What's an automotive brand or product everyone else loves, but you couldn't care less about?

maiaramdan

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Product: Honda Accord. I don't understand how and why some worship it as a sporty sedan.
You better come Russia

One of the biggest car enthusiast and mod cars in Russia is the CAMRY
 
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maiaramdan

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"Flame Suit On"

Toyota Avalon.....why did this exist when their exists an ES.
Vice versa honestly

Why the ES exist

Because of the ES we got the following
1) Ditching of the Avalon, GS & Mark-X
2) Crown turning to FF instead of FR

ES is the cancer of mid and full size TMC product line, keep saying it and will always be
 

mmcartalk

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Why the ES exists
Simple......because it sells. People like it. They have liked it ever since it was introduced some 32 years ago.





2) Crown turning to FF instead of FR
With all due respect, I don't see anything wrong with that. All else equal, FWD gives better space efficiency, no drive-shaft hump in the cabin, better winter traction, and better gas mileage due to lighter weight....at a cost of more uneven tire wear, torque-steer with a lot of throttle, and less-sharp steering response. In most driving situations, though, most of the time, the average driver won't notice the difference between FWD and RWD handling.
 

maiaramdan

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Simple......because it sells. People like it. They have liked it ever since it was introduced some 32 years ago.






With all due respect, I don't see anything wrong with that. All else equal, FWD gives better space efficiency, no drive-shaft hump in the cabin, better winter traction, and better gas mileage due to lighter weight....at a cost of more uneven tire wear, torque-steer with a lot of throttle, and less-sharp steering response. In most driving situations, though, most of the time, the average driver won't notice the difference between FWD and RWD handling.
Lexus started with LS and GS
Lexus started as a luxury driving enthusiast Japanese car maker
Lexus started with the i6 2JZ
Lexus started with 6 cylinder 2.0 IS
This is not Lexus
This is turning to be fancy Toyota other than LS & LC
Sorry sir, Lexus for me was about luxury enthusiast if someone wants a classic luxury he/she can go with Avalon, that's why they created Avalon as a Buick for those wants classic luxury and ditched Cressida, to give the way for sporty luxury newly born then Lexus
 
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I once test drove a Kia Stinger 2.0T imported from US. I was completely unimpressed. That car has the worst packaging ever. As large as a GS but less space than IS. It's completely impractical. The engine is neither smooth nor powerful and uses a lot of fuel. It is a lot slower than 330i and C300 and feels as slow as the IS300. The interior is garbage, flimsy start button and A/C switch. The auto brake hold system is unbearably slow and unresponsive. The blind spot monitor is useless, it only blinks and beeps when you are about to crash into someone. I have zero idea how the media consider it the best thing since sliced bread, like everywhere it gets 10/10. Is it just the value of the 3.3T model? Everyone says it's super fast and sporty and ignores it does 0-60 over half a second slower than the 340i.

Agreed.

I will say one thing. The Kia Stinger 3.3T has perfectly acceptable performance for what it is.

HOWEVER, it's just the BMW M340i that is an absolute monster. So to say that the Stinger 3.3T is half a second slower than the M340i, well yeah, almost everyone else is almost half a second slower, whether it be the Mercedes-AMG C43, Audi S4, etc.. Nothing can stack up against it. It's just that good.
 

Sulu

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I once test drove a Kia Stinger 2.0T imported from US. I was completely unimpressed. That car has the worst packaging ever. As large as a GS but less space than IS. It's completely impractical. The engine is neither smooth nor powerful and uses a lot of fuel. It is a lot slower than 330i and C300 and feels as slow as the IS300. The interior is garbage, flimsy start button and A/C switch. The auto brake hold system is unbearably slow and unresponsive. The blind spot monitor is useless, it only blinks and beeps when you are about to crash into someone. I have zero idea how the media consider it the best thing since sliced bread, like everywhere it gets 10/10. Is it just the value of the 3.3T model? Everyone says it's super fast and sporty and ignores it does 0-60 over half a second slower than the 340i.
To many enthusiasts -- and especially car mag writers -- it is "RWD good, FWD bad". Kia tried to take advantage of that with the RWD Stinger to prove that it could play with the big boys, that it is (much) more than just a builder of tiny, cheap, FWD econoboxes. All it needed was a RWD platform.

And now Mazda is out to try to prove the same with its imminent RWD models.
 

mmcartalk

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Lexus started with LS and GS

Incorrect. The first Lexus was the original LS400 in 1989/90, followed shortly by the ES250. So, FWD, with Lexus, is virtually as old as the brand itself.

Lexus started as a luxury driving enthusiast Japanese car maker

Again, incorrect. Lexus products started out primarily comfort-oriented, not enthusiast/handling/sport-oriented. That came later.
 
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maiaramdan

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@mmcartalk , I know about the ES250 but it was somehow in shadow in comparison to the most welcomed GS 300/400 knowing 1st GS sharing Engines with Supra the 3.0 and with SC as well as the chassis

Regarding comfort oriented even TMC was making the F1 project to be more agile than the future competition then A8, S, 7 & XJ and it was published in Europe as though, I still remembered the first 5 combo versus each other, and how they impressed with the LS handling, that said Toyota already said that it ditched the Cressida to make Lexus especially the GS as the spiritual successor in the mid sporty category
 

mmcartalk

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@mmcartalk , I know about the ES250 but it was somehow in shadow in comparison to the most welcomed GS 300/400 knowing 1st GS sharing Engines with Supra the 3.0 and with SC as well as the chassis

Regarding comfort oriented even TMC was making the F1 project to be more agile than the future competition then A8, S, 7 & XJ and it was published in Europe as though, I still remembered the first 5 combo versus each other, and how they impressed with the LS handling, that said Toyota already said that it ditched the Cressida to make Lexus especially the GS as the spiritual successor in the mid sporty category

I agree that the first GS models were a lot more popular than the original ES250. The problem with the original ES was that it was just too much like the Camry. Buyers could see that, went down the road to the Toyota shop, and simply bought a Camry for less money. The ES did not become more establish apart from the Camry until several years later.
 

Gor134

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Brand: Porsche. I know this is probably very unpopular, but I remember growing up and just thinking that Porsche cars never really changed and were always less exciting than comparable Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Aston Martins, and sometimes even Corvettes. Years later, now I come to realize that this is what people love about them - the consistency and heritage. But to me, paying $90k for a 911 or $250k for a car that looks the exact same has just never computed in my head. I have immense respect for Porsche engineering and product, but I would never spend the money to buy one because they just don't look special or exotic enough to me.

What about the rest of you?
See it's the opposite for me! I used to feel that way about Porsche until I looked at the cars for what they are, rather than what the brand's image is!

911 is basic because of how common it is, but to me it's the most unique sportcar on sale always as no other company offers a rear engine sports car, let alone one with a flat-six! That's my mindset that me change how I feel about the 911. And they just build solid cars all the time, albeit overpriced!

The product for me that I don't love it everyone loves is the 86/BRZ. For me, it just felt really uncomfortable, back seats are literally unusable, and not as good all round sportscar as the Miata. Lots of little compromises here and there in the name of "practicality" yet the car isn't practical by any means. And yes, it was slow AF. For backroads, the car has like no power going uphill

I sold mine and bought an Audi wagon that I use for the canyons and very soon going to track, and it feels more fun to me to drive this car in a way you wouldn't expect it, whereas a 86/BRZ you expect to handle well, you know.
 

LateToLexus

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Brand(s): Jeep, GMC, BMW, Buick, Jaguar/Land Rover, Lincoln, Cadillac, Infiniti

Product(s): See above

Reliability and vehicle quality not just on day 1 of ownership but also on day 5,000 of ownership is very important to me and why a lot of the brands above make my list. Seems this is not something most American and European luxury automakers focus on, and hence, why I'm a Lexus Enthusiast haha.

I understand people's love of Porsche far more than I do BMW.
 

carguy420

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Now this is a fun thread!

VW group in general, especially the fast Golfs, people on the internet and the typical journalists love to wax lyrical about the Golf GTI and R even though I think they are some of the most boring and overpriced(relative to their performance) hot hatchbacks ever made, especially the Mk8 with its ugly and boxy exterior(I thought we are no longer in the 1980s), the downgraded quality of the interior and the horribly unintuitive user interface. I'm fine Porsche's sports cars though, not my favourite but I admire the engineering that went into them.

A little message for Mercedes-Benz, more and bigger screens doesn't equal to more luxury, higher quality, fancier materials and design is the true luxury.

Ford is also right up there on this list, more marketing B.S. and paid reviews than actual substance, best example the Focus RS. Chrysler and its gagillion sub-brands basically just relies on blind fanboys, clueless consumers and "patriotic" Americans to stay alive, GM isn't much better IMO, but hey at least the track oriented versions of their performances cars are pretty impressive.

Of course, there's Tesla, I don't think I need to go any further than that.

The British car manufacturers except for Lotus, McLaren and Aston Martin, I couldn't care less about the other British car manufacturers outside of these 3.

Hyundai Kia Genesis, shiny on the surface but not so much underneath, I don't exactly know how to explain but they just give me a sort of tryhard vibe, maybe I'm just too biased against them or somethingšŸ˜‚.

Mitsubishi Motors, hoo boy, they are like an empty husk of their former self and I'm not even just talking about the Lancer Evolution, them as a whole has become like a zombie. Nissan Infiniti can join them too, oh wait they already did(Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance), honestly I'm still surprised at how many people on the internet still fanboy over Nissan, almost right up there with Honda. Speaking of Honda, how could I not put them this list, their quality and reliability has been constantly going down the drain, the general direction that Honda and Acura have been going ever since the start of the 21st century is just disappointing, they only have the Civic Type R left that has any true resemblance of passion in cars and driving, shame that the engine sounds like vacumm cleaner, RIP screaming vtek noises.
 

Smychavo

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Hmm, sure, I'll throw my hat into the ring, all in good fun after all. I see alot of reasons why people will buy into some brands than others, and I'll hold their reasons as valid (with some exceptions) since to be honest, car buying past the basic necessity of transportation goes straight into more emotionally charged territory.
That said among what's seen as 'popular'. I like big luxury sedans. But for whatever reason I cannot emotionally connect with the S-Class, or the Audi A8. Even with their loads of very impressive tech, interior design and materials, and the competent engineering underpinning both cars, they don't speak to me emotionally the way something like the LS or the Maser QP does. It's weird. I'm weird.