What is it with car manufacturers and REAR-wheel drive? What is particularly
ironic about this is that the "Big 3" are located in Detroit Michigan. Which is
roughly where I live. They must drive special, magical roads that I don't have
access to. Maybe they're Stone-Cutters or something because the roads I drive on
have snow on them quite a bit during the year which makes a rear-wheel drive car
impractical.
And yet...the cool cars I'm interested in are rear-wheel drive. For
example:
Here is the Cadillac XLR. It has a Corvette engine in it. Looks really cool.
It's a two seater but....it's rear wheel drive.
I have a few fairly unusual requirements:
- Must have Head's Up Display. I am used to it now. My Grand Prix had it,
my Bonneville has it. It would be hard to go back to a car that doesn't have
it.
- I really care about how it looks on the outside. I don't really care
that much about how fast it is, as long as it's responsive.
- I want the interior to have an integrated compass. GPS would be nice,
and smart cruise control.
- It would also be nice if it had some sort of map read out that hooks
into that GPS.
- Must be all wheel drive or at least front wheel.
This car above has everything but #5. I won't be buying (or leasing in
my case) for another year so there's time to look around. But it's a bummer to
see how many cool cars coming out that are rear wheel drive.
My friend recommended the
Volvo S80 to me. The problem I have with that car is the outside styling. It
also fails the head's up display and smart cruise control. It does seem to have
an option for GPS and a screen for displaying the map and it has an all-wheel
drive option but it fails too many of the other options.
I have other biases as well. I prefer to buy American cars. In fact, I've
never bought anything but American cars. The last rear wheel drive car I
had was 10 years ago -- my Chevette. My options were more limited then. I am
hoping to be able to get a cool car before I reach the age where people look at
me like I'm having a mid-life crisis...