QOTD: Out of Touch, or Out of Time?
On Monday, Matthew Guy asked all of you to nominate vehicles that were ahead of their time. Those rare occasions where vehicles anticipated the desires of consumers, even before said desires were fully formed. Today, we flip it around and talk about Hall and Oates lyrics vehicles which were out of touch or behind the times, even when new.
Maybe the manufacturer decided to play in a segment too late in the game, after everyone else moved on to newer, better things. Or, perhaps engine offerings were all wrong — an unfortunately timed product introduction that coincided with a sharp change in fuel prices. Or a recession.
Taking a manufacturing angle, maybe build quality wasn’t up to par with competitors, or tech was lacking in some important way. Was there a lack of effort on the part of the manufacturer? Something else to consider: Products intended for another market that a manufacturer decided to shift to North America. I’m building to something here.
Ah yes, the EcoSport. On sale since 2013 in other markets and designed largely to suit India (it’s built there), Ford decided to send it to North America in 2018. You’ve undoubtedly seen one of these ovals out on the roads. It’s mostly a cash grab; a compliance exercise designed to give Ford an offering in the hot new subcompact CUV market. It’s not particularly good in any metric, and it’s dated, too (it’s from 2013; the platform underneath is from 2008). Prices escalate to over $27,000 for premium EcoSports. No bueno.
Let’s hear your selections for cars which were out of touch or dated when they were new. Don’t limit it to just 2019 — historical choices are just as valid. I’m sure some AMC product were dated right from the showroom floor (ahem, Concord).
They’re out of touch, I’m out of time.
[Images: GM, Ford]
Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.
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Is it wrong that I would drive a Cimmaron today?
I'll nominate the 5th generation A-Body Buick Century which soldiered on far too long with far too little updating. What was contemporary in 1986 was positively frumpy in 1996 compared to the likes of the LeSabre, Regal, and Riviera. Although come to mention the Regal, I'm pretty sure the 1995 2-door Regal shared the Century's front clip with slightly different fenders...