Which car best epitomises style over substance?

[skyrover]

surveyor said:

skyrover said:

There's always one.... While I agree the new ones have a bit too much style, the substance is very much there.

Oh it may be nice, but it's not a patch on the original.

How many will we be seeing on the road 20 years from now? Not many I would imagine.

[krisdelta]

Johnny 89 said:

S10GTA said:

You're all wrong. The clear winner is the mitsubishi fto. Looks like a sports car but struggled to keep up with a mondeo.

In Mivec form they pushed out almost 200bhp, no?

The did put out 200bhp in GPX / GPvR form - not slow by any means, but like a CTR needed revving.

[Artey]

DISLAIMER: THIS POST IS NOT SPONSORED BY AUDI

[kambites]

krisdelta said:

The did put out 200bhp in GPX / GPvR form - not slow by any means, but like a CTR needed revving.

That's not a bad thing with that little V6.

[vikingaero]

Most of the Peugeot range has more style over substance, especially the CC variants.

[300bhp/ton]

Parisien said:

Simples, anything American ( bar a handful made in 50/60s with V8s and 400+BHP)

You seem to have this wrong way round if anything.

No 60's cars made 400hp really and certainly not 1950's FFS!!

Early US muscle cars had high HP claims sometimes, but this is mostly due to SAE GROSS ratings, not the more modern SAE Net (similar to DIN) ratings. And of course a fair number of made up power outputs too.

50's and 60's cars where all about style too. Not that didn't have substance vs other cars of the era, but certainly style with loads of chrome, fins and little details was all part of the period.

Parisien said:

All S Korean cars, white goods basically.

That'll do for now


P

RWD 2+2 turbo or V6 coupe:




Bland styling, but packs a 5.0 litre 429bhp V8!!!
https://www.hyundaiusa.com/equus/index.aspx

[surveyor]

skyrover said:

surveyor said:

skyrover said:

There's always one.... While I agree the new ones have a bit too much style, the substance is very much there.

Oh it may be nice, but it's not a patch on the original.

How many will we be seeing on the road 20 years from now? Not many I would imagine.

You can say the same for most modern cars I think.

[300bhp/ton]

S10GTA said:

You're all wrong. The clear winner is the mitsubishi fto. Looks like a sports car but struggled to keep up with a mondeo.

It amazes me how after these years, so many people are still so naive, or rather so dumb about these cars.

24v MIVEC with 197hp and 7500rpm in a car weighing 1100-1200kg. In 1995!!

Civic Type R power & performance. 0-60mph 6.8 sec and 149mph.

[lufbramatt]

I'd nominate any of the folding hardtop coupe/cabriolet things based on front wheel drive hatchbacks- VW Eos etc.

Take a bland shopping trolley with a 4 pot diesel, chop the roof off to make the chassis nice and floppy, add a bunch of weight trying to make it not bend in the middle so any chance of handling that the original car had is completely destroyed, then sell it for loads more just so people can see the driver desperately trying to keep the hair out of their eyes due to the wind.

I get convertibles if you have a rev happy, raucous 4 pot on throttle bodies to listen or a nice burbly V8 while you powerslide round country lanes, but what's the point on an appliance type car?

Having said that I know a guy who's just got one and all his female friends thought it was amazing, due to being shiny and new, so maybe he knows something we don't.

[300bhp/ton]

lufbramatt said:

I'd nominate any of the folding hardtop coupe/cabriolet things based on front wheel drive hatchbacks- VW Eos etc.

Take a bland shopping trolley with a 4 pot diesel, chop the roof off to make the chassis nice and floppy, add a bunch of weight trying to make it not bend in the middle so any chance of handling that the original car had is completely destroyed, then sell it for loads more just so people can see the driver desperately trying to keep the hair out of their eyes due to the wind.

I get convertibles if you have a rev happy, raucous 4 pot on throttle bodies to listen or a nice burbly V8 while you powerslide round country lanes, but what's the point on an appliance type car?

Having said that I know a guy who's just got one and all his female friends thought it was amazing, due to being shiny and new, so maybe he knows something we don't.

Not that I'm fully defending them, but in concept they are not really any different to things like this:





And open air motoring can be fun in it's own right, regardless of the actual vehicle in question.

[lostkiwi]

Any hatchback based convertible, Audi TT (doubly so the original - letterbox side windows, poor handling, dull to drive and nowhere near as practical or nice to drive compared to equivalent S3), VW beetle (in all forms), Porsche 914 (916 was much better), TR7 (not including V8)....
Thats about it for now....

[300bhp/ton]

lostkiwi said:

A TR7 (not including V8)....

Yet the TR7 would out drag and out corner a TR6 and massively out sold any other TR model.

[Wild Rumpus]

Ford Capri 1300 - end of.

[lufbramatt]

300bhp/ton said:

lufbramatt said:

I'd nominate any of the folding hardtop coupe/cabriolet things based on front wheel drive hatchbacks- VW Eos etc.

Take a bland shopping trolley with a 4 pot diesel, chop the roof off to make the chassis nice and floppy, add a bunch of weight trying to make it not bend in the middle so any chance of handling that the original car had is completely destroyed, then sell it for loads more just so people can see the driver desperately trying to keep the hair out of their eyes due to the wind.

I get convertibles if you have a rev happy, raucous 4 pot on throttle bodies to listen or a nice burbly V8 while you powerslide round country lanes, but what's the point on an appliance type car?

Having said that I know a guy who's just got one and all his female friends thought it was amazing, due to being shiny and new, so maybe he knows something we don't.

Not that I'm fully defending them, but in concept they are not really any different to things like this:





And open air motoring can be fun in it's own right, regardless of the actual vehicle in question.

I get where you're coming from. Those 3 examples have become "cool" I think, mainly because they are old/retro. As far as driving experience goes I'd bet they are pretty rubbish, if it wasn't for the styling being vaguely interesting they wouldn't have any appeal at all.

I've been in a few convertibles, it's a fun novelty. Most fun was taking a Caterham 7 around the south downs- fast, low, comedy loud but wholly impractical. Worst was a Saab 9000, which was so floppy with the roof down you could hear the leather squeaking as the front and back of the car went over bumps. Having the roof down is fun for a bit then the realisation that roads don't have much shade and sitting in traffic listening to lorry engines 3 feet from your head isn't that great.

[300bhp/ton]

I think you need to ask what actually constitutes "substance".

Best answer I can thing of is the Citroen Pluriel. A brilliant concept and in theory a hugely diverse and practical car, so it should have substance covered. However to make it so practical it's actually impractical. No where to store the roof bars, pick up bed too small of any real use, still a car interior so you'd not want to put much in it anyhow.

All in all it's probably just a huge compromise at everything it does. And I'm willing to bet, the majority of them are just used as a hatchback 99.99-100% of the time. Completely missing the entire point of them in the first place.

[Studio117]

Blanchimont said:

but the 1.4 T-Jet I have surprises stuff costing 10k+ more.

[Blanchimont]

Studio117 said:

Sounds comical, but it's kept A3/A4's quite honest.

[stuttgartmetal]

The new V6 diesel range rover lacks in every dept except looks
The gadget over load your senses
It's built perfectly for its market
Mums.

Gone are the days when a rangie could pull an eight wheel tipper out of a field.

[anonymous-user]

lufbramatt said:

I'd nominate any of the folding hardtop coupe/cabriolet things based on front wheel drive hatchbacks- VW Eos etc.

Take a bland shopping trolley with a 4 pot diesel, chop the roof off to make the chassis nice and floppy, add a bunch of weight trying to make it not bend in the middle so any chance of handling that the original car had is completely destroyed, then sell it for loads more just so people can see the driver desperately trying to keep the hair out of their eyes due to the wind.

I get convertibles if you have a rev happy, raucous 4 pot on throttle bodies to listen or a nice burbly V8 while you powerslide round country lanes, but what's the point on an appliance type car?

Having said that I know a guy who's just got one and all his female friends thought it was amazing, due to being shiny and new, so maybe he knows something we don't.

(Looks at car sitting outside)

[Johnny 89]

ORD said:

These days, you'd do better with an Audi A3 TDi. Nothing says 'sexy' like high official mpg figures and soft touch plastics.

Completely agree.. What has become of the world!! They probably have similar power but I know which is take.