Auto Industry Desperation: “Small Cars Are Disposable and Bad for the Environment”

[flydude1221]

jamesqf , I totally agree, I am mostly about making a smaller environmental foot print.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxlj6fgQ-ZU

how about getting rid of steel body panels!

[RH77]

Originally Posted by flydude1221

how about getting rid of steel body panels!

Like how Saturns used to be. What happened there? Hammering on the panel in the video reminded me of past Auto Shows where they would have you beat on the door of the Saturn model to test it yourself.

RH77

[Clev]

Originally Posted by RH77

Like how Saturns used to be. What happened there? Hammering on the panel in the video reminded me of past Auto Shows where they would have you beat on the door of the Saturn model to test it yourself.

RH77

Has that changed? My '04 Ion still has a lot of plastic panels.

[cfg83]

Clev -

Originally Posted by Clev

Has that changed? My '04 Ion still has a lot of plastic panels.

The Ion was the last of the bunch. The S-Series was the only 100% Saturn design. The L-Series was an Opel drivetrain, and the Ion was the proto-Cobalt, but at least both had plastic. The first Vue had plastic too.

Saturn is basically the American name badge for Opel products these days, .

CarloSW2

[flydude1221]

How about making the plastic panels out of a Plant based plastic instead of petrochemicals?

[BlackDeuceCoupe]

Originally Posted by flydude1221

Automakers need to focus on simple. Honda has only recently started to have "options" on their Honda Civics, and even at that you just pick Trim levels for the most part...

We're probably on the 'same page' on this, but...

The Honda CiViC died, and was buried, in 2000!

From 2001-Present, the CiViC exists in name only. They're actually "Global Compact Platform" cars, so called. They share the same chassis with any number of other Honda compact cars/trucks and rely on the assumption that the American consumer is a chump!

Put another way - if you wanna drive a real Honda CiViC, you're gonna have to buy at least an 8-20 year-old one.

The fact that they're still available in large quantities speaks to the silliness of the notion that small cars are disposable, et cetera, et cetera!

[flydude1221]

BlackDeuceCoupe you are right ON!

Although I have driven 2002+ civics and they do seem to handle quite nice, although in my opinion a 1992-1995 hatch with a B, H, or even K series engine is a benchmark for front wheel drive handling.

I had a 1993 Honda Civic sedan for 2 years I bought it with 460000km on the odometer and I retired it to the junkyard only because of rust and my not wanting to fix the rust as it was quite extensive. I drove this car HARRD, snowtires on down country roads with snow I would have gotten stuck in had I stopped, it is amazing what snow tires and keeping wheel spin (4000 rpm) will do for you. I must add that I did keep the car tuned very well, ngk iridiums, cap, rotor, fuel filter, 02 , clean pcv, good air filter.

[flydude1221]

Although I am partial to Toyota for high performance, do not get me wrong I like fwd hondas, but imo a MR2 or Celica All Trac Turbo with the 3sgte engine is what I would want to own over a Integra Type R, but with these toyotas you loose alot of the easy to work on traits of the DC/EG honda chassis

[BlackDeuceCoupe]

Here's an interesting stat...

JD Power Cuts 2008 US Auto-Sales View, Sees Drop In 2009

U.S. sales have worsened over the past two years as customers have begun holding on to their vehicles longer. J.D. Power noted Thursday [October 09, 2008: 11:54 AM EST] that on average consumers are keeping their vehicles four months longer than last year - 71 months versus 67 months. Leasing activity has also slumped as auto financiers have been ratcheting back on such deals amid slumping resale values, especially for less fuel-efficient pickups and sport-utility vehicles.

Amid the woes, GM shares hit a 58-year low Thursday, while Ford Motor Co. (F) reached a 24-year nadir Wednesday. GM shares were recently down 18% at $5.70 while Ford dropped 9.1% to $2.4

71 months is 6 (5.916) years!

Doing a little extrapolation, I *think* I can see why the auto industry is worried about 'us' buying "small cars" - and it doesn't have anything to do with the "enviroment", so called, unless they're talking about the "business enviroment"!