What If? - A Community Thread

That’s… Beautiful!!! I just want to give it a big hug then boast on a Century forum how MY Century does 5L per 100Km, lmao!!!

Thanks for the share :smiley:

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What if…

Ford had gone through with the plans to make the Ford Mustang a front-wheel drive based sports coupe that strayed away from the muscle car ideal and continued it in this form to the present day as opposed to spinning it off as the Probe?

In my head, had this happened it’s likely that the Mustang would have died and been resurrected as a more conventional muscle car once again - however, here I’ve made the Mustang a CD4 platform Ford (e.g. Ford Mondeo/Fusion, Ford Edge, Lincoln Continental, etc.) with a longer wheelbase and strong muscle-y proportions that harken back to the good 'ol days of rear-wheel drive.

The GT variant of the Mustang uses an Ecoboost 3.5 V6 derived from the Ford GT and Ford F150 Raptor, whilst the Ecoboost Fastback has the tried-and-true 2.3 inline-4 from the Focus RS. Both make around their respective amounts IRL but they’re not perfect.


Upon Closer Inspection



Ford_Mustang_but_make_it__probe__-_GT.car (48.7 KB)

Ford_Mustang_but_make_it__probe__-_Fastback_Ecoboost.car (45.9 KB)

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Here’s your answer

I personally always loved the Probe, so I dig this very very much.

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I don’t see the 2 series as shitbox. Like, it’s still too good to be a shitbox. By shitbox I am thinking more of something like a Honda City.

It’s not really a 2 series though, it’s just a mini in mpv form with a BMW face stretched on like Jason. It’s even an i3 FF, it’s so depressing.

(not another “imagine what other item is a car” moment again)

What if Google is an automaker, and the Pixel 4 XL is a car made by Google?

In that scenario, Google, the creator of the popular car framework known as Android, made the Pixel 4 XL a flagship full-sized estate version of the Pixel 4 sedan with Qualcomm’s top-of-the-line engine, the Snapdragon 855 4.0 liter V8 engine with Adreno 640 twin turbo kit, generating 533 hp on tap and it got it’s way to several other “vehicles” like the US-spec Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus and the OnePlus 7 Pro. The vehicle is available in 3 colours, Just Black, Clearly White, and as shown below, Oh So Orange.

https://i.imgur.com/8rhFPIB.jpg

The vehicle is equipped with a dual Google “SmartLight” LED headlamps, which was praised as one of the best headlamps on a car by vehicle reviewers like MKBHD, as well as car reviewer outlets such as Android Authority. Also, the Pixel 4 XL has a brand new radar-based automation technology, which can help the vehicle to detect incoming dangers as well as helping you to change music automatically with your gestures. And since the vehicle is made by Google, software updates are fast and timely, and the driving feel is mostly untouched and Google-like.

https://i.imgur.com/acz02EJ.jpg

However, like the preceding Google Pixel 3 XL, there’s too many flaws to make it great. The fuel tank of the vehicle is just a mere 37 liters, despite the fuel tank is now larger than it’s predecessor, the car’s driving range isn’t as good as it’s competitors. Also, the lack of boot space and low amount of seating makes it not ideal for a premium estate due to a weird build layout. Handling and performance isn’t as great as expected since Google decided to make the Pixel 4 a transverse FWD layout, a weird choice when everyone else is getting inline RWD/AWD layouts on flagships. Besides that, with the launch of the improved 855+ V8 twin turbo months earlier, the Pixel’s engine choice is just as questionable as well.

https://i.imgur.com/N0sb1cZ.jpg

Not only that, well-known car crash testing firm JerryRigEverything Inc. has tested the vehicle’s crash test performance to be inferior to even some mid-range vehicles (despite being a pass) due to it’s weird plastic-based structure, and adding insult to the injury the base pricing of the vehicle is too expensive to the point where the weirdly equipped Pixel 4 XL costs more than the A13 4.5 V8 turbo powered Apple iPhone 11, which has more useful features despite being equipped with a cheaper interior. Due to these limitations, sales of the Pixel 4 XL isn’t great when it was officially launched in 2019, which hurts Google’s vehicle manufacturing business.

https://i.imgur.com/uhejN1Y.jpg

Rumors have stated that it’s successor, the Pixel 5 will be equipped with the Snapdragon 765G 3.5 liter V6 twin turbo instead of the improved Snapdragon 865 4.0 V8 twin turbo due to unknown reasons.

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Can confirm, there’s a big difference between that MPV and a real 2 series: the real thing has an Inline 6 and a 6-speed manual, like mine :wink:

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What if Saab never went bankrupt, but got bought by BMW?


This Saab 9-3 Aero Gripen is based on the current BMW 3-series platform, and uses the same turbocharged inline-6 as the M4

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At what point in history would this be? I would have thought that a spin-off of the MINI chassis would make more sense, due to SAAB having an exclusive FWD history, than re-badging RWD BMW’s. SAAB couldn’t sell other re-badged product, like the 9-2X, so it wouldn’t make much economic sense for BMW to cannibalise their core market with a transparently lazy tie-in!

Please note: I’m not dumping on your car. It looks good and, IMO, has the greatest colour of paint in the history of Automation! I just merely suggest that your what-if has too much if and not enough what, lmao!

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I have no choice but to agree - that blue looks really good on a lot of cars, especially modern ones.

shakes head while facepalming

Abg, abg, abg… It was a tongue-in-cheek reference to Bogliq Blue, LMAO!!!

:face_with_raised_eyebrow::roll_eyes::thinking::wink::rofl:

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I choose BMW because in 2012 Saab was signing an agreement for using BMW engines, agreement that included almost a takeover by the Germans, but the deal failed, Saab was bought by Spyker and then went bankrupt. The design I made included a FWD conversion of the 3-series, which would be pretty hard to do irl since the 3-series was never intended as a FWD

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Then I retract my earlier statement. I was 100% unaware that SAAB actually contemplated making the 3 series FWD!!! :open_mouth::exploding_head::flushed:

Well, looking to their record of listening to their parent company, they would have probably done something like this

Ahh, OK then. that better matches what I’ve heard and read… You’re what if scenario included converting a 3 series to FWD, not that SAAB, IRL, had actually planned to do that.

I’m great at this mis-reading malarky today, lol. At least I can make lots of omelettes with all this egg I now have!

:rofl::wink::sunglasses:

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Yeah. I thought that, instead of creating an entirely new platform, they would’ve just modified existing BMW parts

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Because SAAB largely used longitudinal FWD, it’s theoretically possible to use the same 3 series platform with the N20/B48 engine (the sixes would never fit) to drive the front wheels… at least in the Automation world, where you just click to go from longitudinal RWD to longitudinal FWD

The last Saab* using longitudinal FWD was the first gen 900. 9000 and all* later models used conventional transverse layout. Considering how far back the engines are placed in BMWs and the longest of them are I6s, switching to FWD with an I4 should be feasible, though it would make little sense. I think BMW would rather expand Mini’s platform, expecially since making a second premium RWD brand in the same group would make no sense. Maybe even Saab would be downgraded to a completely regular brand, such as Opel. And mostly I think BMW would never buy Saab.

*- excluding badge engineering such as Saabaru and Saablazer.

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Probably BMW didn’t really know what to do with Saab, so they didn’t even try with that 2012 deal

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If I remember correctly, SAAB have showed a concept car with transverse engine (standard since 9000 model)
BUT with the gearbox in front of the engine, that would line up nicely with the front wheels of the 3-series BMW bodies.

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