10 Cars That Sank Detroit

[diddiyo]

http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/auto...t-Sank-Detroit

Ford Pinto
Chevrolet Cavalier
Chevrolet Astro
Ford Taurus
Ford Explorer
Jaguar X-Type
Hummer H2
Toyota Prius
Chrysler Sebring
Jeep Compass

discuss.

[DanielleAnne]

LOL pretty funny...I hate taurus lol. Eyesore

[kanys]

Damn you Prius!!

[DanielleAnne]

Originally Posted by kanys

Damn you Prius!!

Ever seen Jeff Dunham??? Lol youd like his skits about Prius

[terndude]

Of course, the same article has a link to the 10 cars that can SAVE Detroit.
Included in THAT list...the 2010 Camaro!!

Astro lasted a long time...even along side other mini vans, because it was considered a "mid size" van and pretty popular as a delivery, utility, and RV-Mod...so I don't think they gave it a very fair eval. That and it had the same die-hard 4.3L V6 as the S-10 trucks...far superior to the 4-bangers all the import vans came with at the time.

I liked the Taurus the first year it was out, and the Taurus SHO was OK, but they grew old really fast, the paint jobs were crap, and the second generation Sable looked like a freaking catfish!

Jeep Compass...ugh...re-branded Caliber with an "urban-Jeep" ad campaign. Um, ever hear of the Jeepster? 'Nuff said. I had a newer 4.0 Wrangler for a while and loved it...great for rock crawling...but sold it and got a Colorado 4x4 with nearly twice the MPG, more HP, and a locking rear diff...which is better in sand than the Wrangler ever was. Why I ever wandered away from Chevy for that brief time, I'll never know. Oh, wait, my wife and I were actually drunk when we bought the Jeep at a "tent sale"!!

If GM bought the Jeep line, just think what a Wrangler could do with a 6-speed tranny and a 4.8L, 5.3L, or 6.2L in it! GM has no competing product, so it would be a rather good fit IMO. Still plenty of die-hard jeep fans out there.

I had a Sebring rental once, and YAWN. Quite boring. It fit the stereotype that many import drivers have of domestic cars. I had a Mustang convertible rental once as well....first time I threw the p-brake on, the plastic housing snapped off, flew into the air, and landed in the map pocked next to the p-brake....It was as if they put it there to catch the flying plastic housing instead of fixing the housing!!

As for the others, well, they speak for themselves. My wife has a Prius, and although I wish it were built here, we just got 58 MPG on a 100 mile round-trip. She would have bought ANY reasonable domestic if it got that kind of mileage, even if it were $8k more than the Prius...but they just didn't exist. So yeah, I think it caused some damage...especially when gas hit $4.79.

I think GM and Ford have some good products coming out now, and I can honestly say the Camaro is the ONLY car hitting the market that would get my arse into a dealer this year!!!

[CamaroSpike23]

Message to Detroit: Consumers aren't that stupid. Give them a bit more credit, and you might have a future.

consumers are that stupid. they wanted big suvs and trucks in the early 90's and into the early 00's. so Detroit made them. consumers bought into the whole "hybrid hype" and shelled out craploads for that junk ass golfcart prius. its entire design is flawed in the fact that it still uses a gasoline motor for propulsion. 90% of gas is wasted during acceleration. meaning that if you can keep an internal combustion motor spinning at its optimum rpm. and run a generator off of it to power electric motors at each wheel it is a lot better than having to constantly switch between electric power and gasoline power.

wait....isnt there an automotive company that is designing a car that has a gas generator and total electric drive... oh... wait, thats right.



GM. its called the Volt. and GM got it right. (tho I like the concept exterior styling better).

F- toyota
F- the prius
F- Rick Newman.

[Vash]

Pinto sold well. Just because they exploded... one little deftect. I spent a good chunk of my teens inside various Pinto's (none mine).

Taurus was revolutionary for it's time. As most cars and trucks had hard edges and where not designed for aerodynamics for the purpose of fuel conservation. Again a car that sold a LOT.

Explorer didn't sink Detroit.. I heard 2 of the SUV factories where selling strong but Obama's team wants to shut them down to make smaller boxes (none of his team owns a heavy chevy or is car enthusiast).

[terndude]

Originally Posted by CamaroSpike23

Consumers bought into the whole "hybrid hype" and shelled out craploads for that junk ass golfcart prius. its entire design is flawed in the fact that it still uses a gasoline motor for propulsion. 90% of gas is wasted during acceleration. meaning that if you can keep an internal combustion motor spinning at its optimum rpm. and run a generator off of it to power electric motors at each wheel it is a lot better than having to constantly switch between electric power and gasoline power.

Well, you are entitled to your opinion, but if it gets 60 MPG, which my wife's does, Toyota did something right, and the number they've sold backs up the fact that it has presented the big three with a major problem. If the production Volt really does go 40 miles before using any gas, I'll be interested, but it will need to sell for under $28k to even scratch the import competition which has a 10+ year head start.

Pure electric cars should be marketed as second or third vehicles for short trips and have battery-swapping stations for long trips instead of requiring 8-hour charges between trips. They're already doing this in Israel.

[AngryAmish]

Question.

Does your wife drive alot on the highway, or mostly city driving?
I'm betting highway, which is the only reason she is breaking 60mpg. It has nothing to do with them getting something right. It has more to do with your driving habits and where you drive the car.

People who do hypermilling can almost double the prius' mpg with an older car that gets 20 less mpg's WITHOUT any modifications, just on driving habits alone.

When the Volt comes out, I promise you it will out do the Prius or I'll eat an old shoe, and you can quote me on that. Not to mention it looks better too. Unlike the Prius, which looks like the Mayor of Munchkinland's minivan.

Originally Posted by terndude

Well, you are entitled to your opinion, but if it gets 60 MPG, which my wife's does, Toyota did something right, and the number they've sold backs up the fact that it has presented the big three with a major problem. If the production Volt really does go 40 miles before using any gas, I'll be interested, but it will need to sell for under $28k to even scratch the import competition which has a 10+ year head start.

Pure electric cars should be marketed as second or third vehicles for short trips and have battery-swapping stations for long trips instead of requiring 8-hour charges between trips. They're already doing this in Israel.

[AngryAmish]

Oh, almost forgot...

How in the hell did the Chevette and Citation not make that list?

[Rock36]

I wonder what their reasons are, because the Ford Taurus is often cited as the car that saved Ford in the late 80s early 90s. Maybe they over did it in the end.

[Angrybird 12]

Stupid list.... the Astro was a huge sucess.. it did the job it was supposed to do and very well.. MILLIONS were sold. I don't understand.. I sure would have put the Citation and the Vega on the list befor the Cavalier... I owned 3 Vegas, and one Cavalier.. The Cavalier was far and away a better car than the Vega was...
Whoever came up with that list is completely out of touch...

Originally Posted by AngryAmish

Oh, almost forgot...

How in the hell did the Chevette and Citation not make that list?

The Chevette was a very good little car. I owned two, (76,81) and both were very reliable and got great gas mileage... (both better than the two Camaros I had owned from a reliability sense)

[SilverTurtle]

Originally Posted by Rock36

I wonder what their reasons are, because the Ford Taurus is often cited as the car that saved Ford in the late 80s early 90s. Maybe they over did it in the end.

its because auto journalists are, in general, complete dolts

Originally Posted by diddiyo

http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/auto...t-Sank-Detroit

Ford Pinto
Chevrolet Cavalier
Chevrolet Astro
Ford Taurus
Ford Explorer
Jaguar X-Type
Hummer H2
Toyota Prius
Chrysler Sebring
Jeep Compass

discuss.

this list is silly... bordering on stupid... and the author of the article has NO CLUE about the cars and what they really were.

the Pinto sold like hotcakes for years

the Cavalier sold like hotcakes for years with almost no revisions to interior and very little exterior change

the Chevy Astro soldiered on for 20 years, essentially unchanged... and sold well for 15 years of that... the Astro and the

Ford Aerostar have the distinction of being the only American made minivans to be rear wheel drive.

the Ford Taurus, when it came out, saved Ford... and created a market that was almost untouched by American auto makers... it sold millions for a reason: it was simple and it worked well for medium size families... its presence on this list is the first clue that this guy is talking out of his a$$

the Ford Explorer is, to this day, the premier mid-size SUV... better than all of its competition by a long shot... it has stayed afloat where others have sank and it is one of the reasons that Ford is still in business

Jaguar X-type... the baby Jag... yeah, ok, maybe this one belongs here

Hummer H2... sold like hotcakes to yuppies and soccer moms... its a rebodied Tahoe with big tires and AWD... the question in my mind is: why not offer an AWD Tahoe, too? oh well... either way, this didn't sink GM... it was actually pretty ingenious

Toyota Prius... proof that if you give the public something they *think* they like, and yell about it loud enough, everyone will buy one... I can't wait to see what Toyota is going to do with the batteries as these cars start to need them replaced... or people just dont replace the batteries and they all start getting crappy gas mileage because the battery weighs down the car

the Sebring? wtf? the Sebring sold well for years... it was what made Toyota create the Solara 'vert... does the author of the article know anything about cars?

Jeep Compass... yeah, ok, that is a definite loser... desperate hail Mary play by Chrysler