Japan used to be the quality standard of the world - and US the laughing stock. Now China is passing* even Japan.

 Peter Klevius: Anthropology is the science of human bias.

* Unlike Japan, China doesn't need to import its products from China - or Thailand, Vietnam etc. And we do know that products manufactured outside Japan tend to be slightly less reliable statistically. Moreover, China is already ahead of Japan in top tech such as e.g. AI, quantum computing, fusion energy, smartphones, space tech etc.  
 

However, whereas the middle-man in US may choose between high quality or cheap Chinese tech - the Chinese middle-man doesn't have that choise if buying from US.

 

It took a long time for the dumbest people in Europe to realize the poor quality of US made cars etc. And despite all quality surveys and reports that clearly showed it, it took even more time for them to get it that Japanese cars were better made than German cars.

As a young poor lad Peter Klevius bought the best quality for the lowest price. So how was that possible? Because Japanese cars were simply not in at that time, they were just called "rice cups". So Peter Klevius asked one of his friends who run a garage: I found a beautiful Mazda Luce, and ist cheap and gorgous. Is it any good? He steered in chock and said: But it's Japanese! - So what, is it bad quality or something. Hesitantly he said: I thing quality is OK - but it's Japanese!

So Peter Klevius bought what became by far the best car he had ever had or driven. And when he worked for a company and had to use their big US made car he was scocked to find out how wobbly and dangerous it felt at speeds the Mazda Luce was rock solid on the road. And when comparing the rear drum brakes (Mazda Luce had McPerson and big discs in the front) it turned out that US brakes were just half the size of the Mazda - although the US car weighed almost the double. 

 Btw, Mazda made a huge mistake when "Americanized" it for US export, i.e. except for using a sofa in the front instead of the flexible and safe original seats, also hampered all the charm of the wonderful, extremely long stroke, yet fabulously smooth running engine and a distinct gearbox that made any BMW feel
lousy, with an automatic one that totally killed the car.

Peter Klevius wrote:

Saturday, March 03, 2018

Klevius: What are the "brits" complaining about?

What's your problem? Snow and ice was the funniest time to drive - and not a single accident in any of the long dark Nordic winters. 

Update: Due to a reader's question - no, Klevius almost never used studded winter tires (only for a short time when they came with the car). Non-studded but soft tires with big patterns were by far to prefer if you knew how to drive - not to mention that studded tires could be quite dangerous during e.g. times of thawing, (wet and bare tarmac etc).

 Klevius bought a cheap old very much used 1968 Mazda Luce 1800 when he became a young bachelor with a kid. Except for lacking 4WD it was the perfect winter car: 50/50 weight distribution; jeep style ground clearance, an extremely modern (for its time) OHC long stroke (good torque) but smoothly (idling at 600 RPM) running alu top engine (remember Mazda was also the only one managing to make a functioning rotary engine) that made it possible to use higher gears on slippery conditions; a steering system that was forgiving (to the driver as well as to the icy road) yet still very responsive; an alternator that was the most powerful of any ordinary car back then easily feeding four 55W halogen lamps which could be used as eight by keeping the signal switch on without the unique ampere meter needle on the dashboard (only ordinary car that had one back then?) going into red; the most powerful electric fuel pump (Mitsubishi) that made it easily start when Volvos, Saabs, VWs/Audis etc. stalled in -30 Celsius; big double motors for windshield wipers kept the sight free when passing lorrys and busses on the motoway splashing wet snow; and finally, superb brakes, i.e. modern big discs in the front and smooth oversized drums in the rear, which together with the smooth and powerful (for its time) engine (the car weighed 1050 kg and had 104 longstroke hp) made it possible to smoothly brake like modern cars by combining the clutch and the brakes on icy surface. That the fuel tank was on the safest possible place (behind/below the rear seats) etc. for its time many unique safety features, was just an extra bonus. But the funniest thing was that the car was much cheaper to buy than a lousy used Saab or Volvo because of "Japanese rice cups" racism. Yet the car also looked much cooler than its competitors.And due to superior technical quality, the gearbox/clutch was far better than any BMW (which were lousy winter cars anyway). Moreover, the drive shaft was extremely sophisticated with high quality multi-joints which made for vibration free smooth power delivery to the rear. Etc, etc, etc..

When Klevius was a young newly divorced dad, he drove some 100 km every day to his office job in the city no matter how much snow or ice, leaving and picking up his child, shopping etc. before landing at our countryside home and making a delicious dinner for the two of us.