Well, Which nations in your opinion makes the best sport compact in general. Not which one has the fastest car in a straight line, handling aspects icluded aswell. By Sport Compact, I mean small hatchbacks or coups powered by small 4 cyl. engines.
Ex. Mini Cooper S, Civic Type R, Seat Cupra R, and Dodge SRT-4.

USA all the way man. The focus SVT is an awsome car and one of the only american cars that can handle with the japanese ffs. But ill tell u one compact that could be the next 95 Egg Civic is the Mazda3 Hatch. Looks great. But still Id go for USA. :biggrin:

F' you japan is the shiznit!

But yeah, America is really starting to make some big strides in the compact car market.

Focus SVT = Civic Slayer

The Focus is European, sorry. Fully designed in Germany

The Neon is all American and that is nothing special (Except the distant relative SRT4)

The Cavalier was done in conjunction with Toyota I believe, because there are tons of Toyota Cavaliers were I live.

However, the Honda Civic is designed in Japan by a fully 100% Japanese owned company, as is the Toyota Corolla, yet both are built in the US for US Market consumption.

The forthcoming Nissan Pulsar/Almera will be based around a French design (Renault), the Mazda3 is based on a German floorplan (Ford Focus II), the next Chrysler/Dodge Neon will probably share components with German-developed Mercedes Benz models, should they actually make one.

A few Chevrolet's and Suzukis are going to be nothing more than rebadged GM-Daewoo cars, sourced from Korea.

Kias, up until 2004 were based around Mazdas.

The Skoda Octvia (Czech Republic) and SEAT Leon/Toledo (Spain) are essentially rebodied Volkswagen Golfs, which of course are Germans.

Rovers Compacts were until 1996 (With the new 200) Hondas.

So with Globalisation in mind, you have asked a retarded question that doesn't warrant an answer

:eek: Wow I kinda got owned lol. I wasnt really getting that specific though. :grinno:
Also this is kind of from an American market standpoint even though this is an international site. I didnt realize till now that Europe not only has focus', but better ones like the RS. :banghead:
sorry :smile:

Um, wasn't it the prism you're thinking of that was designed by toyota? It was a corolla with chevy badges after all. I don't think that the cavalier is a toyota design, they don't have anything that it's based on. I know that the Vibe is based on the matrix though. I don't really mind most american compacts being designed by japan, after all, why pay bucks to design them when you can buy the tech from the japanese and undercut their prices afterwards? Much more cost effective.

I don't think that the cavalier is a toyota design, they don't have anything that it's based on.

The Toyota Cavalier. Real car. It's the Chevy Cavalier sold as a Toyota in Japan. I don't think Toyota designed any of it. Lotus did design the ECOTEC engine used in some Cavaliers though.

The ECOTEC has been aroud a while in Opel Vectras, I didn't know that Lotus designed it though, mind you considering thier GM ties, it doesn't surprise me. Either way the Cavalier hasn't been sold in Japan for years now, it had the old 2.4 four cylinder only, from what I saw.

Either way, fully agreed with Moss.

Other possible sport compact cars to consider are the Saturn Ion Redline, or the new Chevrolet Cobalt SS coming out. They both look pretty nice, and sound like pretty well handling cars. Im not too sure on if they are purely American designed and manufactured, but I just thought I would suggest them.

If the Focus was designed in Germany, wasn't it still done by the "American" company making American... same way the civic is Jap because is was designed by a Japanese company?

According to R&T's new smaller publication, SPEED, the Saturn Ion Redline beat the Cadillac CTS Type V around the Nurburgring by a minute, with a time of around 9 minutes flat, pretty awsome I think. :2cents:

Small coupe powered by a small 4 Cyl?

Well my car has 2 doors and is as small as they come, and if you consider 2 liters "small displacement" then my 3S-GTE passes.

So if the MR2 counts then i vote Japan and Toyota. But Im sure meant to exclude sports cars.

Kias, up until 2004 were based around Mazdas.



isn't kia under hyundai? and they are both south korean car companies, how was it based around mazda?

also how come no one mentioned subaru n mitsubishi

The MEntor/Spectra/Shuma/car of many names was a Mazda 323 underneath, unti 2004. Kia acquired Hyundai only a few years ago, thier next Spectra will however be based around the Elantra.

The MEntor/Spectra/Shuma/car of many names was a Mazda 323 underneath, unti 2004. Kia acquired Hyundai only a few years ago, thier next Spectra will however be based around the Elantra.

South Korean manufacturer Kia started selling cars and trucks in the U.S. in 1994 in select markets. They have since branched out to every state except North Dakota. Parent-company Kia merged with Hyundai in an economic restructuring in 2000. However, Kia and Hyundai are two distinct companies in the U.S. Kia, along with Hyundai offers one of the most comprehensive new-car warranties in the industry.

Hyundai: This South Korean auto manufacturer first appeared on U.S. shores in 1986. Until recently they offered only low-price subcompacts and were dogged by reliability problems. In recent years they have moved up market with a number of vehicles and now offer one of the most comprehensive new-car warranties in the business.

http://members.aol.com/solomiata/MX5Engine.html

i still don't really think that mazda and kia had much to do with eachother, but now im not so sure, and aside from their rotary cars mazda's reliability seems to suck compared to some other car companies, that i know from experience

Ok, so Kia and Hyundai in America are two separate companies, but have the same parent company? which is Kia of South Korea? I'm a little confused

South Korean manufacturer Kia started selling cars and trucks in the U.S. in 1994 in select markets. They have since branched out to every state except North Dakota. Parent-company Kia merged with Hyundai in an economic restructuring in 2000. However, Kia and Hyundai are two distinct companies in the U.S. Kia, along with Hyundai offers one of the most comprehensive new-car warranties in the industry.

Hyundai: This South Korean auto manufacturer first appeared on U.S. shores in 1986. Until recently they offered only low-price subcompacts and were dogged by reliability problems. In recent years they have moved up market with a number of vehicles and now offer one of the most comprehensive new-car warranties in the business.

http://members.aol.com/solomiata/MX5Engine.html

i still don't really think that mazda and kia had much to do with eachother, but now im not so sure, and aside from their rotary cars mazda's reliability seems to suck compared to some other car companies, that i know from experience
Very good, you comprehended that far, Kia and Hyundai merged in 2000, Kia were selling cars since well before then, Kia's Spectra/Shuma/Sephia etc. are Mazda 323's remade under licence by Kia, these cars are to be sold right up until 2004, when they are to be replaced. Kia were never tied up with Mazda in anything else but reproducing old Mazda designs under licence.

Mazdas Rotaries are actually thier bugbear, especially in comparision to thier piston motors- the 323, 121, 626 and MX5 constantly top reliability surveys. However the 6 has its issues (In my experience)

Fact of the matter is and nobody can argue on this, Honda makes the best 4 cylinder naturally aspirated engines there are. No other manufacturer makes as much, as reliable, as fast engines as the 4 cylinder NA honda engines. Period.

If you talk about 4cyl forced introduction engines...Well Honda does not fit there.

They have been making some pretty impressive engines lately, but I think they still have competiton. SER spev-V 4cyl... 180HP is an example.

If Mazda uses the rotary engine that was made by Wankel, that was part of NSU; does that kinda make Mazda's all German?