(GR86) Second Generation FR-S/BRZ insider info...

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

Of those two posters I've owned, driven or ridden in everyone of those except one. I didn't even know they made a 4 door Maverick.

We brought my first child home in a 4 door Maverick.


The Chevy one is even more impressive when you consider there was also a Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick version for most of the lineup.


Ford had a Mercury version of several although many of them were Canada only models.

[RToyo86]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Freak her right out and tell her GM is down to the Spark, the Malibu and the Camaro as far as cars go.


Two of the companies that used to offer a full range of cars with sometimes up to 6 trim levels for each are down to 3 cars with very limited options (other than the Camaro which has a confusing number of trims and packages).

It's a sad state of affairs for American manufacturers.
We car shopped for about a month and none of our options were American branded.

Ended up settling in a 2020 Impreza touring sedan with the 5 speed. Seemed like the best choice for her given she likes to drive her cars into the ground. It's one of the few non turbo options left that I thought was a pro when looking at long term reliability (10 years)

[RToyo86]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

At least there will be two more next year, the Caddy CT5-V Blackwing and CT4-V Blackwing.

You have to wonder if those will also be the last two ever produced in that class.

The CT5-V looks pretty slick.
I want a manual wagon option. I'd rather go that route than buy an SUV.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by RToyo86

The CT5-V looks pretty slick.
I want a manual wagon option. I'd rather go that route than buy an SUV.

Yea, they need to bring back the CTS-V Wagon as a CT5-V. The CTS-Vs still go for stupid price, particularly if a manual, even if you can find one not on Bring A Trailer. The AT can be had for a reasonable price though.

The problem is the Gen2 body just doesn't hold up in the cosmetic department against the Gen3 and now the CT5. It does look better as a wagon than a coupe though.

That said, the CTS wagon is pretty small when compared to other wagons.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

The Chevy one is even more impressive when you consider there was also a Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick version for most of the lineup.

9 distinct wagons, and the El Camino in the Chevy lineup, and 10 wagons in the Ford lineup.

My how the mighty wagon has fallen!

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

9 distinct wagons, and the El Camino in the Chevy lineup, and 10 wagons in the Ford lineup.

My how the mighty wagon has fallen!

Well in fairness all those wagons have been replaced by SUVs and crossovers. It started with the minivans and went on from there. They didn't so much fall as evolve.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Well in fairness all those wagons have been replaced by SUVs and crossovers. It started with the minivans and went on from there. They didn't so much fall as evolve.

True, Chevy has 7 SUVs in their current lineup, and only 1 (the Suburban) in the poster. Now with only 7 cars (including the Bolt, Camaro and Corvette), and 3 trucks.

Still that gives them 17 unique models in their current lineup. Although there are 45 cars in the poster, they show hardtops vs convertibles and some other variants as separate. In the end, a modern poster would be very close to the same number if you did like for like I think.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by RToyo86

It's a sad state of affairs for American manufacturers.
We car shopped for about a month and none of our options were American branded.

Ended up settling in a 2020 Impreza touring sedan with the 5 speed. Seemed like the best choice for her given she likes to drive her cars into the ground. It's one of the few non turbo options left that I thought was a pro when looking at long term reliability (10 years)

My wife outright refused to even look at the American brands when we were car shopping.
I finally convinced her to leave her big SUVs behind as overkill and she got a fully loaded, top trim, 17 Impreza hatch. That lasted about two years and she wanted back into an SUV. She ended up with a great deal on a low miles 18 Outback lease return. I doubt she will want anything but a Subaru SUV for life now.
Even if one of the American brands was acceptable to her they could not even come close to features for the price.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by RToyo86

It's one of the few non turbo options left that I thought was a pro when looking at long term reliability (10 years)

Not sure I follow. Pretty much any modern car can be driven 10 years without any large concerns, unless you are driving some unusually high number of miles (and by high I mean more than I do, which is around 20K miles a year on my DD and another 15K or so on a secondary vehicle).

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

True, Chevy has 7 SUVs in their current lineup, and only 1 (the Suburban) in the poster. Now with only 7 cars (including the Bolt, Camaro and Corvette), and 3 trucks.

Still that gives them 17 unique models in their current lineup. Although there are 45 cars in the poster, they show hardtops vs convertibles and some other variants as separate. In the end, a modern poster would be very close to the same number if you did like for like I think.

Agree and disagree at the same time. In some of the cases the car may be the same "model" but the differences between the versions are so great that they really should be classed as different models. There is no comparing a straight 6, 4 door, base Chevelle to the SS version no matter what the badge says. The differences are larger than what you find between modern versions of the same vehicle (with a couple of exceptions such as the base Civic 4 door compared to the Civic Type R). There is also the full range of options available for each of those versions that really takes that full lineup to a couple of hundred different choices. You could get a 4 door Belaire with a basic interior, no mats, and zero body trim but a 454 engine or a fully decked out, deluxe interior one with the 250, 3 on the tree if you wanted. The possible combinations of what you could order were almost ludicrous. It is one of the reasons they lost so much money really.
All in all I guess what I mean was that there were just so many different ways you could configure a car then compared to now.


Oh and as I said before you can add multiple versions of each of the other GM lineup to that ist. There was virtually no difference between some of the Chevy and Pontiac versions of the cars beyond grills and tail lights.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Agree and disagree at the same time. .

I definitely agree on the options. It's amazing how flexible the manufacturers used to be on options.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by RToyo86

The CT5-V looks pretty slick.
I want a manual wagon option. I'd rather go that route than buy an SUV.

Speaking of wagons, another one just popped up on BaT.

[wbradley]

Just going to leave this here. The energy crisis really changed domestic cars, but the evolution was stubbornly slow. Imagine having emissions standards slapped on top and now your flagship muscle car puts out an astonishing 139 HP. When I was around 10, I remember this car on display inside the shopping mall and being impressed it had the new orange turn markers. Turns out, that might have been it's best quality other than providing transportation.

So, all you twins fans that complain they aren't getting what they want, good thing you weren't trading your early 70's Cobra for the next generation.

[bcj]

Honda Civic type R is still a 4 door sedan no matter which way you look at it.

To quote Frank Zappa -- "Brown shoes don't make it."