Geography was never my strongest suit, so please tell me: what exactly do people mean with the term "continental" car?

Obviously, I know that Germany, France and Italy exist on this big chunk of land called "Europe". But what about countries like Japan, South Korea and Thailand? Yes, these places are separated from the bigger land mass by water, but they are considered as part of Asia right?

Asia is the world's largest continent but we never ever call Toyota or Hyundai "continental cars".

More important that picking out the demarcations on the world map is the connotation of the term "continental car". There's a certain hint of superiority when a brand is given that prefix and it isn't always deserved.

In the not too distant past, there was little real reason to shell out for a VW Golf from the not too distant past over the contemporary Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla. The run-of-the-mill variants were mediocre at best and even the hot GTI versions weren't startlingly unimpressive, whether it was the built quality, equipment levels or driving performance. The buyer who have bought into any notion of west being best then suffers a second blow when the time comes to sell it onwards. Resale values were poor and maintenance bills were steep.

Only recently has Volkswagen redeemed itself with models that are fitter than the "non-Continental" offerings – at relatively competitive prices to boot. So finally, there's some real justification to opting for a vee-dub over something with a H or a T on its grille.

Ironically, the beacon of value and quality, that is Toyota, has seen its star fading. The brand is in the midst of the most extensive recall. It has announced that it's bringing in 2.3 million cars to fix a sticky foot pedal. This comes in the wake of it recalling 4.2 million vehicles in September last year.

Of course this happens to be isolated to Toyotas built and sold in North America, which is the third largest continent in the world. Never mind that even after building millions of Corolla in the U.S. (the company's largest market), Toyota isn't considered as a "continental brand" here or anywhere in the world. Whichever way you call it, I'd stay off renting a Camry from Hertz in L.A., just to be safe.

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