I was thinking about this the other day about cars that I miss.. options that should be still in cars, or even styling cues U miss, but manufacturers did away with them.

RULES:

Format will be One or Two things. As in 

1) "A Car" (not an entire brand tho)

2) "A Option"

3) MUST BE REALISTIC.. and be capable of actually making money for the company. No FANTASY

U can do either or both.. but no more than 6 Sentences about the car or option and what made it great.

This is a "piggy back..." So we can't say the same option, but we can say the same car

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I'll Start:

1) The Hummer H3. Everytime I see one I get a chubby. I love the thing and truly believe GM should simply revive the vehicle as was, literally just turning the tooling back on and updating the interior and engine. The vehicle was awesome

 

2) High Beams in the floor Moving it to the stalk made no sense to me. Having it in the floor seemed safer, especially now that most cars are automatic and your left foot is normally doing nothing at all

 

 

 

 

1) Im a muscle car guy. And my bestest muscle car is an Olds Cutlass 442. But I did not grow up with them. They kinda died the year I was born. 1973. I did grow up with one particular pony car though, and every time I see one...any year...my heart goes boom.

I always wonder what kind of maniacal look a 2016 Pontiac Trans Am would have today.

 

2) bench seats.

I have been blessed to have experienced what bench seats and girlfriends have to offer in a young man's life while driving or just simply parked. I sometimes think about that and wished I could relive those times with the wife in the front seat...

 

^ damn!

- - - - -

Would love to see ala cart option sheets again, instead of insanely bundled 'packages'. Even mundane pedestrian cars have wild, unique versions built that way.

 

I old dig the Ala carte, especially optional engines in luxo.  GM would just realize that the OHV V8 should be in everything they make in one form or another.. only exception maybe being the XT5.. and even that should get a TTV6 with minimum 400HP asap. 

generally across all car manufacturers, quit restricting the more powerful engine options to specific trims.  You used to be able to get a V6 Camry even in LE trim, but not your are restricted to XSE or XLE, same with the Malibu and only offering the 2.0T on the Premier trim for 17.  Those are just 2 examples but the list is long.

Two of my biggest beefs have already been covered-

One is the bundling of numerous individual options in a package or trim at the expense of standalone options. You end up either having to pay a bunch of money for options you don't care about to get a few you do, or forgo the options the you want.

Example, on my GTI, I had to get the SE to get the Fender audio system and Push Start/Keyless Entry. That was all I cared about. But that was bundled with leather, a sunroof, heated seats and a few other bits. If ala carte options were available, my GTI would have standard plaid cloth seats, Keyless Entry/Start, no sunroof, the Fender system, dual zone A/C, full power seats, Performance and Lightning Packages.

 

The second is engine options like @Stew mentioned.  An  LT1 V8 in a base LS Camaro would be awesome. As would a 2.0T Passat R Line. A 4.0-powered basic 911 C4 w/ a manual would be amazing.

 

The other thing that I will bring up is paint colors. Most color palettes are terribly limited, and the colors there are are almost all some shade of white, silver/grey, metallic red. So fuck ing boring. You even see it on a lot of high-end and sporty cars. Give us some oranges, yellows, greens, browns, bright blues, purples, etc. Something to liven up the roads instead of the drab shit we're stuck with now.

I would like to keep this real.

Heads up display on all cars. This is safety feature so over looked today an now much more affordible.

Lines that don't look like they were drawn by an ADHD 5 year old (side eye toward the lexus front ends and BMW side slash marks)

Real rooflines again.  Everything is a bubble.  The closest I can get to a formal roofline these days is a Chrysler 300.

3 hours ago, Stew said:

generally across all car manufacturers, quit restricting the more powerful engine options to specific trims.  You used to be able to get a V6 Camry even in LE trim, but not your are restricted to XSE or XLE, same with the Malibu and only offering the 2.0T on the Premier trim for 17.  Those are just 2 examples but the list is long.

Then BRING THEM... in a different post. This thing can be a million posts as far as I'm concerned, just TWO to a post to keep it organized

2 hours ago, Frisky Dingo said:

Two of my biggest beefs have already been covered-

One is the bundling of numerous individual options in a package or trim at the expense of standalone options. You end up either having to pay a bunch of money for options you don't care about to get a few you do, or forgo the options the you want.

Example, on my GTI, I had to get the SE to get the Fender audio system and Push Start/Keyless Entry. That was all I cared about. But that was bundled with leather, a sunroof, heated seats and a few other bits. If ala carte options were available, my GTI would have standard plaid cloth seats, Keyless Entry/Start, no sunroof, the Fender system, dual zone A/C, full power seats, Performance and Lightning Packages.

 

The second is engine options like @Stew mentioned.  An  LT1 V8 in a base LS Camaro would be awesome. As would a 2.0T Passat R Line. A 4.0-powered basic 911 C4 w/ a manual would be amazing.

 

The other thing that I will bring up is paint colors. Most color palettes are terribly limited, and the colors there are are almost all some shade of white, silver/grey, metallic red. So fuck ing boring. You even see it on a lot of high-end and sporty cars. Give us some oranges, yellows, greens, browns, bright blues, purples, etc. Something to liven up the roads instead of the drab shit we're stuck with now.

Hell yeah it would. A true stripper model if U like.. same thing I believe as to if I'm willing to pay for it.. I think I should be able to get a, for instance, CTS with an LT1 in it. If the engine fits.. I should be able to get it. In that situation it obviously does.

1 hour ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Lines that don't look like they were drawn by an ADHD 5 year old (side eye toward the lexus front ends and BMW side slash marks)

Real rooflines again.  Everything is a bubble.  The closest I can get to a formal roofline these days is a Chrysler 300.

CTS and CT6 as well 

This is a thread after my own heart.  Pickup trucks should come with the option of a stickshift.  And floor shift 4WD.

The thread should have come with the stipulation that the realities of scale should be included. 

Any idea should make money and meet all the criteria automakers face in the real world.

we get enough dreaming on the web as it is.

 

13 minutes ago, hyperv6 said:

The thread should have come with the stipulation that the realities of scale should be included. 

Any idea should make money and meet all the criteria automakers face in the real world.

we get enough dreaming on the web as it is.

 

Fine... I'll take an Alpha based Buick mid-size Sedan with a formal roofline.  I'll get the scale out of China and Holden. I'm sure the Chinese elite would eat it up. 

The original Elite, NOT a Chinese knock-off:

 

Not what I meant. 

1 hour ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Not what I meant. 

17 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Fine... I'll take an Alpha based Buick mid-size Sedan with a formal roofline.  I'll get the scale out of China and Holden. I'm sure the Chinese elite would eat it up. 

That is more like it. Leverage it as a Opel and Leverage it globally.

On 12/24/2016 at 9:21 AM, ocnblu said:

This is a thread after my own heart.  Pickup trucks should come with the option of a stickshift.  And floor shift 4WD.

Hell Yeah. I actually learned to drive stick in my dad's 69 Chevy Pick-up

19 hours ago, hyperv6 said:

The thread should have come with the stipulation that the realities of scale should be included. 

Any idea should make money and meet all the criteria automakers face in the real world.

we get enough dreaming on the web as it is.

 

DONE. #3

1 hour ago, hyperv6 said:

That is more like it. Leverage it as a Opel and Leverage it globally.

Sure, it can be a new Omega (won't that be confusing...). Power it with the 1.6 diesel, 2.0t, and 3.6 in Europe.

Add a 3.0t for US and AU.

5 hours ago, Cmicasa the Great said:

Hell Yeah. I actually learned to drive stick in my dad's 69 Chevy Pick-up

DONE. #3

Now the reality of more than 5% of people actually buying one. 

Also meeting emission easily.

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, hyperv6 said:

Now the reality of more than 5% of people actually buying one. 

Also meeting emission easily.

 

 

 

 

I am very interested in knowing the manual transmission take rate in the Tacoma and Frontier, both of which offer a stick in more than just the BASE, 2WD models.

2 hours ago, ocnblu said:

I am very interested in knowing the manual transmission take rate in the Tacoma and Frontier, both of which offer a stick in more than just the BASE, 2WD models.

Just look around they are rare.

Sadly so many people can not drive one today.

If a dealer gets one the make good deals on them to get them off the lot. 

I have nothing against manuals but the harsh reality is we are not far from seeing the last common one soon.

Who ever thought the famed gated shifter would be gone from Ferrari?

 

 

 

 

Automatic Highbeams..  In all cars. I remember Cadillac had them in the 70s and 80s, then that seemed to dissappear.  I now have then in  the Yukon and V.  They would seriously be a help to a great deal of inconsiderate sobs out there 

11 hours ago, Cmicasa the Great said:

Automatic Highbeams..  In all cars. I remember Cadillac had them in the 70s and 80s, then that seemed to dissappear.  I now have then in  the Yukon and V.  They would seriously be a help to a great deal of inconsiderate sobs out there 

My 85 Lincoln had them and they were a nice feature. Since nearly all cars now have some sort of forward facing sensor already, this shouldn't be that hard to do.

Cadillac & Olds introduced optional Autronic Eye (automatic headlight high beam dimming) in 1952. Other GM makes gained them for '53. Aparently the GM Futurliners also had Autronic Eye- not sure, esp when you think about the phototube being like 10 feet off the road. Lincoln started buying from GM & installing Autronic Eye for 1957.

Cadillac introduced Twilight Sentinel (automatic headlight illumination at dusk) for 1960.

I was unaware these features were ever dropped by Cadillac, but by now you guys know anything much past 1980 doesn't prompt me to research/ commit those details to memory.

Edited December 26, 20169 yr by balthazar

6 minutes ago, balthazar said:

Cadillac & Olds introduced optional Autronic Eye (automatic headlight high beam dimming) in 1952. Other GM makes gained them for '53. Aparently the GM Futurliners also had Autronic Eye- not sure, esp when you think about the phototube being like 10 feet off the road. Lincoln started buying from GM & installing Autronic Eye for 1957.

Cadillac introduced Twilight Sentinel (automatic headlight illumination at dusk) for 1960.

I was unaware these features were ever dropped by Cadillac, but by now you guys know anything much past 1980 doesn't prompt me to research/ commit those details to memory.

I don't think twilight sentinel was ever dropped, the name was, but the concept never was. Automatic high beams were dropped somewhere in the late 80s. They made a brief return in the Sigma body STS and then were gone again until recently.

4 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

I don't think twilight sentinel was ever dropped, the name was, but the concept never was. Automatic high beams were dropped somewhere in the late 80s. They made a brief return in the Sigma body STS and then were gone again until recently.

Yes. Similar to the NIGHT VISION. Can't for the life of me figure why that was originally dropped. So options.. shouldn't be options at all. they should be standard.

1 minute ago, Cmicasa the Great said:

Yes. Similar to the NIGHT VISION. Can't for the life of me figure why that was originally dropped. So options.. shouldn't be options at all. they should be standard.

Price, low take rate, only offered on the DTS which was geared towards the least technically adept buyer in the first place.  The people who would have been most interested in it would have more likely been Escalade, STS, XLR, and CTS buyers... not buyers of "old school" Cadillac that came with a bench seat standard.   It was GM's ineptness at product packaging at the time, nothing more. 

43 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Price, low take rate, only offered on the DTS which was geared towards the least technically adept buyer in the first place.  The people who would have been most interested in it would have more likely been Escalade, STS, XLR, and CTS buyers... not buyers of "old school" Cadillac that came with a bench seat standard.   It was GM's ineptness at product packaging at the time, nothing more. 

Always. I love GM.. but the management of then was a bit on the clueless side. The CT6 has a lot of things right about it. A few upgrades inside would make it quite possibly a better all around car than some of the 7 and S imo. 

 

Was it a dream.. or do I remember at one time cars coming with a trash can inside the vehicle so I didn't have to use my cupholders as such?