Which luxury car brands do you prefer?

The iconic mainstream luxury brand, AKA, affordable luxury has always been Mercedes Benz.

BMW & Audi are the younger, more aggressive, less sophisticated luxury brands.

I like Lexus & Acura but they have always been tier 2, atleast by perception. Cadillac, Lincoln, and Volvo are somewhere in between.

A BMW or Audi is the way to go in your 20's, early 30's. If you've hit your 40's get a Mercedes Benz.

 

That is one old lambo, how old is this video?

Also look how much that Dodge fishtails, I'd like to see it take a corner.

The quarter mile is a test of how fast a car is in a straight line, it only takes the engine power into account which is very American. There is so much more to a car, what about chassis stability, handling, braking and suspension don't these matter.

Straight lines are boring, give me a proper race track with plenty of bends any day. A Lotus Elise would destroy that Dodge on a track, the Dodge would be quickest off the line but after a few corners the Lotus would go past and never look back and that's with a 1.8 litre Toyota engine.

 

Which is all well and good when you only want to go in a straight line over a quarter of a mile. Turn that tank into a corner and you'd sharp know about it.

Also, that Lambo looks like a Countach which were never real super cars; they were made solely so they could make posters for 14 year old boys in the 80's. And also, Lambos in the 80's were total shit. European sports cars really didn't hit their stride until the late 80's with the arrival of the Ferarri F40

 

I really do like the Jaguar XF, it's a beautiful car, just a shame it's not British owned. We're brilliant at building cars but shit at running car businesses.

I also like Mercedes but they did go through a bad patch a few years ago when they compromised on quality to save a few quid. They've learnt their lesson but I think Audi and BMW have stolen the march on them.

 

Yeah that's a Countach, I'm on about the good Lambos. Also introduce even half a corner and that Challenger would get raped. Fast in a straight line and nothing else, not interested.

 

Does Koenigsegg make their own engines? I remember Pagani uses AMG tuned M-B engines, but I wondered if Koenigsegg makes their own.

I was very into cars when Koenigsegg started up. I think I was a senior in high school at the time. I was concerned that they'd struggle to last in such a demanding and fickle segment of the market, but evidently they are doing OK.

EDIT: Ah, I did a bit of research and discovered that their engines originaed from Ford but are heavily tuned.

 

I think they do make their own engines now in their latest models but I think they may have used AMG engines before. Could be wrong though.

Yeah I am wrong, they used heavily modified Ford engines, it seems they source the engine parts from different firms now.

 

Yeah I agree but there's also a difference in driving culture, correct me if I'm wrong but Americans seem to like a huge engine with as big cylinder capacity as possible, an automatic gearbox and a generally big vehicle.

I'm British and I think we prefer something smaller and more manoeuvrable, a manual gearbox and a sleeker design.

From a style perspective give me an E-Type Jag, a Porsche 928, an Alfa Romeo Spider or an MG B over anythink that's ever come from America.

I think we see our car as female, she's small sleek and sexy wheras Americans see their cars as male. Big brash and vulgar.

 

I want a small car, yet can still fit at least 4 people if needed, good gas mileage. Don't care much about power. What does that make me?

 

My initial response would be: Gay.

But given the price of fuel these days I'll go with: Frugal.

 

I don't think any of us here are in a position to buy a McLaren F1 or Bugatti Veyron, if we were I don't think fuel costs would be an issue.

If you want a economical small family car you should go for something like a VW Polo blue motion. Not the car you really want but probably what you need.

 

Someone who wants a Ford Focus

 

A Toyota Prius, lol One of the most hated cars around i think, its like the Justen Bieber of the cars.

 

The only thing about the Prius that pisses me off is when people go on about how green it is. Robert Lewellyn said it himself on carpool "No car is green". The Prius is slightly less damaging to the environment than most cars, it's not green. Gol!

 

It's a common misconception that because the Prius has a battery, it's green.

The raw materials required to build the battery are shipped from all over the world so by the time the finished car rolls off the production line, it's already done more damage to the environment than a standard car.

 

Speaking of green cars (or a lack thereof). I learned that the Americans have created some sort of super solar panels, and they plan to use them to power the machinery at car manufacturing plants, which will build purely electric cars and the electricity to run the cars is somehow produced using those same panels making it a truly green car. Not sure about the electricity once it's off the car lot. Probably coal power stations will produce it so I'm not sure for how long those cars will be totally green. I hear it's all way too expensive to put into practice right now but at least it's something to think about while the worlds oil supply dwindles away.

 

Pfft!

Firstly that isn't the true test of power and secondly muscle cars get absolutely stomped by drag cars, so they do not rule anything.

 

Well if you want I can go though the physics behind the photo-voltaic cell....