I used to always wonder why they never made good looking cheap cars. Well, after some close calls and near misses, it seems that car companies are figuring that it shouldn't cost 30k+ for a car to look good.(We've said it a million times before)


When will one...just one of these manufacturers make a purpose built cheap *** street car?
Design the thing not to have all of these comforts. Some cheap coupe with no rear seats. It could sell for around $16k. Just cheap and RWD.
One company needs to "risk" making this car. Just one.
Just like when its 2AM and there is only one 24-hour burger place, this car has to sell.

it's so simple!

 

The Solstice is it. If this one is not "purpose" enough for you, just wait two years

 

well the solstice is the first car that came to mind but the problem with it is that it's a convertable. if pontiac made a 2 seat fixed roof version that sold for say 18k they'd have a winner on their hands.

 

But if I wait 2 years, will this purpose built car be cheap?
Probably not.

 

Simple answer: People don't buy cheap cars.

Between the fully loaded Camaro SS (in the 27-30K range) and the "stripped" ($23-24K range) Camaro Z28, guess which sold more? Camaro isn't alone.

2 major problems.

1. A stripped car has a stripped reputation. For the type of car you're thinking of, people tend to turn away from them. If cost is what they are concerned with, they tend not to be "into" cars the way you are thinking. They tend to look at cars as appliences. Something that is meant to get them from "point a" to "point b" while offering the best value for the money. They don't care about RWD, 0-60, or anything performance car people care about. People who actually care about what they drive tend to look at a new car purchase as something they aren't going to do often, and load their cars up to as high as they can afford.

2. It takes more money to make a striped car than a loaded one. 1st you have to develop things like crank windows, dashboards without stereo openings, different harnesses & mechinisms, etc... instead of engineering a one size fits all car, where there's maybe a few items that can be plugged into a common harness. Also, stripped cars tend not to be profit making ones. It still costs the same amount per car to design and engineer a new vehicle, regardless as to how much or how little extra equptment is on it. Add in the extra expense of creating a stripped version that very few people will buy, and it's nearly impossible to convince anyone to do one.


Long ago, I also couldn't understand why no one made a cheap RWD performance car. Then I saw the sales breakdown for some cars, including the Camaro & Firebird. To say it was shocking would be an understatement!

It may SEEM that creating a stripped performance car would be an easy, no-brainer idea. However, as much as I personally would want another stripped Mustang LX 5.0, the marketplace tells me that it doesn't sell (ever hear of.....let alone see the sales numbers of.... the '94 & '95 Mustang GTS?) and automakers are already streching things getting us RWD performance vehicles at all.

 

Describe to me what you mean by stripper. No AC? No PW? No carpeting? Just how stripped is a stripper?

And what might you expect to get for $16K? A V8?

 

I meant as a non mass produced car.

Also, I know of a chick that bought a brand new cobalt cause she didn't like that her previous car was purple. (after hearing her complain about having to go to work and always being tired)


I've heard of the GTS. The problem...it wasn't marketed.
Toyota figured this out. I bet you've never heard of the S-Runner. Awesome truck. It wasn't advertised, only a few people know about it, so only a few sold (Toyota.com had only one picture of this truck).
Then Toyota made the recent X-Runner. They've actually been advertising it (still not enough though), and now the Speedway Blue is flagship color.
Toyota also never advertised their Corolla XRS, so no one bought it, and it was cancelled.
My buddy got to review and drive the gmt-900 last week. He says its awesome truck. However, if GM doesn't advertise all these great things about this truck, the only people that will see it will be those who stumble upon them when in the market for a truck.
DCX can't sell the Commanders...If it wasn't for this site, I would of never knew about them.
So I think the GTS was just an advertising issue.

If anyone makes the car I am talking about it'd be DCX anyways, so I guess I picked the wrong forum to complain on.

Guionm, thanks for your input. As reasonable as it sound, with as much experience, sources, research and involvemnt you have with this topic, my desire for this car is supersedes common sense and convention.

 

of course there are a lot of us that would like to see a v8, rwd, 2 seat coupe with no power windows, locks, etc., very limited sound deadening, and a capable chassis sell for below $20,000. the truth is it is just never going to happen, which is what the used car market is for.

 

I guess we just think different than your average car buy. When i go to look at cars i want one with virtually no options. My jeep is basically a stripped 4x4...the only options are premium wheels and tinted windows. The dealer had some 70 units on the lot...and that was the most stripped down one they had.

But that experience made me wonder...do people buy optioned vehicles becuase that's all the dealers carry? From a car MFR standpoint, it's better to quote "startiong at" prices that are really low to get people into the dealership then have some salesman sell them something for just a couple thousand more. Or is it possible they mainly carry well optioned vehicles on lots simply becuase people *want* the options? I think the former is the case personally.

 

most likely a mixture of that and people are lazy ****s who cant open their minivan doors or hatches anymore

 

Just for the heck of it, let's try figure out how you can build a $16,000 RWD car.

What would you use?

Probably lots of GMT355 parts, like it's rear end and rear suspension - leaf springs and all. The Bel Air was a proposal to build a cheap BOF car. So maybe that could be a jumping off point. Perhaps Delta's front struts would even be cheaper than 355's front A-arms. Maybe afew bucks could be saved grafting those on. And it probably would have to be built in Brazil or Asia.

What about powertrain? A V8 for $16K? I think that's where the whole thing breaks down. Unless you can package it as some sort of hose out, work vehicle, (and even then), I don't know how you'd do it.

Maybe if you could stuff the Cobalt's SC 2.0 in an Aveo, we'd have something fot 16K, but I don't think that's what number77 had in mind.

 

Just wait 2 years. That's all. You will see a cheap, RWD vehicle with plenty of room and loads of fun to boot. The new Mini will be cornered much like GM did with the Miata.

 

If you're referring to "Kappa II" (or whatever they'll actually call it), I'd doubt it'll be as cheap as what the original poster asks for, Josh.

Also AFAIK, 2 years from now may be about 2 years too soon.

 

if the solstice was a fixed roof only car how much do you think it would be?

 

There IS a market for an inexpensive 4 seat RWD car. Stripped? No. Inexpensive, Yes.

It could be done for $16k-18k.

Consider: Solstice: $20k but convertible. Miata even less expensive. AWD subaru Impreza $19k. There's tons of similar cars out there that sell in that price range but would be more expensive than a RWD coupe or hatchback. It can be done. It should be done.