Left: Capable Conveyor and Conveyor Bolt by @Vento. Middle: Saguaro T-REE 1190 Wagon & Eco-Wagon by @MrdjaNikolen. Right: Squirrel 130 Standard & 150TCI Tourline Optijector by @passengerpigeon
Even after the crash of ‘69, Araga was still a relatively wealthy market. People were spending conservatively, but most people (not all of course) still had money. So while many Aragans were moving downmarket, they kept their higher-class and forward thinking expectations, and appreciated when higher costs came with suitably higher value.
Also, note that 5 years of sales after the safety scare wasn’t quite enough to replenish an entire market. Even with rental companies beginning to cycle out their oldest stock, there was still far more demand than supply, making used cars hard to find and still very expensive when you did. There was a stronger-than-usual need for low cost, entry-level new cars; but on the flip side, the disparity had eased enough that people weren’t desperate anymore, and if a model wasn’t pulling its own weight, they could and would move on…
Middle, in focus: Squirrel 130. Left, out of focus: Bazard BVL8 by @Edsel, Hakaru Carica 1200S by @Executive. Right, out of focus: Swanson 225 SF by @Ludvig, Hamfa 3000 Sedan by @Ch_Flash.
Bazard, Hakaru, Swanson, Hamfa all from ALC3.
At $5810, An entry-level Squirrel was far cheaper than last era’s Hakaru Carcia, which 60’s Aragans had regarded as very definition of shitbox. As it happened, 60’s Aragans were very, very mistaken; the Squirrel’s interior, if you could call it that, was just a bare metal box, with the minimum gauges and controls to make the thing move glued in. The only comfort you got was a weak, tinny AM radio, that you could only really hear at stoplights thanks to the lack of sound deadening. It was also one of the very few cars in all of Araga with front drum brakes, and the whole overall package was just lacking in the refinement Aragans had come to expect from a mass market manufacturer.
So things weren’t great. But the thing is, nothing was really wrong with it either. The car didn’t feel rushed, or haphazard, being a modern, monocoque hatchback with FWD and 4-wheel independent suspension. Its 1.3L engine, with the same 50hp as the rest of segment, felt spritely and agile in one of the market’s lightest cars, and even had enough extra to keep up on short highway stints (if you were willing to sacrifice your health). The handling was balanced, rust protection was adequate, safety was fair for the time, and while its build quality did give it one of the worst reliability records on the market, parts and fuel for this thing were so damn cheap that even after a few breakdowns it’d still have the lowest running costs on the market.
The Squirrel was very cheap - much too cheap and much to uncomfortable for most luxury-accustomed Aragans - but it had its act together, without the glaring mechanical flaws that’d plagued the Carcia and with notable advantages. For the poorest of Araga, especially those in cities, this made an excellent alternative to the lack of used cars they could find. The rest of Araga, however, optioned up their Squirrels a bit…
Left: Squirrel Injection. Right: Phenix Metro Twin Cam by @karhgath, Kensington 3700i Premier Saloon by @Restomod, both from ALC3
Compared to the base model, the higher end of the Squirrel’s option range wasn’t that different in its overall package, but it did include some meaningful interior upgrades to at least (somewhat) appease Aragan tastes. The top-tier tourline interior had equipment on the nicer side of budget offerings, including an 8-track port, a clearer speaker, and enough interior padding to save you from back problems. But there was one range-topping option that particularly stood out in the Squirrel lineup- a fuel injected 1.5L engine option.
Now, fuel injection wasn’t new to Araga (Nerruci had had it in the standard segment in 1965), but it still wasn’t very common, and to have it at such a low price ($8.8k) was pretty impressive. Then consider that this fuel injection- named “Optijection” by the marketing -had gifted the highest horsepower in the segment (93hp; 0.5 higher than the 2000TC) to the lightest car model in the segment; a 10.2s 0-100 allowed Optijected Squirrels to keep up just fine with most of the larger, higher-end models around it, even on highways. Oh, and it achieved that with better fuel economy, and with about the same road manners and reliability as cheaper Squirrels (not that those 2 were any good on the base squirrel, but it’s still impressive they didn’t get worse)!
Now, VME hadn’t done much else to accommodate the extra power, having no interest in making these into performance cars. Still firmly tuned for economy and usability, the excess of power was known to overwhelm its thin hard tires annoyingly often in the rain, or when turning onto a street. They did upgrade the brakes, but just to a better set of drums, while all its competitors had front discs. The high-end tech now made it outprice its competitors too, in both upfront and maintenance costs, reducing its “budget” proposition.
But overall, it was still a fairly well-rounded compact car, just now with enough power to hold its own. So despite reliability complaints, Optijected squirrels turned into a fairly steady seller among lower-middle class Aragans, especially previously-wealthier ones moving downmarket, who were willing to take the hit to ownership costs if it meant not sacrificing the performance they were used to.
Front: Capable Conveyor Bolt. Rear: Centurion H1000 by @ldub0775 from ALC3
Running the same 2.3m wheelbase as the Squirrel, Capable’s Conveyor was one of the Squirrel’s main competitors. But even though it was released a year earlier (1970 vs 1971), the Conveyor never saw quite the same success. Priced just short of 7k, normal for the segment but a grand higher than its rival, it outwardly had a level of build quality and refinement more fitting for a large-scale market manufacturer, including a par 5-seat interior with perhaps disappointing radio speakers but an appreciated 8-track slot. Looks wise, form may have followed function to a fault here, but after all the rest of the budget segment wasn’t winning any beauty contests either; and when it came to function, the factory roof rails and durable parking bumpers were notable perks (though the door handles were mounted inconveniently low).
Yet in an inversion of the Squirrel, the Conveyor’s shortcomings were mechanical; it was an old-fashioned ladder-frame affair, with a solid rear axle and RWD. Despite equivalent tires and power to the squirrel, the heavier and less-composed chassis gave it notably worse performance all around; including the braking, which despite front discs was bad enough to earn the Conveyor Araga’s lowest ADPR of 50! 
(tied with the Kyros Nike). And while the car was plenty easy to drive at its natural city speeds, it felt washy and uncertain, and was getting to be too underpowered for the highway with a 16s 0-100. Safe to say, when it came out a year later, the Squirrel proved to be the clear superior offering overall, and conquered Capable’s market.
What kept the Conveyor from being completely secondary, though, was that it did excel in the one place VME failed: It had the 4th best reliability record in Araga, as well as some of the best rust protection, with both being the highest anywhere near its segment. Its ladder frame also made the vehicle very durable, often surviving lower-speed traffic bonks with rarely more than cosmetic damage. Having the hardiness of a truck wasn’t enough to bring widespread success, but it was at least an advantage that resonated with and retained a handful of buyers (especially on the used market, after some “events to come” later).
Oh, and the Conveyor did have a few more advantages beyond that, but those were done even better by a 3rd big player…
Middle: Saguaro T-REE 1190 Wagon & EcoWagon. They’re visually identical.
Left: Ilaris Icon GT Turbo-Cabrio Coach by @shibusu for a bonus between ALC rounds. Right: Ilaris Imperial Injection S, also by Shibusu
Also introduced in 1970, the Saguaro T-REE 1190 was the biggest of the budget offerings in both cost (starting at $7.4k) and physical size, with a dated design and cartoonishly-high clearance making it clear the vehicle was here for work, not pleasure. Its body was the same rough and lacking-quality build as the Squirrel, and sported the same unibody, FWD, and 4-wheel ind. suspension layout. Its 5-seat interior was on par with Tourline Squirrels minus the 8 track port, and with some very poorly made steering and throttle controls that felt so numb and imprecise, they helped make the T-REE one of the slowest, hardest, and least pleasant to drive in all of Araga- worse than most trucks! (albeit the Conveyor wasn’t much better). Corners were also cut on the body itself, with panel gaps and seams notably worse than the competition.
In many ways, the T-REE (and the Capable to a lesser extent) was kind of like an early equivalent to a crossover. It felt like a truck to drive; but also like a truck, it dealt with rough terrain very well thanks to a softer suspension and wide, high-sidewall tires. A fairly big trunk also helped, offering a lot of space for the price, and its normally-overpowered brakes made it unexpectedly competent at light towing. Its reliability and rustproofing was not as good as the capable, but perfectly acceptable, and while it didn’t have quite the hardiness of a truck, it was one of the more utilitarian cars you could get in that regard. And it was also the safest car in the budget range…
Well ok, that last statement warrants further discussion. See, its ADPR of 70 was exactly the same as the Squirrel’s. But the T-REE had more consistent-performing front discs, and wider tires to give it a slightly better stopping distance. And also, well, it just felt safer; It was bigger, it looked bigger, it was taller, there was more metal between you and the dangers out there. It was hard for the average Aragan to test drive the dinky little Squirrel without constantly noticing how much bigger all the other cars were, and how they all seemed so fast and aggressive and scary, and how the Centurion bumper in front of them was perfectly level with their head, and how their brakes could fail in the rain and leave them helpless to stop said bumper from Optijecting itself into their skull, and- you get the point. Regardless of how empirically safer it actually was, the subjective perception of the T-REE being safer certainly helped its Aragan reputation.
So Saguaro’s T-REE wasn’t a car many people wanted, but it was a car many people needed, especially in more rural environments where compactness wasn’t as important and rough conditions were more likely. The modding scene also jumped onto it, with tire and engine swaps being particularly common (the stock engines were fine, but given the T-REE’s size were just a bit underpowered for anything more than local commuting), as well as bash bars, roof rails, rock sliders, and even a couple pioneering 4x4 attempts. The Conveyor also had some ruggedness, but unless durability was a top priority, or the buyer specifically needed BoF, RWD, or support for regular gas, the T-REE was just better at it.
There’s theoretically two models, theoretically. Saguaro offers a larger yet weaker engine in the EcoWagon, with added balancing mass and a harmonic damper to completely destroy any semblance of responsiveness left after the woeful controls. That larger engine does increase purchase price (and taxes), but gives about 15% better fuel economy. It also kills all semblance of highway performance to the point that the safety inspectors almost flagged it - but it wasn’t quite bad enough to get that score docked. Just. That’s about the only difference. It’s so minimal and moves the dial so little that it may as well not exist.
Front: Conveyor Bolt. Back: Somboy Sembra 1600 GTX by @Restomod and Wara Irena 2.0 SR by @AndiD, both from ALC3
(OOC note: So it turns out the Bolt doesn’t actually have a rear seating row. Just the 2 seats. But the reason why is ‘cause its one of those cases where Automation has seemingly arbitrarily decided it can only fit jump seats despite there clearly being space for a full bench, so I’ve decided not to fault it for this.)
And finally, we come to a bit of an outlier within the budget price range. The most expensive car in the segment, though still under $10k even with taxes, the Conveyor Bolt (rimshot) claimed to have converted the unpleasant-driving, truck-like economy car into a sporting hot hatch. For anyone who’d driven the original, this claim was hard to believe at first. It certainly didn’t look that different; it had a lower, fastback profile, and some tweaks to make its face just a bit less dorky (that really should’ve been there on the main car too), but the way its trim level had been labelled like a filing cabinet was a bit embarrassing to be seen with.
Yet to everyone’s surprise, it… actually did it. Fitted with high end tires and a 1.6L making 82hp, the Bolt could get to 100 in exacty 10 seconds- as fast as possible without taxes - and now boasted handling and grip far ahead of any normal car (and even most luxury cars). While it could never compete with a real sports car, the Bolt’s well balanced and forgiving tune, with R&P steering and a very-slightly loose end, made it quite a hoot to chuck around. Capable had also hiked the quality of its interior materials for a much sportier feel. And yes, they’d done all this while keeping the car practical, drivable, and best of all, reliab- Oh, the pistons just exploded.
Yeah, uh, in a disappointing smear on Capable’s otherwise excellent reliability record, it turned out the engine’s pistons couldn’t actually handle the stress of full power, with many shattering within months of leaving the dealership. Also, the way they’d gotten a solid rear axle to have such balanced handling had been via staggering its tires, which inflated repair costs. On paper, it cost no more to fuel and service than a 2000TC (more on that later), but the mods necessary to make it any good, plus the kind of abuse youthful performance cars are often subjected to, inflated this car’s actual cost of ownership a lot. Still, the Bolt was selling in a blue ocean, being the only car on the market even trying to make a practical performance car for the masses, which gave it a bit of job security.
The only car truly anywhere near it was VME’s Optijected Squirrel, which made more power and similar acceleration figures for slightly less cost. But the Squirrel wasn’t hot - it was just a regular Squirrel, given caffeine - and it too would require significant mods to have any proper performance. So ultimately, those who wanted a sporty and practical daily had 2 choices - take a good car and make it fast, or a fast car and make it good. The Squirrel was cheaper, had the lighter unibody, made more power, and was empirically more sensible, but the Bolt had RWD, was a way better driver’s car out the box, and (other than the piston issue) came with Capable’s best-in-class reliability & build quality- remember, VME had the worst. Araga’s tuning scene never reached a consensus about which car was better; but enjoyed the excuse for some “friendly competition” regardless.