Why are Aussie cars inferior to their Japanese counterparts?

[mick10010]

That is one Fuga-ly car.

[Wretched]

Put a Ford badge on it and it'll be the best thing since sliced bread.

[TUF_302]

Originally Posted by Wretched

Put a Ford badge on it and it'll be the best thing since sliced bread.

Unlikely, just saying that means you think we are all against simply because its a Nissan and not a Ford

[dags41v]

Fords may not be perfect but they have some soul (or something), my wifes CRV is a great car, does everything we want, doesnt miss a beat but if I walked out of the house one morning and it wasnt there I dont think I would notice. However, I find myself looking at the XR8 several times a day just to admire different aspects of it and thats even before I get in the drivers seat and fire it up.

[Bolt60]

Have never seen a Nissan I would like to own yet , current Maxima would have to be one of the ugliest piles of S*^ they have produced yet ..

[Wretched]

Originally Posted by TUF_302

Unlikely, just saying that means you think we are all against simply because its a Nissan and not a Ford

exactly what I mean.

[XR6TCraig]

Personally I am not a fan of the styling. Thats just a personal thing, not a Ford fanatic bagging something ther than a Ford thing.

Seems like a nice car with lots of nice features though.
Having said that, for that money there are a lot of other cars that you could buy that are more desireable.
For example, I could buy a nice low mileage, BMW E46 M3, which would probably be a better buy considering you have a car sold in Aus, rather than a grey import with all of the dissadvantages that this can bring in terms of sourcing parts, insurance, etc. Lots more street cred in the M3 too, not to mention it is simply a better car than this one.

[RAREV8]

What a pointless thread....can I please have my 5 minutes back??? Has anyone here actually driven this a) FAR more expensive, b) not available here c) hideous car?

You might as well compare a derelict garden shed in Mt Druitt to a waterside Mansion in Rose Bay (no offense to Mt Druitt)

[nstg8a]

whether or not its available here is kind of irrelevant, the op is making the point about what other manufacturers are making at the moment, and how far behind ford (and holden imo) are to the other big car makers.

case in point, one of the more talked about parts of the fg2 update is the touch screen... my 1995 mitsi diamante had a touch screen lol. 15-16 years ago.
also had a 2.5l quad cam V6, or a 3.0l mivec V6 with 200kw... plus a 5 speed tiptronic style gearbox, at the time the best ford had was the old btr 4 speed. it took them until what, 2003 to have the 'tip-tronic/manual mode' and it was still just the old btr...
as said many times, the styling is very subjective, some like it some dont. but i really think its not just that nissan thats the point here...

[Charliewool]

Originally Posted by boltos

Have never seen a Nissan I would like to own yet , current Maxima would have to be one of the ugliest piles of S*^ they have produced yet ..

What an bloody one eyed idiotic statement!
Wouldn't have any one of these mate?????

[xy500]

is it that surprising to you charlie that not everyone likes riceburners? the skylines never looked good since their 70's models, they're not getting any better with age.

[2011G6E]

That Nissan is very nice...something original at least...i like it! Once again our unique set of design rules mean that cars which are certified completely safe for transporting human beings in one country, are deemed "unsafe" here, needing masses of money spent "complying" them...mostly to protect our fragile car industry from the big bad world outside Australia. even European cars which pass hugely stringent safety testing (which we are only just catching up to) aren't allowed in without a lot of changes. Biggest of which is the irrational fear our government has of letting people drive late model left hand drive cars...

I've driven one, a mid-seventies Chev, and let me tell you, you have never been more careful and patient when trying to overtake when you know you can't see well until you are out in the other lane...

Europe has no issues with lefthand drive cars going to England, or vice-versa, but this could say something about the general standard of the average driver in Europe compared to Australia...

[RAREV8]

Originally Posted by nstg8a

whether or not its available here is kind of irrelevant, the op is making the point about what other manufacturers are making at the moment, and how far behind ford (and holden imo) are to the other big car makers.

case in point, one of the more talked about parts of the fg2 update is the touch screen... my 1995 mitsi diamante had a touch screen lol. 15-16 years ago.
also had a 2.5l quad cam V6, or a 3.0l mivec V6 with 200kw... plus a 5 speed tiptronic style gearbox, at the time the best ford had was the old btr 4 speed. it took them until what, 2003 to have the 'tip-tronic/manual mode' and it was still just the old btr...
as said many times, the styling is very subjective, some like it some dont. but i really think its not just that nissan thats the point here...

The car shown second hand is well over double the cost of a comparable Falcon or Commodore....thats the point- anything is available at a cost!

No-one claims that the Falcodore is the ultimate in cutting edge technology but they both represent bloody good VALUE for money- good enough to find export markets (mainly Commodore) in the UK, Middle east etc....places that can afford and have access to far more upmarket motor cars but that still recognise value.
Pretty sure the MIVEC had max 194 KW @ 6000RPM....touch screen or not, it would struggle to pull my boat unless I went for the 4wd version....not bad cars at all though
Up until the '90's, Mitsubishi had not really had an illustrious career producing good sedans in Australia so it was high time they produced a decent one.....god I disliked those smoky 2.6 4 cyl sigmas.....

[tezxr8man]

Originally Posted by flappist

Do you ever actually READ any of the PCOTY or BFYB comparisons?

i have and still stand by my comments, never seen any of these or a full size lexus or honda etc,
have to admit tho that i don't go out of my way to read them.
i don't take what those mags say as anywhere near gospel

[flappist]

Originally Posted by tezxr8man

i have and still stand by my comments, never seen any of these or a full size lexus or honda etc,
have to admit tho that i don't go out of my way to read them.
i don't take what those mags say as anywhere near gospel

So you read them but you don't read them........yeh that makes sense.

The last couple of of Lexus tests I have read were the ISF vs C63 vs M3 and IS350 vs 335i.

You know the M3 & 335i, the cars that won class and outright victories in the Bathurst 12 hour.

So where do you get your expert information from if not magazines where cars are compared or on actual racetracks where actual professional drivers compete?

[Venomous1]

Originally Posted by dags41v

Fords may not be perfect but they have some soul (or something), my wifes CRV is a great car, does everything we want, doesnt miss a beat but if I walked out of the house one morning and it wasnt there I dont think I would notice. However, I find myself looking at the XR8 several times a day just to admire different aspects of it and thats even before I get in the drivers seat and fire it up.

Very Well Said.
Also knowing that XR8 supported this great country we have.

[xy500]

Originally Posted by flappist

Or are you just a one eyed bogan fanboi who cannot accept that anything except your "precious" could possibly have some form of performance capability.........

or then again maybe he's just another bloke with his own opinion. Deal with it.

[MITCHAY]

The thing that you have to look at is that cars like the G6ET/Calais V are well rounded cars in that they have a bit of luxo, roomy, and are quite quick cars. The Aussie cars mix it up to a price point and they are trying to improve this.

It's simply harder because we are comparatively a small market to introduce all this flash stuff.

[Gobes32]

Personal attacks are becoming more common on this forum lately............

[Cooper69S]

Originally Posted by MITCHAY

It's simply harder because we are comparatively a small market to introduce all this flash stuff.

I don't think the aussie cars are too bad purely from a features/technology point of view - while they're obviously not cutting-edge, there's nothing particularly old-tech about the FG's IMO. Where I think the difference comes in is with the quality of the build and materials used. for cars with an international market the cost per part will be very low compared to Ford AU with our relatively low numbers. one of my brothers recently swapped a 2002?? Nissan Stagea for a BF2 wagon and commented that while the Falcon is a very comfortable car as far as seating goes, it doesn't feel anywhere near as well built as the Nissan. I would have to agree. in my 18 years of driving I've never been without at least 1 ford in the driveway. Except for my first one (TE Cortina - the other 5 have been falcons/fairmonts) they've all had issues of one kind or another and it's something I figure I have to put up with. They (along with the commodore) often rank near the bottom of reliability surveys for a reason. Compared to the rest of the local market they still represent pretty good value, especially second hand - maybe their flaws give them some character...

[nstg8a]

Originally Posted by RAREV8

Pretty sure the MIVEC had max 194 KW @ 6000RPM....touch screen or not, it would struggle to pull my boat unless I went for the 4wd version....not bad cars at all though
Up until the '90's, Mitsubishi had not really had an illustrious career producing good sedans in Australia so it was high time they produced a decent one.....god I disliked those smoky 2.6 4 cyl sigmas.....

194-200kw, close enough lol, but i do agree, they wernt exactly torque monsters.

your second paragraph illustrates my other point... it seems to be more the quality of the aus assembled jap cars that lead to the anti jap car sentiment, which is a shame, they really did get more right than wrong imo.


i do think the modern ford/holden represents good value, especially on the second hand market. which is a whole other discussion lol

[drew`SEVNT5]

Originally Posted by flappist

So you read them but you don't read them........yeh that makes sense.

The last couple of of Lexus tests I have read were the ISF vs C63 vs M3 and IS350 vs 335i.

You know the M3 & 335i, the cars that won class and outright victories in the Bathurst 12 hour.

So where do you get your expert information from if not magazines where cars are compared or on actual racetracks where actual professional drivers compete?

Or are you just a one eyed bogan fanboi who cannot accept that anything except your "precious" could possibly have some form of performance capability.........

How dare you Sir!

[TheZHLANE]

[Jimmyd]

Originally Posted by nstg8a

i do think the modern ford/holden represents good value, especially on the second hand market. which is a whole other discussion lol

Maybe its not, given the OP has put up a 70k second hand grey import....

But as I said of the OP last time

Originally Posted by Jimmyd

But seriously, get back in your cage and stop comparing across classes of car
:

[Nikked]

Originally Posted by MethodX

No. Join the habib set, no thanks.

Cool, a rasist joke to descibe your dislike?


saw a GT-R on the road the other day, Oh My God...so nice

[dylancox]

Does anyone have any raw figures about the development budget for a world-car, e.g the Toyota Camry, Corolla, BMW 5 / 3 as opposed to a Falcon/Commodore?

[tezxr8man]

Originally Posted by flappist

So you read them but you don't read them........yeh that makes sense.

The last couple of of Lexus tests I have read were the ISF vs C63 vs M3 and IS350 vs 335i.

You know the M3 & 335i, the cars that won class and outright victories in the Bathurst 12 hour.

So where do you get your expert information from if not magazines where cars are compared or on actual racetracks where actual professional drivers compete?

Or are you just a one eyed bogan fanboi who cannot accept that anything except your "precious" could possibly have some form of performance capability.........

Settle down dude i'm not here to be insulted! Just like everyone else here. i have a different point of view to you but there is no need to be harsh. i don't think you got my point at all but that's cool.
i haven't pretend to be an expert bout anything here and to be honest i don't think most here do either but you're life by those mags and take it as 100% true thats you're business

[xy500]

yeah you need to watch out for flappist around here, he has moderator favoured privileges. Therefore is a tough bloke who always knows best, and who never slanders or insults anyone.

[russellw]

We will not tolerate personal attacks from anyone, regardless of who they are.

This thread either stays polite and on-topic or there will be a few bans handed around.

I trust I make myself clear.

Russ