550isport

This iss an odd post (as I sit here on hold long-distance). This morning a friend and I were talking about the new SRT cars and how, despite their objective strenghts, the ones we have sampled (300, Cherokee and Charger) remain pretty American in terms of the feel behind the wheel. I told him about my experience this past Thanksgiving weekend when I had reserved an Audi rental but there were none available and they gave me a 2006 Corvette convertible w/6 speed auto and paddles on the wheel instead. My wife was scared to death of riding in the thing. BTW my wife drives our X5 and she really is a smooth and fast driver by any measure. She learned to drive in Sao Paulo Brazil. So, a day later we got a call from Hertz that the Audi A4 cabrio we reserved was back in and we returned the vette immediately. Going from the vette to the Audi was like ditching a warm water bottle off your bike for an ice cold Coke in a frosty glass bottle. What a relief. So in my book, power alone only does so much to make a car fun. But lets get back to the original question...why is it that the euros build cars (even their economy cars) that have that certain feeling that even Corvettes and SRTs arguably lack?

My friend had an interesting answer this morning. He suggested that European society generally accepts the reality of high speed automotive travel. Thus their engineers plan on it and their cars are accordingly designed to accomodate sustained high speed travel (over say 90 mph). So he argued, precision is necessary to get engines, brakes, suspensions etc... to safely function at higher speeds. In essence, he is asserting that this precision gives rise to a feeling of superior build quality and ride quality in euro cars but is in fact merely a necessary byproduct of their ability to maintain higher average speeds.

I never though of it that way. I just assumed American cars were cheap and the design budgets were very small. Maybe its a little of both?

Any thoughts on this topic??

ImolaRedM

I would agree with both. American cars are built for mass market appeal. Until recently there was little desire to build for niche markets. (Marketing driven mentality). That's not to say that BMW or other EU brands don't do the same. I just think that part of the formula isn't as big there as it is here.

The other piece you need to look no further than Wal-Mart. I know that sounds odd but for some reason that retail giant of junk has done very well in the US (and elsewhere). One market they failed at was Germany. Care to guess why?

LowOrbit

I think one of the key drivers is that American car companies are run by bean counters vs. engineers. Piech at Audi was an engineer and he drove the development of AWD, DSG and many other innovations. Before Lexus showed up, MB engineers had zero cost constraints, just the goal of building the best car they could. GM on the other hand, has not had a real innovation in years (decades?) and all of its cars, including the $50K Corvette, have cheap interiors.

Also, the fact that American car companies are focused on selling to Americans has hurt them. Lets face it, Americans for the most part do not appreciate precision, sophistication and quality as much as Europeans. This is evidenced by the predominance of tacky McMansions and low-tech SUVS and the popularity of NASCAR vs. F1.

my530i

Remember Germany or Europe countries have best automotive on planet earth. They rarely accept mediocre designs and technologies. They mostly tend to think more advanced than Japanese and American automotive engineers.
However, I've been told that US has the best businessmen in solar system . That's why German cars brought to US and they were sold like hot cakes

ImolaRedM

I wouldn't go that far. Remember Lucas is from the UK (part of Europe) or maybe you've never owned a British car with a Lucas electrical system. Then there's the low end Spanish, French and Italian cars.

Ricracing

Not a bad question.

I looked at a local TV car program yesterday where they did do a good testdrive
with the new Grand Cherokee SRT8.

Fast and nice it was but the gas consumption was not of this world.
Even if Mercedes has a lot to do with the Chryslers these day, I would say
that Europeans do not thrust the US car quality nor like the monsterous engines (gas consuption).

For the racing aspect I must say that Indy or ITC (and etc) is not closely so high-tech as the Formula1.

But the main reason, I think, is that the US of A has been built on nice highways and a car culture witch
is very differant from the European one.
Overhere the public transportation is pretty good and the infrasturcture has not been built for cars.
Most European citys has been arcitechtured in the 15 - 17th centuries.

The car culture don't come cheap in Europe, so the cars has to be so good on small curvy roads.
But on the other hand, the free speeds on German highways, has lead to this +300 km/h car manufactures race...

Just my two euro cents...

dlevi67

Without market research this is only speculation (just wait for ABC's post pointing this out...)

However - as no-one has ever been killed for posting opinions about cars on a board yet - I suspect much of it is to do with demand. Most US posters - even here - seem to be obsessed with straight line performance, rather than handling and refinement.

LowOrbit

ZNod, any comments on this?

KAF

American cars were built for American roads, long, straight, 55mph speed limits, good surfaces.

So they have soft suspension because they are not driven around winding roads.

American Bikes have the same reputation, Harleys are big and soft, but as far as Europeans are concerned, do not go round corners very well.

That is the motoring heritage of the USA.

European cars and bikes were designed for higher speed roads like German autobahns, twisty mountain roads, like Alfa's in Italy.

This is the European motoring heritage.

Now I know you can teach an old dog new tricks but, it takes time and the dog needs a reason to learn it.

There is till no cause or demand for American designed cars for the mass market to be designed the way the Europeans are.

subterFUSE

The biggest problem which faces American car companies is labor unions. They have a stranglehold on the industry, and make costs skyrocket. GM, for example, must dish out $1400 or more from every vehicle sold just to pay for healthcare for the workers. With so much cost in production being wasted on union benefits, it leaves little room to be engineering better cars.

Besides.... at this point, it is about brand identity. I will never buy an American car, period. I know they suck. I know they always will suck. I won't even look at one. So it doesn't really matter what they do, I won't buy it.