Ace of Base - Zero option commuters in motorsports

A lot of us fondly remember the zero option cars from days gone by. Cars from the 80's with four speeds, roll up windows and AM radios. When AC and a passenger side rearview mirror were options boxes that needed to be checked. Some of these were terrible cars, but some of them ended up becoming icons of Grassroots racing.
That got me wondering, what's out there today that fills the same niche? Too often I click through online tools and find that the better engine option also comes with a sunroof and an extra 100lbs in power seats.
Then there is that fact that financing $1000 in options over four years at 3.5% costs someone an extra $22 a month. Are heated seats and onboard navigation worth $0.73 cents a day? For a lot of buyers, yes, so when these cars hit the used market in 3-5 years, they're not exactly what we're looking for as enthusiasts.
What cars can we buy new today that are better with zero boxes ticked, with the exception of a manual transmission of course. Which cars are maddening in bundling a desirable option with a bunch of things you don't want on your autocross car you commute in?

There's not much out there. I don't think we'll ever see anything like a Mustang LX 5.0 again because the base car comes with so much stuff standard.

Nissan tried this circa 2009 with the versa. No stereo, no AC, I'm Not sure about manual windows 4-door only. All that for $9995 or something like that. I haven't heard anything about it since. My guess is it flopped.

In more direct answer to your question, Elio? I got nothing. Back up cameras are now standard equipment, right?

Those '09 Versa stripped versions also had ac as an option and the engine was onlg 1.6L vs the 1.8L for the normal trim.

Ac was like a $1k option.
Cruise was not even offered.
Yes, the windows were crank.

Full details

For a while Mazda made a 3 sedan in the current generation called the "SV." I think it only lasted a model year or two. It was basically as featureless as a modern car can get. If you could get it with the bigger engine it might actually be worth pursuing, but alas...

I think Ford will still sell you a pretty basic Focus sedan as well. Weirdly though, as of 2017 you can't buy a basic hatchback and they are all automatic only unless you get a ST or RS.

Maybe we can't get as stripped out as we used to, but there must be a few good options out there.
For example, the 2017 Chevy Cruze. Probably not competitive anywhwere right now, but the base car is just a hair under $18k delivers, comes with a 1.4 turbo and a six speed manual. It comes with 15 inch steel wheels, a can of fix-a-flat instead of a spare tire, and no center console. The one big nice thing that GM did was make Apple Car Play and Android auto standard on this super base model car. Most other manufacturers require you to buy into a nicer audi package in order to turn them on.

wheelsmithy wrote: Nissan tried this circa 2009 with the versa. No stereo, no AC, I'm Not sure about manual windows 4-door only. All that for $9995 or something like that. I haven't heard anything about it since. My guess is it flopped. In more direct answer to your question, Elio? I got nothing. Back up cameras are now standard equipment, right?

Nissan sells a sub-$10k Micra in Canada, and it's the base for a race series. Apparently real fun to drive. No AC, two-speaker stereo, no bluetooths etc.
http://www.nissan.ca/en/cars/micra

I had a couple of stripper models (tee hee). One was a 1993 Civic where the passenger's mirror was an option. One was a 1999.5 Golf with no options but AC - including u-wind-em windows. Neither had big engines, but the Civic was fun because it was light and willing. The Golf was just inherently dull, but nice enough.

Back up cameras are required starting in 2018, IIRC.

A base model Ford Mustang V6 is $25k. Six speed manual, Track Apps which gives you accelerometer and lap time stuff, and a bunch of other things.
The more interesting version has to be the Ecoboost four cylinder. This motor makes 310hp and has room to turn it up. It's only $1000 more than the V6 and the car is still very basic. But wait! There is one more very intriguing package, the Ecoboost performance package. This gives you a limited slip, oil pressure and boost gauges, different springs and sway bars, a bigger radiator and and larger rotors with four piston calipers in front.
Now we're a bit above $28k, which isn't cheap, but holy schmoly is that a lot of new car for the money, and it's still wearing manual cloth seats and precious few bells and whistles.

I don't see how windup windows are all that much cheaper than power for cars that are sold with power windows. On a mass production level, anyway. If they're making hand crank windows for, say, 5% of the cars sold, then for just that 5% they have to engineer the door to put the window crank in a certain spot for ease of human access while also designign the door panel so you can actually move the crank. Not always possible with modern cars. With power you can put the motor anywhere there's room, and no need for an access hole through the interior panel. More likely than not all cars get the same wiring harness whether power windows or not, so there's no saving there.

If they made 100% of the cars with power windows, they could save money and get more engineering freedom. As the American automakers knew as far back as the 70s.

I think the facade of "manual windows = lighter/cheaper" started to lift when Chrysler put power windows in the Viper GTS, and outright told us that it was the lightest, easiest, and cheapest way to put movable windows in the car.

The Honda Fit, maybe the spiritual successor to the great Honda hatchbacks. With zero options it's a shade under $17k. Cloth seats, steel wheels, six speed manual and 130hp at right below the 6800rpm redline. Not too shabby.

What about the many law-enforcement vehicles? Although they're probably not available new but semi-new models of everything from Suburbans to Chargers to Taurususususes will be out there soon if not already.

In reply to Knurled:

I think that's a large part of the reason that even "base" cars these days have a lot of standard equipment. It's easier and cheaper to build them all with the same stuff, as opposed to investing time and money into engineering lower cost components and the accommodations for them (hence ultimately breaking even when they could have just not bothered and had a "nicer" base spec).

Another option that just creeped into my head is the base Mitsubishi Mirage, the DE I think. However that is an unpleasant car no matter how many options are attached

Knurled wrote: I don't see how windup windows are all that much cheaper than power for cars that are sold with power windows. On a mass production level, anyway. If they're making hand crank windows for, say, 5% of the cars sold, then for just that 5% they have to engineer the door to put the window crank in a certain spot for ease of human access while also designign the door panel so you can actually move the crank. Not always possible with modern cars. With power you can put the motor anywhere there's room, and no need for an access hole through the interior panel. More likely than not all cars get the same wiring harness whether power windows or not, so there's no saving there. If they made 100% of the cars with power windows, they could save money and get more engineering freedom. As the American automakers knew as far back as the 70s. I think the facade of "manual windows = lighter/cheaper" started to lift when Chrysler put power windows in the Viper GTS, and outright told us that it was the lightest, easiest, and cheapest way to put movable windows in the car.

That's a US-centric way to look at it. There are a lot of markets worldwide that aren't quite as flush as the US one, and the manual windows may have a place there. That Nissan, for example, is a world car.

In the case of my Golf, the manual windows meant I didn't have to deal with the plague of broken window regulators that those cars suffered, so that worked out

I did swap out the manual windows for electric in my track car, but that's because I got tired of opening the door to move the windows - someone put a cage in the thing.

It's frustrating to me that hatchbacks in the US have become the premium option. A base Mazda3 sedan is about $18k but the hatchback starts at $19k. From here I get even more frustrated because I would of course want the bigger 2.5 engine but in order to get that I need to step up two trim levels. I get a couple of things I don't like, like a power driver seat, but at least the manual transmission option also takes away the sunfoof option, so more helmet room. Is it worth $23k? It might be.

In reply to Keith Tanner:

Manual windows use the same kind of regulators as power, though. In some models where both are used, it's even the same regulator with a motor stuck on there instead of a shaft.

mazdeuce wrote: at least the manual transmission option also takes away the sunroof option

I understand that each drivetrain / chassis combo needs to get federally certified, at great cost to the management, so that's why you can't get a V6 wagon with a manual for the TSX or Mazda6. I get it.

I will never understand the "can't have a sunroof in a manual car" crap.

The Chevrolet Spark LS (base model) still comes with manual windows/locks/mirrors.

Base price $13k.

I'm pissed that a lot of cars seem to be configured so you can't get Sirius XM with a manual transmission. On top of that, you can't even get the satellite radio from the parts department as an accessory.

In reply to mazdeuce:

Ford has done away with the V6 Mustang.

mazdeuce wrote: Maybe we can't get as stripped out as we used to, but there must be a few good options out there. For example, the 2017 Chevy Cruze. Probably not competitive anywhwere right now, but the base car is just a hair under $18k delivers, comes with a 1.4 turbo and a six speed manual. It comes with 15 inch steel wheels, a can of fix-a-flat instead of a spare tire, and no center console. The one big nice thing that GM did was make Apple Car Play and Android auto standard on this super base model car. Most other manufacturers require you to buy into a nicer audi package in order to turn them on.

And the Chevy Performance Parts catalog will soon have parts to improve the handling of the Cruze. GRM has driven one of these modified cars already.

I had to check to make sure, but the base Fiesta and Fiat 500 are excluded from Street category autocross. The Spark isn't on the exclusion list, but it isn't classed either.

mazdeuce wrote: but at least the manual transmission option also takes away the sunfoof option, so more helmet room.

Sadly, not true. I'm currently shopping for one of these and you have it backwards. If you want a 2.5 Mazda 3, you get a sunroof. Period. I really wish that wasn't the case as 1) I'm tall and need every inch of room I can get, and 2) hate the problems sunroof drains introduce later in a car's life, but it is what it is.

It's interesting that Sirius was ubiquitous a few years ago, but is now starting to become optional or not offered.

There are plenty of low-optioned, value priced cars out there. The first car I drove was my Mom's '87 Dodge Colt. No radio, no right side mirror, manual steering, 55hp, 1850lbs. It was $5500 CDN. That's literally just over $10k CDN in today's money (~$7500 US), which is Micra money. My wife has a Accent (GL, mid-level), a base model is ~$13.5k CDN, has power mirrors/windows, 4-wheel disc brakes, USB audio, etc. The 1.6L DI engine is pretty decent. In some ways there are plenty of cars like those basic strippers of years ago, but it's amazing how much better today's cars are.

Chevy Spark ($11.5k), Mitsubishi Mirage ($13k), Smart are all cheap too.

mazdeuce wrote: I had to check to make sure, but the base Fiesta and Fiat 500 are excluded from Street category autocross. The Spark isn't on the exclusion list, but it isn't classed either.

That's too bad. I was about to suggest a 500. They have ac and power windows but list for $15,000. You can find them for less if you shop around.

I hate how limited slip diffs and suspension/brake upgrades are often linked with bloated option pks that are full of luxury equipment and have no bearing on mechanical bits. (Gives GM a dirty look)