I was always a "car guy". Crossovers & SUV's are ending that.

[19bonestock88]

I agree with this. The recent breakage of my Saturn has put me in a position where I need to buy something newer and literally NOTHING new looks worthy. The Chevy dealer tried to steer me toward a Trax, but honestly they just plain suck...

[freebeard]

What's your price range? https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/cars-for-sale

https://www.hemmings.com/auction/1933-ford-model-40

[Fat Charlie]

Originally Posted by darcane

I still love cars, and I think I always will.

As that trend dwindles in the wrong direction, my fleet of cars is getting progressively older.

+1

My father told me once that his father always wanted a brand new 1932 Dodge. I didn't understand that when I was a kid, but I'm older now and want a brand new third generation Honda Accord (Preludes perfectly acceptable!).

What is driving? Changing speed and direction. Isaac Newton said you need a small car to do that properly: overcoming inertia works better when you bring less mass.

Overpowered barges that Kingofwylietx applauds (Raptor? WK SRTs? Really?) are not sporty. Their engines could easily be placed in less bargelike platforms, but they're not. Because they're not about driving, they're "vehicular viagra", and I don't mean that in a good way. I remember the LM002, the Syclone, the Lightning, even the Ram SRT 10. Three words cover them all: pa, fscking, and thetic. They can not turn well except when compared to their own base versions, and they could accelerate much better if their powertrains were in smaller platforms. Adding a few hundred horsepower to go in a straight line does nothing for me, especially in something gratuitously overweight.

Someone wanting to add a few hundred horsepower to make a pickup truck go in a straight line makes me question their sanity. Someone wanting to add a few hundred horsepower to make a Jeep go in a straight line leaves nothing to question.

Originally Posted by JSH

EDIT: Two CUVs made by the same company, on the same platform and built on the same assembly line

Images from Car and Driver

You're going to see more cosmetic differences between two (or three) "models" made by the same company than you're going to see between five or ten offerings in the same market niche by five or ten different companies. Why? Because when sheetmetal is the only difference, the sheetmetal will vary widely. Styling's great, when it's "Here is our car, and we make it look this way". Styling sucks when it's "Here is one of the many "versions" of our car that we will pretend are different so you think you have choices".

[Kingofwylietx]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

What is driving? Changing speed and direction. Isaac Newton said you need a small car to do that properly: overcoming inertia works better when you bring less mass.

Overpowered barges that Kingofwylietx applauds (Raptor? WK SRTs? Really?) are not sporty. Their engines could easily be placed in less bargelike platforms, but they're not. Because they're not about driving, they're "vehicular viagra", and I don't mean that in a good way. I remember the LM002, the Syclone, the Lightning, even the Ram SRT 10. Three words cover them all: pa, fscking, and thetic. They can not turn well except when compared to their own base versions, and they could accelerate much better if their powertrains were in smaller platforms. Adding a few hundred horsepower to go in a straight line does nothing for me, especially in something gratuitously overweight.

Someone wanting to add a few hundred horsepower to make a pickup truck go in a straight line makes me question their sanity. Someone wanting to add a few hundred horsepower to make a Jeep go in a straight line leaves nothing to question.

The spirit of my entire post went right over your head.

I agree that lighter is better in most vehicles, but that option isn’t on the table today....unless you want to daily drive an Ariel Atom or Lotus Elise. The Ariel isn’t suited for anything but sunny days and it’s comical for anyone over 5’ tall to get in/out of an Elise.

What I think is needed is for all manufacturers to agree on significantly reducing the weight of their vehicles. That way they could be driven safely and designed for impacts with other light vehicles. They would consume fewer resources to make them and greatly improve performance. With the use of smaller engines or motors, it would naturally increase efficiency considerably.

The current issue that I see with small vehicles is that the rate of death in small vehicles is much higher in small vehicle vs large vehicle collisions. Unless everyone is in a small vehicle, you will always have people wanting larger heavier vehicles for increased safety. Also, since everyone and their dog is driving an SUV or truck, it’s harder to maintain good visibility in a smaller vehicle. Some of my perspective is from where I live. I’m in Texas and people here have fully embraced the bigger is better mentality. Most of our roads are straight. Trucks are family cars. Most people haul around a full load of air in their trucks 365 days a year.

No true Motörhead would diss the Syclone, it was one of the quickest vehicles in its day. It was akin to the Grand National...

As for design, I’ve heard a teardrop shape is ideal. But, who wants to drive a teardrop? I think the manufacturers could offer smoother designs, but they spend a lot of time/effort trying to streamline what people really want to drive. The market dictates styling cues. They have to make what will sell.

In the meantime, we buy what we buy...and most folks on here then try to eek out the best efficiency that they can from whatever they bought.

[freebeard]

The spirit of my entire post Permalink #46 went right over your everybody's head.

The Messerschmitt KR-200 was a two-stroke rear-drive tandem tricycle. There has been nothing similar since, until the Arcimoto FUV, which is all-electric front-wheel drive with limited slip and torque vectoring.It's soon to be autonomous ready.

Embodied energy is 1/3 that of a 4-wheel cager.

As for design, I’ve heard a teardrop shape is ideal. But, who wants to drive a teardrop?

[raises hand]

[kmccune]

You have had to rebuild a manual? I have never even had to rebuild( or have rebuilt) an Auto trans,I do believe in the calm right foot and the necessary fluid change(when required) I used to over maintain my vehicles until I saw how far some of the companies vehicles lasted with a minimum of maintenance. Its really not that cost-effective to baby some forever, the Demons of corrosion and mediocrity claim some . My best investment was carports one built with locust poles and one purchased.

[Shaneajanderson]

Originally Posted by Kingofwylietx

The spirit of my entire post went right over your head.



What I think is needed is for all manufacturers to agree on significantly reducing the weight of their vehicles. That way they could be driven safely and designed for impacts with other light vehicles. They would consume fewer resources to make them and greatly improve performance. With the use of smaller engines or motors, it would naturally increase efficiency considerably.

Auto manufacturers are putting Huge effort into cutting weight. You are correct that bigger and bigger cars are in style now, but a very large portion of the weight gains on cars is due to government regulations. There is no reason my 94 F150 4WD with thick gauge steel body panels, cast iron 302 engine, and full heavy frame rails should weigh less than a brand new F150 with the thinnest aluminum sheet metal they can get away with, thinner frame rails, and an aluminum V6.

[rmay635703]

Would be interesting to do a weight comparison at the BOM level on a 1994 vrs the current truck.

Might be a few surprises like a heavier cooling and exhaust system.

[Shaneajanderson]

Originally Posted by rmay635703

Would be interesting to do a weight comparison at the BOM level on a 1994 vrs the current truck.

Might be a few surprises like a heavier cooling and exhaust system.

That would be an interesting comparison. Why would you expect the cooling system to be heavier? Do new engines generate more heat, or do they just overdo it? I would also expect electric fans to be much lighter than the old belt-driven clutch fan that I have.

[DGXR]

Many modern cars look the same, that is for sure. But they are not all engineered or constructed the same.