http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Tue, 20 May 2008 18:34:06 EDT http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/02/18/212606.php#comment-719880 I love Top Gear. I was offended initially by Clarkson and he went way over the top in getting his point across. But the take-away is two-fold: 1. Throw away society - this means US consumers don't generally demand much. Billy Bob will drive his pick-up a few years and than wants another one. 2. Our engineers (and more than the likely their bean-counter masters over them) either can't or won't engineer a good car. Obviously it's NOT American workers since BMW and Mercedes build the majority of their SUVs and even some sports cars in America. Also Toyota exports Avalons and Sequoias made in America. So, it's the guys WAY back at the drawing board not bothering to put that extra effort to make our cars compare to those of Europe. Of course the Prius isn't American. I wouldn't own one, but there is no denying the economics of owning one now. It's not a performance car and doesn't pretend to be. I wish EVERYONE drove on because than gas prices would finally go down. So, Jeremy, enjoy America. Our food and coffee puts UK food to shame. Try not drinking coffee in styrofoam mate, get it at one of millions of cafes like the Colorado Coffee Merchants (www.coloradocoffeemerchants.com). Our cars are ok. They should be much, much better. If we put our mind to it, we could shame Mercedes and BMW and absolutely trounce anything put of England, but we're pretty content, apparently, cranking out 10 million cars and selling them knowing they'll be cast aside in a few years. 719880@blogcritics.org Tue, 20 May 2008 18:34:06 EDT