I saw the return of the AE86 in that RS200, but they never sold that over here. Bombed around in an IS300 and it's fairly nimble and straight forward. The big thing that bothers me about new cars is the fact that there is no options anymore. Nothing is optional, can't customize your ride from factory, and by that I mean.....everything is standard. There's no crank windows, radio delete panels, hand adjustable seats, non-tilt columns etc.
As for the point of 'none of us buy new Toyotas. A majority of the people on this board are poor, however, they are the same poor as people going out and buying new cars on credit. The real reason DK'rs aren't buying new cars is there's nothing worth risking their sanity and credit for. There is no, basic, fun vehicle out there. There is no vehicle offered to the public that can be worked on easily at home, no car that comes with no frills, no car that isn't a port of some south asian copy cat car. Even these Chinese and Korean built cars are filled with pointless electronics, masked by flimsy plastic curved panels. The efforts seem like that of a 12 year old girl trying to live like an adult, dressing slutty and trying out smoking, because she thinks that's what adults do. The big 3 offer these Asian ports of vehicles as their cheap cars, So does Toyota, look at the Yaris. It's a huge small car, with tons of little plastic panels to fill weird design gaps left by the what is probably rejected designs from Chery. Probably some weird series of events coming through Toyota's Daihatsu Division from their very China related ties. Mitsubishi offers nothing cheap and basic. Nissan offers the Versa, which is the closest thing to an acceptable car for cheap right now followed by the fit. I'm not sure what is up with Japanese, but every cheap car has some sort of obscure and offensive A pillar window, or a panel where one should be, and this up coming Juke, looks like a Joke.
I guess what it boils down to is the distraction of hybrid vehicles. Any sort of designer that has any talent has been placed on the important duty of the hybrid dupe, to create a vehicle that barely out performs an 80's rot box in performance and fuel economy, at an insane price and some how make it appear justifiable to the public. Soccer moms sucking the teats of their ignorance toward environmentalism, swiping plastic to buy plastic filled with inflatable CO2 bags to protect their precious loin fruit growing up to the debate whether to spank or not, and what type of plastic is safe for their child to suck on instead of their teats.
All major car manufacturers sell cheap, basic transportation to plenty of other countries and markets around the world, but they refuse to let North Americans know that they offer a car that doesn't have DVD space guided navigation with direct pre-purchase orders to starbucks for latte's.
This whole excuse of safety makes the windows of new cars smaller and smaller. Door lines raise and roofs begin to fall. Trunks are cramped and tall, in order to provide good roll over protection when you can't see where your going. Nothing like having to move your head to look around the A pillar to see when taking a left hand turn. Nothing like adding weight to a vehicle, carrying a backpack full of "what if" scenarios, air bags, traction control, yam control, and swiss army knives, only to remove most visibility, include some engine that is far capable of the highest of speed limits, and carry all this extra momentum holding mass. Much like the debate of nature versus nurture, the debate of avoiding the crash, and being prepared for the crash.
Back on the FT86. I watched a video a while back of a british or irish presenter talking with one of the designers of the FT86, who happened to be russian. He spoke of the 'essence of design', the feeling of color and other distractions from the fact he had never driven an AE86 before, or talked to any of their die hard drivers. To him, it was another industrial design project, another attempt at making a coffee maker look like it's from the future, rather than whether or not it is easy to use and makes good coffee.
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Hey that’s my car on the top right! :)
I completely agree Quinn! I agree with everything said here, :)