Who's the Cadillac of Hi-End Audio?

Geez, if your knowledge of cars is better than your knowledge of audio, the latter must be pretty dismal. It's as though you have not test-driven a Japanese car in a while. Let's just say that generalizations are usually false, and leave it at that.

Pbb, you can like anything you want, but Japanese cars are well engineered but made of poor quality parts. Thus they are not good cars. They will never compare to the average European car, but you probably drive a Lada or Yugo anyway.

I'm leasing a new GMC Yukon and for $326.00 month there was absolutely nothing else I could find that had the ability to carry, tow and drive in it's class for that money.

I have zero experience with Cadillac, it would never work for my photography business and I was never drawn to it as a sports vehicle.

I have owned four BMW's, including the 540 V8 wagon. Five Volvo's (three of which were turbo charged wagons), and three Honda station wagons. (Cute but useless for many things).

I think much about an automobile, ANY automobile is about what you intend to use it for. If I were a single guy and no equipment to haul, I would own a Porsche, assuming I had the money. Since I must make a living and carry half my photo studio with me, there is little to compete with the big three auto makers for hauling, especially for the costs involved.

I have owned over 45 automobiles or trucks, including one Ferrari. The choices I made at that moment were a balance of what I wanted, what I needed and what I could afford. I always wanted MORE car than I could reasonably afford, sometime I made the decision to spend more than I should.

I must say that looking back, I am happy that I did, great memories are made from the unexpected things in ones life, especially things born of passion and excitement.

Automobiles are all about THAT moment, they have different values in different decades depending on their quality, gas economy, style, social acceptance and price. I can honestly say that I have been mostly satisfied with all the cars I've owned in some way or another.

Some, particularly the German and Italian cars, evoke a passion that escape most of the others. If you've not owned such an automobile, it's difficult to explain or justify.

I agree with those above who say the Japanese cars don't stir much in the way of passion. A strange level of emotionless perfection combined with reliability, as was their audio gear back in the 1970's.

Strangely, my GMC has a bit of personality that reminds me of several old GM products from years ago, including my 1955 Chevy Nomad station wagon, 1958 Chevy convertible and the four big block Corvettes.

When I hit the lottery I'm selling the GMC and buying 15 cars to replace it, most of which will be useless for hauling but a hell of a lot of fun to drive.

Quite strange, assuming for sake of argument that you are right when you are actually patently wrong, that Japanese cars are made with "poor quality parts", Toyotas and Lexus are probably the most reliable cars out there, bar none, with a host of other Japanese cars following quite closely (ex. Acura, Infinity). How do you build state-of-the-art production cars that are more reliable than all others with poor quality parts? Again, with your mindset I am sure that any quality survey would be dismissed out of hand in favour of your own personal experience and maybe some anecdotal evidence from your like-minded friends and acquaintances; just as you do it for audio, I guess. The average European car is probably a Volkswagen. Have you ever looked at how poorly they rate in terms of reliability? As far as I know Alfa-Romeo, Jaguar and Renault are all European; are those built with “high quality parts” but, somehow, the whole is a lot less than the sum of its parts ?

PBB I have had several VW/Audi's over the last twenty years and reliability has never been an issue. I currently have a Passat and have never had a problem with it. I have owned and driven several German cars including Audi and Mercedes that rode like a dream at any speed and I tested their ability to go fast! They did everything I demanded with aplomb. As long as ride and speed are not an issue, buy all the Japanese cars you want. Quality is obviously not an issue to you, in automobiles or stereo equipment.

German iron and steel has been known for generations to be the best available. Other countries try to emulate it's quality by adding to, or subtracting from what they are able to mine.

Japan does not have a good source for high quality iron or steel.

I spent a week driving a Jaguar last spring and was quite impressed with the quality of the ride and the construction. It is far and away better than my Passat which is better than any Japanese car I have ever driven. I must admit that I gave up on Japanese cars many years ago. I would never consider owning one when all the German/British/Swedish/Italian cars are better made and more reliable. I doubt though that you would be able to recognize the qualitative differences, based on what you have already said, so what' the point...