Death of a Legend: The Monte Carlo Dies at 11 AM

[Famine]

Since there actually appears to be a market for this stuff in Europe, I'll edit those out, and leave the ones that were actually sales successes in the market in which the Monte Carlo competes. Now the list is...

And that's a stretch because the TT really isn't front-drive, since the vast majority of its sales are the all-wheel drive models. Stuff like the Ford Probe, Mazda MX-3, Volkswagen Corrado, and Toyota Celica all had mild sales success but were eventually each cancelled due to poor sales. And obviously only one of the above vehicles is in the Monte Carlo's class.

Quite so - but proof that the idea of FWD coupes isn't necessarily an intrinsically bad one.

It's worth a note that some of my list were good and some were successful, but very few were both...

That's all my post was - making the point that FWD coupes, which many seem to be wholly against in any form, are not of themselves a bad idea. I wasn't making any other kind of point about the car named, or its sales, or its success - just that FWD coupes can be good and/or successful.

 

[Tornado]

Since there actually appears to be a market for this stuff in Europe, I'll edit those out, and leave the ones that were actually sales successes in the market in which the Monte Carlo competes. Now the list is...

Just a little thing, but I don't think the Cougar, in Ford or Mercury badging, was ever successful anywhere.

 

[Famine]

Just a little thing, but I don't think the Cougar, in Ford or Mercury badging, was ever successful anywhere.

I lied about that one. It wasn't very successful (though it looked nice from the front, it seemed the designer got 3/4 of the way through it when he was fired and a different bloke brought in to do the back), like its predecessor Ford Probe, but unlike the Probe it was based on a mediocre-handling saloon car, but made heavier, so it wasn't that good either.

 

[YSSMAN]

Just a little thing, but I don't think the Cougar, in Ford or Mercury badging, was ever successful anywhere.

Pretty much. I don't see them too frequently around here, although they do occasionally show-up on a few used dealer lots now and then. I do recall a commercial for a local Mercury dealer back when the car was "cool," and there was some rather strange girl who kept on saying it "handled like it was on rails," and every time I would die a little inside.

If they didn't call it the Mercury Cougar (formerly based on the Mustang), I probably wouldn't have disliked it as much as I did.

...Even funnier memory was when they had plans to make the Cougar a "four-door-coupe" ala the Saturn Ion just before they killed it...

 

[Takumi Fujiwara]

Good riddance, I say. An anticlimactic death, for a pointless car.

Now, bring it back on the new RWD platform, make it look as decent as the final models did, and, for god's sake, give us a 6-spd, and I'd very likely change my opinion of the car.

 

[Tornado]

Now, bring it back on the new RWD platform, make it look as decent as the 1967 models did, and, for god's sake, give us a 6-spd, and I'd very likely change my opinion of the car.

Fixed.

 

[JCE]

Now, bring it back on the new RWD platform, make it look as late 60's or late 80's models did, and, for god's sake, give us a 6-spd, and I'd very likely change my opinion of the car.

Fixed part deux.

 

[Tornado]

Fixed part deux.

Late 80's? Do you mean this one:

or this one:

Because have to say, in all honesty the only thing I tihnk the MN-12 Cougar was good for was giving us the Thunderbird and Conti Mark VIII.
The Fox one was pretty good, though.

 

[JCE]

Late 80's? Do you mean this one:

or this one:

Because have to say, in all honesty the only thing I tihnk the MN-12 Cougar was good for was giving us the Thunderbird and Conti Mark VIII.
The Fox one was pretty good, though.

Oh **** are we talking about the Cougar? Whoops, I thought we were talking about the Monte Carlo. Maybe you need to fix my quote, and call it "Fixed part thrice!". lol

But I rather liked the Turbocoupe and Supercoupe actually. They both were something different from Ford back in the horrid 80's and 90's where all Fords that weren't Mustangs and Pickups were rubbish.

 

[Takumi Fujiwara]

Fixed.

I said "decent". Can't possibly expect GM to come out with anything that looks as good as the cars of their golden age. The styling of the Monte that just went OOP was pretty decent, though, I'd almost call it mildly attractive.

 

[Pupik]

Also, I don’t see how this is the death of the FWD coupe. Brand new Nissan Altima, anybody? Honda Accord? Toyota Solara? (Gawd, I hate that car, but it still sells stupidly well.) Audi TT?

Rumor around the Toyota-mill is that it's slated for disappearance in mid-2008. I hate the fact you can't tell if the car is coming or going. Thank goodness for the convertible, I don't have to do double-takes when crossing the street and moving Solara is in the vicinity.

1) Read what JCE3000GT said.

2) I forgot the question. Do you have Prince Rainier in a can?

3) The Car of Tommorow is actually uglier than the Monte Carlo, and that's a stretch.

4) Didn't the Monte Carlo nameplate disappear from 1989-1997? What do you expect from a company that didn't make a 1983 Corvette?

 

[JCE]

4) Didn't the Monte Carlo nameplate disappear from 1989-1997? What do you expect from a company that didn't make a 1983 Corvette?

1995-ish is when the "new" redesigned FWD slushbox Monte Carlo arrived. While it didn't look as bad as the following newer generations, it was such a rubbish car.

 

[1X83Z]

What do you expect from a company that didn't make a 1983 Corvette?

I stay up nights regretting that, and I wasn't even born yet.

 

[Tornado]

Oh **** are we talking about the Cougar? Whoops, I thought we were talking about the Monte Carlo. Maybe you need to fix my quote, and call it "Fixed part thrice!". lol

But I rather liked the Turbocoupe and Supercoupe actually. They both were something different from Ford back in the horrid 80's and 90's where all Fords that weren't Mustangs and Pickups were rubbish.

I personally think that the original "Superbird" T-Birds (before Ford ruined them with the crappy restyling) was the coolest car Ford ever made (that is discounting the GT40 and GT).