When did cars forget to have fun?

[StageLeft]

I saw a metro convertible last year and damn near shed a tear for the person driving it. How embarrassing.

 

[CraigRT]

I agree, I miss a lot of the 80's and 90's cars.. Especially the turbo Mopars which could be made fast for very little $, and were actually pretty reliable. I always wanted a Lancer Shelby..

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/capsule-review-1987-dodge-shelby-lancer/

 

[amdhunter]

I saw a metro convertible last year and damn near shed a tear for the person driving it. How embarrassing.

lolololololol.


lol

 

[mb]

I saw a metro convertible last year and damn near shed a tear for the person driving it. How embarrassing.

I didn't even know they made those.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI7crBsBWKo

omg $10,800 in 1990?

 

[TehMac]

Well cars in general seem to be getting bigger and bigger. Apparently the marketing men think that all people want is a massive car and so all the manufacturers make are massive cars.

That said, it is amazing how my '99 Mustang is on par or even outperforms the Shelby GT350 '65 which was able to take on Ferraris and Corvettes in the day.

Although the GT350 looks 20 times better than my car imo.

 

[Raduque]

Solstice/Sky,

Only if you get the GXP models with a manual. My dad's base auto is boring as shit.

 

[Throckmorton]

I gotta disagree with safety regulations...

Says the guy who almost died because he rides around on top of 2 wheels with an engine between them

 

[The Boston Dangler]

The Metro and the Shadow? Really?

might as well throw the probe in there too

 

[ShawnD1]

- Dodge Shadow convertible
- Geo Metro convertible

Ban OP. That video about the metro convertible says the 0-60 time is 13.2 seconds. Fucking horrible. A 2010 Toyota Prius can do it in 9.8 seconds.

How did people even drive cars like that back in the day? A few days ago I had to merge onto the equivalent of an interstate highway in my 2010 Toyota Corolla and it just couldn't do it fast enough to be safe. I had the pedal right down to the floor and it couldn't accelerate up to ~65mph before the short merging lane ended, so people behind me had to slow down. My car does 0-60 in about 9 seconds.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Says the guy who almost died because he rides around on top of 2 wheels with an engine between them

I didn't almost die and you completely misunderstood my post. I was simply saying that the reason we don't have fun cars (which I disagree with completely) has nothing to do with safety issues.

 

[jlee]

Only if you get the GXP models with a manual. My dad's base auto is boring as shit.

One could probably say the same about a Mk2 MR2 non-turbo automatic.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Ban OP. That video about the metro convertible says the 0-60 time is 13.2 seconds. Fucking horrible. A 2010 Toyota Prius can do it in 9.8 seconds.

How did people even drive cars like that back in the day? A few days ago I had to merge onto the equivalent of an interstate highway in my 2010 Toyota Corolla and it just couldn't do it fast enough to be safe. I had the pedal right down to the floor and it couldn't accelerate up to ~65mph before the short merging lane ended, so people behind me had to slow down. My car does 0-60 in about 9 seconds.

I managed to have fun in my 77HP '80 Plymouth Champ with a 3 speed auto, and my sister enjoyed her '64 and '71 Beetles I believe had 40 and 53HP respectively.

 

[ShawnD1]

I managed to have fun in my 77HP '80 Plymouth Champ with a 3 speed auto, and my sister enjoyed her '64 and '71 Beetles I believe had 40 and 53HP respectively.

That sounds incredibly dangerous and nerve racking. It would be virtually impossible to get onto a freeway at a safe speed. I'm shitting my pants because I'm only going 50mph when pulling into a lane where everyone else is going 70. How slow would that VW be merging? 30mph in a 60 zone?

edit:
google search says 53HP VW would take 22 seconds to get to highway speed. That's damn near suicidal.

 

[nakedfrog]

I managed to have fun in my 77HP '80 Plymouth Champ with a 3 speed auto, and my sister enjoyed her '64 and '71 Beetles I believe had 40 and 53HP respectively.

My '73 is a Cali-spec according to the block numbers and rated at 40hp/72ft lb. Fun car

 

[nakedfrog]

That sounds incredibly dangerous and nerve racking. It would be virtually impossible to get onto a freeway at a safe speed. I'm shitting my pants because I'm only going 50mph when pulling into a lane where everyone else is going 70. How slow would that VW be merging? 30mph in a 60 zone?

edit:
google search says 53HP VW would take 22 seconds to get to highway speed. That's damn near suicidal.

Your Corolla should be able to merge adequately. Can you hear it kicking into passing gear? I don't know if the '10 model has a tach.

 

[StageLeft]

I didn't even know they made those.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI7crBsBWKo

omg $10,800 in 1990?

They talk about buying it as an investment.

Here is the return on that investment:

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.j...ission=&max_price=&cardist=591&standard=false

 

[zerocool84]

mazdaspeed3, civic si, vw gti, subaru wrx, evo, 370z, mustang, camaro, challenger,

just to name a few.

Now if you're talking about Japanese muscle car, I can agree with you. Gone are the days of 300+hp Twin Turbo monsters (Supra, RX-7, 3000GT, 300zx)

Yea gone are twin turbos cus you don't need such a complex set-up when one turbo is fine as there's many cheap turbo cars from almost every manufacturer out there. Those cars were expensive and unreliable. The only one out of those cars that anyone cars about today is the Supra.

 

[Throckmorton]

The 300ZX and 3000GT were as heavy as modern cars, but with the horsepower of 80s cars.

 

[ShawnD1]

Your Corolla should be able to merge adequately. Can you hear it kicking into passing gear? I don't know if the '10 model has a tach.

Yep. It goes all the way up to red line when floored and it still can't do it if the merging lane is too short. Sometimes there's no replacement for raw power.

 

[LTC8K6]

Yea gone are twin turbos cus you don't need such a complex set-up when one turbo is fine as there's many cheap turbo cars from almost every manufacturer out there. Those cars were expensive and unreliable. The only one out of those cars that anyone cars about today is the Supra.

Ford has twin turbos today...

 

[LTC8K6]

They talk about buying it as an investment.

Here is the return on that investment:

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.j...ission=&max_price=&cardist=591&standard=false

Prices for those cars went nuts when gas prices were very high, iirc.

 

[obamanation]

Ban OP. That video about the metro convertible says the 0-60 time is 13.2 seconds. Fucking horrible. A 2010 Toyota Prius can do it in 9.8 seconds.

How did people even drive cars like that back in the day? A few days ago I had to merge onto the equivalent of an interstate highway in my 2010 Toyota Corolla and it just couldn't do it fast enough to be safe. I had the pedal right down to the floor and it couldn't accelerate up to ~65mph before the short merging lane ended, so people behind me had to slow down. My car does 0-60 in about 9 seconds.

The Honda civics and accords from 30 years ago had like a 0-60 time in 20 seconds.. People didn't use to drive very fast in the slow lane but nowadays with asshole drivers all around, they think they should drive fast in the slow/merging lane or really at any given opportunity when really they should be either going slower or be in the cruising lane.. There are far too many asshole drivers to count and needing a car that does 0-60 in less than 15 seconds should be completely unnecessary yet somehow has become a necessity today. It follows the same logic of everyone owning an SUV in order to be safe, so therefore the only way for you to be "safe" is to own one yourself.

Too many people are crappy drivers and don't realize it which is why they'll never improve.

It's fucking bullshit if you ask me.

 

[LTC8K6]

The Honda civics and accords from 30 years ago had like a 0-60 time in 20 seconds

A little research says it was more like 10-12 seconds.

 

[CraigRT]

A little research says it was more like 10-12 seconds.

I honestly find that surprising, I had a friend with a '78 Civic with the "hondamatic" transmission, it took forever to get to 60mph, and would do barely more.

Great car tho, beginning of an era!

 

[LTC8K6]

I honestly find that surprising, I had a friend with a '78 Civic with the "hondamatic" transmission, it took forever to get to 60mph, and would do barely more.

Great car tho, beginning of an era!

Well, I only looked back to 1980. Honda had 2 speed autos earlier, which were probably pretty slow.

Here's a big list of reported 0-60 and 1/4 times.

http://www.carforums.net/showthread.php?t=10251