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Watched an old episode of Wheeler Dealer in which they worked on a Porsche/VW 914. Use to have a neighbor who had this back in the 1980s. I actually liked the look of the car. The owner said he loved how it handled the road on winding country roads. I know Toyota had an affordable mid-engine car in the MR2. GM had a chance to make a good affordable mid-engine car but cut corners too much making it an unsafe fire trap.
Do you think an affordable mid-engine car like the 914 and MR2 could be built today considering modern crash safety standards and current and future CAFE fuel economy standards? VW currently owns Porsche which produces two mid-engine sports coupes. Subaru is another boxer engine brand. What do you think?
Watched an old episode of Wheeler Dealer in which they worked on a Porsche/VW 914. Use to have a neighbor who had this back in the 1980s. I actually liked the look of the car. The owner said he loved how it handled the road on winding country roads. I know Toyota had an affordable mid-engine car in the MR2. GM had a chance to make a good affordable mid-engine car but cut corners too much making it an unsafe fire trap.
Do you think an affordable mid-engine car like the 914 and MR2 could be built today considering modern crash safety standards and current and future CAFE fuel economy standards? VW currently owns Porsche which produces two mid-engine sports coupes. Subaru is another boxer engine brand. What do you think?
Do you just sit around and try to think of ways to bash GM? (oh sorry, you do)
Comparing a 914 to a MR2 to a Fiero is really odd, too. 914's rusted at about the same rate as a Vega or Pinto did.
BTW, the later years Fiero GT was actually quite a decent vehicle and didn't have the issue that the early 4 cylinders did.
The Fiero out sold the MR2 by more than 2 to 1, and had 122 fires out of 370,000 units that mainly were caused by the 1984 model year only. It is now a cult classic. They also handled every bit as well as the MR2. Great way to spread more mis-information. Maybe you could bring up Pinto fires, or Jeep rollovers next. Show us a picture of your Ralph Nader for President bumper sticker.
The Fiero out sold the MR2 by more than 2 to 1, and had 122 fires out of 370,000 units that mainly were caused by the 1984 model year only. It is now a cult classic. They also handled every bit as well as the MR2. Great way to spread more mis-information. Maybe you could bring up Pinto fires, or Jeep rollovers next. Show us a picture of your Ralph Nader for President bumper sticker.
I made this topic about affordable mid-engine cars. I think the Fiero could have been a great car for GM but they launched a defective car with a weak thirsty engine and second hand suspension parts.
I've previously owned an '87 Fiero GT with the 2.8L V6 as well as a '93 MR2 with a 2.2L 4 cylinder (non-turbo model). Both were rated at 135 HP as I recall.
IMHO, the MR2 was the better of the 2 cars in terms of performance, handling, reliability, and resale value. I also enjoyed the MR2 better since it was a 5 spd stick while the Fiero was auto trans. (Didn't care for the M/T in the Fiero when I test drove it). It was also much better equipped and frankly looked sleeker than the Fiero.
Personally, I'd LOVE to see a resurgence of an affordable mid-engine sportscar! Both cars did handle well and nothing beats this type of car hugging corners and in the twisties!
If the Scion or BRZ was a mid engine, I probably would have bought it instead of the Mazda MX-5 I currently have.
Hell, if Toyota brings back that exotic body style that the 91-95 MR2 had, I'll be placing a pre-order!!
I should have added that GM dropped the old Citation suspension for '88 and used Lotus designed/inspired suspension parts instead. Just as they really nailed it - the bean counters killed it off. It could have evolved into a real performance car with a few more years of development.
Can a mid engine be made relatively cheaply? Yes. Oversimplifying it it's really just taking a front wheel drive car and putting the body out in front of the engine. I think it can be done relatively cheap. And let's face it you can make it look exotic. He'll go buy Ferrari's old 308 or Testarossa molds and go to town on assembly line.
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