one of the reasons for this is your exhaust emission laws especially in states like california, on vehicles with highly tunned engines there are problems keeping the emissions low and therefor would not pass some of your gas test. anyway l can't agree with you, on my visits to the states l.ve seen and driven motors that l would love to get my hands on in the u.k. pity they don't make them with the steering wheel mounted on the proper side!

 

We don't drive on the wrong side you do (just joking) you mean driving with the steering wheel on right hand side. I wish my accent was right hand drive that would be awsume. I understand what you are saying about the emssion thing but the manufactures make the cars totally different, like take the new focus over in europe it has a wider stance looks a **** of alot better and has one more cylinder than it does over here. here they just up the displacement .3 litres which gives it 20 more hp but still we get all the milked out versions. here in new york they changed the state inspections to where they do the emission testing to, which suck anything over 96 OBDII. Montego when you were over here what did you drive? you said you wish you had some of what we had just wondering like what?

 

What the **** would you do with a high powered car ??? Anything above 80mph, you are watching the r-view mirror for the cop. It's different on the autobahn, where you can do 180+ mph without a cop bothering you. :grin: :grin:

 

doc 182, to try and answer your question there is or rather was a fundimental difference between american and european cars, most americans (o/k you might not be one of them) like their autos with soft and springy suspension, electric powered everything big V8's under the bonnet (your fuel is cheap) and generally big cars (you've got the space) in europe cars are made with firmer road hugging suspension, they have smaller engines (cause fuel prices are a rip-off) they have not got as many gimmicks fitted (although that is changing) and the cars are gernerally smaller. so basically americans dont like european cars and europeans dont like american cars, but obviously not everyones the same, thank god, thats why l said that when l come over to the u.s. l love some of your cars because l like the american style and the power everything idea (the last vehicle l drove out there was a chevolet venture and it even had power operated side doors and rear window vents!)........anyway as a footnote if you would really like a right hand drive accent send me over some cash and l will put one on the next container ship going over to you cos we've got thousands of them over here

bye the way the speed limit in the u.k. is 70mph

 

and the autobahn is in germany, without limits :wallbash: :wallbash: :wallbash:

 

i used to live in germany thats probably why i think most american cars suck, how much would an 95 accent be anyways.

 

speed limit in new york is 65mph on selected highways 55 anywhere else. that suck.

 

you could maybe pick up a half decent 95 accent in the u.k. for around 300-400 pounds stirling, about $700 but less than that if you're prepared to do a bit of work, don't forget cars are cheaper in the states than here (like everythings cheaper in the states than here!) they don't call it rip-off britain for nothing

 

if i were to buy an 95 accent (5 speed) it would be a project car so if it ran wouldn't be a problem. the problem would be getting it to the states and past customs (or who ever does that) with the emissions process. How much is gas over there in us $ please? here $2.35 a gallon (right now still going up).

 

5 litres of unleaded fuel in the u.k. is around 4.20 sterling that about $7.00 per u.s. gallon

 

A US gallon is 3.79 litres

but that still aint' cheap

We're now hovering around 101.9/litre on the west coast - call it around $3.10 US/gallon

Every country you go to has its gems and clunkers

My Australian son-in-law calls the Holden Commodore "a Saturn made on a budget" but he still goes on about his Torana

 

wow i would be broke if gas was that high here. i remember the good old days when gas was $.99 (cents) a gallon and i'm only 22.

 

they have holden commodores in the us but only the two door one and its called a potiac gto.
i rekon we (australia)have the best of both wolds here.we have mid size cars that handle good and have heaps of power.our two most popular base model family sedans have close to 200kw and their still rear drive

cheers rod

 

Most of the articles refer to the new GTO as based on the Holden Monaro - is that a 2-door version of the Commodore?

GM brought it out in 2004 as a replacement for the Firebird/Trans-am, which ceased production in 2002.


At $33,000 US base proce it seems like a lot of money for something that really doesn't stand out in the style dep't, especialy going head-to-head with the retro-look Mustang.

Now, if you could get hold of a '73 Falcon XB coupe with a blower and a couple of REALLY BIG spare gas tanks, there's got to be a market.

 

yep the monaro is the two door version of the commodore theres also some realy fast HSV commodore sedans and utes and XA XB and XC falcons coupes (72-78) werejust two door versions of the falcon sedan.the early 71 falcons were the fastest four door car in the wold untill the late eightys,

hey have you seen the monaro in son of mask? it was built near where i live. :57:

 

oh and the GTO isnt just based on the monaro it is a monaro.
their bult in the same factory in victoria the only real diffrence is the front bumper and l/h/drive do you guys get the four wheel drive GTO over there?

 

Just rear-wheel drive as far as I know - check out http://www.pontiac.com/gto/index.jsp?brand...e&pagename=home

 

thanks for the link the monaro isnt the only car from here you guys paid too much for. remember the ford capri(thats what it was called here) ford sold **** loads of em in the US they were based on our local ford laser povo pack

 

Yeah - I'd forgotten the capri. I once owned a Mustang II that had been fitted with a V6 Capri engine. Went like **** but there was so little room under the hood you could barely change the spark plugs.

There were no fast production Fords here in the mid '70s - the company was either trying to do economy (Pinto, Maverick) or pseudo luxury, LTD, Thunderbird (the huge one not the sports coupe)

 

ya'll are forgettin the japanese imports over there for the american's, i heard you guys don't even get any model skylines, which is a serious shame, no cefiro's either, no laurels and no cosmo's, that' some seriously shameful stuff man, you guys are missing out on great engines, RB20DE(T) - RB26DETT!! far out, poor lads, the laurels last i heard were running 7MGTE engines and the cosmo's were running 30BTT Quad rotor buzz boxes?

and if you wanna talk V8's then go a toyota 1UZFE, bloody brilliant engine, 265hp, 37kg of tq and that's a quad cam alloy tech V8, 3968cc! you can bolt an SC14 supercharger straight onto that and stick new cam gears and push rods and boom! 400hp! stick a B&M short shift stage 2 or 3 kit on a W58 Supra Automatic and BOOM!! you got yourself a perfect drag racer!

here in aus, it's not only the holdens and fords that have great V8's, its the toyota soarers too! : :57:

 

Hi :57: ,

Ford Performance Vehicles also do a version of the Ford Falcon, called the Typhoon which is a hopped up version of the local XR6 with 270kw and 550nm from a turboed straight six of 4 litres attached to a 6 speed Tremec.

For anyone fortunate to have a "Munro"(GTO) in the states, APS here in Aus have released a twin(simultaneous) turbo for the LS1 engined veehickels. Check out www.f1performance.com.au.

Good for 600horses and mountains of torque with lots of interesting whistles and woofs under the bonnet.

Look for it soon.

Oh and by the way, don't whinge at US$33000. Here we pay AUS$60,000+ for the Monaro CV8(minimum worth having).

Try googling for an XB coupe, but good luck. You may find one in New Zealand, bro!

Another thing, a GTO has a much better chassis than the 'Stang. Better brakes too. Oh and Steve McQueen would look at the Ford dash and say "Nothings changed...". Don't get me wrong, it looks sensational and goes hard. Let down by so-so dynamics and here in Aus, very scary pricing.

For Gordo.The Capri would have actually been marketed as a Mercury over there. A 1.6 front drive convertible of dubious quality.

Cheers,

Andrew

 

Hi, AGAIN!

Good to see someone else share's my love for the Fords here in AUS, lol!, I can't stand the holdens, to many excess parts from to many excess companys, Holdens is toooo fake to REALLY mean a 'Great Deal to Australia', yeah fair enough most of our jobs rely on Holdens but who cares, If it really meant a great deal to australia then we'd be using HOLDENS parts, not GM!

Anyways, Back to the imports, anyone else here like the HCR32 or the JZA80? or even the older MA70? I'm good for the bigger cars...

For those of you who prefer the little ones, how about an EG3 with a B18C5 Engine and a Accord box? LOL! I say that'd be gooooood stuff, ****, Why not a DC5 H22A? DOUBLE HEKKA GOOD STUFF!

Thanks for the talk..

 

I have had a couple of American cars here in Au. (1980 mustang and a 1970 Fleetwood)
but can not afford to run a V8 anymore .
When I get it back on the road again my 93 Lantra 1.8 DOHC will be my biggest vehicle.
I currently drive a Suzuki 800 Hatch (Alto in the US) as my daily driver . The cost of running a serious car in Australia is too high and the wages are too low.I also have an 85 Mitsubishi Cordia (currently registered ) as a mod. project but not as a daily driver . Fuel today is just over $1.00 per litre and My wage is less than $500 AU per week before tax . so anything big is not an option.

 

Hello guys,
I am joining the cry for more models available here. When I think, that I could buy SKODA { VW owned, manufactured in Czech republic}, which is the same car as vw , for 2/3 of the price of WW and fully loaded......
Anyway to talk about fantastic suspension system used in Citroons, { sorry for spelling, can not find correct letter}, lovely engines produced by Alfa Romeo,
Sleek designes by Lotus, I always get excited whenever new edition of my European car magazine shows up in my mailbox.
One has so much bigger chnce to find the car , which fits his body, valet, driving needs habits.
Talking about variety of vans produced in Europe, Ford has much bettter vans over there, Peugeot, Mercedes, Iveco and all of them come with many versions of power plantes.
And Yes, all of us has different need for speed. I , for example emigrated to Canada 7 years ago. Coming from Czech republic, having driven 1/2 of my driving life on autobahn , I will always enjoy high speed. Once in a while, on the way from Edmonton to Prince George B.C. , once I pass through The Rockies,
There is my 300 km of not a single human dwelling. Yes I know I take chance, BUt believe me , the feeling of our VW jetta roaring past 200km/h is awesome.
I might be wrong, but in my opinion once you have tasted triple digit speed for longer time and get used to it on daily base, there is no comeback. It is pure adrenalin and connection of awesome machine and human neurons. I love it.
Even here in Edmonton, Sometimes I take our Jetta at midnight on the road, the path is clear of others, And I let the **** loose. That is how you say it in english , correct?
But reminding you, you have to have car build for that and regulary maintained.
So, hopefully, we will once in future be treated better and get more toys here. So far it is like being poor neigbour. It is more fun to be able to choose between 3 cars than between 2 cars.
Kamil











:hyper:

 

Well if you guys know your AUstralian motor history, some of you might know of the GTHO... worlds fastest 4 door at the time...

Well, the Phase 5 GTHO is due to be released in 2009/10 and will be packing about 470 horses under its hood (N/A too, so there should be some good bolt on kits to get some more power out of it).... should be good fun.