The Sunbird platform was terrible, but since you say it's "fun-to-drive in its own way", I have to ask: what other cars have you driven, then? It's really not hard to find a car that matches or outperforms that in anything except rusting.
A couple, but different segments. An XTerra and a borrowed Corvette C6, actually. Both automatics, and both somewhat annoying for it.
The XT appears to have an incredible amount of throttle lag, made worse by a transmission control unit that has to think for a while before it approves a downshift. The combination of delays can be quite unnerving when you're trying to pass someone and only have a small window to get it done in. Plus, the delay between increasing or decreasing throttle and feeling the (already muted) effect is just annoying. I know why drive-by-wire systems soften everything (fuel economy and emissions), but I have to question how much of a difference it really makes or whether it's really worth it.
Also, the J is not, inherently, a rust-prone car. If I see one rusting, chances are that either a. it has unrepaired body damage, which will cause any steel-paneled car to rust, or b. it's mine, and the victim of a dealer paint shop that apparently didn't know how to paint.
You mean like... nearly every car's yearly paint changes?
Not quite.
Instead of trying to build a lineup of good-looking colors, they appear to be searching for what's "cute" or "in" this year, as if the year affects what a color looks like on a car. Pink is never a good color for a car, but that didn't stop them from trying to sell it on the Spark. Now they've got rid of it, but I don't remember what they're trying this year - whatever it is, it would have looked just as good or bad then as now.
Blame the sedan's existence on your country's insistence on needing sedan versions of everything.
I'm not saying sedans are a bad thing (though they aren't usually very cool), but this one needs its roof chopped a couple inches. Badly.
I also wish coupes and wagons were as easy to get as they used to be. The J-car carried a good selection of body styles: 2-door coupe, 2-door convertible (actually, that was uncool), 4-door sedan, 5-door wagon. Now, a USDM compact car's lineup will probably be some combination of 3-door hatchback, 5-door hatchback, and (either visually top-heavy or just plain large-looking) 4-door sedan. Figures the two best would be missing from that list.
A 1.4L (with turbo) is barely smaller than the 1.6-2.0L engines that are the majority in that segment. Of course, you still operate under the idea that a bigger number always equals a better engine.
In this case it certiainly does. The 1.4 turbo is supposed to be the Cruze's top-of-the-line engine, but it can't even equal the base Cobalt's output. Yes, it apparently did wonders for fuel economy - not weighing 3000lbs could have done wonders too.
While I agree that the name of the SS is wrong (being a trim level on all the other cars), the G8 and it are a completely different type of car from what the Impala buyer would want. And I know which one will sell more for GM (and likely be more profitable too).
I just figured they were both full-size sedans pitched at people who needed a lot of room but didn't want an SUV.
You're missing the point; the G8 was none of those things, but it also was a halo model, a small-numbers niche product that was never going to make a big change to a company's profit margins. For a company in dire financial straights like the GM of the '00's, it was frivolous when the rest of the lineup was such crap.
Though I still maintain that, if the rest of GM had been better managed, Pontiac, and tendency to build actually cool cars, would have survived. Look at all the other stuff dragging them down: billions in legacy costs, GMAC, a complacent beauracracy that ruined styling and everything else too. The Sunbird is actually a good display of the strengths and weaknesses of pre-bankruptcy GM. It's beefy and overbuilt, and it'll take a lot of abuse before showing the strain, but I will admit it's a perfect example of why people hated GM interiors. Despite this, I still love it, and wouldn't trade it for, or recommend over it, any Honda compact you can think of.
Like you said, depends on your point of view. Speaking of CAFE, crossovers have allowed companies to build on car platforms but still get treated as trucks, so it's been a very easy way to eke out more fuel
efficiency.
That's exactly what I'm talking about. The CAFE limits have seemingly been just a bit too low to permit the continued building of station wagons, but people still need to haul lots of people and stuff. So manufacturers cheat and use the light truck category to build similar (and still car-like) vehicles while technically satisfying the CAFE requirements, never mind the fact that these are probably getting worse gas mileage than a similar wagon would. So thus, CAFE robbed the public of a practical, good-looking body style while making the problem it tires to solve even worse. Hooray for CAFE!
And the general population loves SUV's, but only a tiny fraction use them for things like heavy towing or off-roading. So the new crossovers cover the vast majority of uses without all of the drawbacks (or at least, such extreme levels of drawbacks) that old ladder-frame, truck-based platforms provided.
My guess is, it wouldn't be quite so if wagons could be sold again. Like I said, some people just need a lot of space, CAFE or no CAFE, and if CAFE is preventing manufacturers from building wagons, guess what everyone is stuck with?
Wait, kinda like every car?💡
I can do all that with Mom's CR-V...
I find that hard to beleive. If you were to suddenly floor it, would it slam you back into the seat and start accelerating just as suddenly, or would it try to smooth out that input? Basically, does it feel like there's a direct connection between your foot and the engine, or can you tell there are electronics at work?
Better yet, what year CR-V is it? They're pretty common, even if it's a few years old I could probably find one at a dealer or on Craigslist and fake enough interest to get a test drive.
Like a Corolla/Civic/Sentra/Accent/anyothersmallcarwithamanual?
Probably couldn't acheive the quite the same level of brute force.
Might as well get a 2007 Ford Focus, 45mpg and 135hp, plus it's blue!
But it does have comforts like cupholders, and a CD player, so it might not be right for you..
I never said a car had to have no creature comforts whatsoever. But cars these days are getting way too heavy and, probably, too isolating. I don't have any problem with a car that you
can drive smoothly, but I do have a problem with one that can't be anything but smooth.
Aww yeah, 140 bhp! Dat Sunbird, so fast. I bet you can out accelerate anyone because you "know how to drive it." Really, your car is not that fast. Face it, modern cars are faster, more efficient, more refined (yeah yeah, we know you think refinement is for wimps who like to be comfortable), and likely handle better than a J-body with no roof and a massive V-6 hanging over the front axle.
I know it's not fast, but it feels a lot faster than it is due to the sheer brutality it can deliver. It always sort of feels like it's "chomping at the bit", and I like that in a car. Like I said, you can smooth it out if you want to, but when you don't, it'll jump forward as soon you step on the gas.
Also, I don't know why you think mine's a convertible, but it isn't.
There's a reason that people bought more Impalas than G8s. I prefer the G8, sure, but most people aren't me or you. Most people don't care how cars drive, deal with it. Most people want something comfortable, safe, and cheap. Hence, the Impala.
Those people don't know what they're missing out on.
If it's all to do with CAFE, then why do I see plenty of crossovers where I live? You're so closed-minded.
Like I said, CAFE makes it extremely difficult to build wagons, but not everyone can afford to buy and run a real SUV with real 4WD. So crossovers are the best they can do.
America is not the only place in the world, you must learn that.
Where'd I say it was?
America is, however, mostly what I was talking about. You can keep your MT wagons, in fact I seriously hope you can keep them forever. I just wish there were more of them available here.
Seriously, people like crossovers, People in general don't care about handling,
But what happens when handling becomes a safety issue?
but they feel safer when they're higher and can see better. And that's why they buy crossovers.
That's the other thing. I much prefer being down low, feels like you're more in control and have less mass to maneuver that way.
They're more expensive to own, but the general population likes them. Can you argue with the fact that Porsche made enough money off the Cayenne to be profitable, so that they could keep producing manual transmission, rear wheel drive sports cars? (I know you can argue with anything sensible, it's a rhetorical question)
The Cayenne is kind of a love/hate car for me. On one end, it's one of the better crossovers out there - more or less just a fast wagon that can kinda, sorta go off road. On the other, it's still a unibody luxury SUV that will probably never be used off road.
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