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German cars are not bad. Bought and driven some of them over the years as used ones. Opel, VW, Ford. Sooner or later they will suck, at least the ones I owned, when getting old as nearly every car will do. I have more trust in a Toyota especially the best of all, the Prius. Reliable, low mpg, longlasting, roomy etc. . Same goes for motorbikes like a Honda, for example the CB. It will certainly outlast its owner. At least that's what I think about vehicles and what counts in my eyes. Don't like cars and motorbikes that will break down one day, if they should be keepers. Ride them, do your part of maintenance and they should run and run. And of course not too bad, if you like their optic and technic. I do.
Wisedrum
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I admit to having a Japanese vehicle bias myself. I particularly like Japanese products that are made IN Japan (like the CB 1100). At this point I couldn't bring myself to buy American, German, Italian, or Austrian vehicles..cars or bikes, and would really be hesitant to buy a Japanese bike manufactured not in Japan.My Honda Ridegeline truck was made in the US but had they given me an option to buy a Japan made one vs the US made one, I'd have chosen the Japan made one.
Having worked in a service station 2 blocks from a GM plant when I was young, and hearing the stories from the GM workers about what they did to cars when building them and how they were protected by the union no matter what they did, there is no way I could buy an American made/Union protected vehicle, even to this day. Just couldn't do it.
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I've been driving pickups to Alaska and other points North for 50 years. I get between 100,000 and 200,000 miles on my trucks. One S10 that I owned was running for over 300,000 miles. I have never put a transmission or an engine into any truck that I have owned. I'm po'd that the prices are jacked up on trucks. I have a camper that weighs over 2000 lbs. What Jap product can handle that! I really enjoyed my 1999 Sportster Sport. It fulfilled my bucket list HD place. I wouldn't own my cb1100 except I was able to get a deal on it. I would not have paid $10,000 for it. I have a love for Honda Fours, air cooled, but mine needed to be priced at under $7000. I really like my bike but I would have jumped on a used HD except that I ran into that 10,000 miles on Hondas last air cooled motorcycle. I'll buy US stuff.
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We are all different. That's what makes life interesting.
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We tend to be an older crowd on this forum. (I include myself amongst this crowd for what it's worth.) That said, I know that not each of us identifies with the exact same generation when it comes to our respective ages. Regardless of this, the generation that each of us does identify with certainly came before the generation that the R18 is being marketed towards. Our collective reaction to this motorcycle, or to be fair — towards the marketing of this motorcycle, should not come as a surprise to anyone here.
You can bet that when each and every one of us was younger there were products that were being marketed to us (be they motorcycles or something completely different) that received the same sort of reaction from members of those generations that ours. Our collective disgust is a byproduct of growing old and it's nothing new. I happen to embrace this as I always got a kick out of the old guys in my neighborhood when I was a kid, and by that I don't mean that I made fun of them. Now I'm actually that guy to some extent. I look at my disgust with the marketing for the R18 as living up to my role as an old guy. Sometimes holding wisdom can be painful
I personally could not take any more than 2 minutes of the first video before shutting it down, lol. Surprisingly (embarrassingly) I did make it past the point where the luckily chosen "host" noted that "I'm not going to lie to you guys" knowing full well that this was exactly what he was planning on doing. The impact that this particular video had on me came just short of the impact that food poisoning has on me (it's NOT good).
My wife and I have been together for 30 years now and from the very first year on I have been joking with her that I would someday become that guy who stood on his porch and yelled "you kids keep off of my lawn". While my lawn is nothing to be brag about and I don't care at all if the kids next door play in it, the truth is somewhere along the way I did become "that guy". I'm okay with that, after all it was what I told my wife that I would aspire to be someday. The thing is, I don't try to fool myself about this fact. I think this is why I got a kick out of the old guys I grew up around. The thing is, there were a few of those guys that would have me around and share their stories with me. As young as I was at the time, even I could understand that clearly these guys knew things that most others did not. Now here I am all these years later, disgusted by BMW's advertising approach, while also laughing just a little bit at myself because of my reaction to it.
I should add that the other part of me acknowledges the fact that I'm glad that there are still people buying new motorcycles in this day and age.
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I currently own a 2016 R1200RT and the boxer engine is very unique in sensation. The bike want's to twist to the right when spinning up the throttle from idle sitting still. Given this bike has 600 more cc I can't imagine how pronounced this feeling will be in the big boxer. My draw to the R1200 is that it is the lightest full on touring bike out there. I wish they would figure out how to put an inline four into a package like the R1200...
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Funny, talking about the reliability of German vs American vs Japanese vehicles. As I mentioned in another thread, I’m rehabilitating my Father in Law’s 2010 Ford Escape. It is cleaning up better than I had hoped and only has 32,000 miles on it, albeit hard miles.
My wife has a 115k mile 2010 Honda CRV. She asked if it would make sense to sell the Honda and keep the Ford. I told her I’d rather take my chances with a high mile 10 year old Honda than a low mile 10 year old Ford.
And I’m a Ford man.
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I believe you guys can get the tv programme "Top Gear" over there? If you can choose an episode, you need to watch the attempted destruction of a Toyota HiLux.... hilarious, and very, very impressive...
https://topgear.fandom.com/wiki/Toyota_Hilux
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Bazbro, I have watched that particular Top Gear footage numerous times. Back in 1989 I bought a brand new Toyota pickup that was made in Japan (over here in the States I don't believe they ever actually used the name HiLux). After 14 trouble free years I sold it to my brother for a song. Many years after that he gave the truck to a friend in need. At last report (one week ago actually) that truck is still doing just fine. A little worse for wear by now, but still going strong apparently. I have little doubt that truck will outlive both me and my brother and likely my brother's friend as well. To be fair, this month marks my eighth year of ownership of a 2001 Toyota Tundra. It too has been a rock-solid, trouble-free vehicle and was built here in the States. I have no plans on getting rid of it any time soon.
While the motorcycle itself is not to my taste, at some point I will take a closer look the BMW R18 minus any of the marketing that is such a turnoff to me, if for no other reason than to just learn more about it. Even though it's nothing that I would consider buying (unlike the R Nine T) and I can't stand the advertising associated with it, the motorcycle itself does not disgust me and I find it to be an interesting move by BMW, no matter how misguided it might appear to be.
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(04-11-2020, 11:22 AM)Gone in 60_imp Wrote: Funny, talking about the reliability of German vs American vs Japanese vehicles. As I mentioned in another thread, I’m rehabilitating my Father in Law’s 2010 Ford Escape. It is cleaning up better than I had hoped and only has 32,000 miles on it, albeit hard miles.
My wife has a 115k mile 2010 Honda CRV. She asked if it would make sense to sell the Honda and keep the Ford. I told her I’d rather take my chances with a high mile 10 year old Honda than a low mile 10 year old Ford.
And I’m a Ford man.
You are right the keep the Honda CRV , my wife's 2004 CRV has 186000 miles on it and still runs perfect.
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