What Car Went Out With A Whimper?

"Aloha Milkyway" (alohamilkyway) 01/14/2014 at 07:27 • Filed to: QOTD

0

13

Mention Galant back in the day and you got a solid little Japanese car with good economy and near unburstable reliability. Mention Galant to me and I imagine a VR-4 ripping up the 1000 lakes rally. A solid competitor to the Legacy turbo too. Before its death in 2012, it looked like this. A generic blob that even its shadow would be ashamed of. This is the only car I can think of that went out with a thud at the moment, if you have any more to think of, just hit the comments!

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Aloha Milkyway 01/14/2014 at 07:48

1

I know I keep banging on about it, but the MGB.

What should have been a rip-snorting 3.5l V8 mini British muscle car right from '69 onwards (they got access to the Buick/Rover V8 in '68), actually struggled on with the dinky little I4. Good enough for the home market competition, but slaughtered by the 240Z in America.

When it finally got the engine it needed in '73, it was constrained to the lower powered 137bhp version instead of the 240Z-rivalling 146bhp engine. Whatsmore, they never sold the damn thing in the States at all, citing production capacity issues.

Bad move MG. Bad move.

The MGB left the Us market early, and soldiered on in its home market until 1980 with ugly rubber bumpers.

Not a fitting end.

SRSvictor > Aloha Milkyway 01/14/2014 at 08:14

1

The Pontiac LeMans.What started out as a decent pony car in the 60's,ended up as a horrible Daewoo-built shitbox in the late 80's and early 90's.The sheer fact that the words Daewoo and LeMans were once associated makes me wanna puke.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Aloha Milkyway 01/14/2014 at 08:28

2

Chevrolet Monte Carlo. While I'm not one of the ones who think it has to be a V8 RWD boat, I do think there was something to be said about having a nicely styled, 2-door version of a sedan. Not all cars have to be tire-scorchers and the 2000-2005 MCs had a generally easy going "highway star" mentality. 30mpg when cruising at 70, loads of leg and arm room, a nice trunk, and surprisingly comfortable bucket seats. But then they just never went anywhere with it. Yes the SS with the V8 was a cool gimmick, but then it needed the extra engineering of a better suspension and chassis to harness it. It was then killed while the impala was allowed to stick around for another 5 years after its demise. A pretty embarrasing end to a once proud stalwart of the chevy lineup.

The Transporter > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 01/14/2014 at 08:41

1

It didn't die quite so easy.

The RV8 was an MGB with a few updated body panels. Yeah, it had a 3.9l Rover V8, 5-speed transmission, and a luxury interior, but it still had the MGB's solid rear axle, longitudinal leaf springs, and rear drum brakes! Needless to say, it only sold for three years from '93-'95.

Hoccy > Aloha Milkyway 01/14/2014 at 08:49

0

Most Volvos get better with age. Not so with the C30. It was awesome when launched, but not many bought it and Volvo didn't do much sensible modifications to it..

The "replacement", the V40, are now one of Volvos best selling cars, despite not being availible in the US.

RazoE > Aloha Milkyway 01/14/2014 at 09:51

2

Definitely related to the Galant (mechanically as well), the Eclipse went from a small, turbo charged AWD fun machine to a big, bloated snooze-mobile. No one shed a tear when it was canned.

Stef Schrader > RazoE 01/14/2014 at 12:05

2

Yeah, Mitsu's dropped several royal turds lately. Quietly shown out the back door, too. :o(

Grindintosecond > SRSvictor 01/14/2014 at 14:00

0

Canada at least got the firefly.....the turbo variant...however good that was

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > The Transporter 01/14/2014 at 18:56

1

Yeah, I've never been all that impressed by the RV8.

It's a cool enough car, but it's what the MGB should have been in 1980, not 1993.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 01/15/2014 at 00:26

1

there were a number of things wrong with that car. But at the end of the day it was so damn cheap to own and maintain.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas 01/15/2014 at 00:45

0

Yep. Weirdly enough, the last two generations of monte carlo were very popular with women buyers who liked the looks combined with ease of maintenance and operation. Material quality be damned, the car is the AK-47 of the mid-sized coupe world. Labels are very VERY clear. One glance at the climate control or radio system makes operation obvious. A strict maintenance schedule ensures it keeps working. Put the 4T65-E into drive, and let the torqueriffic 3800 motors do their thing. For hundreds of thousands of buyers who could care less about 0-60 and lateral G figures, the monte carlo represented a solid chunk of sales for GM.

I just wish they either kept the monte carlo going, or let it go out with a proper restyle to differentiate it from the impala. The last body style basically says "This buyer could've picked up an impala and had a practical car, but they decided they wanted identical looks with worse trunk space and rear passenger room."

Axial > Aloha Milkyway 01/15/2014 at 02:20

1

Mercury Cougar. It went from this ace pony car:

To this incredible snooze-mobile:

I mean, shoot, its Panther-platform stable-mate in the Mercury Marauder was far more interesting than this "sporty coupe."

Evan, Pope Of Jalopnik by Self-Appointment > Axial 01/18/2014 at 22:13

0

Seriously these things sucked. I'm embarrassed for the whole Ford motor company that they even allowed it to exist.