How is it?
Asian cars - teens to twenties
American - 30's to 50's
European - 60's to grave

If I recall there was a big lawsuit over the Acura NSX by the owners because the tires were wearing out within 3-5 thousand miles.

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/02...omes-under-fire.html

Here it is. Sometimes my memory actually does recall things.

There was only one thing that bothered me about the NSX. It had bold, exotic looks, it performed well, it was evidently reliable, and it was powered by a decisively, not exotic, normally aspirated V-6. Not knocking the power it produced, but feel they put a very pedestrian powerplant in it.

Agreed, a V8 was the only thing it was missing.... It would definitively not be my choice of car today, there are much better things for a price, although you can get them very inexpensively these days......

I would still prefer relatively new a bmw 325 convertible to an old NSX...

I love how a decently priced, reliable exotic car gets labeled as "lacking soul" as if possessing a soul necessitates that a car must require expensive 10K mile tune-ups, leak oil, and/or cost $300K USD.

Frankly, I think the middle ground between these two extremes is found in the Lotus Elise. Just enough "soul" to be exotic...but just enough reliability to be practical...and you cannot beat the performance/price ratio!

Interesting comment tendrams! There is a company "World Motors" or something like that In Jax. They sell used cars like Jags, Bentleys, Mercs. etc and are also (I believe) the local Lotus dealer. They have routine maintenance prices for Lotus cars posted in their maintenance shop, and the prices are high! I have had other vehicles serviced there and their prices seem quite reasonable, so, I am not sure why Lotus prices would be high unless the maintenance takes more time. Now, if you know of a Lotus 7 for sale, please let me know.
Peter.

I think the perception of japanese cars is that they lack originality. They are refiners of the first order, but somewhat less than visceral in the feelings they stir.

Lexus pretty much expressed the japanese automotive bent with the old ad slogan "the relentless pursuit of perfection..." They do not tolerate quirks, and they are totally unable to resist gadgetry.

tendrams,

the word you are looking for is individuality. The japanese are cookie cutter designs.

The Nissan GTR is the prime example of how to take a rocket ship and imbue it with all the panache of a schoolbus.

The one japanese vehicle I really thought was amazing was the CBX motorcycle. They had a mad howling shriek of an exhaust system, and a presence.

Now you know why people buy Harley-Davidsons and Ducatis.

Rich

quote:

They are refiners of the first order

That was the original view of Japenese products (50 years ago) eg. the copies of the Hasselblad cameras, etc. Then they showed up at the Isle of Man TT with the Honda Super Dream and kicked ass. Their 250 bikes were almost as fast as the European 500cc bikes! British engineers took a bike apart and said "they are built like a sewing machine"! They have never looked back. And, I am sorry to say that I have NO idea why anyone would buy a Herley Davidson!!! Ducati maybe. Moto Guzzi maybe. But HD...no idea!
BTW I have a Lexus ES330 and I LOVE it!
Peter.

A couple of quotes:

One from a long time motorcycle rider.
"Anyone that rides a Harley doesn't care about speed or comfort."

The second a former owner of a Jaguar
"Crap with class"