Put it bluntly: forte is a good attempt to make a good car, but falls short of making the mark. Korean cars are simply not there yet. Get an honest chap who owns a Forte (i.e: non forum lurking "FORTE IZ D BEZ OMG" owner of a Forte) and they will tell you of the sub-par engine, sub-par suspension system and simply sub-par experience overall after a while. It's all well and good testing the car a few times and feeling that it is great. But owning it after a while, the experience simply fizzles - the Koreans simply don't put in the soul in the car. It's not in their culture to understand 'soul' and 'passion' in a car (MY OPINION ONLY).

Proton... well is a Proton. Don't let the Mitsu reputation precede the badge's reputation. You buy the car because it is cheap, and good value but don't expect 'magic'. And no, Lotus handling doesn't mean it's better than the Japs. It just means it's not longer Sh*t. But, Proton does have a much better aftermarket support, which gives it an edge. Therefore it gets my vote.

Hello keyboard warrior. Everyone's opinion is worth something. Mechanics know more about cars albeit not owning most of them all their lives. Their opinion worth nothing to you?

Maybe you should learn some restraint in unleashing your confrontational attitude before throwing assumptions around thinking your many stars are worth their salt in putting other people down.

Friend, taking up third world countries to produce your cars would be utilising the economies of scale. By soul, I mean the thought they put into designing the car, the technology, philosophy, etc. The Koreans are simply not on the same page (though not necessarily inferior or superior in any ways between the two). Like I said, my opinion. I just find their cars lacklustre in thought and emphasis on driving experience as opposed to a pretty shell and packed full of goody gizmos. But hey, more value for money in some ways, to each is own. TS will decide him ultimately.

I don't necessarily disagree with you on the second point, but it doesn't mean that the Koreans are any better, if not worse (i implore you to drive the much touted as the CoTY, Hyundai Sonata and you would probably understand where I am coming from).

I also agree that Inspira may not be a terrible car. I think they go around the corners pretty well. I'm merely cautioning against buying too much into the Lotus handling selling point.

I smell some restraint in your opinion this time around. Good to see you're learning quick.

Agreed. I've driven and owned quite a few cars. Korean. Japs. Germans. Forte for example, was a car that I really had high expectations on. I didn't own it, but I did my research, driven around in one a number of times, and fail to find that 'euro' selling point. Packing a car with gizmos and foregoing engineering innovation, for example, is not a 'euro' trait. Underpowering a car isn't as well. European cars are known to be torquey - that's certainly missing in the forte, even the 2.0.

Anyway I digress, internet.