me...
sorry binners - first link I put up failed - changed it now...
They deserve to die if only for this:
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The Aztek (sic).
Not really bothered either way, I don't think I've ever seen a beautiful Pontiac, one or two fugly ones ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
There's quite a good article in the NYT about Pontiac and how the brand peaked in the early 70s and had been failing ever since.
GM now has a pretty good range of worldwide cars and has managed to lose it's concrete overcoat of hugely inefficient working practices and elderly construction plants.
American cars make sense ONLY in America... I should be living in the states before christmas and it's gonna be ace! I have curbed my bike spending so I can begin saving for a Dodge Ram. 5.7L Hemi with about 18mpg average, but at only 39p per litre of petrol (sorry gas) vs 117p per litre, it will be cheaper to run than my diesel focus here! Score!
[i]Score! [/i]
not wanting to wee in your Hemi or owt but should price be the only determining factor in the amount of fuel that people choose to consume on a given journey?
No, it shouldn't. He must factor in how much he'll enjoy the driving. Skidsareforkids is onto the winner IMO.
Harley Davidson's future seems assured. Pity
No, I like easy targets when I feel the need to rip the pish out of someone
Mind you if Harley dealerships close, where will all those mean moody outlaw accountants go to get their oil changed?
I find it gorgeous. Would love to have such:
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I've been in and driven many American cars both new and old, and they are all absolutely crap compared to the European alternatives.
How anyone could enjoy driving a Dodge Ram stupidly large truck is beyond me. They are just sh*t.
Nearly a page of Pontiac discussion and no-one's mentioned this? For shame.
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1966 Pontiac Parisienne for me please....
They deserve to die if only for this:
+ infinity (and beyond)
You can just imagine the conversations that went on in the headquarters of GM, Potiac etc all those years ago:
We seem to have a problem Mr President
Whats that?
As a nation we're clearly totally incapable of making a car that'll go round corners. Anything that requires a vehicle to actuallt stear and we're ****ed!!! A solution would be to spend some money on chassis and suspension technology to remedy the problem. "stick a bigger engine in it" might not actually be the solution to everything
Are you insane son? We'll just make all the roads straight and the racetracks oval. Problem solved
I've been in and driven many American cars both new and old,
Have you lived in both America and Cuba?
a Dodge Ram. 5.7L Hemi with about 18mpg average, but at only 39p per litre of petrol (sorry gas) vs 117p per litre, it will be cheaper to run than my diesel focus here! Score!
Yeaf, f- the planet, as long as people can drive about in stupidly inefficient vehicles, eh? 🙄
I'd be quite happy if the entire US car industry shut down. Their cars are crap. They've not made a decent car in over 30 years, if that.
I'd be quite happy if the entire US car industry shut down
very socialist of you old son ... 😉
From an article I read a few months back. the fact that GM make cars is more or less a subsidiary activity to managing the pension fund of it's ex workforce...
Old meaning 10 years old or so 🙂
Btw there are some good things about American cars. Some of their engines are remarkably efficient when you consider that they have to lug around huge inefficient gearboxes and drink crap fuel.
Our last hire car was a big SUV (yes I know) with a 3.7l V8, which was a brilliant and efficient unit. The rest of the car though.. one of the doors didn't fit properly and the driver's seat was about 3" to the left of where it should've been.
Oh and the reasons for the big engines are quite subtle. They are obsessed with low NOx emissions, which means lots of EGR reducing power - and compression ratios are low because of the crap petrol. Bearing that in mind, the fact that we could get 42mpg from an old American style Ford Escort with auto and aircon on is remarkable.
+1 Elfin
so I can begin saving for a Dodge Ram. 5.7L Hemi with about 18mpg average, but at only 39p per litre of petrol (sorry gas)
Do you get a gun rack and a free membership to the NRA to match your red neck wagon? Well done. You have made it!
A good idea of the mindless idiocy of the American car industry (and government) is the fact that the lobbyists got Bush to repeal the law on vehicles becoming more efficient.
So the American car industry has been moving backwards, producing progressively less and less efficient engines as the rest of the world heads in the opposite direction. And they wonder why they're going bust? Morons!
Also: Everyone drives pick-ups in the states as you can register it as a 'commercial vehicle' and claim tax back against it as business expenses.
So it'll actually cost you considerably more in Tax to drive a Toyota prius, than one of these:
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Sensible eh?
There seems to be complete opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to American cars nowadays. In reality they have a long long way to go, yet as a nation America is very very different from Europe and so the economic and social demands on the automobile industry aren't as strong and hence are not influencing the manufacturers. That being said the emphasis needs to be on the manufacturers to implemnt change to address the short-comings of the industry and the reality for most this will bankrupt them.
The american manufactured made japanese car industry is generating some good solid cars and this is where the future will lie.
In the last month as hire cars in the US i had a Honda Pilot, Ford Fusion and Mecury Marquis. The Honda is a great SUV, the Ford I have to say i was relatively impressed with, drove well and put together well. The mercury was like stepping back in time. Awful awful car and won't be far behind Pontiac in going out of business.
So the American car industry has been moving backwards, producing progressively less and less efficient engines
That's not actually true binners. The manufacturers are producing more and more efficient cars. HOWEVER I don't know if overall vehicle emissions are coming down or not, because people still continue to buy big trucks etc. Although as I understand it sales of those are also coming down.
It had a lot to do with when gas went up to $4.50 ish a few years back, and Toyota releasing the Prius.
Oh and Chevrolet has come out with this:
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Which is pretty damn cool.
very socialist of you old son
it is actually. The workers can then make tractors instead. Far more productive.
The workers can then make tractors instead. Far more productive.
Or they could work in US factories making European cars.
Are you blind 'grips?
Which is pretty damn cool.
Well. It has finally happened. The last sliver of respect I had for Molgrips has just gone the way of the Pontiac. 8)
Top 10 most popular cars in the US
Ford F-150
Honda Accord
Chevy Silverado
Toyota Corolla
Toyota Camry
Honda Civic
Ford Fusion
Nissan Altima
Ford Escape
Chevy Malibu
difficult to force product onto a market that doesn't (yet) want it.
they could make smaller, more efficient vehicles today, but they wouldn't sell.
it's going to take them a long time over there, heavily populated urban areas get it, but a lot of that country is big, empty, and relatively isolated.
cheap gas is a vote winner.
edit - just seen that post, knew about the F150, massive seller.
my brother in law just got a new one, 5.4 litre engine. oh well.
Jamie, you had some respect for me this morning - I'm flattered 🙂
Yes, it's an ugly car and it's probably shit to drive and sit in etc but it's the world's first series plug-in hybrid with the ability to drive up to 40 miles on battery power alone and be recharged at home - and then use petrol for long journeys.
LHS - does that list include commercial sales as well as domestic? I bet it does, because a great many of the trucks I see are being used by builders etc.
There IS a big big market for economical cars. Hence high Prius sales amongst others.