24th Nov 2013, 00:41

Following on my Saab review:

I lived in Japan for almost a decade, worked in a Japanese company, selling cars to the rest of the world.

On average going through 500 cars per year. That's where my numbers are coming from.

Spoiled for choice as well.

Japanese cars for customers, European cars for myself.

Couldn't resist it. Euro cars are cheap in Japan (I wonder, why?) and most are left hand drive.

If I had to go for a Japanese car, my favourite was a Legacy or Impreza with a 2 litre boxer turbocharged. They are OK for short time ownership, but with higher mileage too expensive to fix. A non-turbo 2 litre will still give you good performance, and a 1.8 the best mileage and reliability. 1.6 and 1.5 are gutless.

Somehow had a soft spot for Cimas and Glorias/Cedrics. Weird looking cars, especially if you lower them.

Had few Buicks... OK cars, but too outdated design.

No Korean cars... Have a Korean wife though, really enjoying that. But their women are much more beautiful and reliable than their cars. Much more fun as well.

The company where I worked in Japan was going through 100-120 cars per day. So it was easy to pick up the numbers I needed. What I noticed though, was that 99% of Japanese cars were faultless, but most European cars came with some kind of fault. I had to source parts for them before selling.

After all these years and cars, I can't really name any car that is my favourite. They all have good and bad points, more or less.

I know, that I prefer Audis over BMWs and Mercedes, but that's my personal view.

If I ever buy a European car again, it will be an Audi A6.

I had one before, surely it failed on me eventually, but I had a good run out of it - bought it on the auction for $9k with a faulty transmission, fixed it, had it for 2 years and still sold for $12K with a blown head gasket. Of course, the buyer knew it had a blown gasket, don't get me wrong.

Nowadays, as the production of both European and Japanese cars moves to China and likes, it will only get worse.

So choose wisely, people.

And stay away from SAABs.