Are Chinese cars any good?

I've been looking at the specs for the Lunge. Looks to be a good price.

http://www.chelfing.com/page2.htm

Excellent, man--thank you! (I loved the warning about using the cell and the grill.):grin:

I like the Razzle Sport and the Prune better. :mrgreen:

This is just a little like doing knee surgery on yourself.

But this is entirely up to you. Why throw bombs when you can wreck your domestic car industry the new and improved way? :neutral:

But I will allow, the Korean car industry is throwing every last thing down right now, because they understand, the onslaught is coming and they absolutely must get some market share now and hang on for dear life because in a few years, everything will be different.

i don't know about the cars, but a buddy of mine brought back an excellent looking Les Paul knock off but it gave him a rash he can't get rid of!

i am SURE not gonna sit in a car.

Woman's side airbag

Sent from my iPad using TDPRI

Well the Chinese can't even make a good nail clipper.
I'm sure their cars are fine.

That's a good boy .
You don't need them old Fords and Holdens any more .
When you but Chinese , China buys you . I just made that up .

Edit: Nevermind... I shoulda read the article before posting. :oops:

Excellent, man--thank you! (I loved the warning about using the cell and the grill.):grin:

A little cut-and-paste shows...


"...Another Industry first ! Not only were Chelfing the first company to give you 9 cupholders and koalaskin seats, we now offer integrated George Foreman Grill in the glovebox*. Enjoy a hot, freshly prepared snack from the convenience of your drivers seat, no need to stop at services to get your hotdog ! Grill only available on GGLS model, and replaces woman's side airbag. Contact your local Chelfing dealer for more information, or email Chelfing HQ direct.

*WARNING : Driving SUV while using cellphone and operating grill may cause unwanted electrical surge and/or burn your sausage..."

Hmmm... Koalaskin seats, eh?

I smells a rat. Or perhaps a koala. Or maybe even the lesser-spotted hoax.

The ISP I'm forced to use up here blocked the article because they think it's about card carryin' commies...... :neutral:



Hey! It IS about card carryin' commies!!!!! :grin:




.

I like the Razzle Sport and the Prune better. :mrgreen:

This is just a little like doing knee surgery on yourself.

But this is entirely up to you. Why throw bombs when you can wreck your domestic car industry the new and improved way? :neutral:

But I will allow, the Korean car industry is throwing every last thing down right now, because they understand, the onslaught is coming and they absolutely must get some market share now and hang on for dear life because in a few years, everything will be different.

Boris, somehow I don't think this (http://www.chelfing.com/page37.htm) is for real...

Wow. That is a lot of work for a fake website. It must have been someone's Digital Media Arts project at community college.

That's a good boy .
You don't need them old Fords and Holdens any more .

They're running themselves into the ground all on their own.

When you buy Chinese , China buys you . I just made that up .

Yeah, but I'd buy a car with these colour options...

"...Scottish Idiot (Brown), Domestic Appliance (White), Yanghzee River(Black), Canine Phallus (Red)..."

And who could overlook a disclaimer like this:--

"...*No CO² emissions from car at all, damage to environment from Coal-fired Power stations incalculable, which must be good, right ?

All details not not incorrect at time of going to Press, for further blarney about how petrol cars are the automotive equivalent of Gary Glitter, contact the Government..."

:wink:

Wouldn't want to burn my sausage in an SUV. Class leading cup holders and wing mirrors. All the modern features. Put me down for half a dozen.

Sent from my HTC Desire using TDPRI

The Chelfing site has been around since 2007.

http://green.autoblog.com/2007/07/26/late-night-thursday-satire-chelfing-automotive-prune-xxx-the-r/

I watched a show about them manufacturing cars there and they had the rights to something like the old Datsun B210 right down to the oil smoke spewing engine. A 30 year old spec is what they were using...today. Dunno about everything from there but I sure have been bringing a lot of Made in china stuff back and paying double for something that actually works. Mind you The Squier Affinity Telecaster I have is one nice little guitar I got for $100 used. Made in China. Yeah and I have a made in Mexico one too ...nice axe. I could never afford an American model especially when there is not much difference. Especially since the supposed higher quality parts cost only about 20 dollars more per unit. Now I just build my own. Made in Canada by me with attention to detail, reliability, playability, looks, fit and finish and tone. Now that's a guitar. PArts including wood cost me $700. THat guitar woul dgo for $3000 or better from fender and I'm sorry but it wouldn't be as good. I sold another guitar today. Keeping my fenders though and my bubinga beauty. They are just learning as the japanese did in the seventies that we want quality. They will get there. Kinda like the Lada...Greed is forcing folks to buy elsewhere as we North Americans price ourselves out or the market and for some reasons are unions seem to encourage strikes that close plant after plant here even most plants are US companies. Employees down there get 10 bucks more an hour. It is a global market now and deals are made on half cent differences. Deal with it. Capitalize on it but quit whining about it. Time after time I see strike for 8 months, then they finally get the 50 cents they want. A month later the plant closes. No profit. No job. But hey everyone has a new home and a winnebego and a bass boat right? For a while anyway. Wake up people. Competition is competition. The best product for the lowest price is what has always driven markets and always will be. No profit, no job. No quality in a product will catch up to whomsoever chooses to ignore specs and precision. I am a GM man but I'm telling you as a former fleet manager who experimented with every new vehicle out there that in my humble opinion the best car for the price in the world right now is a Toyota Prius. The Japanese learned how to produce the best quality at a reasonable price. I'm holding off to see how the chevy volt works out but I'm not optomistic. I tested a couple GMC pickup hybrids putting 200,000 kms a year on them and although wonderful when riunning they all quit every 50,000 kms (36,000 miles) right at stoplights when the engine shut off and didn't go again. It took a month and a half to get them fixed each time. You want me to buy that? Sorry, I don't throw money after foolishness no matter where it's made. Sheesh I even have a GM belt buckle. My Saturn is the best car I ever owned. 240,000 kms on it and not a drop of oil burnt or a problem except the usual ft wheel drive bearins every 150,000. One set of plugs so far and it still purrs. SO what does GM do? They stop makin gthem. Too reliable. The customer never has to com eback for overpriced parts. Oh no we can't have that. People are people. Some are just a whole lot more greedy than others. My Mapex Saturn Studio kit was made in china and I found it flawless. Now, I broke 3 canadian made cymbals. Darn canoe heads. Someone should give 'em a beer eh? There's good and bad products in every country. I wouldn't trash an entire race of people just because they work too hard for too little and artificaily keep their currency lower than everyone else. All's fair in business. Best product for least money is my deal. Oops I left out the brits. Never again will I buy a vehicle made in the UK. It was the seventies but my brand new 1975 Norton Commando was trash by 76. I had enough of lucas electrics and exploding transmissions designed for the 500 cc unit that they just slipped into the 850 engine combo. Trans shafts smaller than my thumb. Now Harley....that's a well built motorcycle (well after they adapted unit construction techniques stolen from the Japanese ideas.) QUality and price CAN go hand in hand if people are willin gto change their ways. Harley did it and if they can anyone can. End of rant...sorry. *ducking* Ok who threw the tomatoe?

Edit: Nevermind... I shoulda read the article before posting. :oops:

That's okay. You might not be the only one. :grin:

It's fake ?!

Bummer! The GGLS has the best bigness dimensions in it's class, *plus* woman's side airbag.

Dang.

Are you sure this isn't another Bruce McCall parody?

http://nbcolfla.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/picture-81.png?w=630

Boris, somehow I don't think this (http://www.chelfing.com/page37.htm) is for real...

What difference does it make if it is real or not?

I hear about the other websites, and the cars from China, and they seem every bit as silly and yet these sites are real. I appreciate that humor works when there's that little grain of truth in there, but this is actually way too close for comfort, to me.

I am still shaking my head in disbelief as people look me straight into my face and talk about how exceptional their Hyundais and KIAs are. These people are absolutely convinced, just like the 39% of those polled in the USA in the year 2000 who felt they were or soon would be in the top 5% of the wealthiest in the USA. Or the people who spent ever penny they could borrow on condos along the Atlantic in Florida in 2005 and 2006 and essentially staked their lives on the conviction the price could never come down.

Sorry if I'm a downer, but it is against my nature to laugh at something one day and have it come true 18 months later.

Jeez, Boris. I hope there's nothing too sharp within reach.

But I'll play-- The Chinese have figured out the "free market" thing quicker than anyone expected. They've become enamoured with wealth, and that doesn't seem to rub their ideology the wrong way in any way, shape or form. For many thousands of years they've been ruled autocratically by an Emperor, so (culturally speaking) democracy doesn't mean much to them. And who are we to say what's good for them, anyway? The scorecard for Western nations enforcing their world view on the people of Asia isn't the best now, is it?

I think the biggest beef a lot of vocal people have with the Chinese business model is that they've taken the ideas that made US business such a formidable juggernaut, and they've improved on them.

From our point of view (as a nation that makes it's living digging big f##kin holes in the ground and selling the minerals therein) it's "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss".

Get used to it folks. You let the genie out of the bottle.

And to quote Kent Brockman: "I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords".

I love the Smog Lights as standard equipment.

Better buy a well constructed , well conceived car with the highest technical standards from Japan , USA , France , Britain , Germany , even South Korea , that will protect you and your family than this '*%&$ crap._ULm6QrC428

Better buy a well constructed , well conceived car with the highest technical standards from Japan , USA , France , Britain , Germany , even South Korea , that will protect you and your family than this '*%&$ crap.<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ULm6QrC428">YouTube Link</a>

Ummm, did you read the linked website?

Ummm, did you read the linked website?

I think most people just read the thread title and then replied.

Chinese crap SUV245NCBsj4Lc

I think most people just read the thread title and then replied.

I don't think it would matter. The subject matter just gives them an opportunity to spin off into rant-land.

"Hey, China's soccer team just beat Thailand."
"Look at their crappy cars. Dammit, why would anyone buy anything from China? It's killing this country, I tell ya. Killing it!"

China is up there with John Mayer and cargo shorts.

China is up there with John Mayer and cargo shorts.

Gold.

John-Mayer-in-Chinese-cargo-shorts = burst blood vessel.

They can't be any worse than American made cars.. :lol:

There's nothing wrong with American made cars. The good ol' USA is making some of the best cars in the world right now. However, so are Hyundai and Kia. To deny it is to have one's head in the sand.

I have one of each. One straight out of Detroit, and the other straight outta wherever the US Hyundai plants are, and yeah, a ton of 'em are made right here by American workers.

My wife's Elantra is a GREAT car. So good, the year we bought it, it beat Civic and Corolla for best in class, cost a few thousand less, had better gas mileage, and a warranty that kicked the hell out of everybody else. That was the same year a major auto publication touted another of their models as having better paint and trim quality than Mercedes C class.

To everybody who says "Good on that warranty, you'll need it", nope. This is our second Hyundai. The first was on '01 Accent. Scads and scads and year after year of totally trouble free miles. If we hadn't simply needed a little bigger ride for the extra carseat, we'd still have it. That car was great. The Elantra has been awesome as well. Not a hitch yet in almost 40K miles. I like it alot. I have along time friend out in Vegas who bought a used Santa Fe with nealry 50K miles on it. He figured to drive it for a year or two. Thought it would be a cheap and disposable ride. He's still driving it six years later with over 200K on it and nothing but maintenance.

Hyundai has been importing cars to the US since what? 1977 or '78? It's not unusual around these parts to see 10-20 year old Hyundais on the road and running great. They've been around a lot longer than that. They also make heavy construction equipment, and everything else under the sun. It's not like they are some fly by night start-up company. They are not new or untested by any means.

They don't seem to rust nearly as bad as Toyotas or Hondas either. Now they have plants here and build in the US? I'm telling you. The bang for the buck kicks the hell outta anything comparable from any other importer. You can't get close to Hyundai features or quality for within $5K with any other new car.

I love American cars. I own one, I drive one. I would love to stay that way forever, but I don't know if I can afford it. I'm going to continue for as long as I can, but when I drive my wife's Hyundai, it's hard. When I look at the quality and features of her vehicle compared to mine, and see how much more we got for our money with that vehicle, it's a little unnerving. And they were both built in the US.

Jeez, Boris. I hope there's nothing too sharp within reach.

But I'll play-- The Chinese have figured out the "free market" thing quicker than anyone expected. They've become enamoured with wealth, and that doesn't seem to rub their ideology the wrong way in any way, shape or form. For many thousands of years they've been ruled autocratically by an Emperor, so (culturally speaking) democracy doesn't mean much to them. And who are we to say what's good for them, anyway? The scorecard for Western nations enforcing their world view on the people of Asia isn't the best now, is it?

I think the biggest beef a lot of vocal people have with the Chinese business model is that they've taken the ideas that made US business such a formidable juggernaut, and they've improved on them.

From our point of view (as a nation that makes it's living digging big f##kin holes in the ground and selling the minerals therein) it's "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss".

Get used to it folks. You let the genie out of the bottle.

And to quote Kent Brockman: "I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords".

The Chinese have had success in the open market for a couple of reasons that are rapidly becoming harder to maintain:

1) Cheap labor - Foxxcon ( Apple products and others ) pays an average of .37 cents per hour. No overtime, no cap on hours worked, no labor unions ( why would you need one in a workers paradise ), company towns.
2) Lack of environmental regulations - this obviously helps keeps short term costs down. Did you know the U.S. sends many of our " toxic " computer parts to huge landfills in China?
3) Currency manipulation - All countries do it, but China has kept theirs artificially low for years.

Throwing labor numbers at production coupled with low wages only works as long as the wages remain low. We are already seeing significant wage increases in China. These cost increases coupled with the innate inefficiency of China's low tech factories are being to become glaring issues. The only answer the Chinese have come up with is moving the factories farther inland which causes infrastructure issues ( incurring more cost ) to keep wages low.

Here is a personal example. All of the electric motors for our whirlpool bathtubs are now made in China. In the past seven years ( the period where all U.S. manufacture of our motors ceased ), our defect rate within warranty period ( 2 year warranty ) is about 12% ( BTW, this is crazy high ). Prior to the Chinese motors, our defect rate was about 2%. No changes were made to the specs of the motors, just in who is manufacturing them.

Chinese car sales in China:

from GM inside news.com so I deleted the part that said "Just the Facts"

•The Buick Excelle was China's best-selling passenger-car in 2011.
•The Chevrolet Cruze was number three and the Ford Focus number 10.
•Volkswagen placed four cars in the top 10 last year.

General Motors and Ford captured four spots among China's best-selling passenger cars in 2011, with the Buick Excelle commanding top spot with sales of 253,514 units.

The performance is even more remarkable considering that the entire Buick brand sold only 177,633 units last year in the United States, where Buick is just launching a version of the Excelle sedan, rebadged as the Verano.

The Chevrolet Cruze was another popular model in China, with sales last year of 221,196 propelling it into 3rd place. The Chevrolet New Sail ranked 7th, with sales of 197,874, while the Ford Focus moved into 10th place, with sales of 188,961.

The Chevrolet Cruze was another popular model in China, with sales last year of 221,196 propelling it into 3rd place.

If this is the same model I own, then it's made in Korea at the Daewoo factory (recently bailed out by GM and rebranded as Chevrolet for the European market).

Dang Chinese, I bet ya' they're gonna start building Tele's next!

The Chinese and Americans can slug it out and the Germans can continue having sweet dreams.

I bought a Chinese car once, but a day later I really felt like I had to buy another car.

The Chinese and Americans can slug it out and the Germans can continue having sweet dreams.

Oh sure , it's all fun and games until Poland loses a country.

Chinese cars are pretty good.

But.....it's got 9 cup holders.....!:mrgreen:

That's okay. You might not be the only one. :grin:
LOL, I usually don't let lack of knowledge have any bearing on my willingness to pontificate at length about a subject! :lol:

Oh sure , it's all fun and games until Poland loses a country.

Bwahahahahaha!!! Good one, mate! :lol::lol::lol:

George Foreman grill? I didn't have to read any further. I just cashed out my 401k and bought 4.

There's nothing wrong with American made cars. The good ol' USA is making some of the best cars in the world right now. However, so are Hyundai and Kia. To deny it is to have one's head in the sand.

I have one of each. One straight out of Detroit, and the other straight outta wherever the US Hyundai plants are, and yeah, a ton of 'em are made right here by American workers.

My wife's Elantra is a GREAT car. So good, the year we bought it, it beat Civic and Corolla for best in class, cost a few thousand less, had better gas mileage, and a warranty that kicked the hell out of everybody else. That was the same year a major auto publication touted another of their models as having better paint and trim quality than Mercedes C class.

To everybody who says "Good on that warranty, you'll need it", nope. This is our second Hyundai. The first was on '01 Accent. Scads and scads and year after year of totally trouble free miles. If we hadn't simply needed a little bigger ride for the extra carseat, we'd still have it. That car was great. The Elantra has been awesome as well. Not a hitch yet in almost 40K miles. I like it alot. I have along time friend out in Vegas who bought a used Santa Fe with nealry 50K miles on it. He figured to drive it for a year or two. Thought it would be a cheap and disposable ride. He's still driving it six years later with over 200K on it and nothing but maintenance.

Hyundai has been importing cars to the US since what? 1977 or '78? It's not unusual around these parts to see 10-20 year old Hyundais on the road and running great. They've been around a lot longer than that. They also make heavy construction equipment, and everything else under the sun. It's not like they are some fly by night start-up company. They are not new or untested by any means.

They don't seem to rust nearly as bad as Toyotas or Hondas either. Now they have plants here and build in the US? I'm telling you. The bang for the buck kicks the hell outta anything comparable from any other importer. You can't get close to Hyundai features or quality for within $5K with any other new car.

I love American cars. I own one, I drive one. I would love to stay that way forever, but I don't know if I can afford it. I'm going to continue for as long as I can, but when I drive my wife's Hyundai, it's hard. When I look at the quality and features of her vehicle compared to mine, and see how much more we got for our money with that vehicle, it's a little unnerving. And they were both built in the US.

I was just kidding with that comment. I removed it shortly after (while you were writing your post) because I thought some might take it the wrong way.. FWIW Mustangs are probably my favourite cars, I just thought it was funny that so many were all too ready to crap on Chinese cars when, outside of the US, American made cars don't exactly have a stellar reputation either.

I was just kidding with that comment. I removed it shortly after (while you were writing your post) because I thought some might take it the wrong way.. FWIW Mustangs are probably my favourite cars, I just thought it was funny that so many were all too ready to crap on Chinese cars when, outside of the US, American made cars don't exactly have a stellar reputation either.

As was posted above, Buicks and certain other USA models are selling real strong in China. As are Audis, VWs yeah, but amongst the affluent, owning a foreign label car in China seems to be the ticket. My thought was the actual Chinese companies (like Chery) are gonna have an increasingly difficult time selling their domestically badged cars in China, and are gonna be forced to export them. That would be ironic, to have Americans driving a lot of Chinese label cars while the Chinese themselves are clamoring for Buicks. Of course, the Chinese label cars would be manufactured in China, 99% Chinese content; and the USA label cars would be manufactured in China as well, 90% Chinese content. Somebody is getting left out here; I'll let you decide who.

Demand for cars in China has got to be so high right now. It may turn out that, like bicycles were, the Chinese just can't make enough of the nice ones fast enough for many the reach export. No, it will be the crummy stuff that gets out, the companies with production but no distribution or good reputation in China - their products will get out to other places.

The same thing really applies to USA made or branded vehicles, sold abroad. A lot of the models that folks outside the USA base their opinions on are models that we Americans are tired of, and have moved on from. And, the ball is moving so fast now; sometimes it seems like everything an auto enthusiast thought he knew in 2009 is just not valid anymore.