Small / economy car deathwatch: we've passed "peak econobox" again

[Isaac Zachary]

My wife saw a Mini Cooper for sale for a couple thousand. Her eyes got big when she saw it had a stick shift and asked me what I thought about it, if we could get rid of the Prius and get the Mini Cooper. I sighed as I don't feel I can keep another such car on the road. I have the water pump for the Prius and haven't any time to install it. And the way things are going, I won't have any time until July.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary

There's a rumor that GM is going to revive the Pontiac brand. There's an ad in Car and Driver about the brand. The weird thing is it looks like it could be just a joke, although why have a joke about bringing back the Pontiac brand?

Pontiac is not coming back and the fine print at the bottom of that page says the "ad" is fake. It is Car & Driver trying to fill there pages even on a reduced 6 issues a year schedule.

Pontiac died in 2010 because the division was losing money and everything it sold was redundant. Nothing has changed since then to make spending billions to relaunch a brand make any sense.

Minis are BMWs. BMWs have a horrible track record for costing a lot to keep on the road once the warranty has expired. They also all require premium fuel. If you want a cheap manual hatch - get a Yaris or a Fit.

[redpoint5]

Brands are consolidating, not expanding.

My only experience with Pontiac was my wife's 2003 Grand Prix. The 6-cylinder got something like 20 MPG, and the thing was gutless. Everything was falling apart on it when I sold it... rear light lenses, suspension components, trunk wouldn't open, dash lost power intermittently (including headlights). Meanwhile my 2006 Acura 4-cylinder produces more horsepower, gets 10 MPG better, and nothing but a $0.50 switch to turn the cruise control on has broken.

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Brands are consolidating, not expanding.

Modern day cars are consolidating. Diversity in general is waning. All cars are evolving into crossovers. The sports car is now a crossover, the family hauler is now a crossover, the econo car is now a crossover, the off-roader is now a crossover.

[freebeard]

Diversity in general is waning.

Where my amphibian? Where?

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Where my amphibian? Where?

Exactly! How handy it would be to have an amphibian car right now seeing how the bridge out west of town is down adding up to 7 hours to what used to be a 1 hour trip. Many are able to get around a bypass, but the bypass is only open certain times of the day, is all dirt and in poor shape, and it still adds a whole hour to the trip. But people with boats are boating in to nearby town so that they can get to town for work and shopping and to get their kids to school.

[freebeard]

For me is was a joke, of the form 'Whar my *? Whar?' For you it's a sad reality.

But it raises [not begs] the question: What would a carbon fiber tub with lightweight wheels with balloon tires do for a Schwimmwagen clone's freeboard. Wish I could come up with a pun on wiki/Freeboard_(nautical)

Anyway, front hub motors instead of a driveshaft and diff? Hydrojet instead of dog-clutched propeller? Plexiglass bubble top like a KR200?



This is the Kubelwagen tank trainer, but you could get there with a Type 181 and bolt-on pontoons..

[redpoint5]

You just need bigger tires.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTkmTGsaJqg

[JSH]

Big wheels and amphibious


https://h2oamphibious.com/products-2/#/

Or go old school with an amphicar



https://auto.howstuffworks.com/1961-1968-Amphicar.htm

[freebeard]

Driving the amphibious TVR Scamander into Blackpool for its first MOT in 12 years..

A few seconds in the water at 17:08