[gasinveins]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Not necessarily very scientific, but then again main stream opinion rarely is.
Enjoy https://www.skyparksecure.com/blog/w...ays-about-you/

Jeroen

I drive a Škoda and everything said here is spot on about myself. Quite amazed by it. Maybe someone is practising Car astrology like Parrot astrology?

[dragracer567]

As many people pointed out prejudices vary by region

This is what I found in the countries I've lived in:

In the UAE (Dubai):

Japanese: Final word in reliability, resale value and customer satisfaction. The best selling car at 70,000 AED would be the corolla and the best selling car at 300,000 AED would be the LC/Patrol, says a lot on how spread out their sales are.

European: Most (affordable) European cars are put in the same lot i.e they are unreliable and have terrible resale value. And also, their ACs are never as good as the Japs and Koreans. Even in luxury brands, many people prefer a Lexus instead of a Mercedes/BMW though these sell well too.

Korean: Upstarts with great design and cheaper than Japs but let down by stingy local dealers. The base models of the Accent and Elantra still comes with a single airbag for example. Really popular in Saudi though.

American: Less expensive than the Europeans and Japs but with more features. The trade-off is lower quality and resale value.

Chinese: Bought by people with a low budget but don't want a used car. Popular in Saudi.

Indian: Bought by nostalgic Indian expats.

Now to compare this with the mentality in Belgium where I lived till last year:

French: Easy to fix and parts easily available. Probably because of France being next door.

German: Over-engineered but reliable. Can never go wrong with Golf/3 series/ 5 series/ C class/ E class/octavia (it's just considered a big Golf).

Swedish: Mainly Volvo, it's quite popular with families, especially the estates. They are assembled in Ghent, Belgium which contributes to their popularity,

British: Land Rover is fairly popular with the SUV community though considered a bit unreliable and not as well made as the Germans (except the Range Rover models).

American: True American cars are mostly special ordered imports by enthusiasts. I'd include Ford Europe models in the 'German category'.

Italian: Looks sexy, drives like God meant it to be but get ready for the valves to blow out of the engine any time soon.

Japanese: Reliable and no non-sense but parts are actually more expensive than French cars and nearly on par with German cars.

Korean: Similar to Japanese cars though their crossovers are really popular.

Chinese and Indian: At this point, they wouldn't buy them even if you hold a gun to their head!

[Subby]

Very interesting topic indeed. All these are notions developed over a period. Here are my takes

Japanese - Small cars, Reliable and once again reliable.

Korean - Following Japanese footsteps with extra dose of features!

European: Timeless design with overdose of pride. Fun to drive at a cost. Unreliable !

American: Big muscle cars and SUVs ! V6 ! Wants to survive on legacy.

Indian - Practical and obviously overdesigned. Trying Hard! Patriotism!

Chinese: Copycats! Risk of unknown!

Exceptions only substantiate perceptions!

[neoonwheels]

Italians - The only thing they can do apart from making Pizza is designing cars!!! Sheer brilliance...

Indians - We cover as light as matchbox to 5 star safety rating cars. Designs are quircky mostly. Average on reliability

Japanese - Its a synonym for reliability but mostly boring designs

Koreans - Features galore

Germans - At times, over-engineered!! Good handlers without a compromise on build quality. Poor in eletronics reliability

[VaidhiR]

Originally Posted by neoonwheels

Japanese - Its a synonym for reliability but mostly boring designs

Sorry boring? Pre 2005 probably. But not anymore.

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[KkVaidya]

Originally Posted by manjunathkl

The 2010s have changed the dynamics of car industry when it comes to country of origin. Most companies are owned by foreign owners (in some cases by multiple owners from different countries).

You are quite right but still the country genes creep in. HOW?
That depends on which nationality the R&D, Design & engineering team belongs to. For eg. the MG Hector is pure Chinese as the teams who were part of development are Chinese and nothing to do with the British. So that way if we look at cars, then they do differ to a large extent.

[fhdowntheline]

Quite honestly, I would rather attribute traits of the cars to the individual/specific model and its mechanicals rather than making it a region-wise characteristic. I have driven petrol vehicles from almost all regions now ie. American, European, Japanese, Korean and I could never attribute the experience to a country as such. It was always about that car. I found the V6 of the Pontiac Bonneville to be as smooth as the V6 of a Honda Accord (both used in USA). But being a Honda Accord, it felt punchier than the Bonneville because of the difference in the body dynamics. Both cars felt equally comfortable to ride in.