I dont think the english like the vette
10-28-2005, 12:31 AM
#2
Yeehaw
I think this is an old show...but they are comparing a vette to ferraris and aston martins? 'the corvette is the best sports car america has to offer'? how about you put the ford gt up there instead of comparing cars that cost 3x as much as the vette. british are pussies.
10-28-2005, 02:36 AM
#3
Drifting
Well i'm pretty shure in britland the regular vette costs around what a zo6 does here, And the cars they put it up against were the porsche 911 non turbo, the nsx, and the tvr 350. So the price doesn't seem to be too out of the question to me. Also I thought they gave it a fair review. It seems as though the short one (hampster) liked it. As far as putting the ford gt up agasint those other cars.. the tall guy, JC basically did that, and bought a ford gt later that year. (to later make ford buy it back, then buy it back from ford) So they aren't completely nonsensical.
10-28-2005, 09:32 PM
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"If you want a plastic left hand drive car w/ a vietnamese suspension... well there you go?" 
Damn, I thought the Brits had more class then that
BTW leaf springs what the hell is GMC thinking?
Damn, I thought the Brits had more class then that
BTW leaf springs what the hell is GMC thinking?
10-28-2005, 09:44 PM
#6
Smitty's Moral Police
They don't like any american cars...They rag on the BMW Z4 for being an american car. They're morons. I guess now that Top Gear is off the air we'll have to rely on the french for all our american bashing.
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10-28-2005, 10:29 PM
#8
Suzuka Master
Originally Posted by Edr0e
"If you want a plastic left hand drive car w/ a vietnamese suspension... well there you go?"
Damn, I thought the Brits had more class then that
Damn, I thought the Brits had more class then that
10-28-2005, 11:26 PM
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They make good points about the Corvette.. but.. the Corvette is also FAR cheaper than its competition. You get what you pay for.
10-29-2005, 10:51 AM
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European auto companies spend much more money on production/labor costs hence the "quality difference" creating the snob appeal which basically makes one car better because it is more expensive. 
Pretty cool article about the Brits and their automotive industry -
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://automobiles.allinfoabout.com/.../05-05-10.html
Just thirty or forty years ago, Britain was one of the leading producers of automobiles. British cars were imported all over the world, with a reputation for being either fun and sporty or stately and elegant, although in neither case too reliable. So what has happened since then? Looking at the companies that sold cars in the '70s shows where the British car industry ended up.
AC (Gone) - This company is best known for creating a small roadster in the '60s called the Ace, which Carroll Shelby decided to throw a hulking Ford V8 into, creating the Shelby Cobra, an automotive icon and one of the most popular replica cars in the world. Meanwhile, AC continued to sell their lightweight sports cars. By 1996, however, the company went into receivership and was bought out by a company in Malta. This Maltese company began manufacturing a few AC Cobra models, as well as a modern Aceca coupe and Ace convertible. Somehow, Carroll Shelby ended up with the rights to the Cobra name and shape, even though it was originally AC's car. This forced the ailing Maltese company to shut down in 2003.
Ascari (Independent Still) - One of the few true British car companies left, Ascari is a specialty supercar company with a very small number of sales. It was started in Dorset, England in 1995 and named after a great F1 driver of the 1950's. Ascari sold 17 Ecosse supercars starting in 1998. The Ecosse was a 400hp screamer capable of 200 mph and 0-60 in 4.1 seconds, and cost about $180,000. Ascari's next car, the KZ1, was introduced in 2000 but didn't go on sale until early this year. Less than ten have been sold so far out of the production run of 50. The $450,000 supercar is capable of 200 mph and 0-60 in under 4 seconds, but that still doesn't justify the enormous pricetag.
Aston Martin (American company) - Another of Britain's specialty sports car manufacturers, Bond's marquee of choice is no longer under British rule. Ford Motor Co. bought 75% of the company in 1987, and got the remaining 25% in 1993. It's now part of Ford's Premier Auto Group, with a few other former British companies.
Austin (Gone) - Austin was one of largest British nameplates and was owned by British Leyland, a conglomerate formed by the English government in 1967 with almost 20 assorted brands. The group, renamed Austin Rover group in the '80s due to the departure of the truck company British Leyland, finally phased out the Austin nameplate, and Austin was gone by 1990.
Bentley (German company) - One of the most famous British luxury brands ever, Bentley has a rich history dating back 90 years. It enjoyed successes at Le Mans and had many sporting cars in the 1920s, but fell into financial difficulty at the time of the Depression. Bentley's chief competitor in the British luxury car business, Rolls Royce, bought Bentley in 1931 by disguising themselves as a financial company. By the 1990s, Bentleys were little more than Rolls Royces with different grilles and badges and had lost the sporting character that the brand used to have. In 1998, both brands were put up for sale. Volkswagen won the bidding war with BMW, but due to a technical oddity, they did not have the rights to the Rolls-Royce name. Still, the German company took all of the resources and factories and has been producing Bentleys ever since, including the popular Continental GT.
Jaguar (American company) - Another famous luxury brand from Britain, albeit one with a history of poor reliability, Jaguar was one of the many companies that were part of British Leyland. In 1979, it went back to being an independent company. This lasted not even ten years, as it was bought by Ford Motor Co. in 1988 and is now a part of the Premier Auto Group at Ford.
Land Rover (American company) - While Land Rover started out producing jeeps for the British army, it soon diversified into civilian vehicle, much like Jeep in America. Land Rover was a part of British Leyland Group, and then later Austin Rover group. In 1994, Austin Rover (by now just Rover) as a whole was purchased by BMW. By 2000, BMW was fed up with the huge losses Rover was costing them and sold Rover, as well as MG, back to independent investors. They kept the Mini brand for themselves, and sold Land Rover, the only profitable unit in the Rover group, to Ford. It is now part of Ford's Premier Auto Group.
Lotus (Malaysian company) - Colin Chapman founded this legendary sports car company on the mantra of light weight is best. Now, with the new Lotus Elise that has just been released in the US, they are thought as one of the best pure British sports car companies. However, many people would be surprised to know that Lotus is no longer British-owned. In 1986, it was bought by General Motors. This was followed in 1993 by a sale to Romano Artioli, who was reviving the Bugatti name in Italy with the EB110 supercar. Sadly, he was way too ambitious and it ended in bankruptcy in 1995, leaving Lotus an innocent victim. Luckily, the Malaysian company Proton stepped in and bought the sports car maker, and have held it ever since.
LTI (Independant Still) - Normally, I wouldn't include a company that doesn't sell to private consumers, but reader Euan Robertson alerted me to the fact that LTI, maker of the venerable London Taxi since 1948, does indeed sell their cars to individual parties. LTI even exports their latest TXII model to North America. It sells in Britain for about 25,000 pounds.
Marcos (Independent Still) - Another quirky British sports car manufacturer, Marcos has been in and out of bankruptcy at least twice since its start in the '50s, with the most recent being in 2000. The brand is always brought back, though, due to popular demand, and indeed, production has begun again.
MG (Gone) - MG was famous for their lightweight sports cars, which were popular in both Europe and America in the 1970s. However, fuel and emissions basically killed the roadster market in the early '80s, and so MG, a piece of the British Leyland/Austin Rover group, was stuck with making mildly tuned Austin hatchbacks for the decade. In 1994, Rover, including MG, was sold to BMW, but the German company got rid of these companies in 2000 due to enormous losses. MG-Rover became the largest independent British manufacturer, and MG sold both the TF sports roadster and hopped-up versions of Rovers. All that ended last month, however, when talks with a Chinese company collapsed and MG-Rover went under with no buyout. As of now, there will be no more MGs.
Mini (German company) - This automotive icon didn't start out as a separate marquee, but rather as a shared car between different manufacturers in the BMC corporation. In 1961, versions of the Mini were brought out from Austin and Morris. In 1967, BMC was absorbed into British Leyland, along with most other English car companies. The Mini soldiered on, relatively unchanged, through the death of the Morris nameplate and even the death of the Austin nameplate. By the '90s, it was considered basically a separate make, sold through Rover dealers. It had long since pulled out of the American market, but continued in Europe with only detail and engine modifications. After BMW bought the Rover group in 1994, Mini included, they began to work on an all-new Mini that could be sold all over the world. In 2000, BMW dumped the unprofitable MG and Rover divisions and sold off Land Rover, but kept the Mini nameplate for themselves. That same year, the final old-style Mini rolled off the assembly lines. The very next year, the new Mini was launched, to be sold in Mini dealers all over the world, including America.
Morgan (Independent Still) - One of the few companies still under British rule is Morgan. Oddly, Morgan is highly successful - there's a years-long waiting list - and they basically have done zero product development in the last, say, seventy years. Morgan still sells roadsters that look exactly like the roadster they sold in the 1940s and '50s. Only the engines and minor details have changed. They just released an all-new roadster that looks pretty much the same. However, a major departure was the Aero 8, another all-new creation that they started selling in 2000. With a bug-eyed, confused face and unbelievably ugly styling, it's certainly a testimony to the dedication of Morgan buyers that even this monstrosity has a 2-year waiting list.
Noble (Independent Still) - Noble is yet another specialist sports car maker, started by Lee Noble. He started selling cars bearing his name in 1999, beginning with the M10 roadster. Only a few were sold before it was replaced with the much nicer looking M12, one of the best sports cars in the world. The M12, still sold today, translates to about $85,000 for the 350hp GTO-3R version. It'll hit 100 mph in under 10 seconds on its way to a top speed of 170 mph. Even faster is the M12-based Noble M400. It hits 60 in just 3.5 seconds and costs $95,000. nobles are exported to a variety of countries, including Russia, and are sold legally in America by 1gRacing.
Rolls Royce (German) - The most prolific luxury car manufacturer in the world, Rolls Royces are known as the ultimate in high-end cars. However, this famously British manufacturer was sold off to Volkswagen in 1998 after Vickers, the company that owned it, decided to sell. However, due to a quirk in the fine print, the actual Rolls-Royce name was not owned by Vickers and thus the name alone was bought by BMW. Today, the new generation of Rolls Royces, starting with the Phaeton are being produced under the BMW flag.
Rover (Gone) - Well, this is pretty much it. The last real mass-production, privately owned British car maker. After being owned by BMW between 1994 and 2000 but then being dumped out to British owners, Rover ran into a lot of financial trouble. Instead of being bailed out by Shanghai Automotive in China, the deal fell through and it's all over for Rover. With Rover's death, only a few very low-volume sports car makers remain in British hands.
TVR (Russian) - Sadly, all most Americans have seen of TVR is Travolta's TVR Tuscan in the movie Swordfish. TVR's rip-roaring, rear-drive sports cars, powered by huge V8s and inspired by racing, are possibly the most outlandish, crazy creations on the planet. The new Sagaris is a perfect example: Crazy aggressive vents all over, huge air intakes, a glass spoiler, side-exit exhaust, and 400 horsepower going straight to the rear wheels. 0-60 in 3.7 seconds and 195 mph are also achieved. The story of TVR, around since the 1960s, is also interesting. One customer, Peter Wheeler, liked his TVR so much in 1982 that he bought the entire company. In 2003, he sold 100% of the shares in TVR to the son of a Russian oligarch, 24-year old Nikolai Smolenski. Thus, Britain's largest specialty sports car maker is also no longer under British control.
Today, just 4 car companies are still under British rule, all four of them very small sports car companies producing just a few hundred cars per year, if that. While foreign companies have factories in Britain, it is likely that never again will a major British brand exist. Rest in peace, MG Rover, and the British car industry.
Pretty cool article about the Brits and their automotive industry -
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://automobiles.allinfoabout.com/.../05-05-10.html
Just thirty or forty years ago, Britain was one of the leading producers of automobiles. British cars were imported all over the world, with a reputation for being either fun and sporty or stately and elegant, although in neither case too reliable. So what has happened since then? Looking at the companies that sold cars in the '70s shows where the British car industry ended up.
AC (Gone) - This company is best known for creating a small roadster in the '60s called the Ace, which Carroll Shelby decided to throw a hulking Ford V8 into, creating the Shelby Cobra, an automotive icon and one of the most popular replica cars in the world. Meanwhile, AC continued to sell their lightweight sports cars. By 1996, however, the company went into receivership and was bought out by a company in Malta. This Maltese company began manufacturing a few AC Cobra models, as well as a modern Aceca coupe and Ace convertible. Somehow, Carroll Shelby ended up with the rights to the Cobra name and shape, even though it was originally AC's car. This forced the ailing Maltese company to shut down in 2003.
Ascari (Independent Still) - One of the few true British car companies left, Ascari is a specialty supercar company with a very small number of sales. It was started in Dorset, England in 1995 and named after a great F1 driver of the 1950's. Ascari sold 17 Ecosse supercars starting in 1998. The Ecosse was a 400hp screamer capable of 200 mph and 0-60 in 4.1 seconds, and cost about $180,000. Ascari's next car, the KZ1, was introduced in 2000 but didn't go on sale until early this year. Less than ten have been sold so far out of the production run of 50. The $450,000 supercar is capable of 200 mph and 0-60 in under 4 seconds, but that still doesn't justify the enormous pricetag.
Aston Martin (American company) - Another of Britain's specialty sports car manufacturers, Bond's marquee of choice is no longer under British rule. Ford Motor Co. bought 75% of the company in 1987, and got the remaining 25% in 1993. It's now part of Ford's Premier Auto Group, with a few other former British companies.
Austin (Gone) - Austin was one of largest British nameplates and was owned by British Leyland, a conglomerate formed by the English government in 1967 with almost 20 assorted brands. The group, renamed Austin Rover group in the '80s due to the departure of the truck company British Leyland, finally phased out the Austin nameplate, and Austin was gone by 1990.
Bentley (German company) - One of the most famous British luxury brands ever, Bentley has a rich history dating back 90 years. It enjoyed successes at Le Mans and had many sporting cars in the 1920s, but fell into financial difficulty at the time of the Depression. Bentley's chief competitor in the British luxury car business, Rolls Royce, bought Bentley in 1931 by disguising themselves as a financial company. By the 1990s, Bentleys were little more than Rolls Royces with different grilles and badges and had lost the sporting character that the brand used to have. In 1998, both brands were put up for sale. Volkswagen won the bidding war with BMW, but due to a technical oddity, they did not have the rights to the Rolls-Royce name. Still, the German company took all of the resources and factories and has been producing Bentleys ever since, including the popular Continental GT.
Jaguar (American company) - Another famous luxury brand from Britain, albeit one with a history of poor reliability, Jaguar was one of the many companies that were part of British Leyland. In 1979, it went back to being an independent company. This lasted not even ten years, as it was bought by Ford Motor Co. in 1988 and is now a part of the Premier Auto Group at Ford.
Land Rover (American company) - While Land Rover started out producing jeeps for the British army, it soon diversified into civilian vehicle, much like Jeep in America. Land Rover was a part of British Leyland Group, and then later Austin Rover group. In 1994, Austin Rover (by now just Rover) as a whole was purchased by BMW. By 2000, BMW was fed up with the huge losses Rover was costing them and sold Rover, as well as MG, back to independent investors. They kept the Mini brand for themselves, and sold Land Rover, the only profitable unit in the Rover group, to Ford. It is now part of Ford's Premier Auto Group.
Lotus (Malaysian company) - Colin Chapman founded this legendary sports car company on the mantra of light weight is best. Now, with the new Lotus Elise that has just been released in the US, they are thought as one of the best pure British sports car companies. However, many people would be surprised to know that Lotus is no longer British-owned. In 1986, it was bought by General Motors. This was followed in 1993 by a sale to Romano Artioli, who was reviving the Bugatti name in Italy with the EB110 supercar. Sadly, he was way too ambitious and it ended in bankruptcy in 1995, leaving Lotus an innocent victim. Luckily, the Malaysian company Proton stepped in and bought the sports car maker, and have held it ever since.
LTI (Independant Still) - Normally, I wouldn't include a company that doesn't sell to private consumers, but reader Euan Robertson alerted me to the fact that LTI, maker of the venerable London Taxi since 1948, does indeed sell their cars to individual parties. LTI even exports their latest TXII model to North America. It sells in Britain for about 25,000 pounds.
Marcos (Independent Still) - Another quirky British sports car manufacturer, Marcos has been in and out of bankruptcy at least twice since its start in the '50s, with the most recent being in 2000. The brand is always brought back, though, due to popular demand, and indeed, production has begun again.
MG (Gone) - MG was famous for their lightweight sports cars, which were popular in both Europe and America in the 1970s. However, fuel and emissions basically killed the roadster market in the early '80s, and so MG, a piece of the British Leyland/Austin Rover group, was stuck with making mildly tuned Austin hatchbacks for the decade. In 1994, Rover, including MG, was sold to BMW, but the German company got rid of these companies in 2000 due to enormous losses. MG-Rover became the largest independent British manufacturer, and MG sold both the TF sports roadster and hopped-up versions of Rovers. All that ended last month, however, when talks with a Chinese company collapsed and MG-Rover went under with no buyout. As of now, there will be no more MGs.
Mini (German company) - This automotive icon didn't start out as a separate marquee, but rather as a shared car between different manufacturers in the BMC corporation. In 1961, versions of the Mini were brought out from Austin and Morris. In 1967, BMC was absorbed into British Leyland, along with most other English car companies. The Mini soldiered on, relatively unchanged, through the death of the Morris nameplate and even the death of the Austin nameplate. By the '90s, it was considered basically a separate make, sold through Rover dealers. It had long since pulled out of the American market, but continued in Europe with only detail and engine modifications. After BMW bought the Rover group in 1994, Mini included, they began to work on an all-new Mini that could be sold all over the world. In 2000, BMW dumped the unprofitable MG and Rover divisions and sold off Land Rover, but kept the Mini nameplate for themselves. That same year, the final old-style Mini rolled off the assembly lines. The very next year, the new Mini was launched, to be sold in Mini dealers all over the world, including America.
Morgan (Independent Still) - One of the few companies still under British rule is Morgan. Oddly, Morgan is highly successful - there's a years-long waiting list - and they basically have done zero product development in the last, say, seventy years. Morgan still sells roadsters that look exactly like the roadster they sold in the 1940s and '50s. Only the engines and minor details have changed. They just released an all-new roadster that looks pretty much the same. However, a major departure was the Aero 8, another all-new creation that they started selling in 2000. With a bug-eyed, confused face and unbelievably ugly styling, it's certainly a testimony to the dedication of Morgan buyers that even this monstrosity has a 2-year waiting list.
Noble (Independent Still) - Noble is yet another specialist sports car maker, started by Lee Noble. He started selling cars bearing his name in 1999, beginning with the M10 roadster. Only a few were sold before it was replaced with the much nicer looking M12, one of the best sports cars in the world. The M12, still sold today, translates to about $85,000 for the 350hp GTO-3R version. It'll hit 100 mph in under 10 seconds on its way to a top speed of 170 mph. Even faster is the M12-based Noble M400. It hits 60 in just 3.5 seconds and costs $95,000. nobles are exported to a variety of countries, including Russia, and are sold legally in America by 1gRacing.
Rolls Royce (German) - The most prolific luxury car manufacturer in the world, Rolls Royces are known as the ultimate in high-end cars. However, this famously British manufacturer was sold off to Volkswagen in 1998 after Vickers, the company that owned it, decided to sell. However, due to a quirk in the fine print, the actual Rolls-Royce name was not owned by Vickers and thus the name alone was bought by BMW. Today, the new generation of Rolls Royces, starting with the Phaeton are being produced under the BMW flag.
Rover (Gone) - Well, this is pretty much it. The last real mass-production, privately owned British car maker. After being owned by BMW between 1994 and 2000 but then being dumped out to British owners, Rover ran into a lot of financial trouble. Instead of being bailed out by Shanghai Automotive in China, the deal fell through and it's all over for Rover. With Rover's death, only a few very low-volume sports car makers remain in British hands.
TVR (Russian) - Sadly, all most Americans have seen of TVR is Travolta's TVR Tuscan in the movie Swordfish. TVR's rip-roaring, rear-drive sports cars, powered by huge V8s and inspired by racing, are possibly the most outlandish, crazy creations on the planet. The new Sagaris is a perfect example: Crazy aggressive vents all over, huge air intakes, a glass spoiler, side-exit exhaust, and 400 horsepower going straight to the rear wheels. 0-60 in 3.7 seconds and 195 mph are also achieved. The story of TVR, around since the 1960s, is also interesting. One customer, Peter Wheeler, liked his TVR so much in 1982 that he bought the entire company. In 2003, he sold 100% of the shares in TVR to the son of a Russian oligarch, 24-year old Nikolai Smolenski. Thus, Britain's largest specialty sports car maker is also no longer under British control.
Today, just 4 car companies are still under British rule, all four of them very small sports car companies producing just a few hundred cars per year, if that. While foreign companies have factories in Britain, it is likely that never again will a major British brand exist. Rest in peace, MG Rover, and the British car industry.
10-30-2005, 03:45 PM
#13
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fucking british, called the Corvette a car from the "colonies" like they think they are better than us or something.....
WE SAVED THERE ASSES IN WWII
plus that car was faster than an elise if you looked at the board
A++ USA
UK go f yourself
WE SAVED THERE ASSES IN WWII
plus that car was faster than an elise if you looked at the board
A++ USA
UK go f yourself
Last edited by fedor corolla; 10-30-2005 at 03:49 PM.
10-30-2005, 03:50 PM
#14
I miss my 03 CL-S :(
Originally Posted by fedor corolla
WTF!!!!!!!
how you going to compair a covette to a ferrari, or 911????
how you going to compair a covette to a ferrari, or 911????
And part of the reason the vette was redesigned the way it was for 2005 was to compete with the 911 more directly. This has been covered many times. Here's a nice article for you to read:
http://motortrend.com/roadtests/coup...0501_brothers/
edit: I just read your second post... I'm sorry I wasted a post on you.
Last edited by einsatz; 10-30-2005 at 03:53 PM.
10-30-2005, 03:57 PM
#15
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Originally Posted by einsatz
You mean compare.
And part of the reason the vette was redesigned the way it was for 2005 was to compete with the 911 more directly. This has been covered many times. Here's a nice article for you to read:
http://motortrend.com/roadtests/coup...0501_brothers/
edit: I just read your second post... I'm sorry I wasted a post on you.
And part of the reason the vette was redesigned the way it was for 2005 was to compete with the 911 more directly. This has been covered many times. Here's a nice article for you to read:
http://motortrend.com/roadtests/coup...0501_brothers/
edit: I just read your second post... I'm sorry I wasted a post on you.
yes but in the opening of the video it stated that "germany had the 911, Italy has ferrari, and America has the Corvette.....how are you going to compair a ferrari to a corvette...
corvette may be the most POPULAR sports car in the US, but i dobut its the "Best we have"
i would also like to make mention, that i am not a fan of American cars, i just thought that the corvette deserved more credit for what it is than what they said in the video
10-30-2005, 04:51 PM
#17
Burning Brakes
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Originally Posted by fedor corolla
fucking british, called the Corvette a car from the "colonies" like they think they are better than us or something.....
