As the sum of many, many parts, the difference between a car being merely OK or good, or not just good but excellent, rarely comes down to just a few small tweaks or, even more rarely, one singular change. But it’s not unheard of. Today, I want to talk about the cars that came that close, how they missed, and what a bullseye would have looked like.
One Achillies heel of many nearly-awesome cars is the lack of available manual transmission. No, I’m not one of those people that believe any and every car could be improved with a stick, but there are a few that might have been seen as masterpieces with such a change.
The Subaru SVX is one grand touring car that was never available with three pedals. What made things worse on this automatic-only coupe was that the transmission you got was notorious for shooting craps prematurely. It seemed to be dying for a row-your-own ‘box that it never got.
The same thing happened with what might be the coolest Lexus-branded Toyota ever sold here: the IS300 SportCross wagon seen in the topshot. The sedans could be had with a manual but not the long-roof. If the factory had offered a stick option, they likely would have sold about ten, but in retrospect it could have been a solid 3 Series Touring rival. No wonder so many people do conversions on them.
Even some disastrous cars might have been drastically improved with a single change. In 1978, General Motors released mid-sized Buick and Oldsmobile sedans with a controversial fastback shape.
If these had been like American Saab hatchbacks with cavernous space in back, they might have attracted a following of those that didn’t want a station wagon. Sadly, they featured a trunk lid without even the benefit of a folding rear seatback. A hatch might not have saved them, but it certainly would have improved them exponentially and even gotten a cult following.
There are a lot more cars that were one change away from greatness, or at least more goodness. What are some more you can think of?
Top graphic image: Lexus
Wow, two of my cars featured in one post! The SVX was an amazing tourer but would have been more fun and way cheaper to run with a stick. The problem back then was they didn’t have a manual transmission that could handle the torque so they put in an automatic that should have been able to, however my annual transmission rebuilds after the center differential exploded says otherwise. It probably would have been cheaper to rebuild a manual if I had to have annual rebuilds anyways…
On the Sportcross I currently own, yeah, it needed a manual from the beginning. There’s just something about the tuning Toyota does to their automatics that I’ve always hated. (The SVX was great on the other hand, maybe leading to it being unreliable) The Aisin unit that gets paired with the sedan is more than good enough for the engine in stock form, but won’t last if you do any power mods you’re legally required to do if you have a 2JZ. The Getrag that came with the turbo Supras works great if you can stomach the $10K they cost used, so your only two good options are either a T56/6066, or a CD009/A. Only keeping me from following through on the last option is I’m waiting for something to break as I’ve been enjoying just daily-ing it stock waiting for something to break. Then waiting another year. Then another year.
Normally I’m quite skeptical of “this would have been so much better with a manual” reflexive talk from enthusiasts, but the Alfa 4C seems like the exception that really would have been.
The C8 not having a manual
My tin-foil hat theory is that they purposely omitted the manual from the C8 generation once it showed sales success. I bet we will see the manual as one of the key additions to the C9 generation
The most recent Camaro was already pretty damn good as a performance car, but why couldn’t we get a t-top option for a recent-heritage touch?
Mustang II – with less overhang at the front, larger wheels (15 instead of 13) with additional tire width would have dramatically changed the look. I think the 351 Cleveland was still legal in 1973, so a limited launch addition with a high revving version plus stick only could have been a halo model.
Jeep Gladiator should have been or offered a two-door.
The MR2 Spyder should’ve been offered as a fastback coupe.
Same with the S2000 and MX-5.
The entire Nissan lineup with a conventional automatic transmission and not the Jatco CVT.
(You knew this was coming)
Jeep Wrangler 4xe. A different (and better) battery supplier would’ve made a world of difference.
The Chevy Vega should have been a huge deal. It looked great and had tons of promise. Could I identify the “one thing” when it had a few critical problems? I guess maybe if the engines hadn’t been prone to failure we would have been more willing to deal with the rust issues.
Honda needed to give the CRZ more of the first gen insight treatment and lop around 700lbs off it.
The FR-S/BR-Z need the turbo WRX engine. I don’t want to hear this nonsense about “cannibalizing sales” from the WRX.
B6 S4 – Plastic timing chain tensioner?! All they had to do was use a metal one, which they finally did in the RS4.
I mean, the Ford Pinto was probably one of the better ’70s American subcompacts. Other than that fuel tank and its filler placement. (And Ford trying to sweep it under the rug, but that’s not a problem with the car, per se…)
The new Jaguar, but without the camera hump.
The 1994-1996 Impala SS would have been great(er) with a 6-speed manual transmission.
Or as a 2-door version with a convex rear window.
And across the aisle, Ford could have given the Marauder the supercharged 4.6 it had, which would have transformed it into what was actually intended.