Cars! Cars! Cars!

Crang said:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1501985669744373763

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Korean cars are still pretty crappy in build quality. My wife recently got a Hyundai rental when our Volvo was in maintenance, itjust feels cheap and is underpowered. The build quality is no where near a Toyota. Their luxury cars aren't much better, below a Acura or Lexus for sure.

Tam said:

His Mazda 6 originally came with a 2.0L I4. He wasn't happy with it. He switched it to a 2.5 liter with turbo. Its an engine that is found in some cars like the upper end Mazda 6 and Mazda CX series of SUVs. Still wasn't happy with it. He switched it to a 3UZ-FE V8 engine that was originally found in Lexus cars in the mid 2000s, which at best makes around 300hp. I do not think he modified the engine beyond stock, so the engine will still pass emissions test like a stock Lexus would, and can be driven ordinarily and economically.

He seems to have the money to burn doing these things so how he passes the next inspection after 5 years, I am not qualified to know. China seems to have a hot car modder's scene and they may have found ways to deal with regulation issues.

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In Toronto, back when most of the Chinese community was from HK/GD, the choice of cars began at Toyota and ended at Honda for 90% of the people. I think part of it is familiarity (since HK was RHD, so JDM cars obviously dominate), and also the 90's and 00's was the pinnacle of Japanese auto quality.

Now with the influx of mainland immigrants, they are buying a lot more different cars. Very common now to see Camaros and Mustangs in a Chinese plaza. Seen some Vettes and F-150 Raptors as well. One time I saw a guy unloading cabbages from the bed of a Raptor into his Food stall. lol

PiSigma said:

Korean cars are still pretty crappy in build quality. My wife recently got a Hyundai rental when our Volvo was in maintenance, itjust feels cheap and is underpowered. The build quality is no where near a Toyota. Their luxury cars aren't much better, below a Acura or Lexus for sure.

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I recently test drove a Hyundai Niro EV. The vehicle felt like it was carved out from a single block of metal. That's how solid it felt like. However, the driving experience feels like you're driving a PC.

The connection between a Niro EV vs. ICE Niro is likely a connection by name only, and could be considered to be a different platform on its own.

supersnoop said:

In Toronto, back when most of the Chinese community was from HK/GD, the choice of cars began at Toyota and ended at Honda for 90% of the people. I think part of it is familiarity (since HK was RHD, so JDM cars obviously dominate), and also the 90's and 00's was the pinnacle of Japanese auto quality.

Now with the influx of mainland immigrants, they are buying a lot more different cars. Very common now to see Camaros and Mustangs in a Chinese plaza. Seen some Vettes and F-150 Raptors as well. One time I saw a guy unloading cabbages from the bed of a Raptor into his Food stall. lol

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I know a Chinese immigrant, and when he was new to the country, he had a Toyota pickup. Now he is sporting a Ford F-150.

The Golden Age of Japanese cars is probably from the late '80s to around 2012 and so. After that, one by one, the sedans, coupes, hatchbacks, fun and performance cars began to die out and get cancelled, replaced by crossovers and SUVs. I think the worst thing to happen to the car industry is the Crossover. They lack the economy, efficiency, handling and performance of regular cars using the same engine, and yet they lack the ruggedness and the true off road capability of a true ladder frame based (pickup based) SUV.

I read the last Consumer Reports and Lexus remains on top. Mazda now is a close second and trails only by one point, which is an achievement when you consider Mazda is not a luxury brand. Toyota and Honda seems to have fallen down the rung lately.

We tend to forget that China still makes ICE cars, and many of them ain't bad. Some are now being exported to different countries.

Here is the Geely Okavango SUV by a YouTuber in the Philippines. The engine and powertrain is a 1.5 liter 3 cylinder with a turbochanger using a hybrid powertrain. Hybrid and turbo in the same package. The engine is designed jointly by Geely and Volvo engineers. The name Okavango is from a river delta in Botswana, one of the most unique I have heard for a vehicle since the popular Nissan Qashqai, named after an ethnic tribe in Iran, and is known as the Rogue Sport in the US. The Okavango resides in the same price and SUV size segment as the Qashgai, which isn't sold in the Philippines, but for those in the USA, use the Rogue Sport as a market reference to gauge more or less the price and market the Okavango is aimed at. The Okavango however, appears to have more room, engine power and electronics.


In China its name is the Geely Haoyue.

He makes a great case if you want to shift to EV.

All new Honda H-RV has arrived. This is the first of the second generation. The first generation has been holding down the fort too long.


Somehow the Asian and European versions don't have the same physical appearance, mainly due to the front grill.


Mazda introduces the new CX-50. It occupies the same slot as the CX-5, and its not like the CX-5 needs to be retired, the CX-5 has always been the top contender for its SUV segment. The CX-50 is only made in the Mazda-Toyota plant in Alabama, and not anywhere else. This shows Mazda following Toyota's line of designing cars exclusively for the US market.


The biggest or most hyped news of the month would be Toyota's introduction of the GR Corolla to the US market. If you are living under a rock with regards to the automobile world, GR refers to Gazoo Racing.


Stellantis announces a new slate of turbocharged inline 6 engines which may replace the fabled Hemi in the future. Sad to see the iconic V8 go, but if the Hurricane inline 6 turns out to be the American counterpart of the legendary Toyota 2JZ-GTE engine, by all means go for it. This will be mighty awesome on a future Dodge Challenger.

Leaked images of Chery's new car.
The 290t sign suggest the engine to be chery's 1.6t L4, 145kW/197Ps, 290N.m petro engine.
Chery is headquartered in Wuhu, Anhui, China. Their cars are selling in China, Russia, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ukraine, South Africa, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Italy(branded as DR motor)...

ThatNiceType055 said:

Leaked images of Chery's new car.
The 290t sign suggest the engine to be chery's 1.6t L4, 145kW/197Ps, 290N.m petro engine.
Chery is headquartered in Wuhu, Anhui, China. Their cars are selling in China, Russia, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ukraine, South Africa, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Italy(branded as DR motor)...
View attachment 86746View attachment 86747View attachment 86748View attachment 86749View attachment 86750View attachment 86751

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Despite being one of the most prominent chinese carmakers they still barely crack the top 10 list in sales

The SOEs and their joint ventures are just too powerful. It's a shame because I love the fact Chery strongly uses their own branding for their cars unlike the SOEs with tons of marques like MG, Bestune

Overall China's automotive industry really needs to consolidate its marques in order to cut down on marketing costs and create a stronger brand that can go international.

The worst offenders are SAIC, FAW and Dongfeng who have something like 5 brands each, while Changan, GAC, BAIC and Chery have already started consolidating, though Chery still has a few weak marques.