Japanese vs German CARS

[Mark_Bishop@ipc.co.uk (Mark Bishop)]

Charles E Love jr <cel14@cornell.edu> wrote:
>>>
I don't know whether I should bother to get into all this again (cheers from
the lurkers)--but: The Acura NSX, though a very different car, gives the top
911 a run for its money (as a couple of recent comparison tests show) ,and
has been described by more than one "motoring journalist" as "the best
sports car ever made, at any price."  That car, along with such worthy (and
high-priced) machines as the Toyota Supra, Nissan 300 ZX, and Mazda RX-7,
could not be described by any fair-minded observer in the way you do above.
Love 'em or hate 'em, but each of them has tremendous character, is unique,
reflects extensive racing experience,  and is surely built in part out of
love--just like a 911.  I realize that Porsche--and Leica--are in the eyes
of their fans somehow "purer;" after all, the Japanese car companies named
above also build inexpensive, utilitarian cars, and Canon and Nikon do the
same with cameras.  But Porsche and Leica don't have unblemished
histories--read on.  

The Porsches I was talking about in my post  were conveniently left out of
your reply. Certainly I wasn't talking about the 928 (which of course had no
Japanese competition, since it was a $100,000 Grand Touring car) or the 911
(which in the eyes of its devotees has no competition at all--maybe it is an
M6).  What nearly killed Porsche was the failure of their mass market
mid-priced front-engine water-cooled cars (the 924 and relatives), cars
which you don't mention above, cars whose sales revenues were supposed to
support niche products like the 911 and 928.  
<<<

Sorry, but I really do beg to differ with this. Firstly, and most importantly,
the 924/944/968-series cars did *not* almost bring Porsche down. Quite the
reverse: they may not have sold well in the States, and let's face it, few
Americans were going to pay that sort of money for only gour cylinders,
especially in the early days when it was really a VW LT van engine ;-). But in
Europe these models sold well and were solid earners, which were killed off by
the vast cost of adapting to tougher Europen Community emissions and noise
standards.
No, the abject sales failure of the 928, which was intended as a 911 replacement
but never succeeded as such, went way over budget in development, had its launch
delayed and engine size reduced (expensively) in a panic attempt to avoid
launching a behemoth into the middle of the oil crisis. The 911 is profitable,
but does not sell in sufficient volume to support Porsche as an independent
concern - in this respect, I agree with your Leica analogy - the rangefinder is
the purist product, but the SLR line is needed for volume. This is why the
company badly needs the so-called Boxster if it is to survive out of anything
other than largesse on the part of the controlling Piech family (although, as
owners of substantial amount of Volkswagen stock, they can afford to indulge
their love of sports cars...).
I agree with you that the Honda/Acura NS-X is a great car. In pure technological
terms, it is light years ahead of a 911 and, if your goal is to drive extremely
quickly, safely, it is the better car. But the V6 engine does not sound anything
like as exhilarating as a Porsche's flat six, the clever suspension irons out
perhaps too much road feedback and sense of drama. It is perhaps the automotive
equivalent of a Canon EOS-1n, whereas the Porsche 911 is closer to a Leica R6.2.