After spending some time in Europe, I saw few cars that are for sale in Europe that should be offered in the USA, considering that they're by the manufacturers who sell vehicles on both continents.

Kia Cee'd. Cee'd is pretty much Kia's version of Hyundai i30, which is pretty much Hyundai Accent. I would rather drive this than Kia Forte.




Fiat Grande Punto. I'm still unsure why this car isn't on sale in the USA. It's a subcompact, but larger than Fiesta. And it's also offered with a 1.4 turbo engine (160 hp).




Volkswagen Polo. Fiesta was accepted pretty well in the USA and Volkswagen should follow with Polo.




Audi A1. I would rather spend ~$22,000 on this than on Buick Excelle or Mini. I saw few of them in person and they look much better than on pictures.

 

I would rather VW bring the scirocco over than the polo. But that FIat is pretty nice. Must be pretty peppy with that turbo.

 

Are we only talkin compacts?? That Fiat looks fun.

Golf R



Alfa Romeo Brera

 

Scirocco is too similar to Golf 3 door, they would just compete again eachother. I saw few of them in person, they're really nice.

Golf R will be available in the USA later this year and Alfa Romeo is coming back, as a brand, in 2013.

 

I was wondering about why they dont bring some of these to this market?? Is there something that they cant meet safety spec wise etc that are holding some of these back or just the companies not wanting to risk it... Like the Focus RS why in the world would Ford not want to sell that here even on a limited basis....

 

I was just in Bermuda...the sub compact sports cars on that island are amazing! Wish we could get them here. Models i've never heard of from Nissan, Kia, Hyundai, Chevy, Ford.......sorry I don't have pics.

 

With Focus RS I think there were few reasons why it was never for sale in the USA.
For one, Ford didn't want more competition for Mustang.
But I think the biggest reason is the price. Ford can put 35,000 euros (~$50,000) price on Focus RS in Europe and still sell bunch of them. However, in the USA nobody would spend that kind of a money on Focus next to Shelby GT500 or a Corvette. So even at $30,000 price Ford would lose a bunch of money on every Focus RS sold in the USA.

 

I see that, $30K for a Focus is a lot and at $50K wow!

 

I know why they don't bring the Focus RS here, but I still wish they did. Very cool car. I've seen a few in person in Detroit.

Regarding the A1, it's not a bad looking car, but it's no MINI.

 

I just hate how big Mini's speedometer is.

Nothing against Mini, I just like A1's design better. It looks so much fancier in person than Mini.

 

Yeah, the speedometer is a bit much, but the driving dynamics are great. That coupled with the nearly infinite customizability drew us to the brand.

 

Bu...bu... but... that big speedo is as iconic as the twin cowl dash in a Mustang. While I had known about the mini since middle school, my formal intro was with a friends 63 and that big ol football sitting in the middle of the dash reporting back speed and fuel.

One of the best road trips in my life - Newport News to DC and back in a bright blue '63 Mini.

 

Few more:

Renault Megane



Citroen DS3



Alfa Romeo Giulietta



Seat Ibiza

 

Liken the Alpha!!

 

I think you meant 'lichen'. Or perhaps 'licking'.



The Brera is quite interesting to me. I wouldn't turn my nose up at it.

 

I've always had a soft spot for the Megane. And the Alfa looks cool too.

 

That's why I'm glad that we were able to order the Chrono gauge package on our '05 Mini Cooper. It puts the speedometer and tachometer behind the steering wheel in two equal sized pods, and the circle in the middle of the dash is full of "real" gauges: coolant temp, oil temp, oil pressure, and fuel level. I dislike the big speedometer enough that since there is nothing like the Chrono package available any longer, I haven't considered trading our '05 in on an new Cooper (or S) which I may have already done if we could get it optioned like our '05.

I'd really like to see the VW Polo here as well. My wife and I both owned VW Rabbits (1st generation Golfs to the rest of the world) years ago, and if VW would offer something that size and weight here in the US again, I'd be very tempted by it. The current Golf is 1000+ lbs heavier and a good bit larger than the '83 GTI (and diesel Rabbits) I used to have.

 

I've never been spoiled by the Chrono package, so the giant speedo is OK for me. I don't really look at it much, anyway. I've got the tach centered behind the steering wheel, which is what's really important, so I can tell how fast I'm going based on gear, rpm, etc. Plus, you can get a digital speed readout in on the tack, which is about as condensed as that information could be.

Works for me, but I understand why people are turned off by the plate-sized speedo.

 

Just spotted a VW Scirocco here in AZ this afternoon. Looked like an AZ plate, but not a regular plate.

 

I didn't think we were getting a Scirocco. You sure those weren't Mexican plates? Imported maybe? Kind of like the guy that bought a Mexican Focus RS.

However, the Golf R I can't wait to see!