I had hope for the future enthusiast potential of Hyundai until I read this.

http://www.autoblog.com/2016/08/03/hyundai-genesis-coupe-discontinued-official/

New car will be 8 speed automatic, all wheel drive, luxury coupe.... ::yawn::

They basically are adopting the Japanese strategy of making sub-par luxury commuter cars, except skipping the part where they made really good performance cars. Like Lexus making cars as expensive as BMWs but inferior in every way aside reliability, consistently becoming worse with each generation. To think at one point they were successfully catching up. It's sad with Hyundai because they were only just getting started.

This is a serious disappointment to me. I was hoping that they were going to be like 80s and 90s Nissan or Toyota and that their 3rd generation of performance vehicles finally would hit the mark. They seemed to be making consistent improvements in that regard. The Genesis reminded me of the MK3 Supra, the "not quite there yet" too heavy and a BIT off prelude to something great. Instead it's the prelude to some E36 M3ty Lexus Japanese malaise era garbage.

I guess it's up to Ford, VW, GM, Mazda, Fiat, and Subaru to still offer enthusiast and grassroots (~$30k and less) performance cars now. Mazda and Subaru don't have a luxury brand yet to dump all of their money into while abandoning the rest of their products like Toyota with Lexus and Nissan with Infiniti. However Mazda has 0 Mazdaspeed products so it's not looking bright for them either. Commuter car + miata company. Toyota's recent stake in Subaru is troubling as well.

With Nissan they are dumping their entire budget into Infinitis that are getting poor reviews all while the 370Z is stagnant, they stopped building sport compacts, and they are completely losing their performance image. Toyota is in the same direction as well. Both have their single "see we can still do it" sports car that is inferior to their 90s products. Meanwhile the days of 2ZZ Corollas, Silvia, and Sentra SE-R are LONG over.

The people who used to want sport compacts now want cute-utes. They want Qubes and Jukes and xBs.

Mazda will always do something. Even their rental spec 3s are more sport compact that 80% of whats out there.

Auto companies have gotten gun shy because of the economy. It doesn't help the retarded generation growing up has no interest in cars, it doesn't help that law enforcement has made driving cars way less fun, it doesn't help streets are over congested and driving a manual sucks, it doesn't help worthless idiots are running for president, it doesn't help every women behind the wheel would rather read a magazine and apply makeup than drive, it doesn't help men are becoming sissies that can't even cut there own fire wood, it doesn't help cars cost a million bucks, it doesn't help all the good old cars are being turned into "hella-dope-yo-fresh-as-pickle" rice mobiles,.

I think that covers it. Feel free to add more.

Eh, there's always someone who will cater to the small subset of enthusiasts. Whoever is doing what I want at the time I go to buy is who is going to get that sale. Since its only one sale per hundred (maybe) it's not much money to them though so there's no incentive to provide a plethora of choices for a small market space. This especially applies to the sub 30k market.

The public at large has spoken that they want a higher driving position and more mass surrounding them because it imparts a sense of security. It doesn't matter what the reviews say about how the car drives, to most people its an appliance which is located in a place doesn't smell like urine when you board it.

Ford has really been bringing the noise lately which gives me some hope.

The0retical wrote: Ford has really been bringing the noise lately which gives me some hope.

This. I've never been super into Fords but one article I read tested a big new transit with the turbo and it did 7.5 0-60

Also the focus RS looks pretty awesome. You may not like the new mustang but it is the fastest one ever made. Pretty much every vehicle can be had turbocharged, the small cars have performance variants with turbos and sticks. Good stuff.

If GM keeps jamming LS and LT V8's into rear wheel drive cars with sticks, they are certainly doing awesome things, too. Imagine if Toyota had just stuck 2JZGTE's into every rear drive vehicle they offered through the 90's.

Rufledt wrote: This. I've never been super into Fords but one article I read tested a big new transit with the turbo and it did 7.5 0-60

On that same note, the 3.5 ecoboost in a beer can F-150 is well under 6 seconds to 60 when the thing is empty. Makes me kinda want to find a crashed reg cab / short bed one (or the prior gen), strip the body off it and build a giant Exocet type thing...

There's Mazda and Porsche. Other manufacturers will make you a fast car, but don't car about how it communicates to the driver.

Car makers, particularly the large publicly traded companies, are under heavy obligation to make products that sell profitably. The less expensive a car is, the more volume it has to sell in to be profitable. You want to see more inexpensive sports cars, buy them. New. When's the last time you purchased a brand new sports car?

As much as I hate to see inexpensive sports cars disappearing, I'm actually shocked that any exist at all -- the ROI is so low on these vehicles. Props to Mazda for keeping entry-level the roadster segment alive.

Then again, there's still a little hope for this:

I drove a Lexus RC-F a couple months ago. If that is "Japanese malaise era" then I will eat my hat.

Y'all are spoiled.

Oh, and an RC-F doesn't cost that much more than a mark IV supra once you adjust for inflation. depending on the options it can be cheaper.

Trackmouse wrote: Auto companies have gotten gun shy because of the economy. It doesn't help the retarded generation growing up has no interest in cars, it doesn't help that law enforcement has made driving cars way less fun, it doesn't help streets are over congested and driving a manual sucks, it doesn't help worthless idiots are running for president, it doesn't help every women behind the wheel would rather read a magazine and apply makeup than drive, it doesn't help men are becoming sissies that can't even cut there own fire wood, it doesn't help cars cost a million bucks, it doesn't help all the good old cars are being turned into "hella-dope-yo-fresh-as-pickle" rice mobiles,. I think that covers it. Feel free to add more.

Or get out in the garage and build something - create or stop complaining.

iadr wrote: The warranty claims were ridiculous- boy racers (including one board member, dunno if he is still here) who wanted to race and for Hyundai to pay their costs through warranty claims, were the norm...

Hyundai owners aren't unique. I remember on this very site people whining about manufacturers figuring out what owners do with their cars and bitching that that's not their business.

Yes. It. Is.

I refuse to be part of a crowd-funded support group that some people think they're entitled to so that they - at dealer expense - can blow up engines. I'm all about freedom - which comes at the expense of the consequences of personal choice. Blow up an engine, be a man and take responsibility.

Damn kids, get off my lawn.

I think this is sad news as there are now fewer affordable fun cars. Supposedly (I haven't had a chance to drive one yet) the Genesis had become pretty decent after the mid-cycle refresh and offering only the 3.8L engine.

iadr wrote: The warranty claims were ridiculous- boy racers (including one board member, dunno if he is still here) who wanted to race and for Hyundai to pay their costs through warranty claims, were the norm. ...And the sheer douchey-ness of the owners was mind breaking. To sell a sports car and provide the warranty coverage they do was inevitably going to end in disaster. And it did. Hyundai lost a lot of money making the Gen Coupe. We (I worked for Hyundai dealers over about 11 years) went out of our way to not sell them to local people. Craziest thing ever. We'd dealer trade them out of region for a loss at times.

I don't quite understand what you are saying. A warranty claim means a dealership is paid money by the manufacturer to do work. If a customer is defrauding the manufacturer, doesn't the dealer benefit? I understand why the manufacturer would wan to avoid fraud...

Actual racers are few and far between. Let's say a local track has a pool of 300 "lapping" type participants. How many of them are driving Genesis? I've never seen one at a track, but let's say 10 for argument's sake. Of those, maybe a few participate more than 1-2 times. Surely there couldn't be many people destroying drivetrain components and attempting to make warranty claims at your dealership? Maybe 1? 2?

kb58 wrote: I refuse to be part of a crowd-funded support group that some people think they're entitled to so that they - at dealer expense - can blow up engines. Damn kids, get off my lawn.

The manufacturer will pay for it, not the dealer, but I get your point.

Part of my vehicle purge has been motivated by the desire to buy a sports car, new, from the dealer and keep it for the rest of my life.