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Re: Friday Excuse to Go Home Early and Drink: Rise of the Weiner-Mobiles
Hey, where'd you get that picture of the Baby Fiat (Fiat 126)? Poland?! ;D -
Re: Friday Excuse to Go Home Early and Drink: Rise of the Weiner-Mobiles
Historically, there's been a shift to smaller cars during every recession. For example, the success of Rambler and the European imports during the 1958 recession brought us a huge wave of new Detroit "compacts" for the 1960 model year.
In other words: "No bucks? No Bonneville!" (notwithstanding that Pontiac is dead and REAL Bonneville-class sedans have been regulated into oblivion)
While "appliance motorists" are mostly lemmings, a fair amount of this story sounds like OEM P.R. spin. Meeting the 2012-2016 increases in the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards will require selling larger volumes of more expensive small cars and trucks, and significantly fewer large vehicles. So the OEM propaganda operations are spinning all of this "permanent market shift" stuff.
BTW, using C4C as an indicator is ridiculous, considering that the welfare vouchers could only be used to buy "politically correct," pint-sized petrol-sippers. That's hardly a valid microeconomic test of concept.
When the recession has been over for a period of time and the banks are really lending again, if "everybody" still wants a FWD B-class microcar (slathered with 800 pounds of computers and dubious electronic gadgets), then maybe all of this "permanent shift" clap trap can be taken seriously.
One other factor that might partially affect a "shift" is the aging of the baby boom group. This will cause increased conservatism in consumerism (as millions realize they're wholly unprepared for their retirement years)
Barring a profound shift in human nature, however, a majority of Americans are still going to buy as impressive and luxurious a vehicle as they believe they can afford. The OEMs are just banking that they can redefine "impressive" and "luxurious" into much smaller and lighter packages.Comment
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Re: Friday Excuse to Go Home Early and Drink: Rise of the Weiner-Mobiles
I'm all for Old Iron, but I also really appreciate small and nimble cars that don't cost much (recalling old Mk1 GTIs, Miatas, Minis, etc.) I have been excited to hear that a number of car manufactures are considering building smaller, light(er) weight, back-to-basics cars. Granted, a new GTI will never weight as little as a Mk1 GTI due to safety concerns, but just because cars are small, it doesn't mean they are always wiener'mobiles. And lets face it, true Old Iron hasn't really existed for decades, so what are we mourning here? The loss of the fugly FWD Cadillac DTS? If I were to complain about the death of Old Iron, I'd probably complain about Cash For Clunkers instead...
The warming of the US market to small cars reminds me a lot of what life is like in Europe, and we all know they have better versions of everything, including small cars that will light your pants on fire. They offer "premium" options in compact cars with diabolically good handling, and people are willing to pay the extra cash needed for the automakers to make a profit because there isn't some silly stigmatization associated with them as there is in the States. There's nothing wrong with a Euro Ford Focus RS or Fiat 500 Abarth in my book...
And it won't surprise you to learn that I'm only a few months away from buying a 1st Gen Mazda Miata, which will be receiving a Ford 5.0L Monster conversion kit shortly after it arrives in my driveway...Comment
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Re: Friday Excuse to Go Home Early and Drink: Rise of the Weiner-Mobiles
Well, as the owner of a wiener mobile, I have to say that if you are creative, you can cram a lot of stuff in one of those little cars. For everyday driving, I carry a full toolbox, spare tire jack, two jackstands, jumper cables, jerk strap, service manual, full change of clothes, boots, rags, bottled water, and a blanket. In the winter I carry a 40 lb bag of sand and a 5 foot piece of wood to help get cars unstuck. In that configuration I have about a 5' by 4' foot section of open floor that I can put stuff on. In fact, I just hauled about 400 lbs of engine parts to school.Comment
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Re: Friday Excuse to Go Home Early and Drink: Rise of the Weiner-Mobiles
"Et tu, Brute?"
Ouch, Brian. :-\Comment
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Re: Friday Excuse to Go Home Early and Drink: Rise of the Weiner-Mobiles
I don't know what the big deal is. I wouldn't kick a Miata, Mini Cooper JCW, or Fiat Nuova 500 Abarth out of my driveway. Bring on the hot hatches! 8)Comment
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Re: Friday Excuse to Go Home Early and Drink: Rise of the Weiner-Mobiles
Well - economy cars have their place too. Matter of fact, one of the things that pissed us off the most about the Daimler version of Chrysler was the lack of a viable replacement for our little neon commuter car after they killed it. Everything they released afterwords offered worse fuel mileage.
A step backwards if you ask me.
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Re: Friday Excuse to Go Home Early and Drink: Rise of the Weiner-Mobiles
They are no Weiner mobiles
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Re: Friday Excuse to Go Home Early and Drink: Rise of the Weiner-Mobiles
I don't really consider it old iron since do to my age I reserve that for 70's and back but I had to finally pick up a small blk chev at a garage the other day and I just couldn't get my beater 95 safari van from the youngest daughter so I finally showed up I the daughter thats away to college , ....her 92 b-ville with the optionally blown head gasket( I'm not getting off on that rabbit trail right now ) and ask where the motor is that I bought basically for the vortec heads. I walk in the shop and ask where it is. He asks wheres the truck. I said I drove over in a junk car.......just going to put it in the trunk. He kindly says....it's a v-8. To which I think he is asking does it have a v-8 . I told hiom no 3.8 but it will still fit in the trunk and I don't have far to go. LOL . I'm really getting branded as a redneck around these parts. Hey I do what I can, Anyways, I don't think I could have pulled it of with a Grand Am .Comment
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Re: Friday Excuse to Go Home Early and Drink: Rise of the Weiner-Mobiles
I had a 1991 yugo, i hauled everything in that car! Including a fully dressed 1968 Hurst Olds 455 with a/c. The back seeat folds down and flips forward, plenty of room.
Not to mention, I can still hit 93 MPH going downhill with a tail wind, get rubber in all 4 gears, do a 1/4 in 17 sec, and get 350 miles per tank of gas. Did I mention it costs me roughly $10 to fill the tank?!Comment
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Re: Friday Excuse to Go Home Early and Drink: Rise of the Weiner-Mobiles
How can you guys rag on this? It's fun and tossable.
... or so I heard. 2011 can't come soon enough...
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Re: Friday Excuse to Go Home Early and Drink: Rise of the Weiner-Mobiles
I'm right there with you, Abarth 500!! I've got a Mini S, and that's been a riot.
Small doesn't mean slow.Comment
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Re: Friday Excuse to Go Home Early and Drink: Rise of the Weiner-Mobiles
It would seem the BangShift.com crew has diversified taste in automobiles. This is the sign of true car people.Comment
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