I would appreciate if you keep this to technology reasonable but have at it.
I also invite critique of at least my own hopes.
I would like Chevy to make a retro-looking **Camaro ** with attention to detail on the interior as well. I also want a good AM-FM-CD-MP3 player in the dash. To make this more of a long shot, I want Chevy to make it a hybrid with a well-engineered Tranny that can provide solid Fuel efficiency High Way or City or plenty of pep on demand. I believe technology would allow Gas mileage in the 35mpg range, but I could be wrong. I would like the entire package to come in below $30,000.
I will settle for a Small Hybrid Station Wagon from whoever chooses to make one. It should price below $25,000 and get 40 to 50 mpg.
Jim {Damn it, I am 40, I need my mid-life crisis car that I could still feel good about owning}
I would like a Honda Fit… with a plug-in diesel-electric hybrid drivetrain capable of burning biodiesel, and also four-wheel drive and a higher ground clearance. The car would be intended for snowy roads and rough northern driveways, not traditional Jeep-style off-roading. Basically, not unlike a Subaru Outback but smaller.
I’d like a car that was styled with nice, clean, sporty lines, like the Mazda6, Pontiac G6, or Cadillac CTS, with decent power, fuel economy, and quality.
And I’d like it to be built by Chrysler. (yep, that’s the kicker)
Yeah, I was gonna say I’d be happy if my next rice cooker had a power switch, and my next crock pot had a power light on it.
Hmm… cars. It’s more a list of things I don’t want. Headlight windhshield wipers, power sunroof, glove compartment air conditioner, seat warmer… all those little technological bits I never use, but it really annoys me when they break, especially if it means I have to fix them or something I want to use won’t work. No radios that stop working if the battery dies unless I input the seekrit code that keeps people from selling my radio after they’ve busted a window and ripped it out of the dashboard. Guys? I really don’t care whether or not he can sell the radio at that point…
Word. I even like manual windows. I’d really like for someone to latch on to the “It’s an appliance for driving in” line of thought - sort of a streamlined Volvo 240. Feel free to go wild on the safety bits and pieces and I’m cool with electronic engine management to increase fuel efficiency, but screw the electrically adjusted lumbar support with built-in Shiatsu massager.
All I want is a damn windshield washer fluid holder that can actually hold slightly more than a gallon, so when I buy washer fluid, I don’t have half a jug of it rolling around in my trunk.
How about a 7-series BMW with a six-speed manual transmission? Or maybe I’ll just get a Nissan Maxima. With leather, heated seats. Pretty close, and I’ll save a chunk of change, to boot!
Okay. I’ll take a factory-built replica of a 1963 Ferrari 330LMB with modern interior comforts. Make it Metallic Emerald Green or Red, with tan leather.
I’d like a car with a built-in voice-activated driver, like auto-pilot, right? I could sit in the back and just tell the car what to do, where to go and stuff and it would do it. Cheaper than actually paying a human driver and I don’t have to be polite on my crabby days. I’m totally serious.
You’ll get my seat heater when you pry it from my cold dead ass! :mad: I love my heated seats!
Car: Mini Cooper. I can’t see myself driving anything else in the foreseeable future, but I wish they came in 4WD or AWD. Otherwise, I wouldn’t change much about it - maybe a way to keep the boot from getting so dirty, but that’s just the way it’s designed.
I’d like a up-to-date version of the 1948 Chevy Delivery truck seen here
I had hoped the advance talk about that PT Cruiser would be along those lines but it is way too small and underpowered.
Something like the ‘48 with a nice V6 or small V8, a little more in the wheel flair area, a CD, MP3, Ipod connection, an engine compartment you can get your hands into for routine mait. and a design that doesn’t require you to drop the engine and tranny to change the freakin’ spark plugs.
A rubbish bin (as mentioned), somewhere to put my handbag (also beaten to the punch), a slot big enough for the street directory and a drink holder which holds a 600 ml bottle, not just a can.
Any BMW or Mercedes with early-90s styling as opposed to the curvy-ass, bulky, jellybean style of today. A Ford F-150 or Chevy Silverado that isn’t downward-sloping, feminine, and minivan-like. In other words, a vehicle with clean straight symmetrical lines.
A 150 hp turbo-diesel 4 cyl that gets 40 mpg around town and seats 4 adults. Something with a lot of room like a Ford 500. I wouldn’t mind hybrid technology but I’d prefer it be dedicated to off-the-line performance. I don’t want a trunk-load of batteries taking up space. It only takes about 11 hp to keep a full size car moving on the highway and it would be nice if a small engine could be utilized to take advantage of that fact.
I don’t need the price or performance of a Lotus Elise or even an MX-5. Something small, cheap to run, fun to drive. I’m guessing it might be hard to make such a vehicle live up to modern safety standards, but surely you could take the underpinnings of a hot hatch and stick them in a small two seater shell and sell it for a lot less than the cars above?
I want NO DVD player. And the MP3 player has to have a random function, dangit, I’m not interested in listening to 700 songs in alphabetical order. Having a mixed transmission that I can switch from manual to automatic (and cruise control, yay!) would be nice.
Stuff like hige mileage and being parkable in a flower pot, I already got. Must be maintained, of course.
If any engineer can come up with a way to ensure that Mom’s left elbow doesn’t take up all the space over the handbrake and gears lever when she’s in the co-pilot’s seat, I’ll worship him/her forever and ever amen.
