I have brought up the idea of patriotism only once in all the time we have been debating the issue of presumed Japanese superiority and that was in a Pontiac Vibe thread. There, someone made a comment like “I would buy the Toy Matrix any day over the Vibe”. I challenged that person on their comment because the Vibe and Matrix are the same exact car; they drive the same, they look the same, they have the same fuel economy, the same quality and reliability, they are built in the same factory, everything about the two cars are the same. The only difference is one has a Toyota badge, and the other has a Pontiac badge. If you buy the Matrix, Toyota profits from that sale and takes the money to Japan while if you buy the Vibe, GM profits from that sale and takes the money to Detroit. There is NO other difference except the badge. To me, someone who buys the Toy is VERY biased and buys it just because of Toy’s reputation (which in this case is irrelevant). I made a comment calling such a person un-American because they are willingly giving their money to a foreign company instead of buying the same EXACT car and letting GM profit. I NEVER said anything like ‘you always need to buy American cars over Japanese cars because that’s the patriotic thing to do’. My statement about the Vibe applied ONLY to the Vibe vs Matrix issue, not to every American vs Japanese car. I believe that consumers should consider all competitive cars (so if you are buying a midsize car, you should consider the Aura and Fusion along with the Japanese, but not consider the Sebring because its FAR from competitive). Buy a car based on your preference, not based on whether it is from Japan or not. Is buying an American car good for our economy? Sure it is, but just like I don’t want people to buy a Japanese vehicle just because it is Japanese, I don’t want people to buy an American vehicle just because its American. I love my country and I am not insulted when you call me a patriot (should I be?), but my “patriotism” has nothing to do with my car purchases, which is why I drive a BMW rather than a Lincoln or Cadillac. I am buying a CTS very soon, but main reasons I am buying a CTS is because I love the design (especially the interior) and because the CTS is praised by EVERYONE – ‘best Cadillac in recent memory’. I am NOT buying it because it is American, although I am happy that the American auto industry have finally produced a luxury CAR that I am WANT to drive.

And please don’t play the race card…that should be used as a last resort and I don’t think (I hope you are not) that desperate. Do you even know what racism is? What I believe the Japanese “race” of cars are boring? Ohh, I am soo racist. Bring hate crime charges on me right now, hurry call the cops. And I can say the same for you – I dislike most Japanese cars, but 1115 dislikes EVERY American car. He even dislike the Corvette in a Corvette vs Toyota sportscar (oxymoron) comparison. He is THAT bias. Either way, you can make an argument that I am biased (although I don’t think I am) but bias is a long way from racism.

I espacially like the Azera

My father rented a Sportage. He said it drove well and was nicely appointed but that it ate a lot of gas. Once they refine their engines they should be fine

The only thing I don’t understand is why Kia and Hyundai make the same vehicles. They are essentially competing with themselves. I think they should take Hyundai up market and leave the lower end cars and SUV CUV’s for Kia

http://www.kia.at/web/MDB/media_folder/193_967_PRO_CEED_heck.jpg

(sorry if this is a dupe, I think it blocked my post before because I posted 4 links)