In a message dated 4/7/02 3:19:19 AM, andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ
writes:

<< Ha! US-market (and Canadian, I thihk) cars have detuned suspensions.
Every single one. Policy based on a market where the majority of
buyers are lazy slobs who want soft rides over all else, so those who
want better suffer... without even knowing it!  >>

What is better?  The American car evolved to satisfy the bulk of the market;
those who live in that great expanse called the Midwest between the
Appalachian Mountains and the Rockies.  There, you just point the car, stuff
your foot to the floor and eat up the miles.  For better or for worse,
America is defined by the Midwest, not by some Yuppies in Connecticut or San
Francisco.

So, what is important when the roads are smooth, level and straight?
Certainly not body roll and skid pad performance, but comfort.  Formerly, the
American car was ideally suited to the job.  They achieved their epitome with
the big boats from the 50's through the 70's, the REAL Land Cruisers.  Any of
them could take you from Pittsburgh to Chicago at over 100 mph and your
biggest concern would be where to set the A/C.  Even one of the greatest cars
of all time, the Dusenburg, appears to have been designed to fulfill all of
the desires of the lazy slobs who drove them.

Before you judge what is better, you have to spend a day loafing along in a
Buick Deuce-and-a-Quarter with Booker T and the MG's.

Rich