Hello. I’m Hilbert and I make cars!
I’m not very good at it, but it’s the thought that counts, I guess. This is more like personal archive for me so I can see how I have improved along the years.
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All the good things have to start from somewhere, so this thread will have to start from a French premium minivan SUV.
The 2008 Altra Geneve
This thing comes with several engines, the base model 2L inline 4, and the very fast and very cool 3.0L V6
If you were cheap enough to go with the base model, you had to live with a CD player, but the super cool V6 already got some touchscreen wizardry.
omg sunroof or whatever
Sure there were few trims between these two, but there’s no point in showing them, nobody is interested in them anyway.
And the price? Eh, it’s too much for you anyway. Starting from 25k
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There’s a bit of Renault Megane 3 in the Geneve’s nose, plus traces of Volvo C30 in the rear end - and they certainly gel together better than they should. Overall, a very convincing exterior design for a late-2000s Euro MPV.
It was sort of an experience to see what would happen if I connect these in parts in Peugeot 3008 with a grille.
And it turned out to work quite well, however Renault Megane 3 was an interesting take. I didn’t even look at it when designing the car.
The Italians are here with their 1995 FIU Locale!
FIU Locale Delivery 1.0
“I don’t buy used cars because they’re unreliable.” And that’s how this mother of 3 ended up with their own, brand new, 1995 FIU Locale Famiglia. You know, there’s a reason why you don’t really see these things on the road anymore. No, they weren’t really that unreliable, it’s rust.
There is no such thing as a perfect car, every car has flaws. Some cars just have more flaws than others. Not only was the Locale prone to rust, most of the engines were also fairly outdated, fuel economy wasn’t that great and they weren’t really comfortable. But hey, that’s what you get for paying $11,000 for a car.
The Locale was also offered as a wagon, Locale Famiglia.
Don’t let the pictures fool you. The Locale is actually a really small car. Wheelbase only 2.3 meters. The wagon has a cargo volume of 490 liters, not really that much after all. Now imagine going for a road trip, 5 people and their luggage all crammed in this tiny wagon. I’ll pass.
The top trim Locale Famiglia, 1.6 DOHC 16V
Even the most expensive Locale Famiglia, which was $15,800 by the way, wasn’t really comfortable. The 1.6L engine is making 97hp, but thanks to the fairly low weight of the car it manages to get 0-100km/h time of 11 seconds.
Okay, that’s all there is to tell. It’s a depressing wagon.
is it just me or the front looks really like a Ibishu covet
The main inspiration was equally as depressing, Fiat Palio.
However I must agree, the Locale might look a bit similar to covet.
Why not move this thread to the car design subforum? It would definitely belong there.
I thought I did that already when I made the topic, welp, my bad.
Oh! So you’re too good to buy the 1995 FIU Locale??
Well, luckily I have a solution for you! The 1996 FIU Deli!
Unlike the Locale, this is actually a drivable and reliable car! The base model 1.4 Solo-Point van featured 1.4L Single-Point EFI (hence the name), 5-speed manual, ABS brakes, and power steering.
Naturally, the FIU Deli was also offered as a passenger vehicle.
As you might have noticed, the Deli only has a sliding door on the passenger side. This is mainly a safety feature. Either way, in the picture we have FIU Deli 1.6 Mono-Point Famiglia (yes, the trim levels really were named after the fuel system), it has a tad bit more powerful engine, and it’s also a bit more comfortable. The suspension is more focused on comfort, naturally.
A 7-seater version was also made, called the 1.8 Multi-Point Famiglia 7-Seater. The 7-seater featured a bit fancier cassette player, improved safety system, traction control, body-colored mirrors, and fog lights!
In 1998, the Deli received a more off-road focused variant, the Deli 1.8 Off-Road. Thanks to the car’s torsion beam, it was still front-wheel drive. However it has alloy wheels, that’ll make up for it, right? Okay, maybe not. But it came with a CD player and passenger-side airbag.
Anyway! The fun part, money. 1.4 Deli Solo-Point van only costs $14,500. The 1.8 Off-Road being the most expensive, costs $19,600.
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The Japanese are coming and they brought a shitbox with them!
The 2002 Hayaku Spencer (North America) / Seiko (Europe and Asia) / Practico (South America)
Hayaku Spencer 1600 Standard
The cheapest Seiko on the markets was the 1600 Standard, it came with a 1.6L inline 4 producing 93 horsepower. It wasn’t really good at anything. The car was slow, with 0-100km/h time of 12.2 seconds, it wasn’t even that economical, combined consumption was 8L/100km. Comfort was average, the car didn’t have any crazy features. You got a CD player and that’s pretty much all it had. However, the price wasn’t too bad either, only $17,500.
However, if you were feeling rich, you could’ve already bought the 1800 Business.
Hayaku Seiko 1800 Business
It received a bunch of luxury features, such as a 1.8L engine producing 106 hp. Alloy wheels, body-colored mirrors and door handles, fog lights CD player and a cassette tape player, and improved suspension setup! The 1800 Business was also offered with 4-speed automatic, however it was rather outdated and the fuel economy was terrible! Needless to say, the automatic wasn’t too popular.
Since the engine was producing more power, that meant it was able to get the car moving faster than smoother. And when the engine doesn’t have to do as much work just to get the car moving, the fuel economy improves! Combined consumption was only 7.3L/100km. All this for a small price of $19,600.
Now, if you were absolutely swimming in money, the Sport 2000 was also available.
The Sport 2000 featured even less plastic, bigger rims, lower and sportier suspension, variable power steering, improved safety features, a small spoiler for maximum downforce, 6-speed manual transmission, and of course, a 2.0L engine.
The engine was capable of producing 134hp, sending the car from 0 to 100 km/H in 9.4 seconds. All this for only $23,600
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The saga of the Japanese shitbox continues! This time we’re traveling back to 1994.
The 1994 Hayaku Spencer (North America) / Seiko (Europe and Asia)
Pictured above, we have the Hayaku Seiko 1.3 Fresh. It featured a small 1.3L I4, with 8V SOHC. The engine produced a whopping 62 horsepower. However since the car only weighed around 1000 kilograms, it was capable of going from 0 to 100 km/h in 14.8 seconds. You also didn’t have power steering. Good luck with parallel parking! The 1.3 Fresh can be yours for only $12,100.
Moving on, in case you didn’t hate your life that much, you also could buy the 1.5L Cool. The trim naming scheme really made no sense, as the car was far from cool.
The 1.5L I4 still featured 8V SOHC, however, this time making 77 horsepower. The 1.5L Cool had many features the 1.3L Fresh didn’t have. Such as body-colored bumpers, power steering, larger rims, 13 inches instead of 12. You also got improved brakes. On top of that, you got plastic hubcaps from the factory. Wow! The 1,4-meter wheelbase made the car easy to maneuver around cities, in total the car was only 4,16 meters long.
But there’s more!
The 1.6L Breeze, it came with 1.6L I4 DOHC 16V. Out of these three, it featured the best fuel economy, 7.1L/100km. The engine produced a bit over 90hp, meaning that the car wasn’t dangerously slow when accelerating, just slow. 0 to 100 km/h in 11.6 seconds. The car was given a bit more safety features, and just a tad bit nicer cassette player. You also got fog lights and alloy wheels. All this could be yours for only $18,200
And if you, for whatever reason, wanted to own a shitbox coupe, that was also possible!
The 1.6L Breeze 2-door sedan! It was sold to you as a coupe, but for whatever reason, it was called a 2-door sedan. Weird. But the sunroof makes up for the naming confusion. It is pretty much identical to the 1.6L Breeze 4-door. However, the 2-door version is provided with less practicality, better suspension, and a bigger cost. The price tag is set at $18,500.
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For Hayaku, the 90s were crazy. Sales were booming, on some models, at least, and money was coming in!
And when you have money, you can create new models. That, my friends, is how the Hayaku Hana was born.
The year is 1995, the only sedan currently being sold by Hayaku was the Seiko. However, the Seiko only had one purpose, to be cheap. Which it did, it was cheap. But, what if you wanted something a bit nicer than that? That’s where the Hayaku Hana comes in!
Now, don’t get me wrong, by no means was the Hana expensive. The base model, 1400 Comfort, cost
$18,300. It came with a 1.4L DOHC 16V engine, the small engine was pushing over 80hp. The 0 to 100 km/h time was average, at 12.7 seconds. However, the fuel economy was quite good, at 6.6L/100km.
What about the interior? You got cloth seats, manual windows, 5-speed manual transmission, AM/FM radio, cassette player, ABS brakes, driver side airbag, and power steering.
In case you wanted something more than that, there was the 1600 Elegance. It had a 1.6L I4 making 95hp.
When it comes to equipment, well… There really wasn’t too much anything new. The speakers were higher quality, brakes were better, and… Uh… Let’s just move on.
Now! Because there wasn’t any fancy new tech adding weight, the fuel economy was still great. In fact, it barely even increased, at 6.8L/100km. All this only cost $19,700.
But Hilbert, what if I have 3 children, a job that I hate, and a mediocre-looking wife?
Ah, right, I figured you might ask that, but I’m happy to say that I have figured everything out.
The Hayaku Hana 1600 Elegance Wagon. You don’t want a minivan, they’re too big. SUVs are kind of weird, a sedan has too small trunk and the dog wouldn’t like being in the back of a hatchback. That’s where the wagon comes in! Sensible, Japanese wagon. What else do you need? Anyway, the 1400 Comfort did not receive wagon treatment. It was deemed that wagon with a 1.4L engine wouldn’t sell.
Now, this is where the fun begins! The 1800 Prestige.
This is the pinnacle of engineering. 1.8L engine, high flow three-way catalytic converter, everything you could ever ask from an engine. The fuel economy was great, hell, it was excellent! 6.5L/100km. Oh right, and I almost forgot, the power! 113hp.
And you got alloy wheels, a fucking CD player, traction control, fog lights, God, you name it, the list just goes on (it really doesn’t, that’s all.) When it comes to speed, there is speed. It’s a fucking sportscar! The 0 to 100 time is only 9.8 seconds, and after that, the car just keeps going, in fact, it goes all the way to 220km/h.
Sorry for any possible spelling mistake, uncle Hilbert felt like writing after having a few drinks.
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I like the car! Pretty good!
Fuck yea, 4.27! Now, let’s talk about Korea!
Specifically, the following cars
1986 Dongsun Jibba
The year was 1986, Dongsun decided to do something new and innovative. Something that will get families from place A to B and sometimes even C. Something cheap, yet elegant. Something practical, yet fun to drive.
However, the car they came up with was only one of those things, cheap.
The cheapest of them all was the 1.3 LS. It featured a carburated 1.3L engine, making a whopping 49 horsepower. The car came with 4-speed manual transmission.
When it comes to features… Well, there really were no features. You got a plastic-y interior and an 8-track player. That’s it. No power steering, not that you needed it. The whole thing weighed only 835kg. No ABS brakes. If you crash, you die. On top of that, the car was noisy and horrible to drive. However, this experience could be yours for $9940.
Now, if you wanted your car to be a little bit more comfortable… Well, I’d say you’re still out of luck. Either way, this is the 1.5 XLS 5-door.
It was an upgrade if you compare it to the 1.3L LS 3-door. It had a 1.5L engine, still carburated. Of course, a bigger engine also made more power. 53 horsepower, in this case. Does this mean the car is also faster? Uh, no. You see, the car was also offered with a 3-speed automatic. It made driving a bit easier, however… The acceleration was still closer to 20 seconds, and the fuel economy just got worse. With the automatic, you were looking at 12.2L/100km, whereas the 1.3 LS 3-door got 11L/100km. On a more positive note, you got a cassette player! Fancy! You still didn’t have power steering or ABS brakes, but when buying a cheap car, you have to make certain sacrifices. The was still quite affordable, only costing $11,000.
And now! Let’s talk about speed. The 1.5 GLS MPI. It had the very same 1.5L engine, however this time it came with multi-point electronic fuel injection. Now, since this was the sport version, it came with bunch of red stripes-
So, you might wonder how much power a sports car this had? The answer is 87.9. It came with a 5-speed manual, alloy wheels, a little bit less plastic-y interior and ABS brakes, as well as a bit more… Up-to-date safety features. You still really didn’t need power steering, the car still weighed less than 860 kilos.
Either way, the fun stuff, speed! 0-100km/H in 11.9 seconds, top speed of 166 km/h, quarter-mile in 19.5 seconds. That’s pretty much all there is to say, the whole package was yours for just $12,500.
And
2007 Dongsun Jibba
21 years can make a big difference. In fact, 21 years WILL make a big difference. However, some things just don’t change.
Such as the number of doors in your base model Jibba!
The engine was still small, 1.2L naturally aspirated inline 4, pushing out 82 horses. This time, even the base model had multi-point electronic fuel injection. The poor engine had to work hard to get this 1100kg heavy piece of cheap Korean steel moving, the 0-100 time was 13.1 seconds. The top speed was somewhat underwhelming too, just a little bit shy of 180km/h. To be precise, it was 178km/h. But this car wasn’t exactly targeted to people who want things such as… Practicality, or… Well, you get it. The car had a 2+2 seating setup, mainly because it couldn’t fit any more than that. Once again, the price wasn’t too high, $15,800.
Right, but what exactly did this $15,800 get you? Airbags for everybody, the driver and passenger. ABS brakes, hydraulic power steering, cloth seats, CD player, 15-inch steelies, and so on and so on.
Now, if you had a family and all that jazz, there was a 1.4L model that came with 5 doors. However I’m not going to write about that boring middle trim shit, let’s skip straight to the 1.6L version! You might think 1.6L is a bit small for the top trim, but we have to keep in mind that this thing isn’t a big car, the wheelbase is only 2,36 meters.
Of course, a bigger engine means you have more responsibilities. All the speed that comes with it… Yeah anyway, 104hp, 0-100km/h in 11.3 seconds. Still has a CD player, this time it’s fancy, traction control, 16-inch alloys, some other stuff, yadda yadda, you know the drill. 6.7L/100km. $18,300
Oh and also
Just have a bunch of other pics too
This one’s called “Man with a weapon”
This one’s “The Great Pyramid of Giza”
And this one is “Portrait of a killer (and their little brother)”
Fuck this I’m just calling it a day now.
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What makes a car good looking? Symmetrical and relatable design? God, whatever it is, it’s not this.
The 2012 Asagao iBlo. It sure did stand out in the Lidl parking lot!
The base model was given 1.2L I4 producing whopping 81 horsepower. It was nothing crazy, really. 5 speed manual and 0-100 km/h in 14.8 seconds. When it comes to equipment… Uh, you got CD player and steelies.
Moving on! The 1.4 RH, nothing special , the engine is pushing out 94hp, making the car slightly less underpowered. 0-100 time was few seconds faster, 12.7 seconds. Fuel economy was average, 6.8L/100km.
Now! This is the peak luxury, 1.6L I4 giving the front wheels 105 horsepower! The car was still slow, 11.8 seconds to 100km/h. Fuel economy on the other hand is better, 6.7L/100km. You also get bunch of new features, such as 15 inch alloy wheels, top of the line safety features, and a fancy CD player!
The prices are starting from $22,000 and go all the way up to $25,100.
However, the car sure did offer several color options. Shit ton of body colors, and either white, black, or body colored roof.
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ah shit I had a car thread
Well boys, let’s talk about the American Dream!
What is it? Freedom, happiness, family. Car and a house? Fuck it, two cars? Is that it? What if, the American Dream was more than just that? What if, it was a lifestyle? You have three kids, a labrador retriever, beautiful wife and a mortgage. What is missing from this big picture? It certainly ain’t another labrador retriever. What you need, is a Minivan! A Minivan with a capital M! That’s what you need, and that’s what I have for you. A 2003 Allen Spacevan.
Now, you’re a smart man. Why spend money on an expensive car, when a cheap car does the same thing, you think, while also buying a brand new car instead of an used one.
Off-white color, steelies with some bullshit ass alloys, a fucking inlinr 4 engine. What is the point of life? It’s a car that gets sold after 10 years, the kids are bigger, more mature now. They’re having sex. It’s 2013. You don’t need a minivan, you’re trading it for a 7-seater SUV. Why do you even need 7 seats? You only have 3 kids. These are the questions we will never know the answers to.
The new SUV is great. You miss the sliding rear doors. Boy, were they practical in tight spots. Fuel consumption comes to your mind, you no longer miss your Spacevan. Boy, the 4-speed slushbox sure wasn’t the smartest choice. That’s what you get for buying the cheapest model. Should’ve gone for the more expensive model, you think.
Oh boy, the body colored mirrors, the half leather seats! Half-fucking-leather! A fucking V6! Forget about the slushmatic, it’s a V6! Half leather seats! A Minivan witth over 180 horsepower! More than 180! Can you believe it? Well, neither can I. Judging by the 12 second 0 to 60 time, you really wouldn’t know it has a V6. Fuck it, if you’re going for a V6, go big.
A whole ass 3.6L V6, and on top of everything, front fog lights.The slushbox is no longer a slushbox. It’s a box. Just a box. Fucking 9.5 second 0 to 60 time. Less than ten motherfucking seconds. And you have those leather seats! LEATHER SEATS MOTHERFUCKER! and a shit ton of more features. i am bit drunk so i cant type them out anymore. great fucking minivan, 2003. yours for 27k go buy it. instead of buying a minivam i will go buy kebab now. goodsbye.
Edit: it was a damn good kebab
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I remember having such one as a rental car once. I can really understand your description. Unfortunately.
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Oh! Those are Chevy’s over there! My American brain was wondering why they put Chevrolet decals down the side when that was clearly a Pontiac Montana. Then I noticed the bowtie on the front instead of the arrowhead and all was made clear.