was the 90s and early 2000s the heyday of the fwd coupe?

mad_machine wrote:

slefain wrote: I'd say the 70s were the heyday, but that is just my twisted point of view:

what part of "Small" did you miss in my description?

They are small...er than their 4-door brethren!

1976 Eldorado - 224.1 inches long 1976 Fleetwood - 233.7 inches long

Mainly I just wanted to post the big V8 FWD coupe. You may resume your thread.

I will say, some of the most fun I've had in a car I owned (not borrowed) was my '89 Probe Turbo. My '87 Mirage Turbo is still in hibernation but I look forward to hearing boost whistle again. I think the practicality of the 2-door has lost out to the 5-door hatch. A modern 5-door hatch is just a CUV without the added height. And since wagons are a mythical beast anymore, the 5-door hatch is the next best thing. Throw in the lower cost of a FWD platform (except Mini, screw Mini) and buyers have no reason to choose less functionality for almost the same price.

GEO Storm Gsi. 140 hp (underated, closer to 155), 2400 lb, 4.12 axle ratio, 205/50-15 stock tire size, front and rear sway bars. Good Gawd that car was fast in it's day!!! And was a cornering god, compared to most of it's competition. And got 35 mpg at 65 mph. I loved mine to death, but the supply of replacement parts dried up.

novaderrik wrote: I think cars were the perfect blend of old and new in the 90's: they figured out how to make them somewhat powerful, but also smooth and efficient.. the interiors were simple looking, but had technology hidden in them.. you weren't cramped in by 47 airbags, and window pillars were still thin so you could see the outside world. Traction control and ABS were options, and a simple to operate am/fm/cd (or even cassette) deck was the whole entertainment center..

Exactly. EFI made things reliable, but I could still look under the hood, know what I was looking at, and fix it myself. Crushing government regulations hadn't yet bloated every car with 800lbs of safety equipment. Pedestrian crash test regulations meant that you weren't confined to driving a Sherman tank.

Klayfish wrote: Is the Yaris still available in 2 door?

Yes, I was looking at one on Sunday.

Wifey had a 99-ish Honda Prelude manual that was a pretty good drive. When did they stop making those?

Jay wrote: None of my '90s cars have had knobs, nor even most of the '80s stuff. That was more of a '70s thing, and those stereos sucked. The Peugeot has a head unit with *no* face controls - you HAVE to use the remote. I'm used to it now; I can reach down, get the remote from its cubby hole in the console and change the volume, track, or disc without taking my eyes off the road. It is aftermarket though. 10-disc CD changer in the boot & the face flips down to reveal a minidisc player. Of *course* it's Japanese. The car also has factory fully automatic climate control and seat/mirror position memory. I still rate the stereo in the '90 Celica up there as the *best* factory stereo I've had in anything. None of the Porsches or other 'upmarket' brands I've had could touch it. 10 speaker surround with door subs, properly amped with channel cross-overs. I miss that thing. It didn't have knobs either.

you drive weird cars... the vast majority of the vehicles that i have owned in my life- out of literally hundreds, and every one of the 5 that i own now- were products of the 80's or 90's.. every factory stereo has had knobs. in the case of my GM cars and trucks, the radios are interchangeable between the different cars, which is how i had a cassette deck from a late 80's Oldsmobile in my 97 Cavalier. it just bolted right in and plugged in like it belonged there.. pretty sure the Chrysler products also had radios that could be bolted and plugged into each other, and they range in years from a 78 pickup to the 94 LHS..

that LHS had the best sounding stereo that i have ever heard in it- 11 speakers of Infinity engineered awesomeness. that car had actual honest to goodness theater quality surround sound in it, and it was controlled by a head unit that was dead simple to operate.

I always had a soft spot for the 85-87 Z24 and Beretta GTZ of the early 90's

In reply to 1988RedT2:

2001 was the last year. It won best handling under $30k from C&D: http://www.caranddriver.com/comparisons/honda-prelude-sh-page-10

Brother had one. Pretty nice. I sometimes browse CL for one.

This is probably going start a war akin to the hatchback/liftback controversy, but...

Is it really a "coupe" model if it was also available in a 4-door version?

RealMiniParker wrote: This is probably going start a war akin to the hatchback/liftback controversy, but... Is it really a "coupe" model if it was also available in a 4-door version?

Does it have two doors, a hard top, and a trunk? If yes, then it's a coupe.

Fletch1 wrote: In reply to 1988RedT2: 2001 was the last year. It won best handling under $30k from C&D: http://www.caranddriver.com/comparisons/honda-prelude-sh-page-10 Brother had one. Pretty nice. I sometimes browse CL for one.

They are sweet cars. And it's nice that the kids aren't beating them all into the ground like with the Civics. You can still find some well-cared-for examples. The Prelude gets my vote for the pinnacle of front-drive coupe-iness.

Furious_E wrote:

RealMiniParker wrote: This is probably going start a war akin to the hatchback/liftback controversy, but... Is it really a "coupe" model if it was also available in a 4-door version?

Does it have two doors and a hardtop? If yes, then it's a coupe.

FTFY

2 door Yarises are great cars. I bought one brand new in 09 and put 43k miles in a year and a half in one. All I did was put gas and oil in it. Had some suspension tweaks on it and it rode like a go kart. I looked at a 4 door version of it but it was too expensive and I traded it in on a Fit. Great in the winter w/snow tires also.

Also, has someone mentioned the Ford Escort Zx2? They made them up until 2003 and were good little cars.