Rant Warning.

So what the hell is wrong with Japanese auto makers these days, anyway!?

In my opinion, among the larger Japanese auto makers only Mazda is building cars that look cool these days. I've long considered the Protege a great looking car, and the new Mazda6 is even sharper.

Contrast that to ALL of the other main Japanese makes--

Toyota: Boring at best, butt ugly at the worst. Corolla? Boring. Prius? Disgusting.

Honda: They haven't pulled their head out of their *** in years. The current Civic is heinous; the new Accord? Ugly. They should spend less time developing robots and more time designing cars that don't suck, those bastards!

Nissan: The Sentra hasn't been cool since the B13 series two generations ago. It looks like it's *** is falling off. And the upcoming 2004 Maxima? Dammit, they really screwed up their flagship car! I just was checking out photos of that car today, and I swear I wanted to puke my living guts out. What in God's name is wrong with them!?

I just don't understand how the big 3 Japanese auto makers can't collectively build a decent car these days from an appearance standpoint. It's almost like every single engineer and every single executive who approves each car design has no aesthetic taste whatsoever. I find this simply incredible; and intensely offensive.

And here's what that translates to: I have almost no choices at all among those auto makers that produce both comparatively inexpensive and reliable vehicles. That sucks, big time.



Okay, that's better. Sorry about that, folks! I saw the new Maxima and it sent me off...

 

Datsun > Nissan

My new favorites are Mazda and Subaru

My 90 Camry was awesome but I drove my friends '01 Carolla and it was

 

w3rd

 

I'm very disapointed with the new maxima as well, looks a lot like the Saturn Ion, and it's still FWD. WTF is the problem? GRRRRRRRR... Oh well, that means I'll be able to get an '02 or '03 in a few years for dirt cheap

 

I know EXACTLY what you mean jesse...and you are right....

I still remember going to car shows during the mid to late 60's....yeah you saw right...I didn't hit the wrong key..the late 60's....anyway.....there were all these sleek swooping "cars of the future"....."cars of the 80's"......they looked so cool.....and when we got there....what did they make? OMG TALK ABOUT UGLY....and sleek and swooping were so far from true....there was a Benz look alike thing going on....everything was squared off and ugly as sin.......the designers of those days REALLY had their collective heads up their butts...lol NOW.....some 20 years after that.....things are starting to look the way they should have or at least were predicted to look 20 years ago.

 

I was just as dissapointed when I saw the new models as well. I thought they were concepts at first, but then it said "NEW MODEL" and I was very dissapointed. I think you also forgot to mention Mitsu, not only they have been crappy car, but now they are so ugly!

 

well then, at least there is Subaru. Overall, they have a solid, conservative style, that to me, is very appealing & AWD! Plus they include the functionality of wagons and the fun of WRX.
I'd just hate to work on the horizontally-opposed engines.

 

I think Nissan is the worst off. Sentras are HIDEOUS.

Mazdas are cool, and Subaru is improving.

Hondas
Toyota

 

I drove my friend's '02 Celica GTS just last night. It definately is faster than my car, just not as nice.
The plastic that Toyota uses in the car's cabin is the cheap-o stuff, like a c.d. case or something.
I pulled the sun-roof back and it felt like cardboard(the interior piece).
The paint SUCKS. She bought her car on the same weekend as me (mid Dec. '01)and her paint is beginning to oxidize already.
Not to mention that her car cost more than a P5, it's less comfortable, the heater sucks... I could go on
I Love My Mazda! $ Well Spent!

 

That's kind of sad Traditionally those are good little cars, though not terribly fast