Oh come on. These are getting so predictable and regular I could start timing my watch to them.
...that it isn't a problem.
Yes, because it makes far more sense for companies to produce reasonably priced A-to-B vehicles that actually sell in decent numbers, than a handful for the enthusiasts.
Except it leaves nowhere for the gearhead to go, except pre-trashed cars courtesy of Craigslist and eBay.
The engine puts a large emphasis on personal hygiene and knows how to dress?
No, the engine is small and weak.
You definitely have a lot of experience driving something with goofy styling...
Not particularly. In any case I'm talking shades of Aztek goofy. Look at the way the grill and headlights are arranged, you'll see I've got it right.
Exactly; because it's never been designed to be enthusiast car. And that's not a bad thing, because not every car needs (or even should) be.
But some should be - building a subcompact means appealing to the customer, or you'll see sales disappear.
Fun and practical are not mutually exclusive. Well, they weren't until people decided their car needed every gadget ever. Until the general public is convinced otherwise, there will never be another fun mainstream car again, because, like the Cruze, they'll have tiny engines and way too much stuff weighing them down. And since they'll still be vaguely capable of reaching highway speeds, not even car people will see a problem, since after all there
are still some enthusiast choices (no one seems to care that they're all several thousand dollars too expensive to be considered entry level).
I always get a laugh out of these sorts of comments from you, especially as I'm positive you've probably not even sat in one, nevermind driven it.
And I don't plan on it either, for reasons I've already described many times. I don't care how it handles or how much effort they put into keeping it light, it's a hairdresser's car.
You drive a 20 year old POS J-Body that, by your own admittance, is barely road-worthy, and other than it being stuffed with a larger engine than the competition (to precisely appeal to those who think size is more important than any other aspect of engine design), had absolutely no stand-out features when new, and was never able to compete with the competition then.
You've got it the wrong way around. That engine is the only stand-out feature it needs. As long as it fulfills basic transportation needs, "standout features" are just another way of saying "
But no, you slag off a car that single-handedly reignited an entire class of vehicle, and has dominated that section of the enthusiast market since. Nevermind your continued harping on about excess weight, something that Mazda engineers are so single-minded about that they weigh individual bits of the interior to try to shave grams.
The Miata is one car, from one manufacturer, and no matter how good it is, it's still a hairdresser's car. For most cars it's "50lbs here, 100lbs there, no big deal. We'll just shrink the engine some more to make up for the fuel economy hit." Even when it works, it's still wrong. My car was never designed as a lightweight car, and at the time it wasn't, but compared to what's on sale now...
And that's what I've been saying over and over again. If you're of low socioeconomic status, but you still want to go fast, your choice in a new car is between the Miata and a selection of equally cutesy, or even worse, cars, all with FWD to the best of my knowledge. Right now, there are 3rd gen and 4th gen F-bodies, Fox Mustangs, the usual fare available used, but what happens later on down the road when those cars have all become collector's items and the used markets are composed largely of what's filling the showrooms today?
