CW7: Golden Age Memories
After ten years on the East Coast, it was time to go home…
Brief
Meet Chris Sutter, a 35-year-old man in the midst of a mid-life crisis. After ten years of enjoying a stable high-paying job in the Tri-State Area, he’s finally decided to leave, after realizing the impact the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath had on his business. Now, he’s managed to find new employment as a freelance automotive vlogger in his home town of Santa Barbara, and rediscovered his love of driving in the process.
His current vehicle, a midsize truck, does a decent job of shuffling his girlfriend, Kelly, to and from work, but he’s saved up some cash for something special - one that he hopes will finally allow him to experience his dream of driving all the way up and down the Golden State’s most famous roads (Highway 1, State Route 33, Angeles Crest Highway, etc.) with Kelly riding shotgun. Both of them have clean drivers’ licenses and can drive stick, although neither of them are averse to an automatic. Now, they’re looking for the car that’s just right for them. The only thing that’s certain is that it has to be either a modern classic (from the '80s, '90s, or 2000s), or a (nearly) new car (2010 or later), since these are the eras Chris likes the most - he collectively refers to them as the “Golden Age of Motoring” due to being the time when technology and performance were, more often than not, in perfect harmony.
Basic Rules
- Trim and variant years: 1980-2020
- Tires must be radial and have widths ending in 5 (not 0).
- No race parts (this includes all race tire types).
- No legacy bodies or V16 engines.
- At least 2 full-sized seats required.
- All drivetrain types are allowed.
- All body styles are allowed.
- Must be road legal (head- and tail-lights, wipers, external fuel filler cap, license plates, etc.)
- Should have at least standard safety from the same decade as the car’s trim year (e.g., a 2000s car should have standard 00s safety at minimum).
- Advanced trim settings may be used, but sensibly and in moderation.
Emissions targets and fuel types
- Minimum emissions compatibility varies by decade as follows:
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- 1980-1989: WES 7
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- 1990-1999: WES 8
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- 2000-2009: WES 9 (WES 8 for OHV engines)
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- 2010-2014: WES 10 (WES 9 for OHV engines)
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- 2015-2020: WES 11 (WES 9 for OHV engines)
- Unleaded fuel (91, 95 or 98 RON) required; bonuses/penalties are as follows:
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- 91 RON: 1 point
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- 95 RON: 0 points
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- 98 RON: -1 point
Other penalties
- Unrealistic/unusual engineering choices for the car’s type and era: -1 point each (instabin if five or more points lost from these)
- Excessive loudness (over 60): -1 point if over 60
- Engine stress: -1 point per 1% stress (due to power density, excessive torque, or high RPM).
- Semi-slick tires: -5 points (race tires must not be used, though).
- Negative quality: -1 point for every quality point below 0 (e.g., -3 quality in a specific area incurs a -3 point penalty).
- 4x4 drivetrain: -1 point (unless it makes sense for the type of car you’re making)
- SUV/truck/minivan body style: -1 point (utes are exempt)
Techpool
The maximum combined techpool budget (the sum of the trim and engine techpool cost, as shown below) is $60m - please make sure your total techpool cost remains under this value once you’ve add them together.
Budget
Chris has $30,000 AMU to spend on his next car. To determine the budget for your car’s trim year, please download this .zip file and extract it, then open the spreadsheet.
CW7 Cost Calculator.zip (7.9 KB)
From there, you can check your car’s current used value by dividing its approximate price (as shown in the detailed stats section of the overview tab) by the corresponding reverse depreciation multiplier for its trim year. For example, a car that cost $30,000 AMU in 1995 would cost $20,000 by 2020 - well under Chris’ budget.
Cool Wall Priorities and Scoring
Coolness will be evaluated on a scale from -20 to +20; -20 is the “uncoolest” and +20 is the “coolest” on this scale. Other categories are worth up to 10, 5, or 2 points. For each category, the best car gets the highest value, the worst car gets the lowest one, and all other cars will have their value assigned in relation to those, rounded to the nearest tenth. For example (as seen in previous CWs):
The Trans Sport is the most practical and gets 10 points for practicality; the Seville, being the least practical, gets 0 points. The Astra’s practicality, being 1/3rd the difference between the best and worst cars in that regard, is 3.7. But what if we throw in a fourth car into the mix, in the form of a 2006 Mitsubishi Eclipse?
Again, the Trans Sport scores 10 points. This time, however, the Eclipse has the lowest practicality and gets 0 points. Meanwhile, the Seville’s score is now 4.4 (2/5ths the difference), and the Astra’s is bumped up to 6.6 (3/5ths the difference).
Beyond coolness, Chris’ other priorities are as follows:
- 10 points: Sportiness (including skidpad grip, top speed, and acceleration times, prestige, drivability, exterior design
- 5 points: Reliability, comfort, current used value (for money)
- 2 points: Service costs, fuel consumption, practicality, environmental resistance, safety (for its decade)
- 1 point: Fully detailed interior, good choice of exterior colors
Cool Wall
Suggested cars will be ranked based on their horizontal position on the Cool Wall below.
You may suggest up to 5 cars for the Cool Wall until the deadline - be sure to state the car’s year each time. Any cars that have been suggested will not be added until August 9, 2024 at the earliest. However, you may replace one of your previous suggestions with another one until then, and you also do not have to send all your suggestions all at once.
Whatever cars you suggest, they must all be real-life passenger vehicles (this includes trucks, SUVs, and minivans), not fictional ones (and no, I’m not treating heavy commercial vehicles as valid suggestions). An invalid suggestion will not count against your quota, however.
Here is what the Cool Wall looks like as of now (August 28th 2024):
This should give you a rough idea of what Chris wants.
Submissions
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Model/Family Name: CW7 - username (trim and variant are free, although you should name your car and engine regardless).
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Rules discussion runs from now until August 9, 2024. Once the rules are set, submissions will be open from August 10, 2024 to September 14, 2024, anywhere on Earth. During this time, I will allow resubmissions in case of game updates. Also, you may send Cool Wall suggestions (which will be added ASAP) until the deadline, as long as you have not used up all of your suggestion chances.
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Ads for submissions (consisting of at least one picture) can be submitted up to 24 hours after the deadline for .car files has passed.
Changelog
August 4 2024
- Removed body style and drivetrain restrictions; these have now been replaced with score penalties
- Added exterior design as a 10-point priority (in Chris’ own words: “If it looks right, then it is right… Most of the time.)”
- Removed license plate dimensions penalty
- Reduced excessive loudness penalty
- Downgraded safety to a 2-point priority
- Defined what constitutes a valid Cool Wall suggestion and what doesn’t
- Deadline extended by 1 week and Cool Wall updated with new entries
August 18-28 2024
- Cool Wall expanded further
September 14th 2024
- Submissions to close on 11:59:59 pm, Cool Wall to be finalized
Good luck, and have fun!
