BMW 328i Sedan

digitalwanderer said:
We're looking for a little more than that. Reliability is a given, we want something we'll like too.

I'm still pushing for a cheapy little car, that'd be my fave solution to be honest. Something cheap & decent.
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Probably not what you are looking for, but if you want something cheap that also has style and comfort buy a citroen DS

citroen_ds_19_copier.jpg


These things rock. They look awsome, are pretty reliable for a 30 year old car (though ofcourse it does require some more maintanace), it looks awsome (why want a BMW that looks like a brick? ;)) and the hydrolic suspension is even beter than on some modern cars, really comfortable. My dad owned to BX models wich have the same kind of suspension and you could easily cruise on those medevil belgium highways with big putholes in them without noticing them. If I try that in my dad's mondeo my head will bounce against the roof every 5 yards.

edit:

Peugeot is out just like Alfa, but it is a cute car. Thanks.
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Do you know the reason for that? I always though with the gazzilion rules we have in Europe if somethings is OK here it certainly must be OK in the states. I doubt safety or emission are the problem?
 
tongue_of_colicab said:
and the hydrolic suspension is even beter than on some modern cars, really comfortable. My dad owned to BX models wich have the same kind of suspension and you could easily cruise on those medevil belgium highways with big putholes in them without noticing them
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You do notice them in a Subaru (reasonably stiff suspension), but you can take just about any pit or bump at about any speed. Although I did dislocate my front spoiler two times so far. Good thing it's easy to click back on. :D

And I'm quite happy that bottom protection shields are standard.
 
tongue_of_colicab said:
Do you know the reason for that? I always though with the gazzilion rules we have in Europe if somethings is OK here it certainly must be OK in the states. I doubt safety or emission are the problem?
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Are there any French cars on sale in the US? I remember when I was exchange student in Montana and I found some statistics on car sales in NA, if I remember correctly it said that only 1 French car was sold in a year in the whole country! I don't remember the year that those statistics where from.
 
Dr Evil said:
Are there any French cars on sale in the US? I remember when I was exchange student in Montana and I found some statistics on car sales in NA, if I remember correctly it said that only 1 French car was sold in a year in the whole country! I don't remember the year that those statistics where from.
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Like French fries were renamed to Freedom fries?

;)

Is there an emotional reason why French cars don't sell in the US?
 
Nothing like that.

The last car in the US sold was Renault, and it was a low end car. They have no mindshare, and their cost structure is crap.
 
Its funny when you think about it though. There arnt any european brands on sale in the states except for the ''premium'' brands and there arnt any ''pure'' american brands on sale in europe either except for cheverolet with their relabeled dawoo's.

Wonder why that is though. I can understand why you dont have the same types of cars in europe that you have in america because of our roads and such but there isnt really any reason for americans not to buy european cars right?
 
Well, most people equate US cars with expensive to run and unreliable. Which they are, on average.

Only the top models of the European cars, with the biggest engines available go to the US. And only the small models of the US cars, with the smallest engines come to Europe.

Well, you can buy Corvettes and such over here, but they're in the Supercar category. And you might be able to import a "common" European car (you know, a 1.6 liter compact, with about 85 HP), if you really want to.

Then again, European cars are in general roughly twice as efficient as US cars. But both pay about as much for their gasoline.
 
digitalwanderer said:
A modern 1.6 liter gasoline engine would be used in a modest lawn mower on this side of the pond. :oops:

You put them little things in cars?!? :oops:
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Heh. You have to factor in that European cars tend to be much lighter and that motorway type roads are much rarer for day-to-day driving. A 1.6 liter engine in a car like the one below (Peugeot 307 CC) has a top speed of around 190Km/h and does 0-100 in 12-13 seconds. Not blazingly fast by any means, but fast enough for cruising and driving to work. As some countries have switched over to emissions-based taxation (with more coming), getting decent power from small engines have become a priority for the manufacturers, and customers often want them because an increase in engine output gives a (some places hugely) disproportional increase in price.

0609230958261.jpg
 
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I was teasing, I dig efficient transport vehicles...I just can't own them. ;)

EDITED BITS: Is it just me or do European cars just look better than their american counter-parts?

It's like they're at least trying for stylish, unlike US cars.
 
It's actually quite funny to think about how different the european and american car markets seem to be.

I guess some of the main reasons are the difference in costs of fuel (though US is catching up slowly), and the cost of buying a car, especially if you take scandinavian countries like Denmark & Norway, where buying a car costs astronomicly amounts of money compared to US and also alot more expensive than say Germany, Britain etc, due to the taxes there.....

As an example, i'll show you the going price for a brand new BMW M5 here in Norway.... (which is a gorgeous & expensive car)... now sit down before you read this... 1.759.400 NOK ... yes you read correctly, thats 1.75 million Norwegian Kroner, which with todays exchange rate becomes 288942.33 USD and 215379,6 Euros...
 
Zaphod said:
A modern 1.6 liter gasoline engine is more like 110 BHP than 85.
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I concur, having just bought a (slightly) used Nissan Micra K12 with a 1.6 litre engine with 81 kW / 110 PS. Nice upgrade from a K11 Micra with the 1.0 litre engine... :)
Great fun car, although probably not great for long-distance driving...
 
well, the US prices are really low in comparison. The S65 costs about $180k, while in Germany it's about 205,000 € (266,000$).

Then it's prolly 300,000 € in Norway :oops:
 
_xxx_ said:
well, the US prices are really low in comparison. The S65 costs about $180k, while in Germany it's about 205,000 € (266,000$).

Then it's prolly 300,000 € in Norway :oops:
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S65 ? what brand/car and i'll check if i can find a price for it :)

guess its the merc S65 AMG ... and its listed on mercs norwegian homepage, but they havent listed a price for it ...... guess that says enough about what it would cost :p
 
What I really hate is that the car from Germany imported to the US is 80k cheaper there than in the land of origin. That's totally ridiculous.
 
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