"lorem ipsum" (nothing123456789)
08/02/2013 at 19:47 • Filed to: Jalopnik
2
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"lorem ipsum" (nothing123456789)
08/02/2013 at 19:47 • Filed to: Jalopnik | 2
| 16 |
Sometimes, tradition is great. I don’t think that the preservation of the aristocracy in Britain is a great example of tradition, but I do think that building the Mustang with a live rear axle is. Or Ferrari still building naturally aspirated V12s. Or my Saturday night spliff. There are traditions worth keeping, and traditions worth losing, because really, it’s time we moved along.
Every year, we observe a trend in the design of automobiles to appeal to a broader market. That’s a perfectly reasonable thing to do on the part of the manufacturer—it would be stupid to only design and market a car to one demographic, when you could easily design and market it to many, and get more money. However, in the process of engineering more mass-market appeal into certain cars, they take away the core values of their brand. They forsake traditions that the brand is built on.
Let me give you an example. The 991 generation 911 now has electric power steering. Wow, what a big fucking deal. Actually, though, it kind of is. Hydraulic steering racks are considered to be sporty because they don’t filter out any of the noise you get from the road: they have more steering feel than an electric rack. Even though all the reviews (I’ve not yet driven one) say that the amount of feel you lose from the rack is minimal, if Porsche keeps trying to soften the car over each consecutive generation, just so that the geriatrics won’t break their backs, pretty soon we’ll be left with a 911-shaped two-ton luxury car, which is blasphemy. And while that may have increased mass-market appeal for the car, and, in the long-run, gotten Porsche more money, it will have completely alienated its core customer base. A 911 is and always has been a driver’s car. A sport’s car. If Porsche thinks four-wheel-steer and no stick shift is the way to go on the GT3—the sportiest and most driver-oriented model in the range—they’re way off-base.
BMW is another car manufacturer in danger of doing this, as well. Their cars are getting bigger and heavier, their engines are all becoming turbocharged, and the new M models (M5, M6, and M6 Gran Coupe) don’t seem to have the verve and drama that the old M5 and old M6 had. In fact, it kind of goes that the older the M car, the purer it is. Isn’t it weird that the 1M Coupe is considered to be the spiritual successor to the E30 M3, even though it’s supposed to be so much smaller than a 3 Series?
Renaultsport is also guilty of diluting the sporting appeal of their cars with this latest generation Clio—no stick shift, a turbocharged engine, and no two door option is causing an uproar among purists. The point is, is that in the pursuit of profits, the car industry is ignoring the enthusiasts. If this ruthless pursuit continues, we’ll be left with very decent cars on paper that don’t end up stimulating James May’s fizz gland. I know I’ve not mentioned the whole list of cars that are deviating from their original intent, but I’m sure more will be mentioned in the comments.
I’m going to take the pessimistic point of view and say that in a century, there won’t be any driver’s cars left, besides the ones you make yourself. If I was trying to turn a profit in the car industry, I’d do the same thing. It’s not that these manufacturers are evil for doing this, they’re just trying to stay afloat. I think that, though, dismantling the core values of the brand shows a lack of integrity. We see it in politicians enough already, we don’t need to see it in the car industry. I’m not advocating a mindless fear of change, I’m advocating progress where it is necessary, and not to fix what isn’t broken. Don’t kill the 911.
Victorious Secret
> lorem ipsum
08/02/2013 at 19:55 |
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What else do you expect?
Auto enthusiasts are a selfish bunch who think these guys exist to cater to our needs. The hell they do. Its just that till recently their needs and ours have usually matched up.
Not anymore.
Real life has a great way of reminding us that sooner or later they'll need to adapt to changing circumstances.
Maybe in a century we won't have cars that even drive on roads. That is just how things will be. Hell, I put the over/under at a decade till someone finally creates a hovering car.
dogisbadob
> lorem ipsum
08/02/2013 at 20:13 |
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Do any cars even have manual steering anymore? I'm surprised it isn't available on the Boxster/Cayman, Yaris, 2, Miata, FRS, and BRZ.
The 911 should've been scrapped years ago. The 911 fanboys/girls, and Porsche itself, are so jealous of the lesser models (from the current Boxster/Cayman all the way back to the 914) that they have to cripple the lighter mid-engine cars from the factory.
Ford should've just replaced the Mustang with the Capri in 1971.
This shit isn't so much about profits as much as it is stupid government regulations.
TheOnelectronic
> Victorious Secret
08/02/2013 at 20:20 |
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Liability lawyers everywhere just got a boner, and they don't know why.
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TheOnelectronic
> dogisbadob
08/02/2013 at 20:21 |
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Yaris? I'm pretty sure the Yaris is about as performance oriented as my toaster.
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TheOnelectronic
> lorem ipsum
08/02/2013 at 20:21 |
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Why is everything in italics?
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dogisbadob
> TheOnelectronic
08/02/2013 at 20:26 |
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Not performance oriented per se, but simplicity and light weight do help with fun to drive shit (especially if you order the manual transmission). Therefore, it has some enthusiast feel without even *trying*
In addition, there is actually a decent amount of aftermarket support for them. And of course, there is the sporty SE model.
It's just too bad there's no Yaris XRS! Because that would be awesome! I think there is a TRD supercharger available for the 1NZ though.
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TheOnelectronic
> dogisbadob
08/02/2013 at 20:31 |
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I'm sure it's fun to drive, I just meant that I'm skeptical that Toyota really means for it to be.
I might pass on the supercharger. TRD's units aren't exactly mindblowing. I got one on my truck, and while it helps at altitude, it's still not a whole lot. YMMV.
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dogisbadob
> TheOnelectronic
08/02/2013 at 20:41 |
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Of course Toyota doesn't mean it to be fun to drive. Just like GM didn't mean for the Aztek to be ugly, or that VW didn't mean to make their cars unreliable.
What matters more, intent or the end product itself. Even if they got there by accident, they still got there!
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TheOnelectronic
> dogisbadob
08/02/2013 at 20:46 |
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No, I know what you mean, I'm just saying that if Toyota didn't mean for the car to be fun to drive, they wouldn't have said "Nah, let's use this: It'll be way better for driving dynamics."
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dogisbadob
> TheOnelectronic
08/02/2013 at 20:50 |
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Oh yeah, of course. And too bad too.
At least there's the Mazda 2, which does have some intent to be fun to drive!
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dogisbadob
> TheOnelectronic
08/02/2013 at 20:50 |
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Because Kinja!
Mikeado
> lorem ipsum
08/02/2013 at 21:11 |
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Porsche switched to electric steering because it's a lighter and more efficient system than a hydraulic one. The 991 Carrera was the first to have it and yes reviewers said something was lost, but as they've had time to calibrate it it's got better. In the Boxster it was much improved, and in the Cayman it's better still. It seems the 991 GT3's seems to be the very best of the lot, to the point that it becomes difficult to miss the old system. The 911 is not dying. Why people seem to either expect a new system to instantly be better than the long-developed old one, or assume that however good it is at first will be the best it gets, I have no idea...
It's daft to suggest that there won't be any driver's cars in the future. Like good music, you might have to try a bit harder to find them but they'll always be there. I mean, look at the Caterham 7 (still strong after 56 years!), Ariel Atom, BAC Mono, Noble M600 and other such purely driver-focused cars. If you want old-school, there's always Morgan, whose Aero models use aluminium instead of wood and engines that work. Makers of driver's cars will ALWAYS exist. Just because a lot of mainstream brands are slowly moving away from the genre, doesn't mean they're dying out...
Also this idea that everything going to shit because changes are happening is just silly. OK, prestige brands have had to dilute their original values in pursuit of profits, but guess what? They're businesses in difficult economic times (as one example, BBC news said today that 52% of British people struggle to keep up with their bills, compared to about 35% in 2006). The RS Clio is a prime example. While the old car was the 911 GT3 of hot hatches, it wasn't reaching a big enough audience, and Renault - like all European non-luxury car makers - are in deep shit at the moment, so they needed to make the successor to one of their best-regarded models appeal to a broad audience. They did so, and now the hardcore folk are moaning mostly about the two-pedal gearbox and added weight. The chassis and suspension and its ability to cover ground at quite some speed are still there.
The point is, they have to go where the money is. BMW spied an audience for a prestige 4x4 and made the X5. Many noises were made. Prestige SUVs caught on as an idea and now they're popping up and causing many noises everywhere. The Porsche Cayenne has made Porsche far more money in recent years than their sports cars (ditto the Panamera). The X5 has spawned enough children that any price bracket can now have something similar (the X6 is an abortion, ignore that). Now because people like that sort of thing but are tight on cash, we have lots of small sort-of-premium crossovers, and the same has happened with swoopy "four-door coupés" like the CLS. Ferrari, Lamborghini and now performance Porsches have dropped manual gearboxes because nobody is buying them and it's not worth it to them any more (McLaren didn't even consider one for the 12C because it's fallen from popularity and it's outdated technology). It's just how times have changed. If you don't move with the times, you die.
Basically, don't hate the players. Hate the game. And sheeple.
We have to learn to accept that we're the minority here.
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lorem ipsum
> Mikeado
08/02/2013 at 22:42 |
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I'm not quite sure if this is an attack on my article, but do you want to reread the first sentence of my second paragraph?
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lorem ipsum
> TheOnelectronic
08/02/2013 at 22:44 |
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Yeah, sorry about that, I've got no idea. Tried to change it as well, but to no avail.
Changesonmyminda2323
> dogisbadob
08/06/2013 at 00:58 |
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We're still made with manual steering!
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dogisbadob
> Changesonmyminda2323
08/06/2013 at 11:00 |
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they don't sell it over here :(