What is even more interesting, is that I find the greatest distinctions depend not on the make of the car, but more on where it comes from. i.e. not between Honda, Toyota, and Ford, but more between Japanese, European, and American.
A good example of this is pedal layouts
Japanese cars always seem to have the pedals close together stuff
ed into a corner. I've heard that Asian people have thin feet, maybe that is somehow related? If you have a bigger than size 12 shoe, or like to wear boots, dress shoes, running shoes, or anything besides a driving shoe, or something made by Puma... don't buy a stick shift Japanese car. However, besides that, the pedal layouts are usually indicative of motorsports. The gas pedal is long, with the bottom tilted in to make heel-toe downshifts easier. This is generally true from an Evo to a Toyota Corolla, although more apparent on the former.Europeans are fans of the floor mounted gas pedal. I have to admit that I'm a fan of that as
well, having your foot flat against the pedal without sliding as you are pushing down does give you more control... at least once you get used to it. Heel toe down shifting is a dream in BMWs, and many other cars from across the Atlantic, the pedals are close to level and the bottom of the accelerator is almost right under the brake. They definitely put some thought into it!American Cars are hit or miss. Generally the pedals
are fairly far apart, and the brake pedal is large enough to land a small jet onto. Some cars have very nice setups (Firebirds/Camaros for example) that remind me of the higher end Japanese ones. Some, like Mustangs and Focii - not so nice. In fact, in those two, you need to be double jointed to heel toe... I don't think the engineers tho built those cars went to open track days very often, which is a shame. Drag racing on Woodward anyone?I think this may go deep into the cultural fabric of society... somebody really needs to do their Masters Thesis on this.
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