Paul M. wrote:
>>It sounds like you are like me; I'm ready for a
>>relatively stark and
>>inexpensive sporty rear wheel drive car in the MG
>>tradition.
>
>
> Yes, you're right. I definitely am. But then again,
> I can never predict the market. For years I saw all
> these cars like the Nissan 300ZX and Toyota Supra
> getting heavier and porkier and more luxurious and
> more expensive. I thought to myself: "What is Nissan
> thinking? Why not keep the car - as Porsche has sort
> of done with the 911 - as the spirtual successor to
> the original? Why doesn't someone build a light,
> fast, lower-frills sportscar anymore? If someone did,
> people would do NUTS for it!"
>
> And then Mazda built the RX7 Twin Turbo. Arguably the
> most potent no-frills sportscar in recent memory (and
> for anyone who has never driven one, an absolute
> scalpel in the twisties - high on my list of "cars I'd
> like to be driving on a winding mountain road if I was
> being chased by SMERSH assasins").
>
> Of course, no one bought it. Worse, the automotive
> press - the SAME press who bitched about the 300ZX
> getting heavier and porkier - categorically vilified
> the RX7 because of it's cheap, lightweight interior
> materials and lack of luxury amenities.
It was quite expensive.
> I just don't get it.
>
> A good friend of mine once said: "I have lost faith in
> politics. No one I would ever want to be president
> would EVER run, and if they did, the American people
> wouldn't elect them." Up until very recently, I felt
> the same way about cars, namely: "No automaker will
> ever build the kind of car I want to buy, and if they
> did, it apparently wouldn't sell."
Brings us back to the, dare I say it, Hitchhiker Guide to
the Galaxy, where the President of the Galaxy was chosen from people
who didn't want the job, since anyone who would want the job, obviously
had an ulterior motive, and there fore was unfit for the job.
> But now I'm rethinking that stance, because cars like
> the Honda S2000 and Subaru WRX and Mitsu EVO and Dodge
> SRT-4 and Ford SVT Focus (actually maybe the SVT Focus
> most of all) are starting to feel like they're getting
But the WRX, EVO and S2000 are very expensive. And that's
before the gouging the dealers are getting.
> warmer. If MG is going to sell cars here, they have
> to make sure they tap into their spiritual roots, as
> Bently has really made an effort to do with their new
> coupe. Not by making small, light convertibles (those
> were the old days; young professionals just don't want
> them anymore; only us nostalgic old idiots like them).
> But rather by building the kinds of affordable cars
> that younger professionals will find enormously
> rewarding to drive. The kind of cars that make people
> feel like they are buying into a lifestyle that they
> aspire to. At this point in the automotive landscape,
> I think that would require small, quick, sporting
> sedans and hot hatchbacks, not Miata-like roadsters.
I think you're right here. Bring the ZS in full boy racer
mode, and you have something that the 'fast and furious'
crowd might be interested in. That, whatever old curmudgeons
want to argue against, is where the future of motorsports
is.
Sports sedans of the 90s to today are much better in
performance, handling and convenence than our old sports
cars. Compare a Neon, Protigi, or Sentra of today to a Dodge Colt,
GLC, or B210 of the 70s. There's your answer to why sports
cars with there leaky roofs, fussy engines and inability to bring
home groceries were popular back then.
> As for the lack of a dealer network, that's a bitch of
> an obstacle to overcome. I thought they were still
> owned by BMW, so my guess was that a Mini-like
> arrangement could be forged. But if it's
> independantly owned now, by a company without
> enormously deep pockets, then that's a seriously tough
> road to hoe.
>
> It's a shame. I miss seeing the octagon on the roads.
> I never see MGs anymore, and increasingly, when I
> drive my B around, people ask me what it is! They
> have no idea! My insurance agent (a nice kid of about
> 27 or so) asked my what kind of cars I wanted to
> insure. When I got around to the MG he asked me:
> "Your what?! MG? Hmmm... that's not in my
> computer... Is it a motorcycle or something?"
I also get the occasion guy who thinks he remembers the
cars and thinks it's a Triumph or gasp :-) Fiat.
--
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/ _ \ Paul T. Root <proot@iaces.com>
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