Honda Car Forum

Imports vs Domestics again... why all the misconception about it?In case most of yall have been living under a rock for the last decade or two ever since the 90's america has stepped thier game up while imports are still riding the hype from years ago and if no of yall remember imports used to suck and all that imports are better around the corner stuff is B.S. when the last time you raced a honda. Now i will admit that imports do make some nice cars but most of thier performance and gas mileage stems from a Turbo not a natural engine. Now let america throws turbos on everything they woundlt be able to americas exhuast and some well know examples areNissan GTR vs Corvette Z06 or Zr1...The corvette spanks that awd car all day in a straight line or a cornerHonda Civic SI vs Mustang GT...The mustang rapes that honda everytime.Chevy Silver vs Toyota Tundra...The one thing they cant do is make a better truckPretty much any import gets beat by a Domestic anyday of the week while still looking betterDomestics:Mustang,Focus,Taurus,F150,25… and many moreImports:Evo,Raider(Dodge made),civic,accord,s2000,eclispe,tundra,… and some othersDont get me wrong I lived in japan and i loved it but when it comes down to it you gotta admit the Domestics are better and safer look up japanese car crashes,Dont get me wrong i like imports and a bunch of them look and preform good but stock for stock domestics own them all day and imports only get better gas becuase they have less power and japan imports all of thier fuel so they have to(Lived in japan and been to thier fuel stations)plus thier gas is more expensiveSlacker you got a point the 350z is more competition and the 370z cost 10k more so it oughta win but it cant beat the camaro ss or a GT with 10k in parts and european cars are all overrated they all Live on turbos and premimum gasAnd a GT destroys the s2000 in a straight line or around the corners i did it last week

i agree with you all the way. imports just look slicker when modified. people who have imports just add a body kit, and a small nitrous booster, and think they can smoke anyone out there.

ah hell yeah. the way I figure it, this is how it goes.Imports-spend alot of money on and get somewhere with it(performance-wise)Domestic-buy the car for alot of money and your already there.Domestic manufacturers have always gone for naturally-aspirated power over economy. Imports only got big in america when OPEC was formed and brought on the 70's oil crisis. Economy is what they are based on. Not styling or power. Now everyone is tryng to get the performance coupled with the economy. in the next 5 years, we will see who can do what but I fear that powerful cars will be a thing of the past soon.

A car is a car. It is unique it it's own way Who cares if it is a Domestic or Import. Unfortuately the misconception is the the Japanese cars are more reliable. Hey... almost all Japanese cars are now built in America or Canada. Technically it is a domestic??? So why are people still thinking Japanese cars are still the best? They may have been long time ago but they were number one in cancer (RUST). Their sheet metal were horrible. Now they are better and so is the Big three. Unfortunatly because of the misconception, the consumers are bringing the value of domestics down. Also if rental companies start buying only imports and leave the domestics alone, then there will be a dime a dozen of imports and only very rare selection of domestics. If this is the case, then people will pay more for a car that is rare rather than pay more when there is so many cheaper down the road...

To answer your question, time is the answer. When America was building junk, Japan was building simple but reliable cars. People remember, for a long time, and they hold grudges. The American brands sold crap and laughed at buyers until they pressed class action suits (remember the GM 350 ci diesel V-8? Remember Pinto gas tank fires, burning Ford ambulances, burning Lincolns, burning Police Crown Vics?) American manufacturers stabbed American buyers in the eye for decades. Americans remember. And, the long term effect of that memory is felt in resale values. Honda never returned six month old rental cars to the market at half off. ALL the domestic manuracturers did. Bottom line, the domestic manufacturers asked their customers to sit on a stick, and their former customers invited them to do so as well. Thus, two of them are bankrupt.Attitude is also an issue. Japanese manufacturers have generally been more forgiving of warranty issues. That is, they did not tell the guy who was a few hundred past his warranty to pound sand. They took care of him. American brands caught this trend about two decades too late.Japanese makers got a leg up on cheap labor. Americans had the home court advantage. They blew it. They sold sizzle. The imports sold steak. And, consumers remember.Time heals all wounds. Maybe.Now, the Koreans are doing to both the American and Japanese manufacturers what Japan did twenty and thirty years ago. Now, Italy has returned to play. God help us all!

Well point blank to anything to do with comparison to a 4 cylinder to a v-8...Rule one is no replacement for displacement...Simple fact If my engine is bigger it can intake more fuel and air there for I can get more h.p.....why do you think Funny Cars run 500+ C.I. motors and not twin turbo 4 bangers...America needs to start focusing on I-6's again does anybody remember the Ford series Straight 6's the 300 is still an unbeatable engine stock 190 hp and 330 ft lbs of tq and a decent 18 mpg untuned..But america is still winning the race for diesel. Best stock motor out there in my opinion is the 03-04 cobra motors,capable of handling 800hp (crank) on the stock forged internals

Ignoring your horrendous spelling and grammar how about at least comparing class vs class?GTR vs Corvette? If you compare the 2010 models the zr1 is still almost $26k more than the GTR. Almost $110k for a Corvette? No thank you.Comparing a Civic to a Mustang is just dumb. At least go with a 300/350Z or an S2000 vs a Mustang GT. RWD vs RWD. Trucks are an American thing. Other than the US, they're not really a big demand. Also, wtf kind of point are you making about turbos? It's displacement vs compression. Yea, the only way to outrun a frickin 6.2L Supercharged v8(2010 ZR1) is throwing a twin turbo on a 3.8L v6(2010 GTR). Why not compare cars that have around the same engine(i.e., Cavalier vs Accord)? Then your argument makes no sense. Off topic, but the best looking Corvettes are still the Stingrays. Everything else since the late 90's have been minor tweaks on the same body style. Fact of the matter, you still get more bang for the buck out of an import than a domestic. Pretty sad, when there's only articles that have come out somewhat recently saying domestics are ALMOST as reliable as imports.There's also something to be said when the 'big 3' had to get a bailout. I will say however that the old American econo cars(escort,cavalier,etc) were just as good as their import counterparts (civic, camry, etc).

Apples to oranges a little bit more? A Mustang GT vs a Honda Civic SI? You are really reaching. Why wouldn't you compare it to the new 370z? If you did you would realize the mustang gets beat in both corners and straights. Or if you're so inclined to compare Honda's at least compare it to the s2000. The GT would beat it in the straights but get embarrassed in the corners.Also, you're wrong about the GTR and Z06 debate as well. The GTR beats the Z06 around the track. It's already been documented by many magazines.Here's a quote from Road and Track."You can see from its lap times that it handed both the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 and Porsche 911 Turbo their respective lunches, working its way around Buttonwillow's challenging Race No. 13 configuration about 5 sec. faster than the others."Straight line probably goes to the Z06, but it's not by a whole lot. In fact I bet if you lined the 2 up and raced the 1/4 20 times it would be a toss up. You have to also remember though that the GTR is only running on 11 pounds of boost, so it might get a little disgusting when people start turning that up. The ZR1 does hand both of them their asses but it's also $20,000+ more, and Nissan has the Spec V in Japan to compete with that...Your arguement also stems from the belief that Domestic cars "look better". Solid arguement, seeing as how everyone has different tastes.Also, where are you getting the arguement that Japan throws turbos on all their cars? The only "sports cars" that come to mind with factory turbos are the EVO, Speed6, Speed3, and STI. Three of the 4 are rally cars, and 2 of the 4 are owned by Ford. If you stated European car companies like to stick turbos in their cars I would agree with you, but all you did was compare Japanese cars with American.I don't even consider myself an "import guy", but it helps if you actually knew what you were talking about.

This battle will never end. Import vs domestic. Ricers say imports are better. muscle heads say domestics. It all depends on who you are and what you want. what it all comes down to is horse power to weight ratio. The bottom line is a turbo 4 is alot lighter than a n/a v8. Not to mention the size of the car itself. A 720 hp Acura RSX type S is always going to beat a 720 hp Camaro. becouse of the weight. A 400 hp Civic Is going to spank a 400 hp Mustang. even if the domestic has a weight reduction it will never be a light as the import. On the reliability factor I've owned a cavalier and a civic. My civic made it to 350k miles with nothing but an oil change every 3000 mi. different story alltogether with the cavalier. 100k trans, 150k head gasket. And that is just one comparison there are many more. On to trucks. Domestic has always had the best trucks. However the import market is catching on. I am an american guy all the way. I love beer and peanuts too. I just dont like to fix my car every 50k. However this debate will never end. Good Luck to all of you.

Imports vs Domestics again... why all the misconception about it?----------Who knows...just erase this thread and put your post in one of the otther bajillion threads about this where some kid who wasn't born when US automakers were putting out complete heaps of garbage for the consumer to buy can't comprehend why consumers who were burned repeatedly turned away from domestics for good.Nobody cares about this beaten to death issue anymore.You have your opinion, leave it at that. Unless you are offering to buy someone a vehicle, you have no say in what they buy.