Why the Astra Twintop is not available in USAFollow

A number of my colonial chums from across the pond have expressed approval; nay, envy for my beloved Vauxhall Astra TwinTop, and lamented that it isn't available in the land of the free.

I point out to them that the TT is actually a (deliciously) modified variant of the Pontiac GT6, but with a sexy roof jobby, and a European engine, as opposed to an american 27 ton, V34, 12Litre engine that puts out 4 brake weasel power and drinks 6 gallons of "gayas" per yard.

I educate them that we have something called a "diff-er-ential" and "shock absorbers", so you don't have to slow down to 5mph for a 20 degree bend. I also warn them that it has something called a "gear stick" that allows the driver to drive the car, instead of vice-versa.

Such foppish, dandy flibberty-jibbery as suspension, steering, cornering and road-handling are clearly beyond the grasp of our cotton-growing offshore cousins. If we were to let them loose on such space-age technology, they would almost certainly find themselves travelling sideways through the front of their local "Kentucky Fried MacWalMart R Us", or at the very least, choke on their chawin' baccy.

But, fellow Astra-nauts, these are not the over-riding reasons for keeping their obese mitts away from the noble TwinTop. It's not even that the seats are only wide enough for one standard congress-issue U.S. buttock.

As with many issues, the answer falls from the lips of a British paragon of tolerance and humility; one Mr J Clarkson.

As all of you know, a requirement of British Citizenship is (and I quote)



The brave and fearless philosopher-poet Mr Clarkson memorably summarised the Sons of Uncle Sam thusly:

[quote]Americans. 300,000,000 ******** with no word for '***************

So there you have it. Handicapped by the vocabulary of an inebriate artard, the average septic tank lacks the ability to respond in a civilised manner to convertible drivers.

Makes you proud to be British, eh? [sniff]

Every word in Italian means "*************

I'd say that the reason it's not sold in the US is because the morons that can afford it wouldn't be able to figure out the instruction manual.

That's a load of crap. Luxury cars are full of gizmos and people buy them . SUV's were full of them and they were a huge market until gas prices killed them. People won't buy it because they don't know **** about it. There's the big 3 and then some fuckers out of Japan. That's what "America" knows and therefore, what they buy.

I've never seen that happen to a sunroof, gbaji, and I know plenty of people with really **** (and old) cars.

Gizmos inside the car. Not gizmos which replace major components of the car itself (like the damn roof!). If my automatic cup holder breaks, it doesn't prevent me from operating the car. If the rear seat dvd entertainment system fails, I'm still able to drive the car. But if the damn roof gets stuck mid-transformation, I'm screwed, aren't I?




Yes. Let's just pretend that the only reason a product isn't sold in the US is because the consumers in the US just don't know that it's out there. No... Car companies don't spend millions of dollars on market research each year when deciding what sorts of features to incorporate in their cars, and where those features will sell the best. Nope. It's got to just be because the consumers are ignorant of a better product just on the other side of the pond...


You don't have a clue how cross pollinated car designs and manufacturers are globally, do you?




And they build variations of the same cars that are sold in the UK, and in France, and Korea, and everywhere else in the world. The same body frames and parts are used in cars all over the world. Usually, just trim changes with the brand as you move from country to country. If the roof of the Astra was deemed to be sufficiently marketable in the US, it would be sold in the US. Or do you think that the car makers just don't know what they're doing in the UK as well?

I more or less agree with you, Gbaji. Ever had power window break while down before a rain storm? Ever had one break while up, and get pulled over? Hell, my ABS just started acting up, and it was a $1500 repair.

Meh. It costs $45,000 according to a quick google search Source.

With the all the money I save I could afford to get gas(and a few sets of tires) for a Shelby Super Snake.

I have to admit that I've never really understood car names.

Hmmmm, looks terribly complex, Nobs. That, as a rule, typically makes a recipe for disaster, oh, about 4 minutes past the moment your warranty expires. And while it looks trickily sano, it also appears to bogart a tremendous amount of otherwise useable trunk space.

Why not just by a Benz and sleep well at night knowing that it likely will work properly five years down the road?

Totem

It doesn't come in a pick-up model?

It's a sensible car for sensible people, apparently, with a shiny Transformers package to bump up the price.

That was kind of my reaction. I'm not a big car person so maybe it has a great personality I can't see from the outside but the outside is pretty "meh" aside from the goofy roof thing.