Bean-Counterism

[2o6]

Cars that had potential, but the Bean-counters took it all away......


I nominate the Chevy Cavalier. Even in Base trim, like this in unpainted bumpers, I think it was a great-looking, and well-preportioned design. Tune-Ready, and a competitive price, the Cavalier was a respectible car. (From 1995 to maybe....1998)


Chevy had something, but it was left to rot on the vine.

IDK how to describe it, but this Cavalier looks cheaper than the one with unpainted bumpers.

[Eye of the Tiger]

I agree with that Cavalier. The Z24 even outperformed such performance legends as the Neon DOHC, Sentra SE-R, and Escort GT. Alas, "enthusiasts" shat on it, and the people who bought them did the same.

[J86]

My buddy has a mid 90s cav, and I think its an utter piece of shit.

[Eye of the Tiger]

My nomination:




Consumer Reports killed it when it claimed it had an unacceptable amount of rollover in it's emergency avoidance manueuver. Fuck them. It wasn't built to swerve around cones at 60mph. The Samurai is one of the best off road vehicles ever, and it was simply unbeatable for the price.

[Eye of the Tiger]

My buddy has a mid 90s cav, and I think its an utter piece of shit.

So were all the other cars in its class.

[J86]

So were all the other cars in its class.

No argument there, but there are others I would have gotten ahead of it.

[ifcar]

My nomination:




Consumer Reports killed it when it claimed it had an unacceptable amount of rollover in it's emergency avoidance manueuver. Fuck them. It wasn't built to swerve around cones at 60mph.

Or take normal curves comfortably at 30 mph. Or do too much else on road.

It's closer to an ATV than most SUVs made since then.

[S204STi]

My nomination:




Consumer Reports killed it when it claimed it had an unacceptable amount of rollover in it's emergency avoidance manueuver. Fuck them. It wasn't built to swerve around cones at 60mph. The Samurai is one of the best off road vehicles ever, and it was simply unbeatable for the price.

Like Mazda6er says in his sig, my dad used to rent those out as part of his business, and absolutely loved to drive them.  They were great off road, easy to drive, etc.

[S204STi]

No argument there, but there are others I would have gotten ahead of it.

The Civic, Corolla, Impreza, heck even the Escort.

[the Teuton]

This is most-likely what convinced Lutz that bean counterism sucked.  When this car came to all of the shows, GM had customers vote on whether they wanted to see it reach production.  As one of the millions who voted for it, here's what GM should have put into production.



Here's what we got:



Which turned into:

[CJ]

I like the Aztek!  I like the facelifted version quite a lot.  They're quite roomy. 

[CALL_911]

I like the Aztek!  I like the facelifted version quite a lot.  They're quite roomy. 

These are quite roomy too.

[CJ]

Those are hard to park.  Those get piss poor fuel mileage.  Those get FAIL!

[CALL_911]

Those are hard to park.  Those get piss poor fuel mileage.  Those get FAIL!

The LeSabre just plain sucks. FAIL.

[TheIntrepid]

I like the Aztek!  I like the facelifted version quite a lot.  They're quite roomy. 

No wonder you think the V8 Vantage is ugly.

[the Teuton]

The Aztek was a great concept failed by a company that worried about the cost of it rather than its substance.

[the Teuton]

In the same respect, how did this:



Become this:

[93JC]

Or take normal curves comfortably at 30 mph. Or do too much else on road.

It's closer to an ATV than most SUVs made since then.

Were you not on your knees deep-throating Consumer Reports throbbing member all the time I would ask whether you have ever driven a Samurai, but alas I imagine the answer is not material to your assessment of the vehicle anyway.

[TheIntrepid]

IMO a great design with decent power and absolutely cavernous on the inside. Edmunds said it was a spacious family sedan with the moves of a sports car (or something along those lines)

Also, I'd take this design over a Charger anyday, except a black on black SRT-8.

No bias here, of course

[the Teuton]

And it really wasn't a bad interpretation of the concept car, to be honest.

[TheIntrepid]

And it really wasn't a bad interpretation of the concept car, to be honest.

That looks like a fucking hot wheels car. Ew. Mine looks MUCH better than that.

[93JC]

I don't think the Intrepid was in any substantive way limited by 'bean-counterism'. It was all-around a pretty good car...

[3.0L V6]

The Neon. Crummy headgaskets, frameless windows, lack of a 4-spd automatic, and cheap bits turned what was a pretty good (and profitable) American car into yesterday's news. Only redesigned once into an even wussier car, with the exception of the SRT-4. Left to be a loss-leader.

The Ford Focus. Received kudos when introduced, marred by recalls early due to cost cutting. Whe Focus II platform was introuduced worldwide, we got stuck with the original. They did sell the Focus II platform in North America...as the Mazda3, which has received high praise.

[3.0L V6]

I don't think the Intrepid was in any substantive way limited by 'bean-counterism'. It was all-around a pretty good car...

They had the sludge-prone 2.7L DOHC engine. Search Ebay for legions of Intrepids with blown engines.

[TheIntrepid]

They had the sludge-prone 2.7L DOHC engine. Search Ebay for legions of Intrepids with blown engines.

Eek. This girl in high school had one, what an awfully slow car, that 2.7 Intrepid

[Eye of the Tiger]

They had the sludge-prone 2.7L DOHC engine. Search Ebay for legions of Intrepids with blown engines.

Aside from the sludge, and the fact that it was used in too-heavy cars, the 2.7L was a nice engine.

[3.0L V6]

The Cavalier: reliable junk.

They will take a merciless lack of maintenance and drive happily past the 200,000km+ mark. That pushrod 2.2L is rough and underpowered but will not die. Sure, you'll have to deal with stuff falling off and whatnot, but it will still run.

Perfect case for the mantra "GM cars run bad longer than most other cars run at all"

[93JC]

They had the sludge-prone 2.7L DOHC engine. Search Ebay for legions of Intrepids with blown engines.

So did Camrys, but that doesn't stop people from worshipping them as God-given chariots of mediocre A-to-B automobilia.

[TheIntrepid]

So did Camrys, but that doesn't stop people from worshipping them as God-given chariots of mediocre A-to-B automobilia.

[3.0L V6]

Aside from the sludge, and the fact that it was used in too-heavy cars, the 2.7L was a nice engine.

Erm...that's like saying "Aside from the fact that she has AIDS, she has a really smoking body and nice personality"