"The Real Problem with the American Auto Industry"

[edyvw]

Originally Posted by alarmguy
I would suggest that it is the dream of people around the world to be able to travel American Roads from coast to coast
No other country in the world has the network of roads that we have, no other country has the vast amount of paved roads that we have, by far, our interstate system is in fine shape.

Is it the best? Maybe or maybe not but its the largest by far and i rather live here in the USA and be able to venture out over a life time of traveling the roads in this country, north, south, east and west, Alaska too! .... then stuck to a few super nice ones in another country.

True, American interstate system is the largest one in the world. That is my point, if we as a country managed to develop such system, there is no reason to have poor infrastructure in some of the most recognizable American cities or states.

 

[javacontour]

Originally Posted by edyvw

Yes, American cars can corner, sort of.


Meh. Seems wasted on most drivers. I can hustle my 99 Grand Marquis through corners, curves amd roundabouts faster than most drivers in sporty European or Asian cars seem willing to go around here.

Driving my Mazda3 is an exercise in frustration as ome cannot even come close to using the car's potential.

It's sad when a midddle aged man can drive a 20 year old MGM faster than people will drive their Porsche or BMW.

 

[edyvw]

Originally Posted by javacontour
Originally Posted by edyvw

Yes, American cars can corner, sort of.


Meh. Seems wasted on most drivers. I can hustle my 99 Grand Marquis through corners, curves amd roundabouts faster than most drivers in sporty European or Asian cars seem willing to go around here.

Driving my Mazda3 is an exercise in frustration as ome cannot even come close to using the car's potential.

It's sad when a midddle aged man can drive a 20 year old MGM faster than people will drive their Porsche or BMW.

I drove Yugo through corners faster than most people I know that own Porsche. What that has to do with actual capabilities of a car?

 

[DejaVue]

Originally Posted by edyvw

I drove Yugo through corners faster than most people I know that own Porsche. What that has to do with actual capabilities of a car?

It has to do with people trashing American cars "for not being able to turn" when it's not like the cars suck, the drivers won't use its potential, and most of the road is straight anyway.

It's like listening to Europeans decide on what street car to buy based on its top speed, as if it matters.
"This car can do 200mph."
"Yeah? Well, this one can do 203mph."

You're driving it on the street. Who cares.

 

[javacontour]

Bingo! Does not matter if your car is faster in the twisties if you don't drive fast in the twisties.

It's often more about the nut behind the wheel than how the rest of the nuts and bolts are screwed together.

Performance cars are largely wasted on most drivers here.

Originally Posted by DejaVue
Originally Posted by edyvw

I drove Yugo through corners faster than most people I know that own Porsche. What that has to do with actual capabilities of a car?

It has to do with people trashing American cars "for not being able to turn" when it's not like the cars suck, the drivers won't use its potential, and most of the road is straight anyway.

It's like listening to Europeans decide on what street car to buy based on its top speed, as if it matters.
"This car can do 200mph."
"Yeah? Well, this one can do 203mph."

You're driving it on the street. Who cares.

 

[Y_K]

Originally Posted by 4WD
I'm in many of EU countries often - in one now - huge mix of road quality - but I understand you hate everything about the USA and long for Croatia ...

I think, he is from Bosnia

 

[Nyogtha]

I have German ancestors that lived in the Sarajevo area generations ago. No matter the portion of former Yugoslavia now Back to Balkanized, we don't have artillery shell holes and knocked out AFV's along the roadways in the US.

 

[bbhero]

Originally Posted by edyvw
Originally Posted by javacontour
Originally Posted by edyvw

Yes, American cars can corner, sort of.


Meh. Seems wasted on most drivers. I can hustle my 99 Grand Marquis through corners, curves amd roundabouts faster than most drivers in sporty European or Asian cars seem willing to go around here.

Driving my Mazda3 is an exercise in frustration as ome cannot even come close to using the car's potential.

It's sad when a midddle aged man can drive a 20 year old MGM faster than people will drive their Porsche or BMW.

I drove Yugo through corners faster than most people I know that own Porsche. What that has to do with actual capabilities of a car?



You still rolling large with a Yugo right??

 

[Nyogtha]

Originally Posted by bbhero
Originally Posted by edyvw
Originally Posted by javacontour
Originally Posted by edyvw

Yes, American cars can corner, sort of.


Meh. Seems wasted on most drivers. I can hustle my 99 Grand Marquis through corners, curves amd roundabouts faster than most drivers in sporty European or Asian cars seem willing to go around here.

Driving my Mazda3 is an exercise in frustration as ome cannot even come close to using the car's potential.

It's sad when a midddle aged man can drive a 20 year old MGM faster than people will drive their Porsche or BMW.

I drove Yugo through corners faster than most people I know that own Porsche. What that has to do with actual capabilities of a car?



You still rolling large with a Yugo right??

I guess I would too if I was navigating Sniper Alley!

Is this a picture of that Yugo?

 

[dishdude]

The Yugo was based off the Fiat 128 so it handled pretty well. Too bad it was woefully outdated when it landed here. If Fiat had brought it over in the 1970's with better build quality than Yugoslavia, it might have been competitive. They were durable, I'm down in Central America and just walked by one this afternoon.

 

[bbhero]

 

[edyvw]

Originally Posted by bbhero
Originally Posted by edyvw
Originally Posted by javacontour
Originally Posted by edyvw

Yes, American cars can corner, sort of.


Meh. Seems wasted on most drivers. I can hustle my 99 Grand Marquis through corners, curves amd roundabouts faster than most drivers in sporty European or Asian cars seem willing to go around here.

Driving my Mazda3 is an exercise in frustration as ome cannot even come close to using the car's potential.

It's sad when a midddle aged man can drive a 20 year old MGM faster than people will drive their Porsche or BMW.

I drove Yugo through corners faster than most people I know that own Porsche. What that has to do with actual capabilities of a car?



You still rolling large with a Yugo right??

Actually, NO!
Here is the thing, I owned Zastava 101 which was later named Yugo Scala.
Yugo as Americans know was Yugo 45, 55 (US got this one) and 65 (actually I had a friend who had double weber carburetor on that one and some 130hp).
Zastava 101 was first Zastava vehicle (one part of factory was making cars, another Yugoslav version of AK47). Those 101 were good cars, especially for 1970's and especially those that had engine imported from Italy.
Yugo had same engine, but overall car was several steps down from 101. Reason is that they cheapened at the time when people wanted something much better. Yugoslavia at that time already had VW, Opel and Renault factories, so people could easily get their hands on Golf 1.6TD (which is still considered holy grail there). That prompted Zastava to further cheapen Yugo and cut costs, which resulted in truly horrible car (by Western standards). However, in 1980's only country to which people from Romania, Czechoslovakia and basically on other side of Iron Curtain could come without exit visa was Yugoslavia. So driving even in Yugo behind Trabant, Skoda L, or Moskvich, one realizes Yugo is not such a bad deal.

 

[4WD]

I have spotted a few of them in Romania … still getting the job done … We had Land Cruisers and drivers … but rode in a Dacia Duster while there … also basic transportation one of the admins had …

 

[zorobabel]

Originally Posted by fdcg27

The US has vast areas of low population spanned by a network of interstate highways that will allow you to drive easily and safely just about anywhere. You can easily do a thousand mile day if you're well rested as I have a few times.
I'd fly a thousand miles rather than driving it every time but when we were young and impecunious, we'd drive it.
No EU country has the kind of distances we have here and no EU country has as extensive a network of four lane divided highways as do the more populous US states.
Road quality is a mixed bag both here and in the EU.
You cannot make a blanket statement about the roads on either side of the Atlantic.
Europe does have a well developed and heavily subsidized passenger rail network as well as confiscatory fuel taxes that encourage people to use it or one of the cheap airlines rather than driving, subjecting the roads to less wear and tear than what we see here in the land of reasonably priced fuel.

I think it's the populated areas where the potholes are concentrated. I only enjoy driving in the boonies these days.

 

[edyvw]

Quote
I guess I would too if I was navigating Sniper Alley!

Is this a picture of that Yugo?

No, I had "privilage" to do sniper alley on foot.
Yugo was used during the war, but nothing could beat VW Golf 2 1.6D. That sucker would run on power transformers oil (we did not have diesel or gas in needed quantities). We had some Puch G that we took from Yugoslav military and most SWAT teams had them, but nothing was reliable as Golf2. I saw one with million km's after the war. God knows where that sucker was. SWAT team in my city juxt before the war decided not to purchase as usual Puch G, but they got GMC Yukon. Those turned into true Greek tragedy within few months of war.

 

[Nyogtha]

Zastava also manufactured (and continues to manufacture) excellent sporting rifles based on the reliable Mauser 98 controlled feed action. I have several Interarms Mark X rifles including a full stock (Mannlicher stock style) Whitworth in .270 WCF. The others are standard sporter stock in .25-06, 7 X 57 mm, and .264 Win Mag. Mine were built in the 70's and early 80's, or use actions from that period. Interarms went out of business during the breakup of former Yugoslavia. Charles Daly used Zastava actions, and the Remington 798 & 799 rifles came ftom Zastava.

I wish I could order a new Zastava full stock hunting rifle in 7 X 57 mm with single set trigger but I guess due to sanctions there is no Zastava distributor in the USA, nearest one is in Canada and I can't imagine getting a rifle from Serbia through Canada to Texas these days.

https://www.zastava-arms.rs/en/civilianproduct/sporting-rifle-m70-standard

 

[edyvw]

Originally Posted by Nyogtha
Zastava also manufactured (and continues to manufacture) excellent sporting rifles based on the reliable Mauser 98 controlled feed action. I have several Interarms Mark X rifles including a full stock (Mannlicher stock style) Whitworth in .270 WCF. Mine were built in the 70's and early 80's, or use actions from that period. Interarms went out of business during the breakup of former Yugoslavia.

I wish I could order a new Zastava full stock hunting rifle in 7 X 57 mm but I guess due to sanctions there is no Zastava distributor in the USA, nearest one is in Canada and I can't imagine getting a rifle from Serbia through Canada to Texas these days.

I worked for NATO on demining and destryoing excessive weapons after the war. We would run M1A1 or M84 over rifles. Only Yugoslav and Czech version of AK47 were still operational. We had to cut those, because tank thing did not work on them.
However, I think I saw some Zastava products in US. Sanctions are long gone.
Croatia sels its hand gun here through Springfield Armory.

 

[Nyogtha]

I guess I'll send Zastava an email inquiry.

We have Serbian ammo from Prvi Partizan available here in the USA. I had an unfortunate incident with their 9mm "NATO" ammo (which is NOT manufactured for NATO by PPU), they gave me 2X cost in rifle ammo in exchange for the PPU 9mm NATO ammo I purchased. Fortunately, I was using an all steel Astra A-100 when this happened with no damage to me or my pistol. The range safety officer told me someone else using that same ammo had a Sig Sauer P365 blow apart in his hand at that range. I have had zero problems with the non-NATO PPU ammo whether rifle or hand gun.

The image embedder won't upload the image from my Google drive so here's the link to the PPU 9mm cartridge case failure image. This occurred on round 43 of the first 50 round box I tried.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tG0kthDQTk4YXoqoumk6rXT1VZbENPMT/view?usp=drivesdk

 

[edyvw]

Originally Posted by Nyogtha
I guess I'll send Zastava an email inquiry.

We have Serbian ammo from Prvi Partizan available here in the USA. I had an unfortunate incident with their 9mm "NATO" ammo (which is NOT manufactured for NATO by PPU), they gave me 2X cost in rifle ammo in exchange for the PPU 9mm NATO ammo I purchased. Fortunately, I was using an all steel Astra A-100 when this happened with no damage to me or my pistol. The range safety officer told me someone else using that same ammo had a Sig Sauer P365 blow apart in his hand at that range. I have had zero problems with the non-NATO PPU ammo whether rifle or hand gun.

The image embedder won't upload the image from my Google drive so here's the link to the PPU 9mm cartridge case failure image. This occurred on round 43 of the first 50 round box I tried.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tG0kthDQTk4YXoqoumk6rXT1VZbENPMT/view?usp=drivesdk

That can happen to any manufacturer, but I am not sure their products are where they have been before 1990,s.
I know ammo manufacturer Igman from Bosnia had or still has some large contracts with US military.

 

[Nyogtha]

The fact my experience was not an isolated incident fuels speculation PPU is using brass that's not up to handling NATO spec 9mm ammo pressures. The brass lacks the NATO headstamp, or even a +P headstamp. I brought this to PPU's attention with basically a "so what?" response from PPU.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I_LMyHHs7xmhP_emRwahBaMUg4Wa96vE/view?usp=drivesdk