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Audi quatro, Merc 4Matic, Passat what's-it-called-this-week...? Aren't they available across the pond?

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Available, but all more expensive (especially the Merc). Volvos are the other choice, but they are also quite expensive for the fast 4wd ones. I bought a Subaru over a Passat wagon for the price - and I liked the drive of the Soobie better anyway.

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Pickup trucks are really the only hauling vehicles that you can find at a normal dealership. The type of vans that you are talking about basically don't exist here and the sort that do don't generally seem to be available at consumer dealerships.

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Vans like the Sprinter have been availalble in Europe forever, it seems. The closest thing you could find in the states is, well, maybe a UPS truck.

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If you say so....

...before the introduction of the Sprinter here in the US, that is. Of course I read the posts earlier in the thread. Yes, I've seen a couple on the road.
Thrilled that it's here- also yes.
In the market for a good van- yes again.
Got $30k to drop on a vehicle of *any* type- not just now, sorry.

Nice links, though. Thanks for that! And thanks Bitt for the Ford prices, too!

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Brits complaining about the US's lousy auto industry is quite a bit like, well, Brits complaining about the US's lousy space program.

I'm not sure I agree. Not having a mass market auto industry of our own would seem to eliminate national bias from the decision making process. Most Brits would recommend German or Japanese cars. From what I've seen driving around in the US, it seems most Americans agree!

However, the UK still makes the best taxi cabs in the world

Rob

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I see. Interesting, 225HP WRX is here only about 10% cheaper than 200HP Volvo XC70 (which I prefer to almost-SUV XC90); 275HP Passat 4Motion is almost 25% dearer than WRX. Anyway, I could stand any one of them (for out-of-town driving, anyway)...

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The 'Vette will out-accelerate, out-brake, out-corner the M3, and cost less to buy and maintain while doing it.

There is no car selling for under $150,000 that will run with it. It will approach 30 MPG in highway driving. It is arguably the equal of Porsches and Ferraris that sell for two and three times the price.

No, I am not a Corvette owner, I don't even particularly like them -- but the new C6 series 'Vette is one hell of a car.

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Are you guys getting the 84 Vette over there??? The new Z06 is going head to head with Ferraris in publications here, with instrumented tests, and is in the same leage (not to mention the 1/3 cost). You can drive the thing in the winter and people can actually afford to race the things.

Kind of reminds me of how the Lotus Eclipse was legendary for being the best handleing car in the world. Until some magazines actually started hooking instrumentation upto it and found this wasn't the case at all.

Don't get handling and grip confused this is one of the reasons that the vette over here stinks and in the USA it rules.

American magazines with an obsession with figures straps a G-meter to a car and then goes round and round in circles on beautifully flat smooth piece of tarmac till it unsticks. This then gives them their G reading. The car might be understeering like a pig but it might still give a high reading.

In europe they get a car and throw it down a road and from there asses its handling.

Now in the EVO test that was mentioned earlier a small front wheel drive hatch beat a load of established supercars not because it gets better figures but because it drives better and is more fun.

Handling is not something that can be measured and quantized it can only be felt. its not how much G a car can produce its how the car feedback whether the steering lets you know what is happening, how it reacts to inputs, what happens when you lit off can it slide and is it predictable.

My caterham is brilliant in this aspect it gives huge amounts of feedback and it is completely adjustable. You want to go through a corner with understeer it will do that, you want neutral it will do that, you want to go completely sideways it will do that too. By adjustable i mean not that you can change the suspension settings but by playing with weight transfer you can adjust the attitude of the car in corners. You trail brake into a corner and you can drift the car sideways through an entire bend. I don't do this on the road as you would be going just too damn fast.

America car industry is learning about ride and handling and are starting to bring cars over to europe to get them set-up. While the uk might not have a car industry to talk of in the same way as USA does. The uk does however still live on the cutting edge of automotive technology a large amount of cars are developed in the UK.

Also don't forget the good old indy car circuit, just how many of those cars are built in the UK?

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Show me the BMW (any BMW, regardless of model series) that will stay with a Z06 Corvette on any road or race course, and I'll be impressed.

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okay lets be impressed then

Nurburgring in germany

corvette C6 is 8:15

BMW M3 CSL 7:50
BMW M6 8:06
BMW M5 8:13

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According to this thread...

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If I needed to haul stuff, I would definitely get one of these as a work truck before a pickup. It has an incredibly tight turning circle, too; it feels like you are moving sideways in the driver's seat when turning around. The thing gets 25mpg on top of it all, due to the fantastic Mercedes diesel.

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The placed the Corvette 12th out of 13, with the Roush Mustang at joint 3rd.

Or, if you like, 12th among all production car models on the planet.

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Or, if you like, 12th among all production car models on the planet.

Maybe, but they didn't test all the production cars on the planet, just 13 of them...

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Of course you're right, but there is a distinct anti-American tone to the article that seems, well, unnecessary.

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4x4 is the same as any other car on sheet ice, possibly worse, unless it's got very clever traction control.