Re: Japanese vs German CARS

["Charles E. Love, Jr." <cel14@cornell.edu>]

At 11:32 AM 7/23/96 +0100, you wrote:
>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


I guess we could debate history forever.  The 924 and relatives actually
sold pretty well here for a while, but then went into terminal decline.

My real problem with what you wrote was your characterizing Japanese cars as
all "pastiches" and "built to a price."  If you'll admit that this
description does not apply to the NSX--and perhaps some of the other cars I
have mentioned--I'm happy.  I'm even happier with your characterization of
the 924--VW engines, a pastiche, built to a price!

You make just the right points about the NSX vs. the 911.  At this point, we
get to a matter of taste--I've never responded well to those who regarded
the rear engine Porsche's dicey handling at the limit as some kind of a
masculine virtue; I think it's been a defect.  Porsche does too--if I
understand the press right, the 911 replacement won't really be a
rear-engine car, but will keep the look while going midengine.

Since the NSX is slightly more broadly focused than the Porsche, how about
the NSX as the R6 and the Porsche the M6?  The NSX is hardly a family sedan,
which is how I characterized the EOS-1 in a previous post.
Charles E. Love, Jr.
517 Warren Place
Ithaca, New York
14850
607-272-7338
CEL14@CORNELL.EDU