THE AUTOMOTIVE YEAR: 2012 Gripe of the year

That some of China’s largest car exporters – knowingly or otherwise – have continued to fit these ticking time bombs to increasingly popular cut-price imports is unforgivable.

Ken Gratton – News Editor
This could be my gripe of any year really: Why are people so bigoted when it comes to automotive brands or models of cars? The attitudes of some commentators frequently leave me shaking my head in disbelief. Here are some cases in point:

If you describe an MX-5 or an SLK as a hairdresser's car, you're telling us more about your own sexual insecurities than anyone else's. Is this term bandied around because "girly cars" has become a sexist term? Let's stereotype all hairdressers as gay, but leave it unspoken so no one can be accused of vilifying gay people.

Attacking a brand of car for where it's built is back-door racism, applied to a corporation rather than a population. Most modern car-making plants are so full of robots and automated production lines that it should really make little difference where a car is built. By all means tip a bucket on a brand for poor build quality and the high frequency of manufacturing defects, but don't do so just because it's built in China, Thailand or South Africa.

Alternatively, let's bag Aussie cars because everything locally-built is "crap". Or just as bad, those who only buy a particular brand of Australian product, because the others are "crap". These people live in the past and both types are tearing down local manufacturing by bad-mouthing one or more of the three survivors. Tribalism running amok.

Add to them the subset of cultural-cringe complainers who are so distressed at the way their "taxpayer's money" is being wasted on local car companies. These people ignore the fact that the government funding also supports original equipment parts suppliers, and car companies all over the world are assisted by governments that recognise the value of sophisticated, high-tech industry being based locally. It's ultimately good for the economy and the self esteem of the production-line workers who retain their jobs.

Then there are those who constantly moan about the cost of buying imported prestige and luxury cars. No matter how often we mention the cost of goods sold in Australia, including the wages paid to people – the complainants among them – we always come back to how cheap things are in the USA, and demands that a media outlet such as this one should be doing more to "protect" the consumer from rip-off prices. Give me f*&#ing strength! If you can't afford $58,000 for a BMW 3 Series, don't buy it!

Finally, volume-selling car companies are totally at the whim of those who would claw down the tall poppies. And the whingers will find any means available to do so. Complain about the cost of servicing, or the failure of specific components, or a global recall numbering in the millions – even if you've never owned one of the brand's cars and you're just being a disingenuous clod.

We currently seem to live in a culture of complaint – and I've just added my buck-fifty's worth. Enjoy.

Matt Brogan – Road Test Editor
Every time I return from overseas I am reminded how badly Australians drive. We all like to think we’re good drivers but the truth is, comparatively, we are pathetic.

We hog the right lane. When it rains, we drive into one another because we can’t adjust to the conditions. We hog the right lane. We drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol. We hog the right lane. We don’t look for bikes, or pedestrians.

We hog the right lane. We text. We hog the right lane. We can’t merge and we can’t maintain speed. We hog the right lane. We put on make-up.

We hog the right lane. We drive too fast when it’s inappropriate to do so, and too slow when it’s not. We hog the right lane. We tailgate, menace one another and are totally discourteous.

We hog the right lane. We don’t use indicators. We don’t use our mirrors and we don’t know our road rules. We hog the right lane. We shave, read the paper and eat cereal at the wheel.

We hog the right lane. We use fog lights when there’s no bloody fog. We hog the right lane.

Our kids are taught to pass a test, not to drive. And don’t get me started on policing. Let’s face it; if you can’t point a camera at it, it goes by unchecked.

We really need to get our stuff together, Australia. Imagine how much easier the trip to work would be – or how much safer our holiday road trip could be – if only we knew how to drive!

Michael Taylor – Contributor
US fuel prices remain too cheap. This single fact means a big slice of manufacturing and research will continue to aim at the least efficient segments, which robs the rest of the world of brainpower that could be used to make sustainable cars better.

Gautam Sharma -- Contributor
No turbo/supercharged version of Toyota 86 – I’m not exactly Robinson Crusoe here. The Toyota 86 is fun, but a high-po version would be even more so. Bumping up the standard outputs of 147kW and 205Nm to something in the region of 200kW and 350Nm (easily achievable with forced induction) seems the obvious recipe for a sportscar that would be an absolute hoot. Unfortunately, the aftermarket route is the only way to get there… at least for the time being.

Jeremy Bass – Contributor
Honda knows how to make petrol engines fun – it's proved that time and time again. It also knows how to make electric motors fun – the Fit EV (we’d call it an electric Jazz) set for release in the US has great big muscles for a tiny car, even in Economy mode.

So why is the current crop of crucial product on these shores so underwhelming underfoot? The Civic hatch and the CRZ powerplants fall way short of the expectations that Honda itself did so much to build over the years. Indeed, they fall way short of what was expected of the chassis on which they’re mounted too, especially in the CRZ.

Time to let the old ways go, chaps, and get with the program... It's now the accepted and expected thing.