As a car enthusiast, I’m sure you’re getting pumped for new cars all the time, regardless of whether or not you plan to buy (or can afford) the latest and greatest from insert brand. Lord knows I won’t be buying a new car anytime soon, but that fact does nothing to curb my Heinz-Ketchup-commercial-like anticipation for spotting new models I’m into on the street and checking them out in the showroom. Holy crap, is that a baby Corey Feldman?! Oh, pardon me, I was just watching the video I hyperlinked there.
Back to car-ticipation. Though I’m always looking forward to lots of different new cars dropping, I am inevitably more rabidly interested in some than others (hence the query of today’s Autopian Asks). Back in my early high school years, I was on tenterhooks (it’s not tender hooks, I looked it up) for the C4 Corvette to finally appear in actual fiberglass. Like so many other kids, I had the spread ad for the car on my bedroom wall, and after a full lifetime-up-until-then of nothing but the C3, the idea of an all-new Corvette, especially one so sleek and futuristic and digital-gizmo’d, was completely enthralling.
Spacer
I was also tracking motorcycles closely at the time, and not long after the C4 dropped, Honda introduced the GB400 retro-bike that would eventually come to the States in 1989 as the GB500 with a boost in displacement to match the name. The GB500 was way behind the times in styling (intentionally, of course) which made the backward-looking Honda way ahead of its time as far as the craze for retro-styling goes. I was mad for the ersatz British look of the thing, and couldn’t have cared less that it was really just a boring Universal Japanese Motorcycle at heart and hardly a screamer with its 500cc SOHC inline four.
Retro would be a bit of theme for me, as another vehicle I simply couldn’t wait for was the New Beetle. My Dad had a Squareback followed by a pair of Beetles (the last a Super), and a 1974 Super Beetle was my high school transpo. So, like Jason, you might say I’m a bit of a Beetle fan myself. I will confess I was a bit underwhelmed by the car once I experienced it in sheetmetal (my sister actually owned a first-year model), but the anticipation was, once again, ketchup-grade.
Now it’s your turn: What’s The Most Pumped You’ve Ever Been For A New Car?
… or a motorcycle, or truck, or anything really. I didn’t follow the rules, so you don’t have to.
Rivian R3X.
It’s the first vehicle that I’ve seriously put plans in place to make sure I can get one the moment it comes out (if it comes out). It’s basically perfection on 4 wheels and I really, really, really, really want one.
Like REALLY want one.
This is one of those vehicles where I think “yeah, I’d love one too”, and then I’m forced to think “yeah, me and 500 million other people…I’ll probably have to wait ten years”.
R3x is my answer as well. I would love, love, love to lock down one of these as a second car. I’m giving it a 50/50 chance at this point.
Maybe the GT350.
2008 Dodge Challenger. I couldn’t afford the SRT but bought an R/T in 2009. Still one of the best looking cars ever, excepting the 1970 of course. Do you hear me, Kowalski?
The ND Miata. I grew up with an NB in the family that ended up being the car I learned how to drive on. I kept it well into my 30s.
The NC never really did it for me and the anticipation for the ND was wild. I probably read every ND forum post for 3-5 years pre and post release.
I never ended up buying one… was lucky enough to “leapfrog” into a 997 and eventually an M2. But I still desperately want one.
That “sixteen, wide eyes” commercial narrated by Aaron Paul really made me want one, but long story short, life got in the way. A Miata of some sort is still on my bucket list.
My answer to this article’s question is the original Miata, back in 1989. I was in college, semi-seriously contemplating a Fiat 124 Spider and then Mazda dropped the NA, and a new obsession was born.
Something about small convertibles has always appealed to me, probably due to a TR6 one of my mom’s boyfriends had when I was younger.
Like you, life got in the way and it took 25 years to get one (ended up being a used PRHT GT in copper red mica), and two and a half months later I got rear ended and it spent six months in the body shop awaiting parts. Life’s funny sometimes – maybe more “this meat smells funny” than ha ha funny at times.
Anyway, I still have it, and it’s probably my forever car unless I have to trade it in for an automatic (I know, I know, but bad knees…).
Keep dreaming and working towards it. You’ll get there.
Duplicate comment, please delete, sorry.
Take one for a test drive. Everything is wonderful about them, except the lack of a spare tire and the infotainment menu. Mine is my go-to default car, and I have a pretty sizeable collection. The rest of ’em are getting neglected.
It even has enough trunk space for a modest Costco run.
Honestly, what are you waiting for?
Oh I’ve driven many, one of my best friends has an RF. They’re lovely. I don’t have the room at the moment.
Yep! 1998 New Beetle Turbo, Granny Smith Apple Green, Came complete with all the issues of that era!
Username will check out here but the 1st gen CTS-V.
Upon hearing GM wanted to finally build something of an American M5, and the CTS would get the Z06 V8 and manual 6 speed, I was thrilled.
At that point I was watching top gear a lot and then the Clive Owen / Madonna BMW short movie came out, I was stoked that GM was going to do this.
I knew I would get one some day and have been pleased with mine for many years.
*runner up = 2003 SRT4
Dodge Charger Daytona, RAM TRX, Slate pickup, Dodge Demon 170
(sense a theme?)
It was the first Porsche Boxster for me. The concept looked fantastic but the retail execution was an undeniable letdown.
It got less sleek, especially at the hind end. The cool painter’s palette taillights morphed into generic shapes, the headlights’ yolk broke and overcooked, the interior went from intriguingly Zaha Hadid-style blobby to depressingly tenth-gen F-150 blobby, and worst of all, the side scoops transitioned from being cool little hypodermic tips in the sills to boring slatted holes in the fender that made the car look like a Ferrari Mondial that died in a fire.
Yeah, that last change was probably needed to keep it from dying in a flood, but hey… they’re Porsche. If anyone can make a car work with important parts shoved to the wrong end of the envelope, it’s the one that still sells world-beating GT cars with engines hanging well behind the rear axle.
Thankfully later iterations made good on some of these mistakes… especially when the platform was made into a Cayman, about which I remain pumped. Especially in Macadamia Metallic.
If I remember correctly the concept also had those neat little fan blade HVAC vents
Pontiac G8.
I spent an insane amount of time on forums, calling dealers, reading literature, etc trying to get every scrap of info on when it would be released, what the specs would be, how I could get one, etc.
First new car I ever bought and nothing has been quite so exciting since.
That’s a good call. It really was this astonishing seeming return to Pontiac of old…the Firebird was gone, and outside of that, Pontiac had been mostly front wheel drive sedans with increasingly questionable styling.
Do you still have it?
No, sold it years ago.
Later had an SS, and while I love the Holden cars, they are tough to own because of parts availability/cost of the Aus-specific stuff.
Bummer. 🙁
I’m disappointed in the lack of Dodge Viper in your answer.
I’ve told the story before, but I didn’t set out on that journey intending to buy one. Only after the C7 Z06 received a slate of bad reviews for its cooling system coupled with Vipers rotting in showrooms with massive discounts (bringing them into my price range) made me even consider one. The whole shopping process was only a couple weeks and nothing like the buildup to the G8.
The GT-R was something really special. I was 10-ish at the time and I went out of my way to get every magazine that had coverage of it, and eventually Nissan brought one out to our local auto show and I could see it in person.
As an adult I don’t see myself ever owning one. But damn, what a special car to exist, especially at the time.
Was lucky enough to drive one in Japan, I think the R35 is absolutely a car you could daily. They hold their value annoyingly well though, you do end up paying what feels like too much given the age.
Those who bought it for $60k when it came out had a screaming deal.
When we were getting my mother’s Murano in 2009, I was waiting around in the Nissan showroom, where they had a GT-R on display and able to be sat in. They also left the key in the cupholder. I didn’t realize this when I managed to start it, but it definitely got the general manager’s attention.
SN95 Mustang.
Remember, at that time in the early 90s, retro wasn’t a design ethos yet, and the current Mustang had a style that was little changed over the course of a decade. The promise of a new Mustang that would harken back to past greatest hits was intoxicating; I read the magazines constantly for any news on it.
When I was in high school one of my best friend’s dads worked at the Nissan HQ in Torrance, CA. He brought an Xterra brochure to school before it had been officially launched. I was 14 years old and spent the next almost 2 years trying to convince my parents thats what I needed. I did not get one.
I’m still waiting with undiminished enthusiasm for the Tata Nano to become importable under the 25-year rule.
Elio, man! It’s the future!
Several years ago I got to sit in one of the prototypes when it was on a nationwide tour. The staff recognized, but didn’t entirely appreciate, my HMV Freeway t-shirt.
Well when the Miata first came out at $18,000 I wanted one bad.
When was that?
Because the base Miata was $13,800 in 1990.
The 2012 Cruze Eco. It fixed several issues with the 2011’s. I bought one new and drove it 250k miles. Kind of regret selling it. But it would be sitting and rotting so better off sold and used.
M340i. I owned an F30 328i at the time, and thought the chassis was aloof and as my driving progressed I was really wanting for a limited-slip differential. As soon as the specs leaked and I read that it had a standard LSD I thought it sounded perfect, then the initial press review come back and they’re all glowing. 3 years later I bought one sight-unseen without ever test driving one. It’s everything my F30 wasn’t. AWD traction, but LSD and enough rear bias to steer with the throttle and do the occasional cheeky slide. Deceptively fast, but up to 38mpg highway. Is it perfect? No – but I can’t think of anything else that blends performance and practicality so well. Did it live up to the hype I built around it? Hell yes.
It was definitely the new beetle for me, it was the first car I was super excited about that I was able to buy. I placed a reservation for one probably a year before release, and I got one of the first ones available. Silver with yellow stripe, sadly, it was an auto, as I didn’t know how to drive a manual at the time.
During my first year of ownership I was like a celebrity driving the latest supercar. People would wave, take pictures shout etc all as I drove by. At the pump people came up to me and wanted to see the car.
I really loved it, and I always had a flower in that bud vase. Thinking about it now, that vase was one of the last fun irrational thing a car maker put in a production car.
Sadly, after the excitement wore off, I was stuck with a late 90s VW with all of its reliability problems. The car was in for warranty service more than I had the car. The gas tank even got replaced under warranty.
One funny thing was that while it was at the dealer being repaired the wheels got stolen off in their lot. Thieves stole the wheels from around 10 cars. I swear that vehicle was cursed.
It reallywas a piece of junk and ended up dying due to an overheating issue.
Even though it was a partially miserable experience I still would have bought it knowing all the problems. It got me more into the car world and got me wrenching for the first time. So, I thank you beetle for all the good times.
I was also super excited about the New Beetle and also got one of the first ones : blue with a manual transmission. Never really had trouble with it except the fuel door release, which had problems because of the way the release cable was routed. It would collect water, corrode, and seize. To be fair, I didn’t own it for that long either; I traded it in for a 2002 Golf TDI.
I had mine for a while, but when it was on its last legs I traded it in for a manual Scion Xb. And I loved that slow purple toaster.
I was a Senior in High School when the new 1983 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe was announced.
After decades of too large, too opulent, too thirsty, too boxy and too Grandpa Thunderbirds – the new one was a breath of fresh air.
Oh how I wanted a red metallic TC w/ a red leather interior….
And what was odd was that white with black accents was a fantastic-looking color scheme on it! Not many cars could pull that off.
Tell us how you really Fila ’bout it?
IIRC they often did come with red beltline trim!
Last time I was shopping I was hyped for the Arteon and Stinger, but I didn’t end up with either of them. The new Integra as well until we learned it was a barely tarted up Civic.
I wasn’t planning on replacing the GLI I just bought this spring any time soon, but the new Infiniti sedan or CT5 or Mustang sedan could be something I might not be able to resist.
The OG Tesla Roadster. I couldn’t afford one when it was sold new, but it was close to a dream car for sure. The same applies to the U.S. spec Lotus Elise and Alfa Romeo 4C.
If something of the sort existed today in the sub-$70k price range, and it was a well-built, lightweight, driver-oriented, simple/serviceable 2-seater vehicle of 2,500 lbs or less with at least 200 horsepower per ton, and it looked sexy and elegant to the point where it won’t become dated, I’d be very tempted right now. But my money is safe, because no one builds such a thing today for the USA market. The closest would be perhaps an ND Miata(underpowered, too aggressively styled) or a Porsche Cayman(too expensive), and they both only get halfway to what I want at best.
Caymans on the used market can be found for downright reasonable prices. I am not really a Porsche guy, but I was helping a friend shop them. There are plenty of gently used, rust-free models if you look in the right states.
The 1st gen is my favorite. I’d love to put a VW 1.9L TDI engine in one. With its relatively low CdA value, this could be a 60+ mpg highway car. And with tuning to around 300 horsepower, it would rip.
Of course, given what it is and its relative rarity, I’d be tempted to keep it stock long term. Being a 1st gen, it may end up worth a lot of money in the future.
Can you achieve both simultaneously, or is that wishful thinking? I would expect that if it were easily accomplished, one of the automakers would have done it already?
Seriously, I’d love to see data on that. It sounds too good to be true, but if it works, it’s awesome.
See Casey Putsch’s Omega sports car. It accelerates faster than his Dodge Viper, and gets 100+ mpg, using a TDI engine. My assumption is that the Cayman has at least 50% more CdA and another 1,000 lbs mass vs Casey’s custom sports car, so ~60 mpg. The Cayman is significantly more efficient than say, a Jetta, in terms of CdA.
The automakers aren’t even trying. They’re more concerned with maintaining a paradigm of planned obsolescence, and there’s a chain of industries that don’t want to see sales/profits drop from people using less resources to do the same things. Every dollar you don’t spend is a dollar they don’t get.
Everything is about maximum extraction of money from people, and when they can’t pay, government steps in and bails industry out with our tax dollars.
I remembered being absolutely stoked when the BRZ came out; I was in my ~3 month stint selling new Subarus at the time (was absolutely shit at it) and was sure it was going to be a hit. The owner was like “meh, maybe we’ll sell a couple, maybe not”.
I’m still stoked about the Toyobaru 86. What a fantastic platform. I am equally excited about the prospect of Toyota GR engine system being used in it (and that’s as a serious Subaru fan).
I was so stoked for the new Mini. It came out my first year of high school, so I had no way of ever owning one, but that didn’t stop me from ordering brochures and playing with the configurator website constantly when I should have been paying attention in my photography class instead.
24 years later, I’m not sure if I’ve ever even sat in a “modern” Mini. (I’d like a 2006 Cooper S in Chili Red with a white roof, please).
Oh this is a good one. I totally forgot that my Dad and I made a 50 mile drive to the nearest dealer, just to look at them when they first came out. I was enamored with them. But I was also 14, so yeah, not exactly primed for a new car purchase.
BRG, white roof, tan interior please.
When the WRX first came to America. We were finally getting the real thing. I was pumped and made the poor financial decisions to own one.
Honestly, the Ford Maverick. For years, people have been asking for a small pickup that is supremely useful; Ford nailed it.
We bought one for work, I got to take it home for a night and I was so damn impressed. Great packaging, great visibility, good ride/handling tradeoff for what it is, and shockingly quick with the turbo 4.