American cars ..

Anyone who has driven American, European, and Japanese cars can confidently say that the comparison is not in favor of the American ones, especially for mid-size and compact cars. In the last couple of months, I rented a few: a Buick Allure, a Chevy Malibu, and a Pontiac Sunfire. They are good only for driving in straight lines, but as soon as you decide you need to take turns, they handle like a boat. You don't even have to be at high speed to feel that what you do with the steering wheel and where the car is going are two almost unrelated things. I understand that they need to keep the suspention soft and comfortable but is there no optimal setting for both comfort and handling?
One other thing, the drive-by-wire technology, engine control units, and all these intermediate steps between your foot and the engine can make the car really sluggish if not calibrated properly. The Malibu was the worst, you step on the gas and nothing happens and then the engine wakes up as if wondering what's going on. The engine was powerful though, I even think the car was overpowered, but again that's no surprise since horsepower numbers keeps going up with every new model. Besides, Chevies have such a cheap finish; they use this cheap-looking plastic in the dashboard. I found out that GM uses the same platic even in the Hummer H3.
To be fair, there are some really good American cars like the Mustang, the Ford F-150, the Jeep line, etc. I just mentioned my own experience .. I'll rent again for sure and keep the posts coming up :)