Honda NSX no more... plus 5-6 pages on various industry-related topic

[1X83Z]

Well, if you go off including other markets we could be here all night - and we could also go on to stuff like the Mitsubishi Montero and Toyota Camry, which is sold overseas as other stuff as well as being sold here as other stuff.

 

[Emohawk]

Alllll night.
I found a 1st gen Chevy Tracker on some site written in cyrillic

 

[meister_dan]

We have the Vitara/Grand Vitara here in NZ, and we also get it imported from Japan. Over there it is the Escudo - hence the Pikes Peak machine.

That's another name to add to the list. This thing sure has been sold under a lot of different badges.

Hmm.. so the Grand Vitara is the Escudo right? So what about the Cultus?

 

[a6m5]

Hmm.. so the Grand Vitara is the Escudo right? So what about the Cultus?

Swift/Geo Metro.

 

[1X83Z]

Swift/Geo Metro.

Not quite - here's the deal, and pay close attention because this is information you'll never again need as long as you live.

The Suzuki Cultus was sold in its first generation as the Suzuki Swift and Geo Metro in North America. It was further sold as the Pontiac Firefly in Canada. Overseas, but not in North America, the Suzuki Cultus was rebadged as the Subaru Justy; the US Justy was sold from 1987 to 1994 and used a different design. Bodystyles used here were more interesting than anything: the only bodystyle the Metro and Swift shared, despite being "twins," was the 3-door hatchback: Swift was also sold as a 4-door sedan, while Metro was also sold as a 5-door hatchback and a convertible.

When the vehicles were redesigned (and I use the term as loosely as possible) in 1995, they no longer shared components with the Suzuki Cultus, which was sold in the United States from 1995 to 2002 as the Suzuki Esteem in both sedan and wagon form. Meanwhile, Metro, after being rebadged as a Chevrolet in 1998, along with Swift and Firefly, were cancelled after a short 2001 season.

 

[a6m5]

Not quite - here's the deal, and pay close attention because this is information you'll never again need as long as you live.

The Suzuki Cultus was sold in its first generation as the Suzuki Swift and Geo Metro in North America. It was further sold as the Pontiac Firefly in Canada. Overseas, but not in North America, the Suzuki Cultus was rebadged as the Subaru Justy; the US Justy was sold from 1987 to 1994 and used a different design. Bodystyles used here were more interesting than anything: the only bodystyle the Metro and Swift shared, despite being "twins," was the 3-door hatchback: Swift was also sold as a 4-door sedan, while Metro was also sold as a 5-door hatchback and a convertible.

When the vehicles were redesigned (and I use the term as loosely as possible) in 1995, they no longer shared components with the Suzuki Cultus, which was sold in the United States from 1995 to 2002 as the Suzuki Esteem in both sedan and wagon form. Meanwhile, Metro, after being rebadged as a Chevrolet in 1998, along with Swift and Firefly, were cancelled after a short 2001 season.

Cultus as Justy? I'd love to see that in person! With the high gas prices these days, you'd think Chevy would cashing in with the new Metro XFi(I think it was called).

 

[1X83Z]

They actually sold it like that until the late 1990s, maybe even early this decade. It had appeal to rural farmers for its available all-wheel drive.

Of course, the 1987-1994 US model looked like this (it predated the model above in Europe):

The 87-94 Justy actually debuted the US auto market to the continuously-variable automatic transmission in about 1990. At the time it was largely ignored until Honda used it several years later.

 

[a6m5]

They actually sold it like that until the late 1990s, maybe even early this decade. It had appeal to rural farmers for its available all-wheel drive.

Of course, the 1987-1994 US model looked like this (it predated the model above in Europe):

The 87-94 Justy actually debuted the US auto market to the continuously-variable automatic transmission in about 1990. At the time it was largely ignored until Honda used it several years later.

I remember those CVTs. Those original Justys were pretty cool cars. Cultus based Justy however looks like a Geo Metro, that ran into a telephone pole.

 

[1X83Z]

Yeah - it's pretty much the same car. Imagine Subaru dealers trying to sell that vehicle in 1998.

 

[a6m5]

Yeah - it's pretty much the same car. Imagine Subaru dealers trying to sell that vehicle in 1998.

Sell it with free bras installed? You know, for the paper bag effect.

 

[~Sp33~]

Vehicle (Length x Width x Height)

92-02 Isuzu Trooper (183 x 69 x 72)
.

poor thing had no dam hope. As for you 4x4 lineup from ford.... the explorer is pretty much the biggest thing we get... We call a nissan xtrail a mid sized 4x4

 

[1X83Z]

poor thing had no dam hope. As for you 4x4 lineup from ford.... the explorer is pretty much the biggest thing we get... We call a nissan xtrail a mid sized 4x4

We'd call it a small, though the X-Trail isn't sold here and we get no small Nissan SUV (despite getting four Nissan SUVs and two from Nissan's premium brand, Infiniti). It's sold in Canada and Mexico, though.

 

[~Sp33~]

Dam you americans and your supersized ways.

 

[Woolie Wool]

Anyway, this is just in:

http://world.honda.com/news/2005/c050720_a.html

They are going to put V10 into the next NSX.

I'll believe it when I see it. I've been hearing reports about a new NSX since 1999.

true, the accord euro was rather groundbreaking, flogging every other fwd sedan around of any price range.

Car and Driver even thinks the Accord Euro/Acura TSX is better than the E46 325i and Audi A4. I'm not so sure about that...

 

[Woolie Wool]

Hmm.. so the Grand Vitara is the Escudo right? So what about the Cultus?

They should've changed the name to Escudo for the new model in the US. At least Escudo means something ("shield" in Spanish), instead of being nonsense.

 

[~Sp33~]

The Audi isnt all that good handling, especially on second rate roads. But the Beemer is he benchmark in entry level german sports sedans... Anythings possible though

 

[McLaren]

The Audi isnt all that good handling, especially on second rate roads. But the Beemer is he benchmark in entry level german sports sedans... Anythings possible though

Read up on the latest Audis.
They're born Track Performers.

 

[Joey D]

The Audi isnt all that good handling, especially on second rate roads. But the Beemer is he benchmark in entry level german sports sedans... Anythings possible though

I hope you are joking, you have German engineered suspension and Quattro AWD. I think Audi has the better car over BMW to tell you the truth. And you call these cars entry level? I think you better look up entry level.

 

[niky]

Entry level means it's the cheapest Beemer most markets get that could be considered a sports sedan. 318s don't count. ...the 3 is the definitive entry-level luxury car... but for poor blokes like us, just getting one means you've finally arrived.

 

[Joey D]

I would consider entry level sport sedan something like the the sport version of the Camry or better yet the Sentra Sporty one. Or a Mazda 6.

 

[~Sp33~]

Entry level means its the cheapest model in that line up -_-`

And i did say that the Audi isnt good on 'second rate roads' where it pitches badly due to poor damping. The entry level audi DOES NOT have quottro. It is a front wheel drive, the only one in its class, if your not sure what a class is, its the cars that it competes with for a particular segment.

Like ALL audis, they are built for the track, but on REAL roads, theyre outperformed by better rivals.

I based my fact on Wheels magazine Aug 05 edition. In which the Audi A4 1.8T, BMW 320i Executive and the Mercedes-Benz C180k where compared.

Unless im mistakin ( which im not) theyre are no models from thier line up that are any cheaper then the ones listed there. AKA, entry level.

Maybe you should look it up.

 

[ferrari_chris]

I would consider entry level sport sedan something like the the sport version of the Camry or better yet the Sentra Sporty one. Or a Mazda 6.

There is nothing sporty about a Camry. Never has been, and most likely there never will be.

The Mazda 6 is a good car, credit where credit's due, but it ain't sporty either. The MPS version is gettin' close, but sporty?... I think we're going to have defferent accounts of what makes a sporty car.

The new (hot) Magna?

Can't comment on the Sentra as I didn't even know they still made them.

 

[niky]

The Mazda 6 is a "sporty" car. By definition, sporty means it handles and/or performs better than it needs to in its class. Doesn't make it a sports car, no... but sporty, yes.

By your definition "sporty" means sports car... by ours, "sporty" means not quite deserving the name of "sports car", but generally, not a slug... in other words, fun to drive, but not built primarily as a street racer. Thus Mazda 6, sporty, Sentra SE-R (I suppose this is the one?) sporty, Camry.... erh... God, no... lovely to ride in, but in no way sporty... the new Magna? If it's a V6, maybe... if it's a Turbo V6 AWD, hell, yes.

 

[ferrari_chris]

The Mazda 6 is a "sporty" car. By definition, sporty means it handles and/or performs better than it needs to in its class. Doesn't make it a sports car, no... but sporty, yes.

By your definition "sporty" means sports car... by ours, "sporty" means not quite deserving the name of "sports car", but generally, not a slug ...

Hmmm, good point. A sporty car is different to a sports car. Yes, I'll give you that one.

... the new Magna? If it's a V6, maybe... if it's a Turbo V6 AWD, hell, yes.

Ahhh, it's a Magna.

AWD? Yes.
Turbo? Yes.
V6? Yes.
Sporty? Well, I suppose when you look at the above definitions, yes. But it's still a Magna. It ain't going to win any races (be them traffic light grand-prix) that's for sure.

Personally, I can't see why manufacturers make cars like these, and worse, why people buy them. If you buy that hot Magna, you're obviously after the sporty version over the more sedate model. It's not like you accidentally buy it. So why spend the extra $$$ on the sporty Magna, when for the same $$$ you can get a much sportier car from another marque? It doesn't make sense to me.

You shell out extra money and get piss-poor performance for it.

 

[~Sp33~]

hmm piss poor isnt very nice. It did perform better then the Commodore and Falcon's of its class, but its suspension led to the scraping of its front spoiler, which was way overdone. Im talking about the VRX AWD Magna.

 

[ferrari_chris]

The VRX Magna is the top Magna in the range?

Then surely the VRX went up against the SS and the XR8?

Who, in their right mind, would find a VRX Magna better than an SS or an XR8?

I'm an avid Motor fan, and I think they have done a story just like this. If Wheels have, then chances are Motor has as well. I'm off to find it and read the outcome...

 

[niky]

Just for us non-Aussies here... the Magna is the latest Galant, right? If it's a hevay pig compared to previous VR4s, then I'll give in to you guys that it isn't sporty...

Shame on Mitsubishi... they did that to the Eclipse... from sporty to sportscar to sporty (again) to obese pig. ...hope this new one proves at least "sporty".

 

[Driftster]

niky please tell me you're not saying the 2nd gen was a "sports car"..

If you are, you're drunk

 

[ferrari_chris]

Just for us non-Aussies here... the Magna is the latest Galant, right? If it's a hevay pig compared to previous VR4s, then I'll give in to you guys that it isn't sporty... ...

Here's some shots of a Magna VRX - both past and present:

 

[~Sp33~]

lol... although its not a very good looking car, those shots are truely terrible. , if i remember correctly then the VRX was compared to the Xr6 and Commodore v6 equivelant ( 'S'?) . And the outcome found the Vr6 prevailing. It wasnt a bad thing, it just lacked in a few areas less then the other two.