Remember when you were the discount brand? Remember when that term was not derrogatory? Remember when you could buy just as good a vehicle as Buick or Oldsmobile, but with a little less trim for a lot less, for the same, or better performance?

Remember when Chevrolet was the dominant marque? Remember when they made movies about your cars?

Remember when people cared? Remember when you listened to the consumer? Remember when the dealers were actually good to it's customers? Remember when people got excited about the entire lineup when it came to the dealers or auto shows? Remember when all you sold weren't just trucks and FWD sedans? Remember when you kicked *** and took names? Remember when you revved first and ask questions later?

Remember? A lot of people don't. Wouldn't it be awesome to remind them?

 

Amen...

 

Excellent post.

You are definetly not the only 1 feeling that way, I know exactly.

 

Chevy has pretty much completely lost it's way over the past decade or so. Investing completely in the "easy money" truck segment.

Chevy's certainly must be some of the most blandly styled cars available in the world today.

That of course was not always the case. From the late 50's on, Chevrolet's used to have world class design. There was a certain cache and elegance to their clean muscular lines. I can remember growing up in the '70s, when every Chevy looked good to me. I'm not just talking about the obvious Camaros, Chevelles, etc. Even four door Impalas looked good to me then....and so did Vegas.

How they went from irresistable styling and image.....to mere transportation appliances, could probably fill a book.

 

Great post...and its the truth. Chevrolet is really disappointing and boring. If I had to buy a new ride right now, and I cant afford a Vette, so I would probably go test drive a Mustang, and thats something I thought I would never say. Somethings got to happen soon at Chevy.

 

I'm not sure where that came from. I think I was reading a mag, and it said something about Chevrolet being the affordable car line. They are anything but anymore, frankly.

Give us a 20K performance car. Frankly, the Camaro shouldn't cost much more than that for true budget sportscar. I know the plastics can't cost much more than that.

 

I really hate to stir things up so early this morning, but if you think a Camaro shouldn't be more than $20,000 you really need to get with the program, and here's why.

The average car costs about $30,000. A good Z28 ran about 25 grand before it was discontinued. You can still get a loaded Impala & Monte Carlo for about the mid $20,000 range. Unless you are after a Hyundai Tribuon, or an SRT-4, you simply are not going to get a fast sports car for as cheap as you are asking. To be blunt with you, you never could.

Z28s have never been cheap, and for some odd reason, it really grates on my nerves (haven't had my coffee yet) when someone complains about the last Z28s being so expensive when Z28s actually DECREASED in price throughout the 1990s. Z28s increased about $5,000 (or about 25%) throughout the 90s. Depending on whose figures you believe, your paycheck increased anywhere from 30% to a third. The average new car price also increased by a third!.

The other thing is that any argument about cheap performance (as cheap as you are talking about anyway) rings completly hollow when Mustang GTs at $25-28,000 are still flying off the shelves and $30,000+ Camaro SSs continued selling strongly even as the rest of the line petered out.

Hate to break it to you, but Chevrolet IS the value leader today! What you pay for and what you get for the money, I wish you a whole lot of luck finding somewhere else, unless it's from Korea. Ford doesn't even off Chevy's value for the money.

Times have changed since the so called "good old days" my friend. RWD is no longer the norm today, FWD cars are. That goes for all manufacturers, so don't blame Chevrolet. GM followed the trend of what people were buying, and as part of GM, Chevy did too.

Does that mean it's all good? No way! GM North America made a colossial mistake in deciding not to produce the V-chassis here in the mid 90s, focusing their resources instead on Trucks, from the enthusiast's standpoint. The styling of Monte Carlo, and most definately the Impala could be a little better. But with Impala, Monte Carlo winning kudos for value and quality, the ancient Cavalier still popular (regardless as to how it's being done) and the new Malibu looking like a winner, and a few surprises in store (a couple mention in August's Popular Hot Rodding), Chevy's not doing too shabby.

Chevrolet has always been the low division on the totem pole as far as flash and sparkle, and when you look at it's history honestly, it has always made cars like the Malibu, Cavalier, and Impala. The only difference back then is that styling was king, and everything was RWD.

Some of that is comming back very soon.

 

"...The only difference back then is that styling was king, and everything was RWD.

Some of that is comming back very soon."

I sure hope you are right GuionM.

 

Great post.....

 

That still doesn't take into account a key point. Like someone else above said, even Vegas were nicely styled small cars. Can anyone here say that about the current Cavalier? Anyone? I'm gonna be waiting on that one for awhile.

And sure, Chevy was cheap, is cheap, and should always be cheap...but WHERE'S THE CHEAP PERFORMANCE?? Along with the bland, they had the sizzle. Show me the sizzle, and I'll shut up

 

$20K Camaro!!?? Hah! I'd be happy to see them come up with a $20K performance Cavalier.

 

I'm not taking any sides whther the Cavalier is a well styed car or not.

It should be noted, however, that the "nice style" is such a subjective matter that you guys shouldn't be arguing over it. Everybody has their own opinion.

And since Cavaliers are (at least you see a lot of them on the road...) selling in some kind of numbers, I guess there are many people who like it. Or then the buyers overlook it due to other strengths the car might have.

Later!

TS

 

There is absolutle no way on the planet you can say on one hand the Camaro looks great and on the other hand, the Cavalier looks crappy.

Don't you think that's one of the most dishonest things that can be said about Cavalier? Especially since it has the same styling themes (from nose to tail) that the early 4th gen Camaro has, save the lay flat windshield.

Styling is subjective, but lets be consistant & honest here. The only issue with Cavalier is that it's been around unchanged too long (just like Camaro was), and doesn't have a true performance version (which will soon be answered).

 

Umm....what year cavalier are we talking about here? My wife had an 01 till recently and they didnt look at all alike.

 

Prior to the '03 model, I thought that the Cavalier had a very long run of styling success. Even though the previous-gen ran for a long time, I still thought that it looked fresh in '02, as long as the car had the upscale wheel/tire package. Now that they've added a big dose of Impala/Monte Carlo styling DNA, it looks quite terrible.