Lets talk about wasted opportunities.

"Spanfeller is a twat" (theaspiringengineer) 03/16/2018 at 20:00 • Filed to: None

0

22

What car do you think was a wasted opportunity where something truly special could’ve been done?

Here’s my take, the BMW i8. Seen here in Forza 7 being tracked by yours truly.

As you can tell, the car doesn’t have the original rims, or tires, and it’s lowered. The thing about the i8 is that it was so focused on being efficient that it forgot the kind of people that shape attracts, it’s a supercar. If super car power was kept where it was in the late nineties.

Even if it’s not an objectively impractical car, specially for it’s segment and most of the people that buy these kinds of cars use them for the highway they care a lot about the numbers. So, I can understand why the 911 and the F-type are more common cars, you can get them with more power, and the 326ish HP in the BMW is nothing in this day and age.

All I know is that if BMW had given the i8 more grunt it would’ve been a different story altogether: Make the electric motors stronger, use the 4 cylinder engine instead of the 3 cylinder, something, anything!

ranwhenparked > Spanfeller is a twat 03/16/2018 at 20:21

5

Honda CRZ - ditch the battery pack and electric motor, drop in the 1.8L R engine from the Civic.

14 more hp, lighter, cheaper to build, fuel economy would have probably been little changed.

Urambo Tauro > Spanfeller is a twat 03/16/2018 at 20:22

3

Plymouth Prowler
Needed more power

Matt Nichelson > Spanfeller is a twat 03/16/2018 at 20:28

2

Pretty much every single concept car that never ends up actually being produced.

Spanfeller is a twat > ranwhenparked 03/16/2018 at 20:41

1

I always loved the CRZ, but why not just go nuts and get a CTR unit in?

Maxima Speed > Spanfeller is a twat 03/16/2018 at 21:12

1

Nissan Sentra Nismo

Always seemed like the perfect opportunity to recapture the glory days of the SE-R. With a more good handling, sporty, Sentra. Or failing that just slapping in a hybrid drive train from an Altima combined with a turbo engine for some straight line performance. Come to think of it all Nismo branded Nissans right now are a wasted opportunity.

Berang > Spanfeller is a twat 03/16/2018 at 21:18

0

Every Miata should have had a rotary.

The I8 is fine, it’s in a rare class of car that can get away with being stylish for the sake of being stylish simply because it looks better than anything else being made right now.

Grindintosecond > Spanfeller is a twat 03/16/2018 at 21:24

2

Chevy Cobalt. GM has arguably the best engineering department in the world, so good Ferrari licenses their shock absorber tech, and they go and build the Cobalt. They had a chance to kick Honda to the curb and take over but oh hhhh no. “Don’t forget the fleet sales, we must pander to the fleet sales so we gotta make junk.”

So Sometimes i think GMs lineupis 50% waste of space.

crowmolly > Spanfeller is a twat 03/16/2018 at 21:50

2

4th gen Camaro SS. LS version.

Basically a Z28 with a wing and hood.

Spanfeller is a twat > Grindintosecond 03/16/2018 at 21:51

0

GM does sometimes surprise me... like... the fucking bolt! or the LS7(LT1 if you’re more reasonable) and the LT4! or that 10 gear transmission or the ATS-V or the Camaro! Man they can make amazing things when they put their heart into it! I think many times GM is let down by the people behind the marketing... I don’t want to call them the company with “the best engineering department” but they have a lot of good people working there being given marching orders by inept bean counters and marketing folk that ask them to pump out shit like the Cavalier

Yuck.

I think every American company had it’s hayday adn they just cycle through, right now it’s Ford in my humble opinion, GM was probably in the 70s and FCA has had some good years, Lee Iaccoca helped that happen. I think that if I could chose to stay with one company it would be FCA though... they make the weirdest cars of the whole lot.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > ranwhenparked 03/16/2018 at 21:51

1

This is the first car that came to mind. That or the RX-8 never getting a turbo

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Urambo Tauro 03/16/2018 at 21:52

1

“Let’s make a car that looks like a hot rod from the future” okay tell me more. “And put a V6 in it” .... no

Spanfeller is a twat > crowmolly 03/16/2018 at 21:54

1

the early 2000s was an awkward moment for American sports cars... I don’t think I could see myself owning any of the american sports cars unless we were talking about the newest gens: the IRS mustang, your 10 speed camaros, the AWD challenger... etc. Maybe the corvette sorta skipped that awkward moment.

Spanfeller is a twat > Berang 03/16/2018 at 21:57

0

“All miatas should have rotaries”



Joking aside, I don’t think it is to be fair... I mean, I love the design but when I heard that a German company was putting the 4.4 M motor I thought they had finally done justice to it..

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Spanfeller is a twat 03/16/2018 at 21:58

2

Let’s talk about special models that never got made.

Dodge Dart SRT

Honda CRZ Si, which could have been sold as an Acura.

A Lexus IS300 TT, That May have been a JDM thing

JK pick up, preemptively I’m going to say a two door JL pick up.

crowmolly > Spanfeller is a twat 03/16/2018 at 21:59

1

Yes and no.

Yes, in that the chassis was pretty dated and GM didn’t want to spend a dime to modernize the car.

No in that they were, and in some cases still are, great performers.

Spanfeller is a twat > crowmolly 03/16/2018 at 22:05

0

Well, it depends, the Corvette has normally been a great choice for a performance car, the Camaro as you said had a very dated chasis. But American cars are often given very strong chasis (if unsophisticated if we look at solid rear mustangs) but you can see these cars take 500 or 700 HP all day long with a few engine mods.

In the end I think the LS sums American engineering up: If it doesn’t need to be complicated, just let it be simple (Pushrods!)! It is not a bad thing, on the contrary! I might like the 2008 RS5 a lot more than the Pontiac G8 in terms of style, but I know which car I’d rather have if I wanted a cheap and easier to maintain (and mod) engine.

Spanfeller is a twat > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 03/16/2018 at 22:07

1

The Honda CRZ is the car I’m ashamed to ADORE AND PRAISE TO THE GODS OF JDM like.

It’s like having a crush on the school’s goth individual.... you don’t know why... but yeah... it exists and you need to deal with it

f86sabre > Spanfeller is a twat 03/16/2018 at 22:50

1

The 3rd gen Mitsubishi Eclipse should have had Evo guts and been a lighter, leaner and meaner car as opposed to the wallowing POS it ended up as.

The revival of the Thunderbird should have led to a Corvette challenger instead of a heavy retro-mobile.

Spanfeller is a twat > f86sabre 03/16/2018 at 23:02

1

“Eclipse should have had Evo guts”


*Daydreams in awe*

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > Spanfeller is a twat 03/17/2018 at 06:20

0

The new Buick Regal/Holden Commodore/Opel Insignia...

Twin turbo V6. Just saying. As it is it’s just an adequate competitor for the Skoda Superb...

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > Spanfeller is a twat 03/18/2018 at 15:19

0

The i8 would have been a better car with the standard M3/4 engine.

Spanfeller is a twat > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever 03/18/2018 at 15:31

1

Why no hybrid drive? Keep the front motors...!