Agreed! and choose a vehicle that is right for them!

 

Very true this is America after all (for now) and people are still free to make their own choices.

 

Yeow - thank goodness America is still home of the free - Free to choose what we wanna drive. Perhaps not the choice some of us would make - but, to each their own... Mom always said if you don't have something NICE to say.... Good luck & enjoy your new ride Perry...

Now, when it's time to trade in (private party sale?) my HHR - I must say that it will be for a new Camaro Convertible... I think my dealership still has me as 1st on the list for their first convert!

The SSR will never leave my stable though...

 

I have driven many late model Japanese, Korean, German cars they are ok cars. When we bought our HHR I was finally able to sell my Wifes 2003 Corrola that she had when we met. I was so happy to get rid of it. Tranny problems A/c problems, Struts all bad at 40,000. Was not a good car I guess it never left her stranded but then again my 89 Suburban with 300,000 miles as never left us stranded either or my 1977 GMC sierra. Or the 1995 Buick lesabre with 200,000 miles on the 3.8L that still got 30mpg on the highway or better. So in my experience Japanese cars are no better than American cars. Nor is there any true evidence that they are. But Americans today seem unable to think for themselves and just go for what some magazine says is the best car as that magazine is raking in advertisment dollars from the Japs. Congrats on the purchase of your so called superior product.

 

Congratulations on the new ride! The Ontario-built Civic is still the gold standard for compact cars (although the Cobalt does offer a viable – if a tad bit more boring – alternative).

While I call the Civic “the gold standard” it’s not because it says Honda on the front. It is simply that Honda has become very good at building that type of car. I don’t think any automaker has the market cornered on every vehicle type. One look at any top-ten list shows that even the most jaded publication lists cars from all sorts of origins. How many award have Corvettes, Silverados, and Tahoes won? I’ll just leave it at that!

In any case, enjoy your Civic. It’ll give you many years and have good resale at the end. I considered one as well, but I needed the cargo room and (albeit small) towing capacity. Hopefully the new owner enjoys this forum as well!

 

uuhhhh..have you driven a japanese car lately?

 

maybe if american car manufacturers would stop making the interior of their cars look so crappy people would come back to purchasing them. I've owned everything from fast cars to trucks to 4 cylinder cars to vans and I can honestly say I like imports better because they have nicer interior designs.

You're making comparisons between a 4-cylinder toyota and v6 to v8 american cars? Dont seem like a good comparison to me. A lot of v6 japanese cars can out-compete american v6's with both performance and interior design. Oh and at $3+ a gallon of gas, who's going to want to buy a gas guzzlin' american SUV and spend ridiculous amounts of money on gas?

 

Good point about the interiors.

GM has gotten a lot better in recent years. When the new Grand Prix came up I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the interior shots. I think if you look at most of the General’s line-up you’ll find cars that are at least competitive. Just not in all segments.

The Civic, Rabbit, and Mazda3 interiors all put the Cobalt’s into a lower class. I just don’t think that GM has put enough effort into its small cars. You look at the 2008 CTS, the Tahoe, or the Acadia and you can see that GM can make good-looking cars with very nice interiors. They just don’t put forth the same effort with their compacts. I’m just glad the interior on the HHR is as nice as it is.

 

you are so correct about the small car comparisons kris. That new mazdaspeed 3 has such a great interior and a 260hp engine I just cant wait to do another trade in and drive one of those bad boys.

 

Uhhh have you aven driven any late model Domestic cars because from what I've seen there are many new domestic interiors that far outclass many Japanese products. Lets take the new tundra for example The new Silverado interior is luxury all the way around even the work truck interior is far nicer and more upscale that the tundra. As far as gas prices go lets take a look at a Silverado and a Tundra again you tell me which one gets worse mileage. Toyota is every bit as much at fault for burning the world petroleum rescources as the domestics are unless you are saying that every one who drives a toyota is driving a Prius. And Perry to your credit I'll be the first to admit that the interior in the new Civics is pretty fricken cool. But my point is that me, being a hillbilly hick up here in Montana would just like to think that Americans would care more about their country that to give their money away to another country when they have a choice not to it just doesn't make sence to me. I don't want to be the bad guy here I just get pretty fired up about this subject.