July 15, 1998.
The next weekend, Chihiro returned to the task of going over possible options with Hachi. There were two more groupings this time, of which she decided to tackle the more unusual ones first.
@Danicoptero Tarquini Millerosa STA
Baachan: “More utilitarian plastic. At least this time it seems to be used more as a design accent instead of just a way to make thing durable. It does read oddly familiar though.”
Hachi: “Not sure where you’re getting that from. Seems to be an overall well built car though. It’s also the only convertible we’ve seen so far.”
Baachan: “What type of convertible? Obviously some sort of hard top?”
Hachi: “A uh, detachable hard top, so a targa type beat.”
Baachan: “That doesn’t feel too dailyable, but I’m not opposed to it. Also I think I know where I’ve seen this design before. Some German businessmen were in the offices a while back and I overheard them talking about a tech partnership with us and they had a diagram of a car that looked suspiciously like this on the whiteboard behind them.”
Hachi: “That does make sense with some of the concept car rumors circulating. Other than price, it seems to be about average for what we’ve seen too. Maybe I’ll be better if you wait until the Germans release theirs to consider something like this.”
(Honestly nothing is wrong with this car from a stat standpoint. It is just middle of the road on most stats and pushing the edge of realism with some of the engineering choices, such as a 6 speed Advanced Auto. The detachable hardtop didn’t really help any, especially when you had plenty of budget for an automatic one. I do feel like I know why you went that route though and it’s due to the Smart Roadster having one. It is blatantly obvious that was your primary inspiration and is a pretty good genericization of most of it’s design features. However, it being that close of a copy works against you on a design front. Yes, it’s easy to just copy a irl design of one of the challenge’s inspiration cars and hope it’ll do well. Design is more than just copying an existing car though. It’s pulling the elements that you like from existing cars, adding them to your own brand’s design language, and remixing things untill it’s something fairly unique and removed from the inspiration material. It’s a fine car with fine stats, but the derivative design and mediocre stats hold it back.)
@Aruna Vizzuri 1000 Stradale
Hachi: “This one might be slightly out of your comfort zone speed wise, but I thought I’d include it because of how you reacted to the other cute cars from last week.”
Baachan: “You were absolutely right to include this one. It’s such a cute bean of a car. And as for it being fast, it’d better be if I’m using my full budget. Look at this, it comes with it’s own custom made luggage, just like larger sportscars.”
Hachi: “I get that, but it’s also a manual and as you said, it’s maxed out the budget. Shouldn’t you go for something a bit more practical?”
Baachan: “Nonsense! I have the money to spend, and if such a cute sporty bean demands all of it, so be it. And I’ll have you know that I know my way around a manual. I used to be a bit of a rebel in my youth. This one stays.”
(Such a smol cute boi! Admittedly the Vizzuri is one of the larger cars in the competition, but it’s a really nicely thought out design and has quite good stats to compliment it. Giving the reference car to its history in the advert was also a nice touch. The aluminium construction also gives it the second highest environmental resistance out of the whole group, as well as allowing it to stay very light and fast while maintaining high marks in the rest of it’s stats. It’s a little low in reliability, but not hatefully so. A stellar build all around.)
@HybridTronny & @Texaslav Steurmann 100C Classic
Baachan: “I thought I told you that I had a $15k max budget. There isn’t really a new Porsche priced that low is there?”
Hachi: “But it isn’t a Porsche. It’s a Steurmann 100C Classic. Much smaller engine, modern underpinnings, and a classic style front end design. I thought it might appeal to that rebellious side of yours.”
Baachan: “Not really. I do enjoy sporty things, very sporty things sometimes, but the performance figures and the almost tuner aftermarket design of this car don’t really mesh well. Also it’s huge. Just look at the amount of overhang on the rear. I know it’s rear engined, but I would’ve thought something with that small of a boxer wouldn’t need that much rear space.”
Hachi: “Now that you mention it, that is kinda odd. And you’re right about it being huge. 4.23 meters long, with a lot of that being overhang. You’ll probably hate finding tyres for it as well. the rears are wider than the fronts. That sounds like a bad idea all around.”
(I just don’t understand a lot of this car. Yes, it’s a 911 clone ish. It’s hard to do much else on this set of bodies. But why would you give a car that is this relatively low powered a staggered tyre set up is beyond me. It is the only car in this whole challenge to do so. It saddled you with a really low drivability score compared to a lot of the competition for what feels like no reason. The car is also fracking huge compared to the competition and has agonizingly long overhangs. With how low to the ground it is, I’d be worried about most speedbumps dinging the underside of the bumpers going over them. There’s honestly no reason for the car to be that big, other than for somehow cheesing SVC costs maybe? Those are surprisingly ok even with the tyre stagger. A lot of this engineering weirdness could be overlooked if the car was relatively cheap, but it’s $100 away from max budget. The external design is fine, not to my taste other than the fun nod to TVR Speed 12 tail lights, but but a fine sportscar design. The engineering side just leaves me scratching my head though.)
@shibusu Saberin Soaura Lynx 1000 S
Hachi: “With how you reacted to the last car, I hesitate to bring this next one up.”
Baachan: “Why? It doesn’t look at all like the Steurmann. It’s much smaller and has a fun, rounded retro vibe while still dealing with modern bumper regulations. Seems to do much better in road tests too. And it’s just about as fast.”
Hachi: “It’s much cheaper as well, only $13k. What makes this one’s style more to your liking than the previous one though? They both give off Porsche-esque vibes to me.”
Baachan: “I think it comes down to overall proportions and how endearing the Saberin is. It just feels softer, but still sporty and almost has a birdlike front nose bit. It has character and doesn’t feel like it’s trying to be anything but itself. I just like it in spite of its flaws.”
(As with Tex and Tronny’s car, the Saberin has a lower driveabilty than much of the rest of the field. Not by much though. It also has a sense of identity that I really like, The design almost feels like rounded tatra, but not quite and really hits the marks for a nice '90s design. The only large flaws were how low the environmental resistance was, but that is a fix that only would’ve brought the price up $400, still cheap enough to keep it competitive. It also has a lot of mpg for how quick it is and for having sport tyres and an automatic. Overall a very fun and endearing car with the right vibes for this challenge.)
