What are the common cars in your country?

[DaFool]

One thing I like to do when I visit places is to observe what commercial products are popular there. It helps me think about what facets of global culture transcend the most countries.

So I was thinking of cars. Let me start with the Philippines. Being a former US colony, it follows US trends a lot, one of them being a preference for sedans and SUVs. But unlike the staple Accord vs Camry in the U.S., the staples here are the subcompact sedans Honda City vs Toyota Vios (aka Yaris Sedan). Accord and Camry are also popular, especially the latter, but not as family movers but as execultive luxury saloons.

Sorry for introducing a lot of attachments, but I've been thinking about starting a thread like this for a while now. So what are the common cars in your area?

[Samu-kun]

I'm far too poor for a car, but my dad has a (cruddy) 1997 Ford Crown Victoria and my mom has a stereotypical 2000 Plymouth Grand Voyager.

I just ride the bus. =3

If I could afford it, I'd just get something economical like the Honda civic or something... I never really liked cars or driving in general.

[tigerrenko]

In my country you can see very old cars and brand new cars, with wide variety of European (west and east), Asian and Russian cars.

Russian:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lada
There is a great deal of old Lada's, predominantly Lada Caravan and Lada Niva (jeep).
East European:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%A0koda_Auto
Predminantly Czech Skoda's. Before you could see very old models but today Felicia, Favorit, Octavia and Fabia dominate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_Dacia
Today, the most popular car is Dacia Logan, mainly because it's cheap. While average imported car costs 10.000-20.000 EUR, Logan is about 6.000 so most of the cab cab companies, middle class and young couples have Logan.
Domestic cars:
During 50's through 70's domestic cars dominated.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zastava
We had copies of Italian design (cinquecento and fiat 128) as the most popular car.
Majority of old cars comes from domestic producers. I think we are the only country where Fiat 600 (Zastava 750) can be found in abundance.
West European:
Now, let me tell you a secret. The more impoverished the country is, the greater is percentage of the rich. In my country we have 21% of rich people, and the rest is poor, no true middle class. Hence the huge numbers of expencive cars in our streets.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW
BMW's are popular as old rebuilt cars and jeep versions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peugeot
Is popular as city car for the rich. Usually rich daddy gives Peugeot 206 as gift to his wife or daughter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault
Renaults are mostly ancient models Renaut 4 or 5, not very popular with new models
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes is the top choice of the rich. Gangsters enjoy Mercedes jeeps, rich enjoy Mercedes coupes and limos and rich kids love those little Mercedes A or B class cars.
Other western manufacturers are rarity (Volvo, Citroen, etc)
American cars
Fair number of Opels and Fords can be encountered but only as relics from 80' when they were the prime choice for the middle class. (My country wasn't always poor, we took a nosedive during the 90's, cause of the war and stuff)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeep_Cherokee
Odd enaugh, the most prominent jeep on the streets of my country is Cherokee because it was cheaper to buy it in America and ship it to Germany then drive it home, than to buy a brand new VW Golf in Germany.
Asian
Asian cars reached my country only recently. Parts were expencive and service unavailable so small number of drivers went Asian.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota
This was popular with yuppies because of Starlet, Cellica and Yaris models. While in Japan, Corolla is the middle class car, in my country it was reserved for upper class.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kia_Motors
While you can still see some Nissan's and some Mazda's, Toyota and KIA dominate.
KIA's cars struggle to reach wider audience because Dacia is much cheaper for similar quality. However, KIA is the prime choice of corporate audience. For individuals KIA is not a good investment, but growing number of companies, private businesses etc. use all types of KIA vehicles as their company car/transport. Cee'd and Carnival are the most popular.

I hope this helps...
TR

[DaFool]

Now, let me tell you a secret. The more impoverished the country is, the greater is percentage of the rich. In my country we have 21% of rich people, and the rest is poor, no true middle class. Hence the huge numbers of expensive cars in our streets.

That is absolutely true. There are so many nice cars it's hard to fathom that the majority don't even have them. Few countries are as equal as the US in low cost of opportunity to own a vehicle, although that is changing as companies roll back on leases.

If one can afford to live the equivalent of a lower-middle-class lifestyle in a first world country -- with the occasional driving to malls, staying at Days Inn, drinking Starbucks, then one is already rich. The difference is that unlike in Western Europe or US, you don't have any loans to pay in order to afford that lifestyle, nor is there a huge welfare government to fall back on. You pay out of your own pocket, that means you can afford it. Like in buying cars, you pay in cash.

I used to be part of that ridiculously small middle class in the country. I was lucky in recently entering that lower end of the 21%... some of my relatives weren't as lucky and sank further as the gap between rich and poor widened.

[Der Tor]

Well since i live in Germany we have all the good cars (and that a lot cheaper than in other countries) And we basicly have nobody who can't afford them (cause even if your among the many, many people who don't have a job - the state will provide you with enough money to still have like 3 nice mercedes - i am not kidding - it really is like that. But of course the downside is that basicly everyone who DOES have work has to pay like 50 % taxes and more.)


And of course we also have a lot of stupid german burocracy telling you what to drive and how to drive and when to drive and where to drive and with what to drive. Our cars are great and a big, fast, new Mercedes isn't an expensive car here. But a drivers license can cost around 3 to 4 thousend Euro (almost 7 thousand dollars). And the typical car being driven in Germany is - well small - the smaller the better and so they use liitle gas (some can drive a hundred miles per Gallon and some use even less). And that's totaly necessery cause gas prices right now is like around 12 dollars a gallon.

So german Cars are cool - Autobahn is cool - but all the rest sucks

No free lunch

[DaFool]

As a Honda fanboy, I feel compelled to share you this!

http://paultan.org/archives/2008/09/10/ ... -thailand/

Baby Civic!!!!!!

I think with tweaking the grille, this model can go a long way. Maybe even badge it as a new Acura Integra (before Acuras started becoming overly-clad expensive Hondas) and export it to North America?

[mikey]

Interestingly, in Austria they don't sell the City (sedan), they just have the Jazz (hatchback) for this class. And, they sell the Civic only as a hatchback, too. However, in the neighboring Czech Rep, Hungary and Sovakia, they sell both the hatchback and the sedan versions - so you get the City and the Jazz in the same class (small cars they are called now?), as well as the Civic 4-door and the Civic hatchback in the compact family class (again, these class names, every magazine and manufacturer has a different view). It's as confusing as the VN terminology ^_^.

In any case, the City looks really good. Unfortunately I haven't been able to sit in one yet. After a lot of thinking, and should the interior be well-made, I'd say prefer it over the Jazz - it looks better, and even though I assume it's a bit less practical, it looks like it will be more fun to drive.

As for the sedan and hatchback version of Civic, I'd definitely cast my vote for the hatchback. The sedan is nowhere near the accomplished lines of the 5-door. It's one of the rare cases where I think the sedan is not as pretty as the hatch, normally I dislike hatchbacks. Actually, the very new Civic styling for 2012 or so (I saw it in a car magazine 2 weeks ago, couldn't find a picture on the net so far) is a step back in design I would say, a more restrained look, with the front similar to the S2000 (corporate styling, something the 2006 civic managed to avoid as one of the extremely few new cars), and the body looks like the new VW Scirocco.

[Cybeat]

I'm living in Florida, so I see mostly trucks. It gets pretty boring.

But in Japan, I see everything from Japanese cars like RX-7 to German cars like BMW...and Italian Fiats.

[mikey]

Actually, the very new Civic styling for 2012 or so (I saw it in a car magazine 2 weeks ago, couldn't find a picture on the net so far) is a step back in design I would say, a more restrained look, with the front similar to the S2000 (corporate styling, something the 2006 civic managed to avoid as one of the extremely few new cars), and the body looks like the new VW Scirocco.

I found the picture!
http://www.egmcartech.com/2008/08/21/ne ... m-concept/
For comparison, the Scirocco (body) and the S2000 (front).

[N0UGHTS]

I'm living in Florida, so I see mostly trucks. It gets pretty boring.

Having once stayed in Florida for two weeks, that comes as no surprise to me. The trucks are pretty big to my eyes... Also, the road layouts suck in Florida, so that must be why the drivers are so disciplined even though they have these gargantuan vehicles. Not like in California... Usually, the bigger the vehicle, the more arrogant you are. SUVs are a really common thing around where I live, too, so yeah, sucks big time. The road layouts are nice, at least... Though many of the drivers are nowhere near as.

Where I live, you can see a variety of brands on the street. (And I'm going to list some sub-brands, too. :p) Ford, Chevrolet, Mercedes, BMW, Toyota, Kia, Mitsubishi, Mazda, Honda, Cadillac, Lexus, Lincoln, Jeep, one or two jallopies, uh... The rarest is Jeep, followed by the antiques, (yes, there are more antiques here than Jeeps XD) followed by Lincoln, followed by Corvette (I know that's not a brand!), and everything else is pretty evenly spread out. The Subarus you only see on the freeway.

Four-door sedans/saloons and SUVs are really on tie for the most common type of vehicles you see here, followed by minivans/vans, and then there are a few pickup trucks here and there... Oh, and I remember this really hideous pickup truck around where I live. It has six wheels, the two extra in the back, though the bed doesn't taper at all. So yeah, the thing is really wide... Almost looks obese, the way the back "wheel shields" (I'm not good with vehicle terminology) bulge out. Oh, and it's not a hybrid. :p

I want a TWIKE...

[DaFool]

Can I ask the Europeans here why hatchbacks are considered more practical? I've peered through a couple of hatches (such as the Subaru Impreza) and those things cannot fit a full size airport suitcase, unless you fold the rear seats. But who drives around with the rear seats folded all the time? I think the following factors help explain that until the recent fuel and credit crisis, hatchbacks weren't so popular in Asia and the Americas:

*less rail travel and more air travel, thus more full size suitcases necessitate a trunk.
*size of people (USA) or size of families (Asia), thus making the 2 and 3 door impossible to find. All hatchbacks sold here are 5 doors.
*the "You've got it made" image potrayed by saloons (even subcompact ones) and SUVs, which are important in cultures that love bling-bling.

Anyways, for the record I am not a Honda Salesman nor am affiliated in anyway with Honda, If I liked something else enough I would also mention it, well...

Apparently the European market version will have a 1.4 liter engine (which is actually the same 1.3 liter engine rounded up instead of down) but with a new 6-speed automated manual transmission (i.e. clutchless transmission), cruise control and climate control. I think that they will all be sourced from Turkey like they are now (sourcing from far-away China or Philippines for LHD is impractical). I'm not sure if the market reach will expand to Western Europe since it seems the current City is only offered in former East European countries? If so then that's a feat for the Thai engineers who originally came up with the car back in the nineties... imagine it's fast becoming a global (world) model as the entry-level offering of Honda, since Honda's kei cars are rarely sold outside of Japan and the Fit/Jazz tends to be priced higher in markets where the City is offered.

And as the world economy is collapsing starting with the U.S., it's pretty much guaranteed that this will be the luxury car of the future.

[Jake]

Can I ask the Europeans here why hatchbacks are considered more practical? I've peered through a couple of hatches (such as the Subaru Impreza) and those things cannot fit a full size airport suitcase, unless you fold the rear seats. But who drives around with the rear seats folded all the time?

Well, firstly I drive around with the rear seats folded all the time, because I tend only to drive with myself or one passenger, and I'm too lazy to keep putting them up and taking them down again to fit my bike in.

But seriously - I have a 2003 Civic, which is more than capable of fitting a full airport suitcase into the boot without folding any of the seats down. In fact, the last time mine had suitcases in I folded a third of the back seat down and had no trouble fitting three full-size and one half-size suitcases in at the same time as three people. I certainly wouldn't have been able to fit that much in - say - my father's Audi saloon.

(The same can be said of a good number of hatchbacks... the only ones I can think of which I'm not sure could are the miniature-car ones like the Yaris, the Jazz or the Smart car. I've never seen an Impreza hatchback, but Subarus in general aren't typically sold on their practiality credentials...)

Another advantage is flexibility, since with a saloon you can't choose to expand your storage space nearly so easily as you can with a hatchback, and can't fit such large items in. I have no trouble fitting my mountain bike in my Civic just by taking the front wheel off (which takes about fifteen seconds) whereas to carry it anywhere with a saloon I would need a bike rack (which takes significantly longer than fifteen seconds and also alters the profile of the car). I could fit two bikes, several bags and two people in the car at the same time if I needed to... or I could put the back seats up and fit five people and still have a pretty good-sized boot.

Lastly, hatchbacks are easier to park.

[mikey]

Can I ask the Europeans here why hatchbacks are considered more practical? I've peered through a couple of hatches (such as the Subaru Impreza) and those things cannot fit a full size airport suitcase, unless you fold the rear seats. But who drives around with the rear seats folded all the time?

I would say that they generally have the same amount of space as a sedan, but they use the height of the trunk, rather than the length (as a sedan uses it). So they are shorter as a result but are able to accomodate a similar amount of liters, at least as far as the theory goes. As for the mountainbike in a Civic, I can confirm this with the current generation civic, too. They actually suggest that if you lift up the rear seats (with the Jazz system), you can cram it inside the car, instead of the trunk - and it is possible, but not with two mountainbikes - well, it probably would be possible, but we just didn't bother, folded the rear seats flat and put them in from the back, easy.

But I would also differentiate between real family hatchbacks and city runarounds like Jazz or the even smaller Yaris and all those small cars - Fabia, Clio, etc,... - those are really small, and basically I don't see that much "practicality" in them. However, in the class above them, in an A3, Civic or Auris (Corolla), you have really good space - they were made for families with 2 children, and really, they have the respective space, from experience. Well, probably the only problem are skis, just about in every hatchback they need to more space than the trunk - the civic doesn't have the "hole" between the rear seats, so for ski trips (since we won't carry them on the top), one back seat is folded down.

Apparently the European market version will have a 1.4 liter engine (which is actually the same 1.3 liter engine rounded up instead of down) but with a new 6-speed automated manual transmission (i.e. clutchless transmission), cruise control and climate control. I think that they will all be sourced from Turkey like they are now (sourcing from far-away China or Philippines for LHD is impractical). I'm not sure if the market reach will expand to Western Europe since it seems the current City is only offered in former East European countries? If so then that's a feat for the Thai engineers who originally came up with the car back in the nineties... imagine it's fast becoming a global (world) model as the entry-level offering of Honda, since Honda's kei cars are rarely sold outside of Japan and the Fit/Jazz tends to be priced higher in markets where the City is offered.

Actually, the Eastern European prices I saw in CZ and SK, the Jazz and the City are priced *exactly* the same (look at honda.cz and honda.sk, no need to know the language). I didn't look through the options listings, maybe that's where the Jazz gets more expensive, thogh. Honda not offering the City in Western Europe *may* have something to do with the fact that Eastern Europe has a better market for cheap cars... But the true mystery for me is why Western Europe doesn't get the sedan version of Civic. But maybe that's the point - Western europe prefers cheap and practical cars to be hatchbacks, and luxurious cars to be sedans, while Eastern Europe is used to the sedan more. Perhaps though, it also has something to do with the car industry. The core - France, Germany, Spain and Italy all have "their" car makers, while in Eastern Europe, you only have Skoda - so Kias and Hyundais and all the Japanese makers have their chance, since there is no subconscious bias to buy domestic. Well, who knows, I'm not an analyst, to me every theory sounds reasonable.

[Twar3Draconis]

On the streets these days, I tend to see old cards and new cars. So far, the highest amount would be Toyota, which Subaru and Honda as well. I guess it is because of the difference in gas consumption. But I don't really understand cards. I've been seeing a lot more mopeds in this area of the USA. For a while, I though I was the only one with a moped around here. You and your fancy four wheels.

[azureXtwilight]

Toyota Kijang Innova!
Japan cars are the most cars used here!