I sometimes miss economy cars – don’t you?
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There’s one minor quibble with the video, but it only strengthens you point even more. The hybrid Corolla weighs more than 3000 lbs. The non-hybrid weighs about that.
The non-hybrid 2024 Corolla with its unibody construction, aluminum 4 cylinder engine, fwd drive transaxle, that can carry 4 people and two of 4 people’s crap weighs the same as a 1964 Chevelle with its full body frame construction, cast iron V8 engine, M20 Muncie transmission, that can carry 6 people and all 6 of the people’s crap
Oops.
For 6 people, you’d need to order the Powerglide. My bad.
My 70’s Civics weighed 1700lbs.
My 1984 Civic CRX weighed 1800.
Well, at least economy cars are still an option if you are, or know, a back yard mechanic. Junkyards still have them and I do see them making a come back. (usually Metro and old beetles). There are two beetle maint/restore shops in my area (va bch).
I believe the Metro was the last economy car manufactured. What passes for economy today would likely be the Nissan Versa stick shift with manual windows. Still under 20k in many areas.
The Geo Metro or the Nash Metro? Both gave good economy, one with 50 years more technology than the other.
Also I humbly submit the first generation Saturns, great economy, good performance, plastic body panels stood up and looked good for a long time.
My mind often returns to 1993 at a Chevrolet dealership.
I think that was the pinnacle (aside from a full-on luxury offering) of a one-stop shop for the needs of 95% of the buying public.
Try and imagine a store that sold everything from a lowly Geo Metro 2 door hatch, all the way up to a ZR1 Corvette.
On a budget? Here’s some Geos.
On a less restricted budget and want a convertible or entry level performance? Here’s a Cavalier or Z24 variant.
Camaros with hubcaps, 3500 duallies, Z28s, 454SS, Caprice wagons, Beretta GTs, Luminas, and on and on.
Leather lined 2500 Suburbans or a 2wd, vinyl bench seat, V6 1500 W/T…they had them all.
Now today’s Chevy dealership – aside from the sh*tbox Trax and Trailblazer – resembles options and pricing only seen at the Cadillac store from the same era.
In 1968 and 1969, the Nova could be had with a 4 cylinder, 6 cylinder, various small blocks, or big block.
Exactly. Sure was nice to have options across the pricing spectrum.
Come to think of it, in ’93, Fox body Mustang went from poverty-spec 4 banger up to a Cobra R.
Nowadays everything seems to be reduced to 2 mediocre choices.
Wal Mart or Target, Lowes or Home Depot, etc.
Ford needed a 429/460 option to complete the Nova Cycle*.
* A cycle in baseball is when you hit a single, double, triple and home run in one game.
I learned to drive in a Dodge Omni. IIRC it had a 1.5L VW sourced engine mated to a 4 speed manual. About the only option was an FM radio. Speedo, odometer, gas gauge and temperature gauge. Oh, and a big red light that would come on after the engine seized up. It was a do-or-die trade in for the ’73 Dart dad inherited from grandma when she stopped driving. IIRC when the dealer tried to drive the Dart into the service area to do an inspection for the trade it wouldn’t start, they had to push it in. Dad drove ’em into the ground. LOL
Fun car though. I blame that one for my love of “go fast slow” cars.
We ended up getting another one (Plymouth Horizon), but this one had the 2.2L 4 and automatic, AC and FM stereo! Otherwise still pretty spartan. I learned about ice on shadowed curves in that one…
Thing is, we probably could have afforded something nicer, but dad’s a frugal old tightwad, so that’s what we had. To be fair, Bethlehem was always threatening to shut down the Johnstown works, mostly to screw around with the workers, but that was always a threat.
I learned to drive in a 75 Dart Sport that I inherited from my great Grandpa after he passed. Driving that car, even though it was a straight 6, was enough to set me on my path of 60’s and 70’s car ownership throughout the rest of my life (except some in between years driving a family car while raising young kids).
Life goes by quick. It’s good to be able to get to where you need to go behind the wheel of cool old musclecars for a lot of that time.
A few years after dad traded in that Dart he got called to testify in a court case. Apparently the next owner rodded it up, lifting the back for larger tires and probably rebuilding the engine. He was arrested for stealing inspection stickers from a gas station, because the Dart wouldn’t pass inspection after all his modifications.
That slant 6 was a pretty good engine, but mated to a slushbox transmission probably didn’t do it any favors. Being that it was a 72 or 73 helped since it didn’t have a catalytic converter plugging up the tailpipe.
I did the same to mine after high school. Jacked up the back, big rear tires. Swapped the slant 6 for a 360 V8. The car was never reliable again after that. Sold it when I started my family.
FMVSS have screwed up the Delta-V equation. We used to have good gas mileage because the cars were light, and that recipe was cheap. Time to get behind DOGE.
I don’t think that is on DOGE radar, but I think that legislation could get passed that would require a cost and benefit analysis for every regulation enacted by the EPA and the DOT. That would freeze all new regulations.
My first car was the Pontiac T1000 – a Chevette, so you made me reminisce.
I bought mine used, when the compressed rust that it was made from was starting to decompress, so I learned a lot about fixing rust.
The nice thing about buying a car outright, as a young person, is that you’re not a slave to the bank, since the car started out as a POS, you don’t worry too much about it. Glove box flex hinge broke? No problem, screw on some hardware store cabinet hinges.
Ahh, my carefree days… I miss them.