Best Selling Cars Around The Globe: Trans-Siberian Series Part 10: Ulan Ude, Buryatia

After a few weeks hiatus, we now continue on our Trans-Siberian railway adventure! Last time I took you to the shores of Lake Baikal, today we are moving across the lake to Ulan Ude, 455 km East of Irkutsk and my last stop in Russia before I cross the Mongolian border to the South. And even though this is one of the smallest hops of the trip, again a fascinatingly different car landscape awaits…

If you can’t wait for the next report, you can follow my trip in real time here, or check out 174 other car markets on my blog.

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  • DesertNative More 'Look at me! Look at me!' from Elon Musk. It's time to recognize that there's nothing to see here, folks and that this is just about pumping up the stock price. When there's a real product on the ground and available, then there will be something to which we can pay attention. Until then, ignore him.
  • Bkojote Here's something you're bound to notice during ownership that won't come up in most reviews or test drives-Honda's Cruise Control system is terrible. Complete trash. While it has the ability to regulate speed if there's a car in front of you, if you're coasting down a long hill with nobody in front of you the car will keep gaining speed forcing you to hit the brakes (and disable cruise). It won't even use the CVT to engine brake, something every other manufacturer does. Toyota's system will downshift and maintain the set speed. The calibration on the ACC system Honda uses is also awful and clearly had minimum engineering effort.Here's another- those grille shutters get stuck the minute temperature drops below freezing meaning your engine goes into reduced power mode until you turn it off. The Rav4 may have them but I have yet to see this problem.
  • Sobhuza Trooper "Toyota engineers have told us that they intentionally build their powertrains with longevity in mind."Boy, that's pretty hateful. I suppose some greedy people who would pick Toyota would also want to have greater longevity for themselves. But wouldn't we all rather die at 75, while still looking cool than live to be 85 and look like a doddering old man?
  • Kwik_Shift_Pro4X Neither. They're basically the same vehicle.
  • Analoggrotto 1. Kia Sportage2. Hyundai TucsonRugged SUVs which cater to the needs of the affluent middle class suburbanite which are second only to themselves, these are shining applications of Hyundai Kia Genesis commitment to automotive excellence. Evolving from the fabled Hyundai Excel of the 90s, a pioneering vehicle which rivaled then upstart Lexus in quality, comfort and features long before Hyundai became a towering king of analytics and funding legions of internet keyboard warriors.