7th Jan 2011, 17:45
"Not everyone wants to be cramped in a tiny "me too" mid-size (if you can call them that) sedan from Japan with all of the pizazz of their refrigerator."
Ummm... have you seen the Camry, Avalon, most of the Lexus lineup, the Accord, and most of the Acura lineup? These are all what I and most other people would consider big cars. The current Camry is every bit as large as the Buick lineup - thus they are close to the same size. In fact, the current Camry has 101 cubic feet of interior space while the current Buick Lacrosse has 99 cubic feet. Thus the Camry actually has slightly more interior space. Not that this really matters, because car designers have done a far better job of organizing space inside cars anyway. Some of the small cars on the market today have more interior space than full size cars did 20 years ago. I've driven both the new Camry and Lacrosse: Both have more than enough room to comfortably seat a family of 4.
As far as I'm concerned just about all of the cars made today- whether they're imported or domestic, look about the same anyway. Buy what you want.
8th Jan 2011, 01:31
"Not everyone wants to be cramped in a tiny "me too" mid-size (if you can call them that) sedan from Japan with all of the pizazz of their refrigerator."
I really hate generalizing statements like this. There are many cars in the Japanese companies that have plenty of pizazz! There are many cars in their lineups that are anything but "tiny" too. Any midsized sedan is pretty much the same size nowadays including the Japanese brands. Have you actually driven any of them? Try the 271 HP Accord, and tell me the car lacks pizazz. It outperforms most average domestic sedans, and runs smoother and is more refined as well. It is also rated as a large sedan, and has a ton of room inside. It still drives like a smaller car though, being tight and really easy to handle. You can even get the Camry with the 268 HP V6, which is another amazing engine.
If you hate Japanese imports, then so be it. If you haven't really taken the time to actually compare them side by side against the domestic competition, then save your comments, as you aren't helping anyone make a truly informed decision on anything but your own biased opinion.
30th Aug 2010, 13:50
The word that sticks out to me is "want". You are not "forced" to do anything that your "wants" don't warrant. You will waste gas because you want to, not because you need to. Americans have to start putting "want" on the back burner here and start making choices that benefit more than just themselves.
There are plenty of high quality, high MPG vehicles out there that would suffice on your 5 minute commute. I'd be riding a bike if I only had a three mile commute. It amazes me that we are in the position we are in these days, and still people go on about what they want, instead of making changes to get things back on track for us all.