Who makes the best cars?

[Maj]

Judging a car designing 'nation' for the reliability, styling, fuel efficiency and engineering of its cars, who would you say produces the finest vehicles on the planet?

 

[IceBlaZe]

Germans, no doubt about it

BMW is the best car we ever had.

 

[TheDuckOfFlanders]

My first choice: german's (bmw,mercedes,volkswagen;Porsche ,etc.)
second choice: Italian's (alfa Romeo,ferrari,Lambourghini ,etc.)

British Rover is very good to
I like Swedish Saab to.
Renault and Peugeot are cool car's to. (nice design to)
Honda and Toyota have some spicy car's to (vrmmm Honda Civic)

Don't know much about American car's though ,no offence nbut do they export a lot of American car's anyway? Most rich American's tend to buy the European car's i guess. (BMW or Mercedes)

 

[Juize]

Where are the Russian Cars?

Lada rules...

 

[Simon Darkshade]

Yes, Juize, provided you don't actually drive them, they are great

I am not really in the know about cars, but from my experience, i'd say the Poms and the Yanks.

 

[Hamlet]

Germans or Japanese. All the others are not in contention. I'd say The Japanese.

 

[Mikoyan]

Americans.
Pontiac Firebird rules.

 

[Sparrowhawk]

It all depends on what sort of car you want really. Specifically for cars and not other vehicles, I would say Germany. If you were talking sports cars though, I'd have to say the Italians.

 

[CurtSibling]

I think there is no substitute for German Engineering.

Except perhaps a Roll Royce or Jaguar.
Oh wait, Germany owns those too!

 

[Adebisi]

edit

 

[Cardinal Ape]

Despite what some people tend to think most Ladas are not actually that reliable at all. It is a common site to see Ladas being fixed on the road here in Azerbaijan. There is the volga but thats got nothing on German engineering.

 

[BlueMonday]

Americans are the only ones who make real muscle cars and thereby I can't vote for anyone else. Sure European cars are well built and stylish, but when I want brute power I go all american: Shelby Cobra, Hemi Cuda, Dodge Charger, Mustang Fastback, Mustang SVT Cobra, Camero, Corvette, Corvette ZO6, Corvette C5R, Dodge Viper GTS, Dodge Viper GTS-R Oreca, Shelby Series 1, Ford GT-500 (Shelby), Ford GT-40. All those cars can outpower, outaccelerate, and outrun European models.

 

[Greadius]

I figure if I've got enough money to blow it on a nice new car I don't have to worry about reliability anymore.

And I drive around cities, so I don't care how well they perform off road, or how fast they speed up...
Heck, all I care about is looks & comfort, and both of those are subjective. And, in my opinion the Lincoln line has the most of those two things to offer me, so I voted American.

Of course, I already knew I would vote American as soon as I saw that was an option

 

[andycapp]

Originally posted by TheDuckOfFlanders
My first choice: german's (bmw,mercedes,volkswagen;Porsche ,etc.)

British Rover is very good to
I like Swedish Saab to.
Renault and Peugeot are cool car's to. (nice design to)

I agree with Ducky that the Germans are Number One and also that the British Rovers are very good (sat in one at the Melbourne International Motor Show 2 weeks ago and of all the cars there had the best designed and most comfortable interior).

Can't agree about the Saabs, their interiors are horrible and the exterior design is not flash either.

I must admit to a bias against French cars because my first ever car was a Renault 16, and whilst it was very comfortable to drive, the French seem to take delight in making simple things complex - it was a nightmare to work on.

For quirky styling and a bit of nostolgia the Mini Cooper looked like a fun car.

If I want grunt I'll go for an Aussie made Holden Monaro.

 

[Ren]

Originally posted by andycapp
If I want grunt I'll go for an Aussie made Holden Monaro.

I would probably go for a VT GTS first, though

I voted Japanese, as I think the Mitsubishi GTO Twin Turbo is close to the best performance vehical ever made. Second would be England, as they build the almighty McLaren overlords , which I say would only be second to Japanese 4WD sports cars for handling (although I will probably never drive any of these cars )

 

[IceBlaZe]

American cars out power nothing. Just cars with big engines and awful fuel consumption. Each american car that is considered powerful, there is a european match that outpowers it.

Dodge Viper GTS? Lamborghini Diablo, Ferrari F550, Austin Vantage V8, Porche 911 Carrera 4x4.

Ford Mustang? BMW Z3 3.0, Mercedes SLK.

Just go have a look at supercars.net , and rate cars by categories. Almost every first place is european or japanese. hehe.

American cars stink compared to european cars dynamics, style, soul, engineering, man engineering, comfortability and fuel consumption.

 

[knowltok2]

I voted German for Mercedes. Engineering and style.

Soul is completely subjective, and to an extent, so is style.

Afordability should also be considered when comparing cars. The average joe (at least in the US) can afford a Mustang 5.0 without putting a second mortgage on their soul. Lamborghini Diablo, Ferrari F550: anyone got the current price on one of these? If memory serves, they cost more than decent houses. They are to sports cars what the M2 Bradley IFV is to sports utilities: something I will never own, so therefore outside of my consideration.

Small cars : Japanese

Mid-size : Japanese, American, German

Luxury : German (I just don't like Lexus's)

Trucks: American

SUV City: Japanese, American

SUV work: American

Luxury SUV: Japanese, German

Sports cars: American, Italian (But who can offord them?)

Vans: American (nobody else sells them here)

Special place in my heart: Volvo S80. I just like the looks of it.

 

[duke o' york]

I am deeply skeptical of what the vast majority of you have said here as I would reckon that most of you have never even seen one of these supercars drive past, much less driven one, and so we fall back on TV shows and playing Gran Turismo, which is where most of these names have come from.

Fords are still American cars, despite the fact that they aren't made in the US, and they are phenomenally popular. Although probably not the best choice to outpower Viper XYZ or whatever you were suggesting.

 

[pavelsu]

American cars out power nothing. Just cars with big engines and awful fuel consumption. Each american car that is considered powerful, there is a european match that outpowers it.

Dodge Viper GTS? Lamborghini Diablo, Ferrari F550, Austin Vantage V8, Porche 911 Carrera 4x4.

Ford Mustang? BMW Z3 3.0, Mercedes SLK.

Just go have a look at supercars.net , and rate cars by categories. Almost every first place is european or japanese. hehe.

American cars stink compared to european cars dynamics, style, soul, engineering, man engineering, comfortability and fuel consumption.

i could not say it better

 

[willemvanoranje]

German cars rule, no doubt about it. Italians come second.