rondamos 30 years in these moments we have a good vision of the evolution of the automotive industry. We live in the 80’s and especially 90’s, we grew up seeing on the streets those little GTI, which would mark our guidance, automotive always. On our walls we set up posters of the Ferrari F40 or Porsche 911, which we dreamed of having some day. But what the industry has bequeathed to us has been a generation of cars with excess weight, excess of power and an alarming lack of emotion. This article is not a cry, it’s a constructive criticism to the industry. Stay with me and I’ll explain.
Why we miss those sports of yesteryear? Why 150 HP seemed a tremendous amount of power and today we inmutamos?
I Already explained it in “what We have buried the fun behind the wheel?“. Except exceptions, very honourable, modern cars lack real involvement, real excitement behind the wheel. The sport or even the GTI current machines are extremely powerful and extremely fast. Take as an example a compact sporty as the Volkswagen Golf R. it Has 300 horsepower and all-wheel drive. Is able to send us to the prison in the twinkling of an eye if you really want to squeeze your power and your frame. And to do it safely and wisely is not something that is within the reach of all drivers, by much experience you have behind the wheel.
And we speak simply of a compact sporty. If we go to machines like the BMW M4, the situation is even more tricky. Out of circuit, stretch the third gear to the court involves an offence against the road safety. It has 430 horsepower, but its explosiveness, and its features are more typical of a machine of more than 500 HP. It is so extreme, that BMW sells with a babysitting electronics, makes us believe that we are in control and prevents us from propasemos. Don’t recommend disconnecting the electronic aids of a car as well, unless you’re in circuit and you know very, very well the animal’s temperamental that you have between hands.
We do not have the economic resources, the time and the closeness of a circuit to be able to have fun behind the wheel safely.
Any car today is infinitely safer than a few years ago. But it has also made larger, and much heavier. Both examples above are around the ton and a half, a number of years ago only reserved for larger sedans of representation. The sports of yesteryear barely exceeded the ton, and if they did they had to justify their weight with a motor of six or more cylinders, and a dose of power above the average. The sad conclusion of this evolution of the automotive industry today is that the petrolhead – the quemadillo, addicted to the gasoline half – lives in a permanent situation of coitus interruptus.
Coitus interruptus
Coitus interruptus, because you can not squeeze safely a car spicy on our roads – which present a deplorable state of conservation. Coitus interruptus, because access to a sport is becoming more and more expensive. Coitus interruptus, because the driving is increasingly policed and criminalized – because our cars are getting faster. Coitus interruptus, because we felt like outlaws or terrorists, environmental every time you step on the accelerator. Coitus interruptus, because there are hardly any “school sports” that will allow us to develop our skills of driving sensibly.
Going “agile” with a car spicy modern tends to (unfortunately) come with a serious internal conflict.
Is that it is all lost? I would think that it is not. I Want to vindicate from this space the cars simple, light, little powerful. Cars that are fun and inspiring, which are able to excite, without emptying our wallet-emptying of points on our driver’s license and without putting our lives in serious danger every time they step on the throttle. I know that I am insistent, but I’m putting in my Pantheon of fun behind the wheel Suzuki Swift Sport. And I do it because it is a car that exemplifies perfectly my message: I don’t need 400 HP, all-wheel drive and computer from the NASA to have fun with a car.
In its previous generation – is the one that I tested – the Suzuki Swift Sport weighed just over a ton. Its engine was a 1.6 a maximum power of 125 HP, an engine that demanded to take it to high turns to extract all its power. Forces you to play with your gearbox, forced to work at the wheel: nothing of stepping on the accelerator and get out catapulted forward. At the same time, was full on feelings and their low weight we rewarded them with a step by curve delicious. I had one of the best addresses that I have tried in my life: fast, direct and extremely informative. Because it is through the address of where we receive the most part of sensations at the wheel.
Instead of a war power that no one benefits, should begin a war of loss of weight.
what is it that I want to say with this? it Was a car that showed that less is more. Still there are honorable exceptions in the market, which bring out this philosophy. The Mazda MX-5, whose engine access is a simple 1.5 a maximum power of 131 BHP of power. Or the Abarth 595, a pellet with a tune-up, spectacular, and their version of access has 145 BHP of power. Are cars that are capable of planting a smile on our face, without attacking so vicious to driving errors. Cars whose chassis we can squeeze in a good road of curves, without violating the law, to see us overcome by their power or flush to complete our ailing current account.
And are cars really scarce in the current market, unfortunately. The few that buy them have very clear what they are buying, and others should take note. The automotive industry is experiencing a process of change extremely fast: in five years, the electrical and the self-employed will be much more widespread, and if we continue at the current pace, the compact sports reaching around 500 HP and will cost what it cost years ago to a Porsche 911. But the present moment offers unique opportunities: composite materials – as the plastic reinforced with carbon fiber or high-strength steel – are increasingly cheap and simple to produce.
Again those versions GT, light, simple and cheap, much more full satisfaction that power.
we have Already seen that cars like the new Suzuki is Positioned in the weigh less than 900 pounds with all the guarantees of safety, efficiency and comfort required today. Manufacturers should forget the wars of power and start a war of loss of weight. I know that the atmospheric conditions are virtually extinct, and I don’t want to be called retrograde: I’m fine with small suv’s with efficient turbo engines of 100-150 HP, weights of one ton or less and the fullness of sensations. I don’t want tons of equipment. I want a exceptional point, an address communicative and having to “get to work I” the fun behind the wheel.
The problem is that what sells today is the fact easy, the amount of power. Does not sell a low weight or the subjective factor of the fun behind the wheel. If you think about it coldly, this “sport of sensations,” would have a lower consumption, greater agility. It would be less of a problem – thanks to a simple mechanical – and put us in less trouble. Look beyond the power and recover the lost time. Become years as remembered as those 80s and those 90. The industry is able to produce cars fun and simple, but it is not an NGO: it is us who must buy and sue for this type of car.
Are you willing to take the challenge?