The Greatest Cars Thread

[CALL_911]

Seriously.  They use Crown Victorias still and they're utter crap.  I'm surprised we haven't seen Dodge Caliber cop cars yet.

I hope we do.

[Eye of the Tiger]

I hope we do.

There would be a lot of pissed off cops...

[CALL_911]

There would be a lot of pissed off cops...

So long as taxpayers are paying for police cars, IDGAF.

[2o6]

So long as taxpayers are paying for police cars, IDGAF.

Knowing the state of our bureaucracy, those Calibers would magically be $40K a pop.

[Vinsanity]

You know what I'd like to see...

[2o6]

My police uses those.


Those should be our highway patrol cars.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Back on topic, my turn to post a greatest car:

[Soup DeVille]

Be honest here, how "crappy" were these cars? I am under the impression that they were quite good given how they were used en masse by taxi and police fleets.

At least they must have been a tad better than the other Malaise Era stuff...


I can't wait to ride in a Caprice with you in the near future! 

They kept running, and because there were so many of them, parts became easy and chesp to find, which meant you could keep them running for not much bread. Reliable, uninspring appliances to be more exact: perhaps crap is too harsh.

But yeah. I won't tell you that Detroit makes a good vacation spot, but I can show you a side of the US that doesn't show up in world news reports.

[Rupert]

They made so many CVs for so long without changing a thing about them, I would hope they would be reliable and cheap! Certainly enough time to work the bugs out...

[Eye of the Tiger]

I forgot to mention how the M5OD is one of the greatest transmissions of all time

[Northlands]

Acura NSX - Already posted, but a forgiving, easy to drive supercar, looking the way it did ( and does ) is remarkable.





Camcords - Hauls a family , good gas mileage, very good reliability. Served millions of people faithfully. It's hard to say these haven't been the benchmark for family sedans for ages. I'd have to throw in the original Ford Taurus as well.

[Gotta-Qik-C7]

The NSX also brought RELIABILITY to table! Same for the Lexus LS400!

[Raza]

Camcords - Hauls a family , good gas mileage, very good reliability. Served millions of people faithfully. It's hard to say these haven't been the benchmark for family sedans for ages. I'd have to throw in the original Ford Taurus as well.

Great at being mediocre is not great.  That's like saying McDonald's has the best cheeseburger because they've served billions. 

[Raza]

The NSX also brought RELIABILITY to table! Same for the Lexus LS400!

This I actually agree with, a little.  It shocked the Germans and helped shaped the large luxury market into what it is today.  It hasn't had the influence or trickle-down effect of any S class, but it was a very influential car.

Whether or not that was a good influence is up for you to decide, but it's definitely a pivotal car. 

[cawimmer430]

I think you overestimate the standards of taxi and police fleets...

They have high standards. They need high standards.

[cawimmer430]

They kept running, and because there were so many of them, parts became easy and chesp to find, which meant you could keep them running for not much bread. Reliable, uninspring appliances to be more exact: perhaps crap is too harsh.

But yeah. I won't tell you that Detroit makes a good vacation spot, but I can show you a side of the US that doesn't show up in world news reports.

I think Detroit is a very cool city from the photos that I see on Google. I like the abandoned buildings and industrial centers there which are awesome locations for car shoots. Sadly here in Munich, this being a very wealthy area, such places would get torn down in a heartbeat - which totally sucks.

[Vinsanity]

They have high standards. They need high standards.

They're not quite the Merc W123 taxis that you had over in Deutschland. Actually, picture a supersized W123 designed and engineered by Ebenezer Scrooge, and assembled by Larry the Cable Guy, and the result is your typical 1980's American car.

[bing_oh]

Triumph TR3. First production car to come with standard disk brakes...not to mention a blast to drive.

[cawimmer430]

They're not quite the Merc W123 taxis that you had over in Deutschland. Actually, picture a supersized W123 designed and engineered by Ebenezer Scrooge, and assembled by Larry the Cable Guy, and the result is your typical 1980's American car.

Yeah, the quality probably wasn't that good, but I do like the design. It's very nice in my opinion. And I think you mentioned something that you like those 1980s Caprices as well and the 1980s Cadillac DeVille sedan.

[Northlands]

Great at being mediocre is not great.  That's like saying McDonald's has the best cheeseburger because they've served billions. 

For it's purpose, they've been great. It's a car that tries to be many things to the most people, and accomplishes almost all of it. There's also been a lot of other family sedans out there, and these two have stood out for the longest. They're not sports cars or super cars. But those couldn't hold four people for reasonable money, get great mileage, decent performance and drive out 300k km's with relatively minor maintenance.

I hate McDonald's. But there's no denying it's success.

[Raza]

For it's purpose, they've been great. It's a car that tries to be many things to the most people, and accomplishes almost all of it. There's also been a lot of other family sedans out there, and these two have stood out for the longest. They're not sports cars or super cars. But those couldn't hold four people for reasonable money, get great mileage, decent performance and drive out 300k km's with relatively minor maintenance.

I hate McDonald's. But there's no denying it's success.

Success, in this case, does not define greatness.  If this is a measure of sales, then the Miata is the best sports car ever made, Ferraris are garbage, and the best performance car of all time is the Camry V6. 

They are great at nothing.  They are a white good.  They are not great.  They fit neatly in the portion of the bell curve that appeals to people think salted caramels are gross, but Hershey chocolate is great.

[cawimmer430]

I agree that the W126 was a good car. We had a 1985 300SE with the inline-6. Drove it up to 200,000 km and never had any issues. A screw holding the generator came loose one time while driving the car and the device scraped against metal causing an annoying sound for about half an hour until we pulled into a Mercedes dealership en route. They tightened the screw and the problem was fixed.

A weakspot on the W126s, at least on the 6-cylinder models, are the camshafts which can deform with time. This happened on ours and according to a Mercedes specialist this generally happens around the 200,000 km mark. They're cheap to replace though.

This is one of the best W126 photos on the Internet. Beautiful car, although I prefer the W116.

[SVT666]

Mustang

It brought performance to the masses in an attractive design that could be used as the primary family car.  Something it still accomplishes today, but as a second car.  The Mustang is iconic and despite having some very rough patches, it has been produced for 48 years consecutively.  Today's Mustang is so good it is compared against non typical competitors that cost nearly twice as much such as the M3.

[Vinsanity]

Yeah, the quality probably wasn't that good, but I do like the design. It's very nice in my opinion. And I think you mentioned something that you like those 1980s Caprices as well and the 1980s Cadillac DeVille sedan.

I dunno about that. Maybe in a "so bad it's good" kind of way. And I definitely don't chime in at every chance I get and annoy everyone with my strange lust for those cars.

[hotrodalex]

I think Wimmer misunderstood part of his English lessons. He seems to think the word for "piece of junk" is "cool".

[cawimmer430]

I think Wimmer misunderstood part of his English lessons. He seems to think the word for "piece of junk" is "cool".

THIS:



IS COOL. 


I'm nostalgic. I grew up with these cars on the TV screen ('80s action movies rock!). 

[cawimmer430]

I dunno about that. Maybe in a "so bad it's good" kind of way. And I definitely don't chime in at every chance I get and annoy everyone with my strange lust for those cars.

I think you once said you kind of like these.



^Another cool car from the '80s. The bad guys drove these babies in literally every action movie from that period! Hence the reason why I love it!^

[Eye of the Tiger]

I think you once said you kind of like these.



^Another cool car from the '80s. The bad guys drove these babies in literally every action movie from that period! Hence the reason why I love it!^

Yeah, and how often did the bad guys win?

[S204STi]

Mustang

It brought performance to the masses in an attractive design that could be used as the primary family car.  Something it still accomplishes today, but as a second car.  The Mustang is iconic and despite having some very rough patches, it has been produced for 48 years consecutively.  Today's Mustang is so good it is compared against non typical competitors that cost nearly twice as much such as the M3.

Agreed.

[cawimmer430]

Yeah, and how often did the bad guys win?

But they rode in style! 


Imagine the horror if they had to ride in this! 



^Now this looks like a POS!^