"Foreign" cars get vandalized in detroit area

[thedguy]

That may be true in California, but here on the east coast (the smart coast I call it) You'll be lucky to see any 80's Japanese car, and usually when you do it's a piece of shit. I've see G-body Cutlass's and Monte Carlos in better shape than their equally old japanese econo-boxes.

American cars seem to never want to die, doesn't mean they'll ever run right either. Japanese didn't understand the concept of rust proofing until the early-mid 90's.

California AND a BMW driver, can't say I'm surprised you said something that stupid.

This will be hard for a BMW californian like yourself to understand, but 'think' a little bit before you post.

Hey! He doesn't represent us all. He is from Irvine after all. Most important thing to people in the south part of Orange County is living above their means and showing off money they don't have. I've been to more stores down there that won't take credit cards/checks because they bounce so much.

The fact that he drives a the first year run of an e36 chassis only makes it even funnier. At least it's not a 318ti :lol:

One point I always make to my friends is that at least here in California, there are barely any cars that are left on the roads from the 90's let alone older or even recent American models. That's because almost all the cars from the 90's and beyond with the exception of rare classic muscle cars, have already broken down or people have traded them in for more reliable and well built cars. American's aren't as stupid as the manufacturers think we are and if people know or have experienced a car that can't even last 10 years, that does not make for repeat business unless were talking about blind stupid rednecks, which unfortunately there are too many of in this country. I swear if your driving on the highways today, you'll see a sea of japanese and euro imports many of which are still around from the 80's and 90's. You can still find honda civics and toyota corollas from the 70's fairly often. jeez and i wonder why American cars are struggling.

You need to open those eyes my friend, or take a drive 10 miles up I5. I promise you'll see a lot of 80's Americana, some 70's and a fair bit of 90's Fords. Then throw in the SUV's and it's a decent balance. Problem is the Big 3 didn't really cater to anyone who still wanted a regular car, so anyone left willing to buy a American was forced to go Japanese, or in the image obsessed south Orange County, Euro trash.

I wonder how long till I hit a neg rep for this post. Anyone who does, do me a favor and leave a time stamp with your time zone please.

 

[shw]

For example, ford builds high quality consumer vehicles like the mondeo, fiesta and euro focus overseas

Hmm..
My first car was an "Euro Fiesta" and it was the worst car ever made anywere!

I wonder why the american goverment don't let these companies roll over and die to let others have a go at it. This is how it worked before, but nowdays everyone need's to be saved.

 

[freeferrarisdonotexist]

As someone who has driven a lot of cars here and in the US- There is crap from all brands (though i have observed some fairly crap-free years in Porsche, Mazda, UK Ford, and Toyota). But Japanese crap still runs, and Euro-crap still handles (excepting the Smart), and Ameri-crap doesn't do anything. Also, I have seen many more American- or American-branded- cars which are very bad than Japanese or Euro cars.

 

[thedguy]

Hmm..
My first car was an "Euro Fiesta" and it was the worst car ever made anywere!

I wonder why the american goverment don't let these companies roll over and die to let others have a go at it. This is how it worked before, but nowdays everyone need's to be saved.

Ford seems to be holding itself up so far. And considering their cars are actually starting to seem appealing, I'd say they finally understand how capitalism works when you can't use Jingoism and brute force to get your money.

 

[Ezbok58a]

That's something GM and Chrysler need to learn and learn fast.

I can drive around the block right now and I'll see 6 80s American cars still running like they were brand new...


Appart from the missing Grilles on the G-body Cutlass, the missing door moldings on the 88 Grand Marquis, and the rust on the Delta 88.

80's American Iron just refuses to die. Which is odd because they weren't good cars to begin with, yet they just won't take no for an answer...

 

[BlaRo]

American cars run badly for longer than Japanese cars run. That's the saying, isn't it?

 

[Spectre]

That's something GM and Chrysler need to learn and learn fast.

I can drive around the block right now and I'll see 6 80s American cars still running like they were brand new...


Appart from the missing Grilles on the G-body Cutlass, the missing door moldings on the 88 Grand Marquis, and the rust on the Delta 88.

80's American Iron just refuses to die. Which is odd because they weren't good cars to begin with, yet they just won't take no for an answer...

What you're seeing is the few individual cars that were put together properly and haven't reached terminal mileage yet. Up north, where you have snow, rust is a huge factor too. People drive their cars less up North and East as well.

Down South and out West, we don't have rust as an issue, so all the old American cars reached terminal mileage years ago and all the Japanese cars are still running their odometers up.

 

[thedguy]

Down South and out West, we don't have rust as an issue, so all the old American cars reached terminal mileage years ago and all the Japanese cars are still running their odometers up.

Except there is more 80's and older American on the road than 80's and older Japanese out here. I spend enough time on the roads all over the LA metro area to notice these things. Even the venerable Toyota R engined cars are falling off the roads.

My dad had a 77 buick regal that was rusted all to hell (7 different shades, holes in the B pillars and 1 in the trunk so large a big dog could go through it and not touch the edges). The steering column was loose, all the wheel bearings were bad, the rear end had a whine to it, and the automatic shifted smoothly and reliably. The v8 ran like a champ.

No one in my family has ever had a chrysler product leave us stranded, we were always able to come up with a way to get it home. Hell my dad wrecked his 92 caravan 3.3 v6 last week. Drove it 20 miles with no belts on it. He couldn't tell until he pulled up to the front of the house and the volt meter dropped below 12v. It's also got 204k miles on it. Funny enough, more people in my family have been left completely stranded by well cared for Japanese cars, than beat up American stuff.

The only American cars I don't see on the roads anymore are the cavaliers (I saw my first one in 6 months today), and much of the other various small FWD crap that wasn't engineered to last. Much of the big iron still seems to be running around, at the dismay of the environmentalists.

America seems to have forgotten how to engineer tough cars that are easy to fix, trading that for a mix of japanese and euro reliability (japanese "never leave you stranded regardless of how well maintained it is" mixed with European "we can't keep the small, expensive stuff working for more than 6 months at a time").

Spectre: sometimes I wonder if the Big 3 and UAW came to your home as a child and made you play games Michael Jackson had a fondness for.

 

[Spectre]

Strange. I guess I'll have to get dad to set up another dash cam on stepmom's PT Cruiser to see what's on her daily drive. Last I was out there, it was definitely not that way, and the last dash cam vid he sent me showed mostly imports on the roads, of the 80s cars that is.

Then again... the state *has* been actively paying for and crushing older cars that don't meet smog - and those who own the 80s American products are more likely to be given a waiver (because they're poor) or just pass since the smog targets for them were much more lenient.

 

[awdrifter]

The problem with importing Mondeos, Euro Focus and Fiesta is the cost right? A Mondeo cost as much as a 3 series, the main stream consumers can't afford a $40-50k family sedan, so they have to make the cars cheaper.

 

[Spectre]

Over here, the last time a Mondeo was sold on the market it was about half of what the 3 series started at.

 

[Hemily]

i have a 80's USDM car, and i can't really complain about much else than the handling, it IS a Buick afterall
there's a bit of rust under the roof rack stuff, and the typical spots, like lower pars of the doors, and the rear part of the frame, now, if i look over at a Japanese car from 1980, you find some gems, but they're getting rare, which really is a shame i'd love a 70's or early 80's JDM car, fix the body, lower it and slap on 13" rims, but honsetly, it's easyer to find a 80's USDM car, EUDM however, is everywhere, you can't get rid of those

now, compare to modern cars, JDM and EUDM is everywhere, USDM is so badly made, people are ashamed to drive one.
you might see on or another Daewo... err.. i mean Chevrolet, but can you really call that USDM?

 

[Rokovak]

Over here, the last time a Mondeo was sold on the market it was about half of what the 3 series started at.

It also had about half the build quality of a 3 series, and that's no easy feat to accomplish.

 

[Ezbok58a]

What you're seeing is the few individual cars that were put together properly and haven't reached terminal mileage yet. Up north, where you have snow, rust is a huge factor too. People drive their cars less up North and East as well.

Down South and out West, we don't have rust as an issue, so all the old American cars reached terminal mileage years ago and all the Japanese cars are still running their odometers up.

I highly doubt that GM, Ford and Chrysler made so many properly assembled cars in this area that haven't hit terminal mileage yet.

Work is also a stroll down memory lane. B-body Caprices, Grand Marquis, the large Buick sedans...at least 6 pre-93 Ford Tauruses...

Many of those beat to all hell, yet all run perfectly fine. Its the 80's imports that die in this area...

New years even consisted of destroying several sub 200 vehicles for me. What were the first cars to die and bow out? 80s Acura integra, Nissan 200SX, a 240SX a 92 Diamante...the only import that was still running was the mid 90's Geo Storm (which is a Corolla)

Couldn't kill the 91 Deville, the 90 Taurus, the 97 Taurus, the two Buick Regals and a Turbodiesel Mercedes (cracked and crushed oil pan took it out of the game later though)....

Even up here, the used and abused american iron from the forgetable times of the 80s-90s will not go quietly into the night.

 

[teeb]

The problem with importing Mondeos, Euro Focus and Fiesta is the cost right?

Wait 6 months until the pound equals the dollar, then you can import fifteen Mondeos for the price of a Whopper.

 

[hajj]

Wait 6 months until the pound equals the dollar, then you can import fifteen Mondeos for the price of a Whopper.

Won't make a difference since it is made in Belgium.

 

[teeb]

Won't make a difference since it is made in Belgium.

...from waffles?

context : for many years, a fizzy drink used the tagline "Made in Scotland, from girders".

 

[bartboy9891]

Over here, the last time a Mondeo was sold on the market it was about half of what the 3 series started at.

The Mondeo has moved upmarket since then and the higher spec probably costs the same as one of the entry level 3-series (not sold in the US).

 

[AiR]

A Titanium trimmed Mondeo is around what a 320i starts out at. Remember thats BMW-speak for "doesnt come with anything at all". I'm suprised the wheels are included.

 

[GM_IV]

American cars seem to never want to die, doesn't mean they'll ever run right either. Japanese didn't understand the concept of rust proofing until the early-mid 90's.

I wouldn't exactly say that was so, mid 80s was when they seemed to get it, unless they did something different in the US. The Toronto area is probably one of the most salted places you could go to during the winter. Any car with poor rust proofing would have died very quickly ie. Hyundai Excels. My dad's Pontiac Phoenix corroded from the inside after 6 years of very light driving, that's how quickly cars rust here due to poor engineering or poor rust proofing.

There are still several 1980s Japanese cars running most with minor rust around the obvious areas(some with holes of course). Even the very cheap Tercels seemed to have survived. My car didn't have noticeable rust until my dad stopped the dealer rust proofing after age 10. The 1970s Japanese cars on the other hand are mostly extinct, they corroded very badly.

Of all the 1980s cars on the roads here even as daily drivers the vast majority of them are Japanese. Go to any pizza store here, you're likely to find a 1980s Japanese car as one of the delivery cars.