Why so anti-US biased?

^ Swings and roundabouts - they do not pay for stuff that you have to - they (we are similar but to a lesser extent) get lots of support for the 'weaker' members of society - which is mostly good - not completely tho'.
 
Do you even watch TG? Alot of the cars I've seen them review from America end up being around the same price or higher than the cars they already have, but are cheaply built and just can't really be compared to their cars. The only real exception I can think of right off hand is the Corvette, high performance, way cheaper than the Ferrari they compared it to. I don't know, maybe I'm watching a different TG than you are.


Unlike most members of this forum, i learned something about cars from a source OTHER than top gear.... Crazy i know! :lol:
 
You can't just compare prices on cars. Fed min wage in the US is $5.15 an hour....what's the minium wage across the pond?
 
I was doing some reading on your lovely country, you guys are taxed out the ass, even compared to many European countries. I don't know how you guys stand taxes that can and will more than double the price of a car.
We cope. A part from the taxes on booze, tobacco and cars, somewhat strict laws on driving, the way you can drive, what needs to get a car on the road, Norway's a pretty nice country to live in. I mean, there ARE more important things in life than cheap booze, tobacco and cars.

At least for me. Even though I enjoy driving, I enjoy whisky (although not at the same time), my smokeless tobacco and so on.

You can't just compare prices on cars. Fed min wage in the US is $5.15 an hour....what's the minium wage across the pond?
That is a very good point. For the US, it's quite relevant. I'm note sure, but I think it would be common to live on 100.000 NOK wage a year? My Google.com tells me that's about $18k? Don't know if that's right, but if you're employed in Norway, you'll be making a lot more than that.

But cars are still expensive here. More interestingly, you could compare Norway to Sweden. Hop over the border, and the prize of a new car is halfed. And they don't make a lot less money compared to us. But their tax system IS based on the fact that they produce cars, and have done for years. Only car we make, is the Th!nk, that little electric car they raced against fat Jason.

But what the heck. We have B E A U T I F U L nature, and that's nice, isn't it?

Try going south-north-south on the coastal express. Supposedly, it's a jolly nice travel.
 
I mean, there ARE more important things in life than cheap booze, tobacco and cars.

WHAT WHAT WHAAAT?




(So, if Swedish cars are so cheap, what stops you from taking a little trip to Sweden and driving back with your 50% off car?)
 
WHAT WHAT WHAAAT?




(So, if Swedish cars are so cheap, what stops you from taking a little trip to Sweden and driving back with your 50% off car?)

same reason you can't go to mexico and do the same thing
 
I actually have no idea why i dont do that, i've always wanted one of those knockoff mexican beatles?


I suppose my main concern would be build quality, is that how it is with Sweden?
 
I honestly love TG, I don't know if they are still showing it here in the US. I used to see it over here and I thought it was hysterical, if I didn't I wouldn't be typing this. But they always show off every other countries supercars, why can't they show off the best of the US. I sure Steve Saleen wouldn't be opposed to this knowing more rich folks in Europe might start buying them.
To Janstett: There are still powerful cars still being sold in the US, Pontiac Grand Prix and Bonneville GXP, Chevrolet Impala and Monte Carlo SS, Dodge 300C and Chargers and Magnums, all these have V8s ain't nothing wrong with that.
 
So, would you all concede that the cars are not poor, but due to an expensive tax system (which is no fault of any American car company) they are sold far over the intended price tag that they were built for?

No, not really. You can't really shift the blame for American car build quality all onto the British and EU taxation system (even if it does tax the $hit out of us). If a company builds a $hit car, it's a $hit car, there's no other way of looking at it and no one else to blame.

Obviously American car manufacturers have had success in the UK market, after all Fords are probably the best selling cars in the UK (over an extended period of time). The obvious key to their success is all their best sellers have been designed, built and engineered largely by Brits.

There's a lesson to be learnt there.
 
If a company builds a $hit car, it's a $hit car

But all cars are not created equil, a car sold for $20,000 will have lower expectations than a car sold for $50,000.


Cars very rarely actually suck (The Chevrolet Cavalier springs to mind), but some are overpriced.


If you sold me a moped motor with bike wheels and a lawn chair for $20, it wouldn't be a crappy car at all, it would be awesome! :D Sell it to me for $10,000 and suddenly its a crap car.
 
American cars are very cheaply built. My parents don't buy anything other than GM cars (currently, a 1997 Chevrolet Blazer and a 2007 Pontiac Montana SV6). The build quality is very disappointing. The brand new Pontiac they bought had several problems the first day it was brought home. One of the door handles wasn't even mounted properly. I can't convince them to stop buying American cars, because they love the cheap initial value of them...even when I try to tell them that in the long run they are paying much more.

European cars may have better build quality, but this doesn't help their reliability. And before you start thinking I don't know anything about European cars, 3 of my closest 6 friends drive VWs (02 Golf 2.0, 01 GTI 1.8t, 02 Jetta 1.8t) and all have had electrical problems and 2 of them have had suspension problems. I also have a friend who drives a Mercedes e500, which had electrical problems in the dash. And another of my friends works at BMW of Toronto right off of the Gardiner Expressway and highway 404 (those who aren't familiar with the area, this is downtown Toronto) and he tells me many horror stories with both the BMWs and the Mini Coopers (because they sell both).

This is why I buy Japanese. My 2000 Honda Civic has 156000 km on it, and all I've done is scheduled maintenance like oil changes, water pump and timing belt.


EDIT: Oh, and my friend's dad's Jaguar XKR had engine problems.
 
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Why so anti-US biased?

Who gives a damn.. I don't see English viewers (who pay for it) phoning up and complaining to the BBC about it :p:lol:

Long let it continue :D
 
(So, if Swedish cars are so cheap, what stops you from taking a little trip to Sweden and driving back with your 50% off car?)
Because you still pay the tax. Strictly speaking, cars are very cheap in Norway. At least when you look at what the firms are making, they pull the prices down on their side so the cars won't be TOO expensive.
 
But all cars are not created equil, a car sold for $20,000 will have lower expectations than a car sold for $50,000.

Yeah, but this is precisely the crux of the argument, here in the UK, the amount you'd have to pay for an American car renders it uncompetitive for the market place, it simply isn't good value for money. And it goes back to the original topic (which has been discussed to death on these forums), TG has a go at American cars largely for comedy value (yes, I absolutely love it when TG takes the piss out of America, sorry), but Jezza and the others are somewhat justified because the evidence is in the cars (or rather missing, so far as quality is concerned).
 
Regarding prices, I accidently have some figures at hand (yes, I am german! :mrgreen: )

In the US, a new standard C6 Corvette costs 45,075 US$. For the very same car, you pay 65,290 Euros in Germany, which equals 87,489 US$. Slight step up that...

For the maths cracks: that's 94,1% more!
 
Most of you anti-US can probably tell if Hammond shaved his balls.
 
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