CSR 124 - Quibbles and Facets
Previous round: CSR 123 - Slightly Super Saloons
2020, New York
Chaz Kramer is automotive writer, reviewer and Youtuber with an appreciation of all cars old, new, masterpiece, or dumpster fire. His ’12 Jinhe Qingxiu S 346T has been a reliable mode of transportation since before his internet fame. Now moving to New York with some garage space and a lot of money to burn, Chaz wants something with more character. For all the quirky cars he has reviewed, he never owned a single car that he really desired. His videos are drowning in memes from the aural cumming over fighter jet style interiors and pop-up headlights. He has pegged the exact moment in culture each car represents in detail no one has any right to go. Chaz must go deeper. The fans need a mascot for the channel and Chaz wants to buy the most idiosyncratic vehicle he can buy for himself and the fans as a thank you for all the support.
So what tickles Chaz’s fancy? Good question. For starters, its gotta be outside of the box. It should turn heads either because of its unique looks or niche place in automotive history. It must be fun to drive. That can mean sporty, comically out of touch compared to modern cars, or other capabilities you don’t see in the average car. Chaz grew up in the Gran Turismo generation and the nostalgia runs deep. This is his chance to own 80s and 90s cars he only drove in games or saw in magazines. He still has his daily and has no interest in a run-of-the-mill family sedan. This car does not have to be practical by any means, but it should seat at least two with some cargo space for his camera equipment. It doesn’t need to be a “good” car. What Chaz wants is a car with a personality. Your job is to figure out what the heck that means.
Requirements
I will not look at cars that fail these requirements. (These are some real soft balls so there should be no worries).- Trim and Engine Variant Year must be set within 1975-2000.
- For the sake of simplicity, the car must be stock. I will assume everything on the car is from the factory.
- Engine Variant year must not be later than Trim year
- Engine must have no race parts.
- Must use 95 RON or lower
- No Semi-Slick tires
- Minimum 2 full seats
- Minimum 40 Drivability (35 drivability with a manual transmission)
- Minimum 15 Comfort
- Minimum 30 Safety
- Minimum 55 Reliability
- Minimum 30 Environmental Resistance
- Approximate Cost when new must be under $40,000
Used price will not stand in the way if Chaz is dead set on what car he wants. Therefore, there’s no used price calculator this round.
Considerations
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Style – How the car looks is half the battle. Get weird with it. If its not pretty, make sure the car owns up to its bad styling in an endearing way. How much cool-factor does it have? Refer to the designing note below the considerations for more info.
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Engineering Competence – Does the engineering make sense for what it is? Is there something about the car that would make it interesting to drive? If it has unusual tech, is it put to good use? This round is wide open, but that is not a free pass to make a min-max technology salad.
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Performance - In general terms, how well does it do what it is supposed to do? How does it compare to other cars of its class?
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Coherence - Does the styling match what the car is trying to achieve with engineering?
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Reliability - Reliability woes might make for more video content, but it also makes Chaz sad.
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Safety - Dying makes Chaz’s fans sad. Some safety would be nice but it is diminishing returns after a point. Hey maybe safety tech is part of what can make your car special.
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Service Costs - Chaz wants his fun car to be low stress. It shouldn’t be a money pit unless its really worth it.
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Price - The price in itself is not important, but you don’t have a blank check to throw everything you want into a car. If another car does what yours can do for cheaper/with less quality points, it will be more a more appealing purchase.
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Presentation - Sell me on what makes your car special for Chaz. Maybe the car speaks for itself, or an ad/catalogue adds to the cool factor. Is there any history behind the car you are selling?
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Fuel Economy - Less time at the gas station is more time on the road. Going along with service costs, Chaz doesn’t want his fun car hemorrhaging money.
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Comfort - It doesn’t have to be luxurious by any means, but Chaz should be able to enjoy short road trips without major discomfort.
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Prestige - A car that manages to be both prestigous and quirky is a win in Chaz’s book.
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Environmental Resistance - A modicum of environmental resistance would go a long way in the car’s survival in a New York climate.
Designing Note
This is a design heavy round, so I’m encouraging some creativity with styling. That doesn’t mean you need to sculpt your masterwork out of shredded tire bits, Lite-Brites, and your tears like you’re trying to get instagram coverage. Use as many or as little fixtures as it needs to execute your idea effectively. I’d like to direct people to this post if you haven’t seen it before. It applies here as much as anywhere else in Automation. A place for every fixture, every fixture in its place (thats how that saying works right?)
Try checking out concept cars if you’re starved for ideas. Here’s a good resource for concept car inspiration.
http://www.carstyling.ru/
Closing Thoughts on Judging
This is not your typical stat hunting CSR round. There will not be a clear winner by spreadsheet here. I will be as objective as I can, but this is an extremely subjective round by nature. I’m setting the round up this way to allow players to really let loose on what they want to build. For the love of all that is holy, please just have fun with it and help keep the salt-less CSR streak going!
Submission
Naming convention:
Model and Engine Family name: CSR 124 – “forum username”
Trim: Make/Model/Trim of car
Variant: Engine Model/Variant
Message me on the forum with the .car file to submit. While I’m on discord, I may miss your entry if you send it to me there.
Entry Deadline July 1st at 10:00 PM EST
It is not required, but lore cars and creative ads are encouraged for this round.
