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Why do Brits Hate U.S. Cars? The Steering Column September 2000 BY CSABA CSERE Every month's batch of English car magazines arrives in our offices saturated with slurs about American cars and the industry that produces them. Here are some typical recent swipes: "Unlike most U.S. 4x4s, the steering rack does actually seem to be connected to the front wheels." -Peter Haynes in the May 24 issue of Autocar, on the Ford Maverick, which is the European version of the Escape SUV. "So, whilst the rest of the world suffers Detroit's can't-do-small-at-all efforts, nothing's really changed in America. Or, as they say in Montana: 'You can divorce me if you like, but I'll always be your sister.'" Anthony ffrench-Constant in a rant from the April issue of Top Gear. "In a country with the U.S.'s reputation for dumbing down the driving experience} . . ." -Julian Rendell on the Jaguar F-type, published in the April 19 issue of Autocar. Over the years, I've learned to filter these excuses for wit and insight that pollute the otherwise thorough reporting in British auto rags. But in the July issue of CAR, there's a feature by one Paul Gregory that brought my blood to a full boil. It's titled, "Where the Hell Are the Americans?" and contains these gems: "In straight geology, the United States covers much of the planet's available land." The correct figure is, in fact, 6.2 percent. "At U.S. Ford dealers, a Focus is the same price as a Crown Victoria." Say what? The Focus runs from $12,520 to $16,095. The Crown Vic costs $22,850 to $24,965. "Americans do not buy enough European and Japanese cars to be truly important." Hello? Last year, more than 32 percent of the vehicles sold in America-that's 5,456,398 units-wore Japanese nameplates. That's three times the volume and percentage of Japanese cars sold in Europe. "The Focus is available, but qualifies as a sub-sub-compact which the U.S. market fails to 'get'-quite possibly because they can't see it." Actually, the U.S. Department of Transportation classifies the Focus as a compact. For the first five months of 2000, the Focus was one of the five bestselling cars in the U.S. And so it goes. Every assertion wrong. Every conclusion a cheap slander warped by comprehensive ignorance. Gregory and many of his colleagues seem particularly incensed by America's low fuel prices, which make large vehicles affordable here. As if it's somehow our fault that the British electorate tolerates a pseudo-socialist government that quadruples the price of fuel in the United Kingdom with taxes. Some of this freewheeling hatred of American vehicles can be ascribed to the "laddie" brand of journalism popularized by Brit magazines such as FHM and Maxim. The wit and sophistication level of these rags, which wavers around the 13-year-old level, has displaced the once grown-up voice of British motoring journals. But the Eurocentric perspective of British auto writers is nothing new. Ten years ago, British magazines credited the BMW 850 coupe with the first use of electronic multiplexing to control a variety of components from a single circuit. In fact, the Cadillac Allanté had debuted this technology in 1987. A few years ago, in a discussion of the 1961-era Buick-Oldsmobile-Pontiac aluminum V-8 that, in rehashed form, still motivates most Land Rover products, Autocar made reference to the Pontiac Tempest that was one of the hoary V-8's original homes. That Tempest used a rear-mounted trans-axle connected to the engine by a thin, solid driveshaft that had considerable sag in its design state. As a result, it was nicknamed the "rope drive." Sure enough, in its story, Autocar wrote, in all seriousness, an explanation of its operation that included ropes. Meanwhile, interspersed among these mountains of ignorance are praise-laden passages extolling the products of the British auto industry. This example comes from a story about the Aston Martin DB12, which the author had never driven: "The Lotus-developed ride and handling ensures the car generates phenomenal cornering forces as well as providing the supple ride befitting such a luxury GT." Continued... Subscribe to Car and Driver magazine