Date:         Sat, 1 Jan 2005 17:20:19 +1300
Reply-To:     Andrew Grebneff <andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Andrew Grebneff <andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ>
Subject:      Re: On cars (NVC)
In-Reply-To:  <ED310C2E-5B9D-11D9-A6F4-000A95D4810A@mac.com>
Content-type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii

>It was my and my friend's opinion that the automotive designers (for
>the most part) have lost their collective minds. There are a lot of
>ugly cars out there.


>Mitsubishi used to have some nicely looking cars. I think their designs
>have been watching too much japanimae.

This happened over a year ago... Mitsubishi's front-ends have become
hideous (matching their engine reliability?) and Nissans are hideous
period. Shapes have become highly impractical too... narrowed butts
mean seriously compromised trunk space as well as peculiar
proportions; sharply-sloped tailgates mean effectively thirded room
in hatches and up to half down in wagons (that's the malign European
"touring wagon" influence). Most Toyotas used to have ideal
proportions... now they're also ugly.

>The Maybach. What ugliness unlimited money will buy.

Pandering to those with unlimited lack in taste. And heck... lookit
all them Bosch electronics just WAITIN' to go wrong.

>The Bentley. What were they thinking? Performance at the sacrifice of
>comfort?

You'll have to ask VW about that one...

>On the lower end, the Hyundai's are very nice. Decent looking,
>surprisingly well appointed, and very low prices.

They have improved dramatically... though most Hyundais still handle
like a stick in thick porridge... just right for the US market (hee
hee).

>
>VW did not have the VR32 on display, nor for that matter a vr6 GTI
>(only the 1.8T GTI). They also didn't display the 5th generation Golf
>(fortunately in my opinion, as I feel future sales will suffer on that
>design.)

VW dropped the VR desigation a few years ago. There's the Golf R32,
and there has been no VR6 for a couple of years or more.

>Mercedes S class had the nicest seats. Most of the other Mercedes have
>very good seats, it was just that the S class was noticably better in
>that department.

A seat is only good if it holds you firmly in place in hard
cornering. you cannot tell by looking... most seats which appear to
have substantial bolstering... the so-called bolsters are soft and
collapse as soon as you lean on them! Of course a seat must be
comfortable too. You cannot tell by just looking at them; you have to
grab a bolster and wrench on it... hard. and comfort... only a long
drive (well over 400km) will tell you if you're going to have bruises
after 1000km in the seat (don't ask how I know).

>The Saab 9-2x does not have as good seats as it's kissing cousin the
>Subaru WRX.

It's not a couisin... it IS an Impreza. All GM does is buy them from
Fuji, move them to Europe and screw/glue Saab badges onto them.
Prest... all-new model!

>The lower end Volvos (V40?) have very swedish interiors. Clean
>functional, and a little IKEAish. The higher end ones seem to have been
>infected with North Americanism and their interiors looks like any iron
>out of Detroit. That's a pity.

And the usual Volvo truck handling. Heavy truck, that is.

>Speaking of electric motors...My friend was gathering info (for his
>wife) on the Hybrid vehicles. Ford Escape hybrid was on a pedestal and
>unavailable for inspection. Sucks.

A Mazda with Frod badges...



--
Andrew Grebneff
Dunedin
New Zealand
Fossil preparator
<andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut