"Elmo P. Shagnasty" wrote in news:elmop- snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org:
in today's paper, from Reuter's:
>
> "Reviving Honda
> After harsh criticism of its new Civic, the automaker has turned to its
> engineering staff to reclaim its mojo"
>
> wow, it only took, what--20 years?
>
> They spent the last 20 years deliberately destroying everything they > knew,
They spent the last 20-years very publicly and explicitly concentrating on "safety" and "green", at the cost of performance and excitement.
Actually, "competes with" would not be good enough. It'd be too little, too late.
Hey, Honda--bring out something that absolutely KILLS the Hyundai/Kia thing. Open the curtains in September and show us a Civic and Accord that slay Hyundai/Kia right where they stand, products that bury the competition so far down they can't get back up.
And then back it up. Walk the walk. Show us not only that you CAN do it, but that you WILL do it.
right on - for all three. an "integra" with an wrx/evo killer option is what they need. and one that actually handles like the crx/integra/prelude too. that rsx thing, while the motor was decent, was a great disappointment in the handling dept. which of course is why it tanked in the market place.
the accord still retains some useful features - suspension - but it's grown just /way/ too big and unwieldy to be anything i'd ever buy*. they should have launched a larger model marque, like toyota did the avalon, if they wanted to sell something bigger. same with the now accord-sized civic. especially since the cars they sell under those names in other countries are much smaller than what they sell here.
i'd just go minivan, but even then, the current odyssey - reliability rip-offs aside - is too big. the original was just about right.
oh, and the cross-tour???? seriously, if honda's u.s. management talked japan into that piece of garbage, it's because the former g.m. execs honda thought they'd hired are in reality the g.m. aztec team still working for g.m. in a sabotage role.
"Elmo P. Shagnasty" wrote in news:elmop- snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org:
To hell with the NSX,bring back the Prelude and CRX;AFFORDABLE sporty cars.
even the Integra was more desirable for most car buyers. too bad my GS-R got stolen,stripped and torched.
I went used a few weeks ago and bought a 05 S2000 with 31k miles on it. Having the time of my life -- at age 70. Way better than the 5th gen Prelude I had.
To put that into context, the very same Honda US management team back in the mid-90s told Honda Japan very specifically that they did NOT want the CR-V--said "that ain't no SUV, that's some girlie thing nobody'd ever want to buy". They probably got confused by the lack of locking transfer case and hubs. So, Japan went ahead and designed it without consideration for the US market.
A year or two later, US Honda management decided they changed their mind. The car came out in 97 as a compromise vehicle, and took awhile to be what it should have been in the first place had that same US Honda management team not been such idiots.
Now we have that CrossTour thingie, a horrible car that no one really wants except those same bonehead US managers.
It's a familiar refrain. "We have no idea what we're doing it, but by God, we're going full speed ahead with it!"
Car Guys vs. Bean Counters. Everyone should read it.
i'm actually serious when i use the word "sabotage". if you've been watching the debacle that used to be called "nokia", and its [former micro$oft exec] c.e.o.'s decision to walk away from everything that made that company successful and throwing in with the micro$oft "smart phone" system nobody wants, you have to wonder where his loyalties lie. they're certainly not with nokia.
i say the same thing is being done with honda by the former g.m. execs it hired. pretty much all of their decisions have been to undermine the honda brand, destroy the concept of repeat business and destroy customer loyalty. are they genuinely well intentioned but simply incompetent? or are they still working for g.m. with a mission to undermine g.m.'s competition?
Well that they are, if Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno can be believed.
Yep.
So it's newer safety regs that keep them from just re-issuing 1980s frames with more modern engines?
I was actually just going to post about the late unlamented Accord V6 hybrid from a couple years back, how about just keeping up with the Jones's with an Accord hybrid I4 - AND KNOCK 500 POUNDS OFF IT.
Hey, I actually saw two Volts on the road today, setting a new American record.
JRStern wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
That's exactly the point. Modern "safety" regulations -- especially the newer side-impact regs -- make it difficult to impossible to build a light car of any size.
Everything these days is 400-500 lbs heavier than the same size was 20 years ago, and all of that has gone into the structure, airbags, ABS, etc.
Take a look at the roof pillars, window sizes, and beltlines on a new car and compare them against a 1992 model. The new cars have tree-trunks for pillars, gun slits for windows, and beltlines up to your nose. Visibility sucks.
You can have "safety", and you can have lightness, but you can't have both unless you start using materials and processes that would put the price out of reach of the average consumer.
"tww1491" wrote in news:ARvar.20742$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe11.iad:
I would not own another convertible,and sometimes,having the extra two "seats" is an advantage. plus,IIRC,the last Prelude had a fold-down or pass-thru rear seat.
jim beam wrote in news:jkdur8$aok$ snipped-for-privacy@speranza.aioe.org:
that is the problem with most car makers; they keep making the models bigger,until they are no longer what was intended for that model. they turn fun compact cars into stodgy full-size cars. My first Accord('79)was smaller than my last Prelude('90).
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