Literally from the OP:
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oh
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1998 Moravia Laticia 1.2
With the factory line for the Jestrab being shut down for the tooling change over for the Gabriela, The Veverky became Moravia’s only production car during the late 80’s and early 90’s. But with the fall of communism and the flood of western cars suddenly available, sales of the small hatchback fell off quickly.
Thankfully, the Gabriela quickly proved to be a strong seller. Boosted by this success, Moravia executives made the decision to put the Veverky out to pasture in '93 after 23 years. Work shortly began after on a replacement entry level model. Five years later, the Laticia debut along side the larger second generation Gabriela.
In long standing Moravia tradition, the Laticia featured an inline three engine. Displacing 1154cc, this SOHC engine utilized an alloy cylinder head with variable valve timing and a multipoint fuel injection. This undersquare mill produced 68.1hp @ 6,000 rpm and 71.5 ft-lbs of torque at 2,900. Mated to a five speed manual, it manages 35.7 mpg.
The engineers at Moravia didn’t skimp on many features either, with the Laticia being equipped with a standard cassette/AM/FM radio, power steering, and anti lock brakes. With a starting price of $17,500AMU, it continues the tradition of providing a lot of car for the money.
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MY2001 Schnell XL60 LSi-500 MK2
Ever felt like a peasant in a lesser car, Introducing the new Schnell XL60 LSi 500, It makes 518HP to all four wheels through a 6.2L V12 DOHC 48-Valve.
It’s a real supercar for the fraction of the price with a top-speed of 196MPH (Derestricted) but due to a gentleman’s agreement it’s limited to 155MPH. The V12 is also handbuilt along with the LSI-500 versions of the XL60 to ensure the best of quality and re-assessment during assembly.
It also has the creature comforts of other luxury cars out there and a 0-60 of 4.4s and 428 lb-ft torque, It’s included in our line of fun amazing adult toys such as the Schnell LSi line and the L20 GLX AWD if you want some off-the-road adventures.
The XL-Series has gained styling changes to match 2000s standards and to target a younger audience, Priced at 57,000 AMU, this vehicle’s sure to not let your sports car addiction down. It also has a real carbon fibre lip made of authentic carbon to make it lighter.
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1997 KAI KS300 Turbo Evo
The original KS300 Turbo was hardly a slouch, with its turbocharged inline-six sending 300 horsepower to the rear wheels, but the 1997 facelift made it even quicker, with 25 extra horsepower courtesy of engine revisions that included a larger turbocharger and increased boost pressure. This resulted in a fatter, flatter torque curve, but surprisingly without too much turbo lag. To harness the extra grunt, a six-speed manual gearbox replaced the five-speed unit that had been used previously, and the wheels gained an inch of diameter to accommodate larger brake discs all around.
The resulting car was undoubtedly faster across the ground than before, and thanks to the exterior facelift, undoubtedly better-looking, with a more menacing appearance when viewed from the front, as well as a larger rear spoiler. It was, however, more expensive than the original, with a base price of $34,500 AMU, but at least this time it included a CD player as standard in place of a tape deck. To reflect these changes, the post-facelift examples are referred to as Evolution models, usually shortened to Evo.
6 Likes
2005 Mara Zorya 1.1e 9V
After the demise of the Tovarish after a 40+ years production run due to increased Archanan safety requirements at the turn of the millennium, Mara was left without an economical entry level city runabout (since the almost 4m 3-door Zvezda hatchback could hardly be called that).
After the odd abortive attempt to create a small economy car in the 1990s to replace the Tovarish, the all-new Zorya (‘dawn’) finally saw the light of day in the early 2000s. Being a modern construction, it went on sale immediately in all of Mara’s export markets as well.
Outside Archana, the Zorya was often marketed as particularly eco-friendly and was thus commonly depicted (and, to an extent, ordered) in various shades of green
The Zorya was equipped with an all-new and all-aluminium I3 engine which was called Troika after the traditional Archanan way of harness driving a carriage with three horses side-by-side*. As a compromise between cost and fuel efficiency, the engine had 3 valves per cylinder, leading to a unique 9V engine layout.
Despite a pretty good fuel economy of around 4.5l/100 km, continually rising fuel prices right after the Zorya’s launch led Mara engineers to investigate further options to increase fuel economy. The result was adding a small turbocharger to the engine which not only increased power by 20% but also reduced fuel consumption well below the 4l/100 km mark.
Resource conservation was nothing new to Archanans - except for a brief period in the 1990s - but the biggest challenge for the 2000s was putting positive connotations to it. Hence, the Zorya 1.1e was marketed with silly ads such as the following:
Another ad series featured a bunch of animated aluminium beverage cans with attitude which see a parked Zorya and discuss which part of the car body they want to become once recycled. (“In my next life, I want to become part of the bonnet!” - "Of course you would! You always want to go headfirst into anything! …")
In any case, the lessons learned in developing the Troika engine and its fuel-saving turbo led to further research for a replacement of the reliable but comparably thirsty Progress I4 engine.
*I am not making this up, check wikipedia: Troika (driving) - Wikipedia
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Asking just in case I decide to join this round (I do have a car idea for it), but if I’ve built something equivalent to a hybrid, but it uses an all-aluminum body and glued aluminum chassis, would that be allowed, or would I be better off cloning the car and swapping out for partial aluminum and light AHS steel? I’m fine with either option, as I have to swap the gearbox anyway.
Well, since Automation won’t allow for hybrids, I will to start with not treat it like a hybrid, I know that it does not answer the question, but still.
Yet, if it is something like, for instance, the early Honda Insight, I can clearly see the “experimental vehicle for the road” approach for making a fuel efficient vehicle and then it absolutely feels OK.
If it’s some half assed attempt of minmaxing stats on a bland car I will probably give it a very sour review, not that I think you would do that, but just to make clear where I stand in this question.
5 Likes
Fair enough. Lore wise, it would be an all-aluminum body (that was Storm Automotive’s thing from 2000 onwards) and the Surge was always meant to be glued aluminum for lighter weight and higher efficiency.
I always saw it as somewhat a cross between Honda Insight and early Toyota Prius. I’m using a turbocharger for the added fuel efficiency, but the engine only makes 134hp. Fuel efficiency is the stat I aimed for, the others just… fell in line afterward.
2 Likes
Sounds like an interesting car I would gladly take a look at.
2005 Storm Surge XR-3 PHEV
With Storm Automotive’s whole “Going Global” campaign kicking off in 2000, the American car company known for AWD cars set their sights on a new market in 2005: Sweden. Also released around the same time, in 2004, was the Storm Surge hybrid platform.
The result was a slightly-revised version of the Storm Surge XR-3 released in the United States. With traditional Storm AWD provided by SymTrak, a 1.6 liter turbocharged inline 3 engine optimized for fuel efficiency outputting 134 horsepower, and a 6-speed computer-controlled automatic transmission, the 2005 Surge was capable of 60 MPG (US) just about anywhere.
Many color options were available, including Frost Silver Hi-Flake (pictured), Smoke Metallic, Twilight Blue Metallic, Plasma Trail Red Metallic, Hunter Hi-Flake, and Sun Gold Hi-Flake.
However, the Surge XR-3 (standing for Extended Range, Three Cylinder) wasn’t without a few eyebrow-raising quirks. Air Conditioning was optional, the car was equipped only with a basic 4 speaker CD player, the seats were inexpensive cloth, and plastic was everywhere in the interior. For some, it was a high price to pay for a car that came without some of the modern creature comforts most companies, including Storm itself, were including as standard equipment. The reason for these ‘optional’ items was to increase the XR-3’s range. Adding the air conditioning system, for example, was known to cost 1 MPG just by existing, and 5 MPG if it was turned on.
While it was popular in the United States among those wanting to be eco-friendly, only time would tell if Sweden liked the Surge.
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1998 Ardent Hood Limited
The 1998 model year brought a significant refresh to the Ardent Hood platform. Slightly longer overall proportions allowed for a pop-up third row of seats suitable for smaller children. Addressing criticisms circling in their home market, Ardent made the 4.7L version of the Toledo Aluminum Eight available on the upscale Limited model at this time.
This created a bit of controversy, as the V8 engine was not available with the old-style ShiftGuard transmission with transfer case. Instead, a newly introduced SnowGuard full-time all-wheel drive system was mated instead.
Still, the Limited model offered numerous amenities that were attractive to family buyers with a little extra cash. Leather seats with heated front buckets and a power driver’s seat were standard fare on this top trim, as well as a power moonroof, windows, and mirrors. Central remote locking, alloy wheels, a 200 watt ClearWave stereo CD system with subwoofer, dual zone climate control (front and rear instead of the more common driver and passenger) with air conditioning, automatic headlights, antilock brakes, and traction control rounded out the list of major features.
Though most markets outside of North America never got the V8-powered Limited, there were some exceptions: Australia (local production via knockdown kit), Scandinavia, Germany, and France.
6 Likes
2000 TorSor Zodiac Patagónica
After ITA went bankrupt in the late 80s, it’s remaining assets were sold to various manufacturers and companies. One of them, Motores Sorrento, bought the majority it, founding TorSor in 1990, a new brand that would become the spiritual successor of ITA.
10 years later, the brand had settled itself quite successfully on the latin american market, and it was looking to develop a new series of cars aimed at a more global market.
Enter, the TorSor Zodiac “patagónica”:
The Zodiac was the largest of the Z models from TorSor on sale during early 2000s, and the patagónica was a special edition adapted to a more off-road lifestyle. It featured a powerful V6, pneumatic suspention with adjustable height, and the all-around-plastic that characterized this segment of vehicles.
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MY96 Tack Av-Vagen Stil
Out with the traditional sedan, in with the “lifestyle saloon”, Tack attempted to carve itself a new niche ready for a new century.
Tack had been building affordable RWD sedans since they first started, with the latest Tack Lycka variant just holding out the ever tougher competition. But Tack management started noticing a trend; more people wanted a car that would accomodate their lifestyle, not a car that’d force the owner’s lifestyle to conform to the cars limitations.
This opportunity was seen as a way for Tack to find some “quiet waters” so they could get a head start, becoming the market benchmark rather than merely “the cream of the crap”. So the R&D boffins came up with the “Lifestyle Saloon” concept; an AWD, dual range*, four door crossover utility. The Tack sedan in development was then adapted to embrace this philosophy. Named the Av-Vagen, the small Tack crossover was shown at the International Motor Show in Germany where it generated a lot of interest.
- OOC - This concept is modelled off the Subaru Forester, not a traditional part time 4WD style offroader, just to clarify
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Since the showcar was a thinly veiled production ready car, the MY96 Av-Vagen stunned many automotive journalists by being virtually unchanged from the wildly coloured prototype.
The car came in three trims. The Stil (shown in pics) with a 1.9L inline four, the Liv w/ no sunroof and a 1.7L inline four and the Frihet; a basic interior version w/ no roof or tub rails (replaced w/ a tonneau cover & tie down hooks). All version have a standard fitment, sprayed in rubberised plastic tub-liner.
Where will your Lifestyle Saloon take you today?
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2003 Aim Swallow Mk.V 8S
In the late 90’s to early 2000’s, Aim was doing pretty well for itself. They firmly held on to the title of “most technologically advanced Australian manufacturer”, and they had a diverse line-up with standout hero models that really showed what they could do with quite old engines and sometimes even cars.
Aim knew that they couldn’t sit still though, updates to the Swallow Mk.IV couldn’t stop it from feeling very aged, so the Swallow Mk.V development turned to a radical redesign of the car and an update to the engines. On release in 2002 the Mk.V proved that Aim still had it, with it handily maintaining the best equipment levels for the price when compared to other Australian cars, but it needed to be successful internationally too. And of course, there’s an Aussie staple that needed to be introduced to the rest of the world, so what better hero car than the V8 large performance sedan.
So, along came the 8S in 2003, boasting some wild features and aggressive sporty trimmings to stay competitive with the Commodore and Falcon. The 3.6L V8 was seen as tiny by the true blue Aussies, so they glossed over that entirely in marketing, focusing instead on the 226kw it makes with the aid of twin turbos (a rarity among Australian cars), delivered through all four wheels (even more of a rarity) to an unrestricted top speed of 269 km/h. But Aim wanted the car to sell internationally too, and so to suit the tastes of target markets like Sweden, they governed the top speed to 250 to go along with the gentleman’s agreement Euro companies had, and gave the 8S a comfortable interior with a quality CD player and advanced safety systems to try take on the likes of AEKI.
Would the burly Aussie be able to take on the lithe Euros in their home turf? Only time would tell, but it’s certainly the land down under’s strongest attempt yet.
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Your car is unparalleled. I think, for more practicality, it lacks removable rails attached to the luggage compartment. That way you can tie down and fasten loads without much trouble. Fast and neat. Quick and handy. Bravo! I don’t know how this car would hold up in real life, but it shows 100% in the virtual one!
1 Like
Cabrera Aneto Scout
Lore
Cabrera kept trying to fight in the upmarket segment during the early 2000s. A key part of this plan would be the new Cabrera Aneto, based on an extended Boreas platform, and featuring AWD in all but the most basic trims. The Scout trim level would be the top-of-the-line model for Cabrera after the discontinuation of the Rabion.
This car featured the excelent AWD system of the standard Aneto, but coupled to an all-new 3 liter V6 and all the safety features that you could imagine.
If you had a son in school-age during the 2000s, you probably met another dad who drove one of these and his son was probably the coolest kid in the class.
6 Likes
1998 Munot Volonté 341A
Lore
As early as 1986, Munot was interested in expanding into the ever increasingly popular supermini segment. Such a car would be positioned as a more discerning option compared to all the cheap city cars, an entry-level Munot to complement the Drache sedan, and in the face of more and more restrictive environmental regulations, a leader in efficiency for future cars. Implicit was also an underlying concern in some, that small cars were slowly taking away the urban upper-middle class customers that Munot was popular amongst. The economic crises and rising gas prices of the 90s only helped to underline the need for a small Munot - the future was efficiency.
To design this car of the future, the company did it’s tradition of setting the Schaffhausen, Basel, and the newer Geneva teams in competition. The winner was the Geneva design team’s prototype, led by Dr. Thierry Maudet, and a prototype made entirely of aluminum was shown in 1993. A survey at the same 1993 auto show indicated that an overwhelming 95% of participants approved of a supermini Munot, and 80% approved of the Geneva design, rubber stamping it for final development and production. The victorious team decided to name their creation the “Volonté”, reflecting the car’s goal of a futuristic, youthful, and strong energy in it’s design.
In order to meet these goals, the Volonté needed to be light and low drag, without sacrificing comfort or safety. A five-door hatchback style was the only body available, featuring a spacious yet streamlined body with a drag coefficient of only 0.33. Though the prototype’s aluminum body was too expensive for mass production, a significant number of body parts were made of aluminum to reduce weight. This included the wheels, which were 14 inch alloy as standard. The underpinnings of the Volonté were shared with the Drache to streamline production and reduce cost; the same MacPherson/trailing arm independent suspension scheme was used along with the traverse FWD layout. A classic 5-speed manual gearbox was installed as standard with a mild final drive to maximize gearing efficiency. ABS front disk and rear drum brakes were standard for safety reasons. Completely equipped, the Volonté weighed only 950 kg.
The engine itself was a major engineering feat in of itself. Having deemed that the Zweicam-NEA architecture too complicated for a car of this size and market category - especially since the aluminum block casting was not giving good enough yields - a completely new, tiny engine had to be designed from scratch. Dr. Remo Ogi led the design effort, creating Munot’s first multivalve SOHC engine. Based on a cheaper and more reliable “grey metal” (cast iron) block, this small engine was a slanted-4, in order to increase the amount of available space in the engine bay. The team designed a four-valve head controlled by a single VVT cam, with this relatively complex system requiring new design principles. The benefits were deemed worth it though, as the initial 1.1L engine was perhaps the most efficient one to date. Furthermore, extensive muffling ensured a low cabin noise.
Nevertheless, as Dr. Maudet put it, the goal was not to design a cheap Munot, but rather a small Munot. Aside from the innovations in hardware, the Volonté also featured a generously equipped interior. Featuring soft touch plastics, remote central locking, a four-speaker cassette stereo, five plush upholstered seats, heat and AC, four-door power windows, and electric and heated rear-view mirrors, the standard interior was comparable to it’s more upscale siblings. The center-console dashboard was a throwback to the early Munots; in addition to the digitized Auto Information Computer it also featured an external temperature sensor. Driver and front passenger airbags were standard, a special passenger cell was designed whereupon the engine would travel underneath the cabin in an accident, and the Volonté became the final car to be equipped with the Traction Restraint System, in order to retain a high level of safety despite it’s size. The Omnidirectional Impact System (OIS) found in the 5th Generation of Munot cars was later designed into the Volonté.
Options for the Volonté include a 4-speed automatic; traction control (later made standard and replaced as an option by ESC); an interior package with leather upholstery, sunroof, automatic climate control, and a six-speaker CD/cassette stereo; and rear parking sensors. At launch, three trims were available. The base-model A as depicted; the T (Touring) trim with a more powerful engine and interior package/rear sensors as default; and the TS trim with a more powerful engine, larger 15 inch performance tires, more powerful brakes, and traction control as default. A TSI trim was added featuring a direct injection injection later in the series.
Of course, it was still the cheapest Munot by being the smallest, starting at $17,500 AMU, but the difference between it and the compact car-sized Drache was not that big. However, in terms of efficiency, it couldn’t be beat. The most economical 1.1L engine consumed only about 4.8L of fuel per 100 km, while still propelling the A model to 100 km/h in a relatively quick 13.98 seconds.
As for where it stands? Time alone would tell how successful the Volonté’s introduction would be.
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1996 F&S Macro
'94 was a big year for us. We started the Seax WRC program, greenlit the larger I5 engine which would power the Parryi supercar which would be our return to endurance GT racing in '96 and I became CEO. The rebirth and excessive ideas phase was dying down but still we had one request from our Japanese brass. They normally leave us to our devices but they felt we missed something: bring back the spirit of the A series. A British roadster.
So that’s what we spent the mid 90’s designing. Between me and you, I wasn’t sold on the idea. Though it was the perfect testbed for the second generation Seax engine. All AlSi, 25 valves. Ready for another round on the touring and rally circuit. But for the Macro we sleeved and destroked it to 1800cc - what we built would rival the original Elan in dimensions. But would the world accept this sports roadster?
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The Waldersee Ritter K32
A 2000s German pony car that threw refinement out the window in favor of ecstasy: all the brutality of a Stuttgart-made car, mixed wit the analog lean-ness of a Bavarian.
The Waldersee Ritter line had long been a mainstay of Swedish roads - sometimes as a muscle car, sometimes as a utilitarian car, sometimes as other things. The K32 - a version of the fifth-gen Ritter - was somewhere in between.
See, the Ritter had evolved over the years from a car with elite racing credentials and powerful street-muscle versions to a much more docile vehicle, with all-wheel-drive versions taking much of the spotlight; with cheaper trims and a size that hadn’t really changed even as rivals a certain Bavarian company kept growing their cars, Waldersee’s midsize car was rapidly becoming less of a luxury and more of a regular car.
Waldersee’s marketers finally got the message by 1996, when it was time to update the 5th-generation car for 1996. The car’s already somewhat stubby, aggro look was emphasized with the addition of a scowling front end and tall taillights, making it ‘more of a bulldog than an eagle’. This styling change was most fully reflected in the entry-level, youth oriented K-series Ritter - a 3-door hatchback coupe.
The K-series was generally a four- or five-cylinder affair, however in 1998 this version - the K32 - happened. It offered a state of the art dual-cam inline-six (as suggested by the name, displacing 3.2 liters) also offered in some larger cars, capable of 220 PS - not necessarily sportscar levels of performance, but the most you could get out of a German budget-coupe by a huge margin, enabling the old-tech car to reach 100 km/h in 6 seconds when equipped with a five-speed manual. As a bonus, the engien was available with damn near all interior trim levels.
It didn’t look good in white, like a bodybuilder in a wedding gown.
One might wonder why Waldersee would ever bother with a car like this; and the reason was image. Waldersee wished to exist in a niche between the mundane automakers of Russelheim and the overblinged Bavarians and Stuttgarters, and this mad, cheap muscle car was one of the ways it would get there; ads for the K32 would show it in industrial environments, and the TV commercials even featured music by Bammstein - you don’t get any grittier than that.
God, it’s like a pissed off street midget with a knife.
There was much pride in the German division of Arlington that their compact coupe needed the 250-km/h limiter, and that they had wide openings between the other manufacturers to make unusual, passionate cars like the K32 Ritter. They knew right away that the old-tech brute wouldn’t crush sales records, but they were betting heavily on it crushing some hearts.
(And yes, the file was sent in about 20 seconds before 6 PM CET; and goddammit I forgot to remove the ITBs)
7 Likes