What do you drive…

[SignOfZeta]

This was CSP. Street Prepaired opens up a lot of possibilities so things that seemed level at the dealership get out of balance on the track. In SP the intake and exhaust are more or less free, meaning full race header, aftermarket fuel injection, shocks and springs are free, you can do what you need to get camber adjustment, so is tire and wheel size, cams. Power gains would be extremely easy. Having seen many cars Prepaired to this level it isn't hard to imagine making a pretty wicked Fiero.

The real question is, and I'm not talking about racing here: are the big engine and 400lbs of useless dead weight the result of the car being aimed at a different segment or of it just being...bad?

In the end, the Fiero was more powerful than most Miatas sold. They only have 165 HP or something like that now with the new car. I don't think most people in the market for a throwaway priced retirement car give a shit about power.

Btw, I just did some more reading and I was wrong. The Fiero sold 370,000! So that means it outsold the Mk1 Miata! But still got canned because...I don't know. Maybe they just wanted to shut the plant, that does happen sometimes. 

As for autocross, I don't do it anymore. I got tired of waking up at 5:30 am on a Saturday to spend three minutes on the track and 9 hours baking in the sun. I'm not very competitive by nature so track days are fine with me. That way you get two hours on the track and you don't have to do jack. I also really suck at autocross and I think I always will. It's not that I can't drive, I do fine on a road course, is that autocross really is its own animal. I went into it thinking that it's simply low level motorsport, and it is, just above drag racing in its accessibility, but it has its own weird technical side due to the hyper tight courses and intense competition. You have to simply manhandle the shit out of your steering wheel for one thing, which is the opposite what you do in most kinds of automobile racing. You'll walk the course and then do your timed laps without every having driven it. You need to memorize that shit instantly. It sucks! I suck at it anyway.

I must say I've had some good times in Solo and ridden in some wild fast cars. For people who need to know who's fastest it's one of the most competitive sports in the world. People who haven't seen high level Solo wouldn't believe how refined these cars and drivers are. They drive 10/10 ALL THE TIME because he run is only 58 seconds or whatever. To see a top level Cobra Mustang and a Rabbit both hit he same time on the index to .001" is something else.


Btw, the Chevette actually had a semi-decent career as a rally car in the early 80s, look it up. It being RWD and simple apparently gave it an advantage on paved courses.

[NecroPhile]

It was killed because its sales tanked towards the end:

1984     136,840
1985     76,371
1986     83,974
1987     46,581
1988     26,402

And it only outsold the first gen Miata US sales.  For every Miata sold here, Mazda has sold two more elsewhere.

The difference in size between GM and Mazda is so great, comparing them directly is pointless.  Mazda has far lower goals and a lower threshold for counting a car as a success (and they arguably need the Miata as a halo car and proof of "zoom-zoom"), so it's no surprise that they soldier on with a relatively slow seller.

[SignOfZeta]

Yeah, that's the kind of sales arc I assumed took place. It happens with most cars, they sell the best the year they came out.

Btw, nearly giving the cars away may have helped sales. Less than $9000? Cheaper than a GTI. That would also explain why it got canned despite huge sales for a sports car: you can only make them for $9000 *if* it's the biggest goddamned hit in the history of sports cars. That's a stupid position to put yourself in and something the post-bankruptcy GM has slightly backed away from. That is to say that they no longer care about being #1 in sales if it can't even shield you from bankruptcy.

[Sparky]

Hey guys I am happy to announce I have a new addition. Retired the 2002 Saturn coupe with 540,000 kms, the engine was still running well, I just needed something with more creature comforts and more room for my ladiessssss 😎 (My kids that is)

2017 Mitsubishi Lancer (Black Edition)
It has lots of pep.

This is a big deal for me as I buy a car every 10 years or so yippeeee!

[NecroPhile]

People still buy Mitsubishis?  Willingly?!?
















 

Seriously though, congrats on the new ride.  Those are actually nice lookin' lil things, unlike the fugly i-miev and eclipse posuv.

[esteban]

I thought Mitsubishi only made medical equipment these days?

[TelcoSurveyor]

Different car every week. Rental cars are awesome.

[turboswimbz]

Very Sexy Sparky. sorry to see the Saturn and all the carbon fibber gone away.

[Sparky]

Haha. Ya the fibber is still on her and like I said the engine and body is still good. I am storing it up north at my parents. Cannot let her go (( shrugs))

[TheClash603]

In Canada, are there no tinted window laws? Car looks very sharp though.

In Buffalo, they pull you over for basically any level of tint, or even for thinking about tint.

[bob]

Different car every week. Rental cars are awesome.

lol
uber/lyft has made rental cars obsolete for me, and I couldn't be happier about it.

Sparky, I too was surprised by "mitsubishi", but it does look sharp

[turboswimbz]

Nice!  good to know she's still being loved.  sadly I am down all my old cars... I now have a 2017.

[TelcoSurveyor]

Different car every week. Rental cars are awesome.

lol
uber/lyft has made rental cars obsolete for me, and I couldn't be happier about it.

Sparky, I too was surprised by "mitsubishi", but it does look sharp

It's work related, but personal use is part of the deal. I'd never get a Uber/Lyft driver to agree to just drive me around seemingly aimlessly at times.

[Sparky]

In Canada, are there no tinted window laws? Car looks very sharp though.

In Buffalo, they pull you over for basically any level of tint, or even for thinking about tint.

Haha well in 2002 in Canada the darkest legal tinting was 35 for the driver and passenger side so the cops could see in, then you could go as dark as you wanted 0/limo tinting for the back window and the back sides. Now the laws have changed ( says my Mitsubishi dealership) a tint of 30 all the way around is as dark as you can go and that is what I have on the Lancer.

Thanks for the kind words on her, I also have a 10 year or 200,000 warranty on it that helped seal the deal, that and I got the tint for free

[TheClash603]

That's the most amazing warranty in the history of automobiles.  When I bought my car last winter I got 8 years / 80,000 and I thought I had something good going.

[NecroPhile]

That's canadian years and miles, so it's probably pretty similar. 

[SignOfZeta]

25 years after being built, and 9 years after me buying it was finally time for the old roadster to...

/Monosnap%2B2017-08-24%2B15-08-23.jpg

Get a hardtop.

[ClodBusted]

My ride:



"...a guy with a cool bike get laid aaaaall summer long."

[SignOfZeta]

Different car every week. Rental cars are awesome.

I've rented cars before. They're never awesome.

[TDIRunner]

My ride:


"...a guy with a cool bike get laid aaaaall summer long."

After 25 years of running, my knees have forced me to switch over to biking (another one of my rides is behind it).

[TelcoSurveyor]

Different car every week. Rental cars are awesome.

I've rented cars before. They're never awesome.

When you rent them all the time, they can be. Not always though.