Japanese or German?

merlin · 3 Feb 2006 at 14:06

Who makes the best cars?

Bear in mind/consider whatever you damn well want when deciding who's the best - but as a guide - things such as price, performance, variety, design, prestige, build & materials quality, safety, residuals, maybe even fuel economy.

I'd like to suggest that German cars are, on the whole.....a bit of a rip off.

touch paper lit, stand well back everyone

233 · 3 Feb 2006 at 14:08

nope love my audi

merlin · 3 Feb 2006 at 14:08

Maybe after the bare knuckle fist fight has finished - we could have a poll?

:cool:

vanpeebles · 3 Feb 2006 at 14:09

japan for the win

merlin · 3 Feb 2006 at 14:10

sormicoft said:
nope love my audi

Cool.

Which model is it?

Let's see if we can replace it with something better, that came from Japan.

kaiowas · 3 Feb 2006 at 14:10

Neither. It's an unanswerable question. They both produce good cars and they both produce rubbish cars.

Mad old tory · 3 Feb 2006 at 14:11

I guess it depends what you're after really. Big German saloons are, imo, streets ahead of their Japanese equivalents including Lexus. Sports cars is a different matter entirely until you get to 911 prices though.

knowlesy · 3 Feb 2006 at 14:12

tough very tough ...but i gotta say germany as bmw was a sweet drive

merlin · 3 Feb 2006 at 14:12

kaiowas said:
Neither. It's an unanswerable question. They both produce good cars and they both produce rubbish cars.

Yeah, but as luck would have it - the rubbish Japanese cars cost half of the rubbish German ones.

UKDTweak · 3 Feb 2006 at 14:12

Well, jap cars cost less, last just as long and manage to get more from a naturally aspirated engine without the need to add turbos etc.... as for prestige, i think thats just something to help make the mugs spend more on thier german cars.... rip off imho.
Jap for the win

Oracle · 3 Feb 2006 at 14:14

Its tough, obviously depending on manufacturer. I dont think you can honestly place the two sectors together.

IMO, i'd never rate BMW against Merc in the prestige stakes. I think that Merc just have the edge, BUT lower down the range, BMW and Merc are incredibly similar.

I see BMW as more performance orientated than Merc, and the Only Jap car manufacturer that I would place anywhere near these two is Lexus (which is Toyota).

There are no real eye catching beautiful Jap cars, (911 for instance, an icon thats stood the test of time), even the E46 M3 floats my boat.

So, in short i'm going to say German (lets be fair, you've got BM, Porsche, Merc, Audi) >>>>>>> than any Japanese car with stick on tat!!

Mad old tory · 3 Feb 2006 at 14:15

the last RX7 is most definately a beautiful car. Skylines aren't beautiful as such, but they have a real presence by looking as mean as hell

233 · 3 Feb 2006 at 14:16

The a4 is a 1.9tdi avant running some modded managment a few more psi of boost and some stainless pipework from the downpipe back :

circa 180 horses and a bucketload of torque

merlin · 3 Feb 2006 at 14:17

Oracle said:
There are no real eye catching beautiful Jap cars,

Pretty eye catching and beautiful imo :cool:

Hate · 3 Feb 2006 at 14:18

I love my jap cars

lemonkettaz · 3 Feb 2006 at 14:18

germans....

the japs fill it with gadgets...

the germans build cars for performance and the engineering is pure quality.

Oracle · 3 Feb 2006 at 14:21

merlin said:
Pretty eye catching and beautiful imo

And plauged with faults!

RX7, yes nice looking car, but just doesnt tick all the right boxes! I also like the RX8, but again, something I cant quite put my finger on!

MrWhippy · 3 Feb 2006 at 14:22

if we're talking recent, japanese for reliability and build quality.
if we're talking 5 years old or more, german for style.

merlin · 3 Feb 2006 at 14:23

lemonkettaz said:
the germans build cars for performance and the engineering is pure quality.

Oracle · 3 Feb 2006 at 14:23

I find a lot of Japanese cars, the plastics inside (general trim) just makes me want to say 'EUROPE' to the nearest toilet!