Re: Audi Price Cuts

[rdh@genrad.com (Robert D. Houk)]

   > 	IMHO, Japanese cars are an engineering triumph because they
   > 	satisfy a vast majority of the functional requirements at the

   yes, they are not over engineered for the 1% most demanding customers and

?Huh?

   then explain to me how (1) nissan can put a pickup truck engine into a
   "sports" car and enjoy great sales success.  (2) downgrade the suspension

Good engineering, I'd say. Also, parenthetically, I will point out that a
lot of very-successful British Sports Cars (Lotus comes to mind) used a
*fire pump* engine to very good effect . . . to this day outhandling just
about anything the Germans have ever managed to field (for less than my
annual salary, anyways) . . .

   bits in the new maxima and still get away with it.  (3) how honda can
   specify 5 inch wide wheels for a 3000 pound car and sell tens of

OK, so the "Common Man" CAN be a fool sometimes (although also I'll point
out that today's 5-inch tires outperform "yesterday's" 6-inch times, and
"yesteryear's" 7-inch tires!).

   thousands.. (4) how on-road full time 4wd, whose superiority is proven
   time and time again in all forms of competition is quickly disappearing

For the 99'th percentile, yes; for 98'th percentile and less, "AWD" is
extra up-front expense, as well as extra back-end (maintenance and operating
expense) way WAY past the point of diminishing returns -- many (most?)
people's "quality of life" issues are probably far-better-served by taking
the $10,000-or-so "premium" for German AWD and investing it in immuniza-
tions for their children, college-education funds, insulating their homes,
taking a "real" vacation, buying health insurance, etc., and so forth. For
those areas of the country where AWD is "likely to be useful" (for example,
New England, Northwest, etc.), devote the first coupla' grand on Japanese
AWD (read: "Subaru"), and bank the rest for retirement age fun . . . (OK,
so I'm starting to get silly)

   from the marketplace, the void being filled with glorified trucks with 40
   year old technology. 

...which will readily take me places that I wouldn't dare take my prized
German piece-of-Engineering-Excellance (comme par example, the lumber store
to pick up a 2x4, not to mention the hunting camp up in the hills)

   i am not arguing about german being better than japanese.. i am saying
   that the attitude that mr. joe blow consumer is always right regardless of
   how ignorant he is is a dangerous one.  in the long term, if the

Yup.

   consumer's ignorance and stupidity continue to rule, we will get worse
   engineered, not better engineered cars. 

Sadly, all too true, I fear.

   just using nissan to illustrate my point we have 2 very clear examples of
   how cars are being engineered to lower standards just because the almighty
   consumer isn't smart enough to notice or care.  

I assume you refer to the "ZX" vs "Pathfinder" . . . yup, pretty amazing what
a decent pair of twin-cam heads and a turbo or two can do! On the one hand,
the Pathfinder will pull straight up a cliff with ease (my UrQ would most
likely just smoke its clutch trying desperately to get into the torque curve)
and on the other hand, the 300ZXTwinTurbo (or whatever the hell it is called
these days) will certainly blow away any comparably-priced Audi in power and
handling in 99% of the conditions a "road car" will encounter (although I
don't think the ZX has those *fantastic* optical-coating heated side mir-
rors!). I grant you the "rear passengers" will find the ZX less than user-
friendly, avidly (if not rabidly) prefering the Audi . . .

   the arrogant consumer will come back and argue that "i am not a racing
   driver, i don't need to corner fast at all."  fine.  but consider that if
   you have to slow down your overweight, filled to the brim with powered
   gadgets boat everytime you approach a turn, you have to accelerate back to
   the speed that you were travelling.  elementary physics will tell you that
   you will expend more energy as compared to sailing through the turn
   without slowing. from a pure appliance point of view, an appliance that
   consumes more energy (and is thus more expensive to operate) is inferior. 

   an audi is therefore a superior appliance in terms of being able to
   consume less energy on less than perfectly straight roads.  how many
   consumers do you think will factor this consideration into their
   checklists of number of cup holders and JD power measurements of how well
   the dealer pampers you when you have your car serviced? 

Not many, just us cognoscenti, I guess.

On the other hand, an appliance that starts first time every time (my Mit-
subishi Mirage Turbo [except for that one time the battery cable needed to
be cinched back down], my Pathfinder, my Subaru, my Mercury [hmmm... dating
myself here], hell, even my Lotus) carries with it a certain sense or air
of "superiority" that is hard to deny, as compared with my UrQ which averages
a flatbedding on alternate years (on the even years it is able to limp to
the mechanic on its own power), and which *requires* (assuming you want to
commit a reasonable liklihood of being able to start and drive away under
most reasonable circumstances) jumper cables and starting fluid as standard
equipment. This upcoming winter should be interesting...I have "painted my-
self into a corner" by having only my UrQ to drive (the motorcycle hiber-
nates for the snow season) -- so we'll see if an essentially-brand-new en-
gine starts and runs when it gets cold out, or if I've pissed away another
8 Grand or so into the wind of German Engineering Excellance.

Now don't get me wrong, what the Quattro does well it does *SO* well that,
if my UrQ manages not to drive me into a shooting frenzy, I'd even consider
buying another. I really liked the 1994 90Q that I test drove, although it
is classically under powered and I don't trust the ElectroGizmo Climate
Control system. If they would bring over the S2 (or whatever they are cal-
ling the 5cyl20valveTurboCoupe these days), I would even *seriously* con-
sider it (but probably not for long at the $45,000 or $50,000 they would
probably list it at!). Sigh.

					-RDH