Beater or Sleeper? GT6 Car of the Week Thread

The '81 Piazza XE is a snorer. A very deep sleeper. Dead to the world.

Sorry. No spoiler. Everyone should know this. It helped me out tremendously in GT4.

Hold on. That means this week's races are going to be hot . . ..

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Here's my thousand word pictorial essay on the hooded snake:

MazdaRacewayLagunaSeca_11_zps0a44703e.jpg


Also - because the used cars come from the 'regular' Dealerships, we may be fooled into thinking that the car could gain HP from running in, but this seems to apply only to brand new cars. The Cobra gained no HP even after a 1000 miles of running in. However, she seemed smoother and responsive after the mileage and a rigidity fix.
An addictive-to-drive car, classic, classic American Muscle, king of the road, and the perfect I'm-at-home-here machine for the present Seasonals at Laguna Seca.
As for the sound . . . even GT6 reproduced, still soothing enough, with just the right snarl to get the blood flowing.

In short?
Keeper. For me, definitely a sleeper because never got around to it fast enough.

Good thing Brad keeps picking our brains. :lol:
 
I'll look to pick up a test-vehicle for this later tonight, though the only thing 'funky' to me is it's styling... :odd:

Like, was it a 'crossover' before crossovers existed ?, Japanese station-wagon ?, something else ? :confused:

Seriously. Or is it a 80's thing ? :lol:
 
I'll look to pick up a test-vehicle for this later tonight, though the only thing 'funky' to me is it's styling... :odd:

Like, was it a 'crossover' before crossovers existed ?, Japanese station-wagon ?, something else ? :confused:

Seriously. Or is it a 80's thing ? :lol:

The design is basically Giugiaro's wet dream. No, really:

Wiki to the pedia ses:
Giugiaro referred to the design as his fifth "Copernican revolution", integrating the design innovations of many different previous designs into one, mass producible, vehicle.
 
I'll look to pick up a test-vehicle for this later tonight, though the only thing 'funky' to me is it's styling... :odd:

Like, was it a 'crossover' before crossovers existed ?, Japanese station-wagon ?, something else ? :confused:

Seriously. Or is it a 80's thing ? :lol:

I think it was some exercise in how to not design a car while not giving thought to form.
Functioned well as something downright ugly; it's a wonder anybody ever got into one.

But . . Isuzu.
Isuzu!
 
Just bought the car. First impressions; I don't think the styling will grow on me anytime soon. Does it have retractable headlights or not?? They look like they pop up only slightly....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isuzu_Piazza writes that...
Items that remained were the single blade front windshield wiper, and an integrated steering wheel adjustment that also moved the instrument cluster.

....I don't know how the 2nd one works honestly but ok.
 
So, we have two additional days to review the car since a certain person guessed it. And my cameraman that takes the pictures was on holiday.
So, i took a quick trip to wherever i could buy the car, and immediately came to the conclusion, that it was a hipster. Since it probably atleast inspired atleast the front of the AE86, except, that one AE86 molded the..... whatever that is supposed to be over the headlights into the hood, and the other AE86 turned said thing into pop-up headlights. I also came to the conclusion, that i could buy a japanese AMC Pacer for a cheaper price, also known as the Mirage 1400GLX.
Now, that i've got the car, i had almost no money, and all i could afford was an oil change, and when i walked into the aftermarket shop, i noticed that i could get the lowest custom rear wing on a hatchback in the history of GT, but i had no money. And when i got to the tuning shop, and wouldn't you believe it, i still had no money. But, when i got to my garage, i had enough money! but income tax took it away almost-instantly.
So, with nothing better to do, i took it to Tokyo R246, and realised that it handled like what JDM Fanboys think all the JDM cars handle like, except without the need to handbrake.
Therefore, i can conclude that it is a sleeper. Considering that people that don't know what it is think that it is an old man's car.
 
Guigiaro also designed this car, which, according to GT6, he considered the best work of his entire life:

FIATPanda4X4-2408_4.jpg


I have to say, as ugly as I think the Piazza (Impulse in the USA) is, the Panda is worse.

To be fair, the Panda is more function than style, it was never really meant to be more than a simple and cheap means of transportation. At least that's what I think. The Piazza is not really that ugly to my eyes either, I've seen worst 1980's designs than those two...
 
Yeah honestly it's not being insulting to anyone's eyes, but I'd hardly call it a masterpiece of design. Giugiaro may have had a few screws loose back then.

Again, I point you to this:

Wiki to the pedia ses:
Giugiaro referred to the design as his fifth "Copernican revolution", integrating the design innovations of many different previous designs into one, mass producible, vehicle.

;)
 
Took a stock, no oil change, Piazza to the Sunday Cup, thrashed the AI while just under 100PP of regulations.
Went to the next level.
Thrashed the rabbits next race. Got thrashed in the race after that.
Worked harder to get my lap-times down - the Piazza working real hard to please. Now the rabbits were getting faster.
At the moment lead rabbits and I are still duking it out with half a second to spare.
Every time I run faster they run faster.

I have a trump card - SH. I'm still on CS.
And all settings are still at default.
Maybe time to remove some 'aids'. :D

The lead rabbits in this race are pissing me off no end; I groan when I hear people say there isn't racing in this game.

Not sure how far up the ladder I'll go with the Piazza.

Obviously as I go up into the 500 - 600 PP battles I may have to bolt on some carrots.
For now I'm still at 350 PP and holding my own with these 450PP cheating skunks of rabbits who are running SHs.
 
Toward the end of racing on Saturday night and after watching the video's you posted MC, the Mike Piazza is starting to grow on me. Not literally of course :). This was actually my birthday car from a couple years back on GT5. It was one of those ummm okay? moments but then turned out to be not so bad, but not really good either.

I think this car is like the girl you thought was hot when you were young but turns out she was really just an average looking hot girl.

Beater. I may change my mind after the Tuesday showdown.
 
Guigiaro also designed this car, which, according to GT6, he considered the best work of his entire life:

FIATPanda4X4-2408_4.jpg


I have to say, as ugly as I think the Piazza (Impulse in the USA) is, the Panda is worse.

The Panda was a great car.
The point of the Panda is its simplicity and its really, really really low price tag, made for poorer people or people who didnt want to spend much in a car, and only wanted something to go from A to B easily and cheaply.
Its like a 80's Fiat 500.
It's also bulletproof and can go to offroads fairly easily without much problem.
 
The Panda was a great car.
The point of the Panda is its simplicity and its really, really really low price tag, made for poorer people or people who didnt want to spend much in a car, and only wanted something to go from A to B easily and cheaply.
Its like a 80's Fiat 500.
It's also bulletproof and can go to offroads fairly easily without much problem.

You nailed it with that statement. All of it is true, those are the reasons why the Panda looked that way. It was meant to be a car of the people, like the 500 before it. It can stand the rough roads and conditions, especially if you had a 4x4 version. I know a neighbour who still owns one, his wife is the one driving it though.
 
I'm not saying I don't like the Panda. I love to drive slow cars fast. I just don't see how he considered its design his life's greatest achievement.

Well, Giugiaro is an Italian designer, they were never really consistent (or comprhensible) folk... Who knows why did he pick the car as his lifelong achievement.
 
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