Hey everyone, this will be a cheap car contest from the early 90’s, it will ideally feature cars like the ford fiesta and Suzuki swift but the rules are open enough to allow variation.
The rules are.
Years of car trim and engine variant allowed 1988-1993, (families can be older)
Fuel economy: minimum 40 mpg (us) (“regular” 87aki/91ron)
Seating: minimum of 3
Safety: minimum of 30
Emissions (in the car tab): maximum of 400
Reliability (in the car tab): minimum of 60
Market price(suggested): $12,000@5% profit, market year will be 1993.
Number of cars per day(detailed stats): minimum of 250 @ the default factory size “medium 2”
I will be looking at acceleration, braking, suspension setups, service costs, market affordability, gearing, engine characteristics and finally they will be subjected to a track or two to observe their behavior at speed. The intended market is bargain basement entry level economy cars, the lowest rung of transport that still has 4 wheels.
Please name your car family and engine family, the first and third tabs,
(NEC “username” )
Deadline for entries will be February 6th.
ACCEPTED ENTRIES
1.Madrais- Storm Spiteful
2.Leonardo9613- Batlazar Quark 1.4EX
3.Thecarlover- Solo Eco BM
4.NormanVauxhall- Znopresk Zap 1.2E Prima
5.Vicvictory-Hane G 1.2 Turbo
6.Doctornarfy- Shromet Mystic
7.Stensen- Eurocesso
8.AirJordan- Econ Blueline
9.Lenraj-Cloud
10.oppositelock- GSI Gala ES-T
11.Sebesseg- Roka E60
12.HighOctaneLove- Bogliq Coyote 1100
13.MadamVastra- Chiron Panache
14.Salen00b- Basic 1600
15.Strop- Fore Birdie GTi
16.F17francesco- Raziel B eco Turbo
17.Koolkei- Logic F 80E
18.CadallicDave- Bergun 1.1 Eco
19.vmo- Montes Urban 1.8 ecoline
20.Asdrin-Revera Eco RS
No suggestions from me, but I would definitely be interested in this. I prefer the regular car challenges over race series, so I’m always glad to make another budget hatch
I ran a competition for 1993 Hatchbacks a while ago, and the average safety then, while using the more realistic standard safety, rather than the overly-expensive and not really meant for a cheap car advanced, was around 33, with the best cars almost getting 40 points. Link for the safety overview. Also, 45 MPG is a bit high for a combined fuel consumption figure like automation’s, I don’t think any car in 1993 was capable of getting those numbers combined, only on highway economy. Economy overview.
Hmm, you might be right on that, 40 safety would probably be too high for back then. Also note the price is currently only a suggestion as that’s about what a metro went for back then, so how does bumping the price limit up to $13,000 and dropping the safety limit down to 30 sound? I do want some wiggle room so people can take various approaches.
I’m going to stay firm on the fuel economy for now, I’ll run some tests tonight and see how tough it is in a few different bodies, but I’m not expecting engines bigger than 1.5 liter, or with more than 60 or 70 HP, so I think it should be possible. Your top 5 all met or surpassed it and fuel economy is the major point to these kinds of cars.
Honestly I think ALL the major requirements are on the high side. I just whipped up a quick test based on what you’re shooting for (basic 2 door, 5 passenger hatchback with a 1.5L engine) and got:
33 safety
30 MPG (and that’s with a 15.0:1 AFR!)
350 cars per day ON THE NOSE (and I’m using a lot of cheap, low-time parts and NO sliders)
but the cost at 5% is just over $8k.
Emissions 439
Bear in mind that while the '93 Geo Metro XFi trim (ONLY) got 47 combined MPG, the next best (and far more common) LSi trim got 40 combined MPG, and Ford’s contemporary competitor (Festiva) got only 33 combined. Honda Civic was good for 28-40 depending on trim, while the Tercel was only good for 29 (Beaten even by the Subaru Justy at 30). So 30 MPG combined seems to be the low end of this class of cars during that year.
Now, your original $12k price is on-target with the inflation-adjusted MSRP of a '93 Geo Metro with respect to 2010, which is when the game currency was valuated. Maybe increase the margin to 10 or 15%?
1993 was after the last dying gasp of the carburetor in the US, but before the widespread implementation of MPFI. Yes, it existed, but mostly on higher-end models. Cheap econoboxes nearly exclusively used SPFI. So the emissions requirements should be a bit higher IMO.
Okay following a few test builds i have revised the following restrictions
economy is now 40 MPG US
cars per day now minimum 250
safety is now minimum of 30
I was able to pretty quickly throw together a spfi and carbed 4 and even a small mpfi 6 cylinder car that meet those criteria.
The 250 cars per day is slightly restrictive, but that’s the point, these are budget cars and should be able to be produced rapidly from smaller and less complex factories. It’s all about cutting corners, see if you can find ways to switch out complex parts for simpler ones, iron and steel rather than aluminum, cast internals rather than forged, cast exhaust manifolds rather than ones that need weldin, single basic mufflers, drum brakes rather than disks, maybe a 4 speed not a 5 speed, or drop the undercladding, there are lots of ways to cheapen up the cars.
With the change in safety and economy, there’s now a ton of waits to go about this. 5 minutes with my original test car got it within the regs. Another 15 yielded something I think would be very competitive.
Depends on your body selection, several are not very safe. But there’s a good number that can see 30 safety even with basic 80’s, although their weight will make it more difficult to hit the 40mpg mark.
but i enjoy building small cheap cars.
