Why are European cars so much better than American "cars"?

[Teri]

Top Gear discussed this before the original crew left.

The best car in the world is the Ford Golf.

You mean the Volkswagen Golf? Most sold car in many european countries for years now.

VW Polo is also doing very well for a long time.

Ford Fiesta is on the rise however.

[Allybeboba]

How reliable are most of those big arse American pick up trucks that red necks love? Just curious if they have a lot of problems with them.

Many have over 200,000 miles on them. The one I drive daily has 160,000 and all I have done to it mechanically is replace the battery, alternator, brake pads and an ignition module. I did those all myself. As I mentioned in another thread, fuel in Europe is about triple the cost as it is in America.
Our emissions standards are more stringent as well, especially in CA.

[Dangg]

Fixed it for you.

Japanese cars are low status.

[Selastan]

But they aren't better...

Japan>America>Europe

Honestly, very few European cars get my respect, most of them are British like TVR and Jaguar. Volkswagen is pretty respectable but neither Germany or Italy is anything but passable. Lol France.

[Ripster42]

Yes, automatics are getting better, as I said.

The thing is, most people aren't driving brand new cars. Especially here.

Just saying, new automatics are actually often better than manuals as far as fuel economy is concerned. Not getting better, but essentially already there. Even besides the CVTs there are hardlocking autos with 8-10 gears that also get better economy than manuals and essentially they'll stay better unless we see manuals coming with more than the 5-6 they normally come with now.

The benefits of manuals is essentially down to just more responsive acceleration since the cost savings from going manual are going to be recouped over the life of the car (or resale value).

[Puupi]

They haven't been a big difference for a long time, same with cost difference in purchase (as % of price). There also seems to be a lot more of these paddle/ optional shifter things.

An automatic transmission is about 3000-5000e more expensive here than manual on any given car.

[Deleted]

Becase theyre so much more inferior(apparently, being a loser is cool in some parts of Europe now), go figure

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

Safer, more reliable, economic and less emissions.

Prove me wrong.

That's not how it works. You make a claim...you back it up.

[Svifnymr]

An automatic transmission is about 3000-5000e more expensive here than manual on any given car.

I haven't bought in a while, but it was generally a couple thousand at most here, maybe 3-5% of the value of the car. Though, many models are ONLY made in Automatic. Because again, Automatic is the norm here.

In Europe, Manual is the norm, so they charge you more for auto since they don't make as many assumedly.

Like Air Conditioning. You can't sell a car without AC in Florida, but elsewhere it is available. The price difference is negligible.

It has been discussed before, Americans generally have further to drive and it's for a purpose, so there is no need for the "more engaging" manual vs automatic requiring less attention. It really is more of a cultural thing than a mechanical thing, and the prices reflect the cultural preconceptions.

[Puupi]

It has been discussed before, Americans generally have further to drive and it's for a purpose, so there is no need for the "more engaging" manual vs automatic requiring less attention. It really is more of a cultural thing than a mechanical thing, and the prices reflect the cultural preconceptions.

It's actually rather ridiculous thing that Americans have been using automatic transmission the whole time.

Americans drive more, the reliability and fuel economy of manuals would have been far more important there.

But then again, gas is and has always been super cheap there, I assume transmission repairs are, too.

[Cyberowl]

The funniest part is that people actually be said "evil". Most MSM outlets quickly changed their tunes when they found out it was mistranslated. Even the thread on this forum has been corrected. Then again as the saying goes, haters gonna hate.

It wasn't mistranslated; there are 2 viable 2 translations, the evil one was the one who fit the context better.

[Schattenlied]

And also better looking in design!

100% opinion.

[Lumineus]

Prove me wrong.

Did you mean German cars?

Because Britain and Yugoslavia are still part of Europe.

/check&mate

[Allybeboba]

It wasn't mistranslated; there are 2 viable 2 translations, the evil one was the one who fit the context better.

Then why did most of the articles get changed, including this forum?

[Puupi]

Did you mean German cars?

Because Britain and Yugoslavia are still part of Europe.

/check&mate

Tito, is that you?!

[Svifnymr]

It's actually rather ridiculous thing that Americans have been using automatic transmission the whole time.

Americans drive more, the reliability and fuel economy of manuals would have been far more important there.

Well, again, how long has it been since there was some reliability difference of note? How long has it been since there was a fuel economy difference that was really of any importance to justify an hour in traffic constantly shifting?

But then again, gas is and has always been super cheap there, I assume transmission repairs are, too.

Aren't your gas prices mostly inflated artificially with taxes and stuff? Sure the USA only gets like 10% of our fuel from the ME, but you guys are like... right there. Should be cheaper if your government wasn't trying to dissuade you. Which, maybe you're fine with for "green" reasons, just saying it's more of a cultural thing again, not some hard-rule.

- - - Updated - - -

It wasn't mistranslated; there are 2 viable 2 translations, the evil one was the one who fit the context better.

I'm pretty sure Trump didn't speak in German, so there is no translation problem there, but admittedly I haven't followed this particular diversion. A german source reported what he said by translating his english into german, right?

[Allybeboba]

It's actually rather ridiculous thing that Americans have been using automatic transmission the whole time.

Americans drive more, the reliability and fuel economy of manuals would have been far more important there.

But then again, gas is and has always been super cheap there, I assume transmission repairs are, too.

It is a rare occasion for a transmission to break. I would imagine that Americans travel a lot more than Europeans. Think about it, we are comparing a single country to an entire continent.

[Cyberowl]

Then why did most of the articles get changed, including this forum?

Because government officials clarified it afterwards?

Look, the quote was: ‘The Germans are bad, very bad’

Translating it to German and back to English: 1) The Germany are evil, very evil. or 2) The Germans are bad, very bad (at something). In the German language if you call someone bad at something, you have to couple it with the thing they are bad at, otherwise it doesn't make sense and seems cut off. The first translation can stand on its own without further clarification. If he chose another word instead of bad, like unfair, it would have been clear what he meant.

Expect many more of those (mis-)translations, considering Trump speaks English on a level I reached in 8th grade, English itself being my third language.

[meathead]

Safer, more reliable, economic and less emissions.

Prove me wrong.

in America you get what you pay for and please take a look at the ford GT40 AKA the ferrari killer who just set WORLD'S FASTEST 1-MILE at 293.6 mph, on a street legal car. https://youtu.be/DnCsQPpY6xA

did you forget that ford owned Jaguar and Land Rover?or did until a few years ago?and many many other brands of cars.

and dont forget America makes the best trucks hands down!

[Puupi]

Well, again, how long has it been since there was some reliability difference of note? How long has it been since there was a fuel economy difference that was really of any importance to justify an hour in traffic constantly shifting?

Eh...what? Manuals were by far superior to automatics until about ten years ago. When automatics started having 6 gears they became somewhat equal to manuals. 6 gears is like 2005->

Aren't your gas prices mostly inflated artificially with taxes and stuff?

Yes. But still, it's 6,5 dollars for a gallon here.

Sure the USA only gets like 10% of our fuel from the ME, but you guys are like... right there.

All of our oil is imported.

Should be cheaper if your government wasn't trying to dissuade you. Which, maybe you're fine with for "green" reasons, just saying it's more of a cultural thing again, not some hard-rule.

It's reality.

It's mostly not for "green" reasons. It's for government budget reasons.

I don't agree with the taxation on driving at all. It should be made cheap. Would increase the productivity, social and economic mobility of people and business competitiveness by fuckloads.