I used to be a lot tech, and I can safely say that a Civic is much more fun car to drive than a Monte Carlo. Even though is slower, it certainly has more throwable feel to it

I can't argue with you too much though since it's pretty obvious that American car companies make some pretty boring **** that no one wants (every family sedan every made), some pretty stupid/ugly **** that no one wants (Aztec anyone?), and everyone once in a while, a ****ing sweet car that makes you wonder how they are able to lower themselves enough to make the stupid undesirable **** (Cobras and Corvettes)

However, America's automakers are fighting an uphill battle to regain the consumer confidence they lost after many years of so-so quality and a series of high-profile "problem cars" -- from the Oldsmobile diesel in the late 1970s to the Ford Explorer rollover debacle just a few years ago.

Also, the domestics have had trouble connecting with the market -- building cars that management thinks buyers ought to want rather than building cars the market does in fact want. Recent examples of this disconnect include the unfortunate Pontiac Aztek and GTO, as well as the Lincoln Aviator and Ford Excursion SUV. All flopped badly and had to be cancelled after just a few short years of lackluster sales.

There is no analog for such poor perception of market needs/wants among the Japanese manufacturers -- who continue to display an uncanny insight into what people want -- and are willing to pay full price for. The radically designed Honda Ridgeline is a case in point. It's neither a car nor a truck -- but a brilliant fusion of both.

Or consider the new Civic. It sets a new high-water mark for what a small car should be, offering such things as GPS navigation (also available in Mazda's excellent 3 series) and, in the sport-themed Si version, a 197-hp engine with variable valve timing an 8,300 RPM redline and a six-speed manual transmission. This car (and import sport compacts like it) has become the "in" car for 18-25 year-olds, for the same reason that '55-'57 Chevies once ruled the street a few generations ago. Style, affordability and great price -- in one package.

It seems straightforward enough -- but the domestics (GM especially) just don't seem to get it. The blandly styled, "badge-engineered" GTO stands in sharp contrast to the lean, exciting Civic Si.

In addition to the embarrassing CR rankings (or non-rankings), there was more bad news for domestic automakers in terms of sales this year. Ford sales dropped by another 4 percent in February; GM was down 2.5 percent. Honda, meanwhile, posted an 8.7 percent increase over the same period, and Toyota is poised to sell a staggering 9 billion cars worldwide this year, possibly overtaking General Motors as the world's largest automaker.

The bread-and-butter Camry continues to be the best-selling car in North America, and Toyota is making steady inroads into the final redoubt of American car company strength, large trucks and SUVs.

There's plenty of blame to go around for all this -- and depending on your personal biases, you can lay it at the feet of the unions, government meddling, unfair trade practices on the part of the Japanese, etc. But the bottom-line reality is that American car companies have lost the allegiance of consumers -- not just Consumer Reports.

Until -- and if -- they can get it back, the slide will continue apace.

I know that there are thousands of those cars on the road, my point was that 99% of them aren't going to take their car to the track like in your example, and in that case, which drive wheels it has doesn't really matter.

I know what you are talking about, but people tend to forget that car enthusiasts are an extremely small minority of car buyers and their wants don't get considered all that often.