not anywhere else in the world either. and that's my point - we are [were more so] being sold cheap outdated garbage none of the rest of the world will accept. and paying the same price for this cheap crap as the more-expensive-to-produce stuff that performs better and is safer.
agreed, this is a move in the right direction, but after 50 years of laggardly profiteering, detroit just needs to bite the bullet and move on. sure, they make more money, but horse-and-cart suspension is significantly less safe.
awesome. but that was one ugly looking car. when i was in europe, i remember seeing some dude with a renault 3.0 v6 in an r12. bet it was fun to drive!
TOTALLY not true. You Americanns were DEMANDING that stuff. Good european style cars ARE available in the USA. Good small american cars HAVE been designed and built. You Americans just refuse to buy them.
You cannot put all the blame on the American manufacturers
On the interstates of North America the safety difference between a live axle rear end and an indepdendent rear end is almost microscopic. The difference in ride is significant. On rough roads (think urban Detroit) independent suspension CAN keep the tires more firmly planted on the road, but the installation of MASSIVE tires and wheels on everything from a golf cart to a Hummer negates that advantage pretty quickly (Talking unsprung weight - the REAL reason independent is better.
sorry dude, that's not true. people show up and buy what's on the forecourt. detroit ships and sells the stuff with the highest margins - the crap with donkey-cart suspension.
well, frod, much as i dislike their ethics, have good business acumen. as the market has shifted away from gas guzzlers, they brought, and have been selling like hotcakes, their euro line-up to the states. gm otoh, has been trying to sell their obsolete high margin crap, and failing. they have a euro line-up they could sell here, but they refuse to do so. it's not the consumer - frod have shown that.
oh yes we can! see above.
untrue. it's not what happens when the vehicle is cruising in a straight line that matters, but what happens when it needs to suddenly deviate. in that regard, donkey-cart suspension has poor lateral stability and poor ground control. all other conditions being equal, the donkey cart is going to lose control first, hence it's more dangerous.
true, unsprung weight is a factor, but that's not the whole story. when cornering, you can configure independent to assist in cornering force, /and/ retain lateral stability. donkey-cart just can't do that.
what was the suspension config? and didn't renault have some sporty versions of their 1300 engines? the r110 had some good outputs at that capacity iirc.
In message , snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca writes
In those days the Renault 12 just like the Citroen GS had small displacement ,high revving engines to give them a bit of power. This was because the French government of the day taxed cars by engine displacement, (cc in England, cubes in America) and not by BHP.
But you CAN vote with your wallet and buy something else.
If you refuse to buy the big crap, they WILL bring in the Euro stuff.. You need to vote with your wallet, not just bitch on the internet.
If GM or whoever your favourite is does not sell what you want, vote with your FEET and your wallet. Buy Ford. Buy Volvo. Buy whatever from who-ever. Ford's ethics are no worse than GM or any of the others - Old Henry's long gone (His ethics WERE defnitely questionable)
One thing you have to give most European cars, they have handling down to a science.
I had a new '78 Corolla econobox, and I couldn't take one corner too much over 45 mph. My roomate told me to take his '76 2002tii one day and I took the same corner at almost 75!!!!!!!
The generations ahead of us thought the European cars were rough riding. They though cruising the highway should feel like sitting on a living room sofa stuffed with marshmallow. A couple of years ago my rental car in Las Vegas was a Mercury Grand Marquis. It took some effort to keep it in a straight line and not just wallow along the road, but the Old Farts love them and the soft ride. .
The wife's Mercury Mystique is a real road car i n the european model. Goes like stink and handles well. Almost as good as the 67? Rover 2000TC my brother used to own - a real
4 door sports car. It would not make a good rallye car though - not enough suspension travel or compliance - and not enough ground clearance.
My old 88 New Yorker had a plush enough ride, but without the wallow of the BIG american iron like the GrandMarquis/Crown Vic or Lincoln or Caddy DeVille.
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