Cars from your country

[mtpanorama]

After posting the picture of my next car and recieving some bad comments about it, I thought i would start a post where people could post a picture of the top selling car from there country and we could see the different styles and tastes from around the world. Now we dont want to see the upmarket or sports model(unless it is the most popular) just the run of the mill poverty pack.

Here in australia the two that fight it out for top spot are the Ford Falcon, 4.0litre straight six large family car(roughly the size of a 5 series bmw) which is the first picture. The grey car.

http://www.ford.com.au/resources/ima...ight_small.jpg

[mtpanorama]

The second car is the Holden Commodore. 3.8litre v6. Same size as the falcon

[Sharky]

The Renault Megane (available in 1.4 and 1.6L engines) and the Opel Corsa (sold as Chevrolet Corsa) which I'm sure everybody knows.

[KC]

The no 1 selling ca rin North America right now according tot eh Detroit News is...

The Ford Focus



Ford is also saying thatthe Focus is poised to becoem the number one selling car worldwide very soon. BTW, I own a Kona Focus ZX3.

[Bononi]

Ok, here's the top 3 in Brazil;

Chrysler Stratus

[Bononi]

2 - Honda Accord

[Bononi]

3 - FIAT Marea

[Regs]

Nice looking cars all! In the end, what are you looking for versus what you money can get you. I'd go with the BMW if you can afford it. I'd take the Ford over the GM here in the US. I don't know what the reputation of Holden is. I know it's GM in Oz though. Here GM are rather vanilla for the most part. The Holden reminds me of the Pontiac. And whoever designed the new Pontiac "Aztec" SUV should be fired and banned from buying art supplies. I saw the Renault and FIAT cars and I wonder why they choose to, along with Peugot take a pass on the American market? I think they would do well here. Any way good luck with choosing.

[Sharky]

Actually it's been tried before Regs but with no fortune. Some 15 year ago Renault tried to enter the North American market with the Renault Bacarat (if I'm not mistaken) which was nothing but a slightly different Renault 21 but the whole proyect was a complete disaster. The car failed miseraby and that was enough to keep any further incursions by french manufacturers in the US market. And if i'm not mistaken Dodge tried something similar in the european market at the same time but suffered the same fate. I think there was anothe Renault proyect in Canada with an "american version" of the Renault 25 which didn't do very well either.

The thing is that french manufacturers have a completely different approach to cars than their american counterparts and that approach doesn't seem to please the american public too much. In fact I'm quite surprised to hear you say that you like french cars. I thought that nobody there liked them. I recall in another forum someone from the UK posted a pic of a very nice Peugeot 306 but someone from the states said that it was one of the ugliest cars he'd ever seen and added (quote) "I hope I never have to live in a country where people have to drive cars like that". Of course he had even stronger comments about someone's Renault Fuego.

[elephino]

There is a very good reason for the Commodore looking like the Pontiac. No idea what exactly it is though If you've ever seen a photo of the two cars side by side, it is almost eery.

Renault are making a return to the Australian market after a dismal attempt with Volvo importing the cars (with almost no help from Renault and not much better from Volvo). Fiat are possibly returning. Rover have returned for about the 4th time and this time they are staying (according to the importer). And Mitsubishi (RalliArt really) are STILL trying to import the Evo6 Lancer.

[Regs]

I do remember, actually when Renault and Peugot did import. As well as FIAT. Alfa too. I know people used to complain that they weren't reliable. And, 20 years ago the designs were more utilitarian and basic. So was the Toyota at the time but it had the reliability and the marketing behind it. I think, at that time marketing was a weak point with both the French and Italian manufacturers. We get a great show here, produced in Europe called "M". Its on sunday nights on "Speedvision". It reviews all the latest offerings from around Europe and I see lots of fantastic ideas and designs. I like what the French are doing. I think they're current designs attractive and practical. Exciting for some models. I like they're use of technology. Same for FIAT. Yes, they would certinly face a marketing challenge to change popular folk memeory of bad electiclal systems and other qualitative gremlins. But that was then and this is now.Its all in the marketing, and how they approach the market here. One thiing is for sure, they'll have to use an agressive approach. Korean manufacturers have entered and done very well. Perhaps some of you who do have these cars could tell me how they're doing these days. Has quality and reliability gone up? Do you find the designs produced iteresting and attractive? How about performance? As for the other persons comments, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I'd be curious as to what they're tastes are. And I don't consider the current Chevy Malibu anything spectacular.

[Sharky]

Well. I own a peugeot 205. I have absolutely no complains about the car and even if I had I would forgive the car thanks to it's great fuel economy. The only thing is that it's a 15 year old design but I like it.....although the 206 it's very nice. My mom own a Renault Twingo and I must say the car is pretty amazing. From the outside it seems like a car made for "little people" but once you go inside the space is huge. And it's very functional so you can move the seats in a number of ways to make as much room as you need. On christmas we traveled with my uncles and cousins and we used a Renault 19, a Renault 21, A renault 9, A mazda 323 coupe and a Mazda Protege and the twingo and it was the twingo which managed to carry more stuff than any of the other cars. Some people complain about the car's looks though but you "learn" to like them. My dad has a Renault 19 RSi. Very nice performance and comfortable although the fuel economy isn't the best.

As for fiats. They where assembled over here some 15 years ago. My dad bought a Fiat Mirafiori which didn't turn out to be a bad car but it was already "burning oil" at 80.000km. And my mom bough a used Fiat 147 which was without a doubt the worst car we've ever bought. We had it for 6 months or so and it that time we had to repair the engine several times and change the gearbox just to name a couple of things. Then they started importing Fiats Uno from venezuela some 8 years ago with more or less the same problem and then the factory in Venezuela closed. However I have a friend that live many years in Uruguay and he tells me that the argentinian Fiats Uno were very reliable over there and that it was one of the best loved cars over there.

[KC]

The Holden Commodore and Pontiac Bonneville probably share the same basic chassis as they are both satellite companies of General Motors.

I remember the Fiat X19 mid-engine car. A girl I went to high school had one. It was a pretty terrible car, requiring constant maintenance. Fiat, Triumph, MG, Austin-Healey, Maserati, Peugeot, Alfa Romeo, and Citroen all used to imported to America, but suffered greatly on several issues. Americans were used to decades of large and powerful sedans and coupes. When the European imports came to America they were typical of the cars found in Europe. They were small coupes and sedans typically with small displacement four cylinder engines. In a torque-crazy car buying society, the four cylinder cars felt sluggish and far too small to mix in the traffic with 4500 pound land yachts. A good many service men sought out some of their favorite European cars after spending time in stationed in Europe. The MGs, Triumphs and Austin Healeys became very popular with the burgeoning sports car crowd. However, the other issue at stake was price. The small sporty cars from Europe were at times more expensive than the larger and seemingly more practical sedans made in America. Since gasoline prices were not an issue at the time, there was not any incentive to purchase what was viewed as too small, too slow, too expensive and unreliable cars.

[Orange]

Well, a rumor has it, that one of the big 3 corporations has bought into part of Fiat, so at some point in the undefined future, we may see Alfa Romeos back in the USA!!! I cant wait.... Actually, I'd rather just buy one of those stunning looking 1970's GTVs!! mmmmmmmmm......

[Regs]

It was GM. What that means for either company I'm not sure.

[elephino]

It isn't a rumour, it is infact old news. Fiat and GM swapped some stock essentially.

Holden may be building engines for GM worldwide, including Alfa.

[EERO]

I damn well would like to see ALFA Romeo and Peugeot back in the States.

In the Boston area, VW has just about taken over in the past two years. I have both a new Golf and new Passat Wagon. Passats and Jettas, (Boras in Europe) are everywhere. Every single woman in Boston between the ages of 25-35 has a silver or black Jetta. New Beetles are becoming so ubiquitous that the novelty has worn off. Volvos, the former official car of the Peoples Republic of Cambridge is being swept into obscurity by high prices and hideous redesigns.

[Ray Bell]

Peugeot's modern-day offerings leave me wondering... loving the marque as I do, mainly for their reliability and ride qualities, and the handling that comes along with that, I like the move to alloy engines and overhead cams..

But they're all front wheel drive!

I stick to my rear wheel drive Pugs, maybe I'll get an alloy engine one day.

There are immense numbers of really nice cars available these days... just too many to choose, really, but I will never choose on appearances... except when I finally get a 504 coupe...

[Ray Bell]

...as you can tell...