How the fuck do you go from this

The Impala SS and Mercury Marauder were a little bit of a sham though. Both were not much different than their regular versions, the impala SS didn't even have a different engine. Then their prices were $5-10 more simply because of the name and the marketing claiming they were the second coming of muscle cars and would be an investment.

The impala SS had a different engine though

DESU that isn't really a bad modern car design
Not as good as the new accord but better than toyota and ford

>I don't understand this meme,

youtube.com/watch?v=5gelX4LfiC0

ARRRUUGHH

NEARLY 600 HORSES

"meme" is becoming the new synonym for "thing"

no need to be upset about it

no user. just you autistics call things maymays. My shoes arent mayamays, pizza isnt a maymay. quantum mecchanics isnt a maymay.

Fuck off with calling everything a maymay.

pizza is a good meme though

90's impalas are the ultimare cars for the really really fat guy that's in every frat movie. the kind that's farting constantly, wears a backwards hat well into his 40's, and hasn't seen his dick since middleschool.

>Why did car design peak in the 90's?
>90s
>good looking cars aside from some jap and german stuff here and there

You are out of your god damned mind, the 90s was one of the worst decades for car designs.

because special interests and soccer moms.

dont think its entirely the government or soccer moms either- Insurance companies push for it too, because the safer the car is, the better it is for them. theres nothing insurance companies hate more than paying up. And so anything they can do to minimize any sort of injury risk, is a plus in their book.

And the government, (Liberal government, specifically) is obsessed with safety because think of the environment! think of the children! and Soccer moms want huge bubbles because it makes them feel disconnected from the road. they WANT technology to take over because that minimizes risks for their kids. (it doesnt)

also in general, just shit taste in car design. You can make a pigfat modern car and make it interesting looking, but there is no real creativity, because there is no risk.

Something like pic related, was a risk. It was a fairly bold idea. Lets take the modern curvy design and use it to make a retro car.

imagine if instead of being angry shitboxes with angry headlights and huuuge grilles, designers took the pigfat and made the best of it, trying to actually make larger cars look better. we are trying to apply pre '08 car design logic to cars that are much bigger than those cars were, all while sticking to the angry headlight meme.

imo, we need to go back to finding an inspiration source for cars. Jets and shit used to be an inspiration in the 50s and 60's, and those are some of the most iconic American cars. even moving into the 70's and 80's with box design, cars were at least "designed". there was a method to the madness. And in the 90's and early 00's, it was just taking 80's box style and making it rounded and sleeker. but since then, its like we hit peak car and cant progress further, at least not with the current crop of designers.

Although IMO, its getting better slowly. I actually kind of like Chevy's current front design. headlights are angular, but the grille isnt angry at least.

...

Pedestrian impact survivavibility regulations + retarded designers trying to preserve most of the original look instead of being creative

Honestly we're wasting time and money trying to make pedestrians less likely to die and more likely to be crippled while ruining visibility enough to make incidents more likely in the first place

We should just make sure pedestrians and cars never interact outside of parking lots and call it done. Having skybridges and tunnels and shit instead of crosswalks also looks cyberpunk as fuck.

you hit the nail on the head with visibility

holy shit modern cars have so many fucking blindspots

Fucking pedestrians that's how

You can make do if you look around really well and do some situational mirror adjustments

No it had the lt1 which was the same as the police 9c1, the station wagon and was an option for regular caprices.

>Your Australian branch creates better cars than you can
>Shuts them down

Every new car just looks the same to me. They all have the same basic shapes, contours, overall size, etc. There's nothing that stands out anymore. It's like the NHRA's regulating how our cars are made now

They have the Alpha platform which is better than the Zeta (what the Chevy SS/Commodore rode on/is riding on) in pretty much every way. They could very easily bring back the Commodore nameplate on a much better and more lightweight RWD chassis only it would be using an American chassis instead of an Australian one (would be like a reverse 5th gen camaro)

Maybe we could build RHD commodores and just ship some to Australia since there wasn't much of a point in keeping the Australian factories with slowing sales of Commodores anyway.

No one gives a rats ass about the latest and greatest chassis. They want a cheap v8 to get hectic.

Im gonna fight ur opinion with muh opinion!

god damn look at that rib support structure on the frame. That gives me an engineering boner.

actually its mostly owned by rudey poos where ai see them.
I'm white and not a douchebro and I drive a '96
Great car for being 20 years old

I think the problem is that past the turn of the millennium, pretty much the only major American car companies left are the big 3 and only a fraction of their subsidiaries, and those subsidiaries dont really make original designs anymore-they dont really have any autonomy that they might have had before, but follow their parent and make just rebrands.

so since the big 3 have decided to start playing safe and shifting to all inclusive global appeal, instead of the previous strategy of region specific cars, they are forcing bland shitty globalized Euro taste on American Roads. encouraged by the Obama Administration, which is dead set on turning the US into Europe, car regs and all.

Thanks, globalism.

Three more months, user antwon.

>tfw our only hope is the based japs

>car design
>peak in the 90's

Pffffff! I DISAGREE.

What the fuck

>90's cars were plenty safe enough

youtu.be/8kuSghb7P7U

Innovation in engineering.

I like it.

That's a van, not a car

Oh thank goodness. Now I can let my 16 year old daughter drive an mr2 without any worries for her safety!

PEAK IN THE 90'S?!?

she either makes it or breaks it.
And I bet an MR2 would be an amazing texting deterrent after the encounters snap oversteer
But then again
>buying your daughter any kind of driver's car
>ever

underrated post

Boomer detected.

its literally a Volkswagen with chrome wings on it

You could have posted so many actually good looking cars but you chose that
Smh

its true. they hit peak design.

90's designs started the rounded trend. back then it was just "lets take this boxy 80's car and keep the same design- but ROUNDED EDGES

but once youve turned all the 80's boxes into 90's ovals, where do you go from there?

more kurvs

E46 will forever be the most appealing affordable car from early 2000's

Damn son, jealous.

how the fuck do you go from this

to this

from a regular whale to a whale with downs syndrome?

Now, I love me a good B-body, but let's face it, the bubble Caprice resembles nothing so much as a fat '91 Maxima.

Wow what's that aluminum?

youtube.com/watch?v=kPqRMk2RuVY

>implying this is an Impala
The title says Caprice user.

I think you mean to THIS.

...

Yup. Pretty easy to keep running too, if you know a reliable indie shop.

Funnily enough that model of Caprice was called the Impala SS.

muh dick

Women. Women buy more new cars because men can actually buy a good used vehicle and maintain it, so woman-pandering is what keeps car companies alive.

that actually looks much better

False. It has very little to do with design

its true though. theres only 2 reasons for the beltlines being so high. one is to fit more side airbags, the other is for the illusion of safety

>tri spokes

But the Impala SS was a trim level, not the model name. Still a Caprice.

Looks like a fucking bar of soap.

Not even. The 1994-1996 Caprice Impala SS (the proper name) was an appearance package. OP posted a gussied up Caprice then complained the New Impala was nothing like it. OP is a moron.

>illusion of safety

I don't know about other people, but those high ass belt lines make the car feel more like a coffin to me.

>Those fucking fat tires
hgnnn

This.

Its a gussied up Caprice police package. All these edgelords wailing about MUH 90's only like this thing cuz its painted blaaaacccckkkk

american cars sucked in the 90s, but everywhere else was on point.

HA ok

thought I was on /b for a second there

only nigs and boomers like op car

Im 30 and own the 96 posted above.
You've probably never even been in a well maintained/modified bbody but keep making ignorant assumptions friendo

I don't know how people can drive those. A buddy of mine has a 2014 Malibu and the windows are up to my shoulders and the top of the dash is probably level with my chin. I can't see the hood at all; it's like driving a truck or a van. Fuck safety ratings, I don't want to drive one of those.

>30

so youre an old person

just not quite boomer age

and yes I have

I had the displeasure of riding around in an 04 Impala SS for a while and some boomer with a dark red 96 SS (on Torq Thrusts lol) felt the need to strike up a conversation

its just a generic barge slower than a V6 FWD as we found out lel

>30
>old
I knew I was being trolled by some kid

I'm a white guy and I like this car.

>I must have been a big lipped negroid in a former life because I like big women with fat asses and the Impala SS

I'm 19, white, and LOVE the early 2000s Impalas, and the 3.8L V6 that god intended them all to come with. Fuck right off with that 3.4L shit.

30 is when you officially become old man

Im 23 fyi struggling to not lose it on the tail end of a mid life crisis yknow

Im just saying 9/10 people who like those cars are black and or boomers

Ive never seen anyone else in them

you probably got what I was supposed to have

for whatever reason Im black but love beanpoles and hate barges

I hate the 3800 with a passion

I hate their sound so goddamn much

at least the Impala had the whine to make up for it

Not him, but I love the 3.4L It's such a better design than the 3800. Swap the intake and head gaskets to updated aftermarket felpros and it's easily more reliable than the 3800's. I was in the W-body community for a long ass time. I can't stand everyone putting that 1960's piece of pigiron on some fucking pedestal.
I prefer the 3400, but I see the appeal of the 3800's. It's 1960's tech in a modern car.

I can understand if you don't like the sound. I just think it's a good engine.

Maybe I should reconsider, but I think really the only place my engine is losing is comparable engines designed after like 2000 make easily 40-50 horsepower more with less displacement, so it's definitely a relic. I feel safe with this engine though because I know I could rebuild it in the Vatozone parking lot.

I might have to give the 3400 a shot. I'm working on learning to wrench on things right now to maintain my stuff and maybe as a hobby.

My dream is to go down to Texas and pick a nice MOPAR or GM from the scrap yards, bring it home on a trailer, and build it up again.

>love beanpole and hate barges

You and I could do a comedy skit together. Perhaps star in a remake of "The Odd Couple".

The SS version with the V8 isn't that bad...

I just love the boxy shape that older cars had. Like the E30 and the Corrado (less boxy but still) even the ae86

>the illusion of safety

Or, you know, actual safety.

It looks more like a car to me.

The thing with the 3400 is they have a bad reputation for blowing intake manifold gaskets and head gaskets. Use proper aftermarket fel-pro gaskets though and it doesn't happen again.

The 3400 and it's sister engines (like the 2.8L, 3.1L, 3100, and 3500) all have distinct advantages over the 3800.
>60* V angle
The 3800 was literally a Buick V8 minus 2 cylinders. So the 3800 has a 90* V angle. This means it's not properly balanced internally and requires a balance shaft to keep things from shaking the wrong way. The 3x00's have a 60* V angle which makes it balanced internally and doesn't require a power-robbing balance shaft.
>better firing order
The 3800 has a firing order (1-6-5-4-3-2) derived as a band-aid in the 1970's to deal with the uneven firing order resulting from its conception. The 60* V6's all have a better firing order even if it's still an odd firing order (1-2-3-4-5-6). Note that same firing order is used by Nissan's VQ engines as well.
>aluminum heads
lighter weight. 3800s have all iron heads. It's also worth noting 3400 heads outflow 3800 heads.
>splayed valves
gives better combustion and better power. While there are (expensive) aftermarket 3800 heads that are aluminum, none will give you splayed valves.

The 3400 and its siblings were designed from the start as V6's and not just a cut-down V8. Their parts interchangeability is amazing too.

The 60* V6 family also sounds amazing when you modify them a bit.
youtube.com/watch?v=XLVm-tS7ips

The FWD models didn't get a V8 SS until 2006. 2004-2005 SS models had a supercharged 3800 V6.

Interesting stuff there. Good to know.

I won't discount the 3400 in the future when shopping for cars.

Because god knows neither of us can drive any sedan made after 2009.

that's exactly what I meant. I think the GXP with the V8 was a better thought out package though, but the SS V8 was more reliable from what I remember reading on their respective forums.

it's not actual safety. it's designers and accountants trying to fit aesthetics around safety.

you can have a low beltline and good crash test ratings, but the car looks like some jetsons shit.

Not really. The V8 models had a tendency to blow that 4 speed FWD automatic to smithereens. The engine itself is reliable. The transmission is a grenade waiting to go off.

This, I almost bought a used 2008 Impala SS for a comfy DD (I'm white) but I didn't want the tranny to asplode