Quote:
Originally Posted by Jordo!
No.
There is NO market for a lightweight rattling deathtrap that can't get out of it's own way.
If this thing can't do 0-60 in under 7 seconds it better have hovercraft technology built in, because less than 1% of the people who buy one will care if it can get quickly around a bunch of cones in a parking lot.
Most "enthusiasts" couldn't tune a car to save their lives and have only a limited idea of how changing engine or chassis components affect things. They want to bolt stuff on and hit the road.
If you mean hard core car guys (who are also not into muscle cars) -- that demographic is so small, Toyota will have to make something more people can get into if they want to break even on this car.
There's a reason there are no "affordable, balanced, light-weight rwd coupe for use in weekend warrioring etc." cars to compete with -- no one wants one.
How many Mustangs do you see on the road? How many Miatas?
Yeah, exactly.
Other light, nimble, high reving cars? Gone. RSX -- gone. Celica -- Gone. MR2 -- gone. S2K -- gone.
This thing needs to reasonably quick in a straight line to sell -- no one will care if it has the fastest slalom or shortest braking distance. That will only matter if it has enough grunt to move forward too.
You can disagree if you wish, but you are defending the ghosts of cars that are no longer with us, not the merits of ones that are still in production.
But... really... how difficult a feat would that be? How fast was the S2K? Low to mid 13 second car if memory serves, and a powerplant that made a mere 210-220 bhp, right?
Toyota and Subaru just need to do the math to make the base model reasonably quick, and if they're smart, someone will offer a turbo version -- then everybody wins, everybody gets the car they want, and maybe we'll see a few less stangs and Z's on the road.
|
There is nothing wrong with stangs and Z's.
Just that I am very sure FT-86 has a good market out there.
One more comment that is more factual than yours :
Toyota has sold more cars than the total amount of hair you grow in your lifetime. They can choose not to launch any car. But any car that they launch most probably will be a success.