GTP Cool Wall: 1992-1995 Autozam AZ-1

[Wolfe]

If coolness and interest are synonyms, then yes the AZ-1 is cool, but then that's not exactly the case. There are a lot of interesting things that aren't cool. I'd give one of these a look if I saw it, but I'd still rather have what I have now.

"Interestingness" is a close synonym for coolness to me, so there you go. 👍

Coolness isn't all about cars I'd like to own or drive, either -- there are cool cars I wouldn't particularly care to own, and cars I would love to drive that I don't consider cool. To me, it's about respect and admiration, not desire.

I'm not comparing classic supercars to modern family sedans. The AZ-1 and my truck are only a few years apart.

I did, and it was to make a point. Horsepower, straight line prowess, or track laptimes are bad qualifiers for "sportscar" because you can always come up with examples that throw a wrench into everything.

The AZ-1 is considered a sportscar because it's small, nimble, and fun to drive. And it's even more powerful than some of the cars that popularized the term! If you think we should define "sportscar" by performance stats instead, good luck drawing a line between cars that deserve the title and others that probably don't. Without using some contrived formula that accounts for age, because that's a clunky alternative.

 

[JrDarknes]

Came back from my GTP hiatus due to my hardcore RuneScape addiction to say.

That legacy mode =}.

 

[niky]

I object to being part of the nWo. Righteous bunch of sissypants poseurs. I'm old school.

Also, on the topic of wrestlers...

 

[McLaren]

Think you need to read the whole thread instead of taking out of context snippets. Initially it was about speed, then it turned into everyone questioning the validity of my information. Fast forward 3 pages of nonsense and it ends with this

Try specifying which thread...wait, it doesn't matter because what I posted was still the jest of it. You started the argument in the S2000 thread because you assumed someone said something they didn't & you made it clear you had very little understanding of EVs & their market in the other.

Power is an important aspect for a car to have in order for me to have fun in it. Whether I get it via a turbocharger or displacement it makes no difference

Pretty sure that was my entire point that you claimed had no bearing beforehand; power is how you generally judge cars.

You can make as many jabs at any car you want so long as you're not presenting blatantly false information (like gas mileage in this case).

Where did I say anything about gas mileage besides the fact you brought yours up on your own in the S2000 thread & you had no idea about EVs in the other.

 

[Zenith]

I'll have to do more test drives with lightweight cars, but I recently installed a 18lb lightweight flywheel on my car and haven't really noticed a significant difference in acceleration or throttle response, other than the fact that I gain and lose revs quicker when not in gear.

Heavier pressure plate.

 

[Grayfox]

A Subaru 360, now we just need a honda N360

 

[Scaff]

Well, except for the people who really, really like cute cars, but are they really cool?

Some are, some aren't. Just like some Muscle cars are and some aren't. A point that can be applied to, oh lets see, all cars.

Its not a difficult concept to grasp, yep despite being repeatedly stated you have repeatedly ignored or dismissed it. Why exactly is that? What about the concept that some people will find different cars to you cool is so damn hard to understand?

 

[Joel]

but the "GTP core group" does seem to agree with itself more often than not, in matters of both politics and cars.

Just thought I'd respond to this part. First there's not really a "core group" that agrees on everything, there's a group of people that disagree with you but for the most part that's because your arguments are silly.

As for politics, we all know what you're getting at. We're all bleeding hearts because we like the AZ-1, Fiat 500, and don't think there's anything immoral about gay people. You don't need to thinly veil it with "certain thread in a certain forum", it's very obvious what you mean and the comparison you're drawing is childish. I get it, you're insecure in your masculinity and think you need to drive a big muscle car to feel like a man and show the world you aren't gay (or worse, a woman) because you don't have a girlfriend to ostensibly show you're straight. You've warped that feeling into a worldview for you, you think that people who don't feel that way are in some way less manly than you because of how strongly you feel about muscle cars as a token of manliness.

The fact that most of the people disagreeing with you on these kinds of cars don't think they need a loud muscle car to be a man or a "badass" doesn't mean that they're actually less masculine or that they're gay/bleeding hearts like you're implying. The issue is with your archaic view of masculinity, you're viewing being a man as "not being a woman" when being a man is really about not being a child. Your checklist of "manliness" is things that women don't do, when for most of the rest of the adult world it's about not acting like a child.

You should take a closer look at the politics threads, the only place that there's really a common line of "disagrees with you on cars" and "agree politically" is gay rights. On everything else from taxes, health care, social security, the environment, war, and guns, there's a large libertarian contingent here that is constantly at odds with a liberal group in those threads despite liking the Fiat 500. The funny part is that a lot of the people you think are bleeding heart liberals because they like Fiat 500's and don't have a problem with gay people get called too conservative and heartless in the gun thread or health care threads.

 

[Roger the Horse]

I think the best way for a man to prove how manly he is is to act as much like a woman as possible without acting like a woman.

 

[JMoney]

This debate went from Kei cars to manliness.

 

[SlipZtrEm]

Most likely because the same people (or maybe just one person) keep trying to force a connection between the two that doesn't exist.

You know, sort of like folks thinking a power/weight ratio dictates if a car is a sports car or not.

 

[Slash]

If the connection doesn't exist for one person that doesn't mean it doesn't for someone else. I personally think muscle cars are trucks are incredibly badass and manly.


Does that mean other types of cars can't be? Absolutely not. I just feel one type does it better than others sometimes.

 

[Dennisch]

If the connection doesn't exist for one person that doesn't mean it doesn't for someone else. I personally think muscle cars are trucks are incredibly badass and manly.

And Mustangs are girlie cars.

 

[ildd]

I occasionally join Drag lobbies on GT6 and take this car because most 12 year olds have yet to see it.
*Revs it*
"Wait until the turbo kicks in kid, you are so dead"
*Pulls away with a -60 time of about 10 seconds*
"The turbo needs about a mile to kick in"

Cool, because gullwing doors.

 

[Slash]

And Mustangs are girlie cars.

Of course they are

 

[Bopop4]

 

[White & Nerdy]

I still think it's interesting that the same people who think cute cars are cool are the same ones who have turned the homosexuality thread into a depressing echo chamber, where the ritual posting of relevant news and regurgitating of pro-gay opinions is broken only by the occasional lone challenger getting ganged up on by about 10 people at once. Beyond that, I will say one more thing:

To say the AZ-1 is cool because it's a sports car in a heavily government-regulated class never intended for sports cars, is somewhat off. It's like saying that one show is straight up good because it manages to have some actual content despite being (originally at least), effectively, a 22 minute toy commercial. So it's better than others of its type - honestly, that's not saying very much at all.

 

[Azure Flare]

It's also like saying a certain car is "beefy" and "overbuilt" despite the fact it was a POS when it was new, over 20 years ago.

 

[White & Nerdy]

Well, yes, same sort of thing. Only slightly cooler than other K-cars, only slightly cooler than other FF coupes.

Although, by that point, GM did have an established reputation for building cars that could take more abuse than most owners would ever give them.

Considering that K-cars are starting a on a somewhat lower footing that most other cars, coolness-wise, my point still stands. And I'd say a sports car that trades speed for tax breaks is significantly less cool than a compact car built unusually sturdy anyway.

 

[Azure Flare]

This is what happens when a manufacturer's engineering department gets hold of a list of regulations and says "Bollocks to that, let's make a sports car".

And when the lead engineer is a good enough politician that he can talk marketing into green lighting it.

I'll just leave with that.

 

[Slash]

Although, by that point, GM did have an established reputation for building cars that could take more abuse than most owners would ever give them.

In what world? GM products were notoriously garbage in those years. That's pretty well agreed on. Ever hear of the infamous soft cams? The only thing good coming out of GM was their pickups, and thats only because half of the parts they were using weren't even manufactured by GM.

 

[White & Nerdy]

I'm thinking more in terms of resistance to damage here. Just as an example, all GM cars had to be able to headbutt a 4-inch steel-edged curb at normal speed with no tire or suspension damage. This enables a driving style of "brake for nothing" - potholes, pavement breaks, random sharp bumps... there's a certain trollish joy in blowing past people in heavy duty pickup trucks that slowed down to tiptoe over imperfect terrain.

 

[Slash]

You realize that was a set standard for ALL manufacturers that was put in place in 1974 right? That's why 5mph bumpers existed

 

[White & Nerdy]

4 inches is low enough the bumper would clear it. You're thinking of something completely else. And no, the 4-inch curb was not that easy - apparently, at the time Bob Lutz was rooting out those arcane requirements, a German competitor (who he left unnamed) actually suffered front suspension failure when subjected to that test.

 

[McLaren]

Considering that K-cars are starting a on a somewhat lower footing that most other cars, coolness-wise, my point still stands. And I'd say a sports car that trades speed for tax breaks is significantly less cool than a compact car built unusually sturdy anyway.

Except this car never did that successfully. The idea was in the same place as other K-cars, but the price & interior made it more of a Miata competitor than a Kei car-competitor.

Besides that, a sports car isn't defined by speed or power, regardless of how many times you keep sticking your fingers in your ear when one of us eco-loving commies post that. This car weighed in at 1,600lbs. It didn't need a lot of power & it certainly wasn't something made for speed. The only advantage that came from this being built to Kei-car regulations so it could be eligible for tax breaks was putting it in a perfect position to build a track car with. That's commendable considering some of the actual purpose-built sports cars that came out at the same time that needed more prep to hit the track than this.

 

[Slash]

I fail to see how that has anything to do with taking extreme abuse from otherwise spirited driving.

 

[Famine]

pro-gay opinion

Define.

 

[White & Nerdy]

Define.

Literally defined, it means the simple opinions that there is nothing unnatural or morally wrong with same-sex sex, and that marriage can and should be redefined to include same-sex relationships.

In this site's homosexuality thread, however, it tends to take the form of synchronized Christian-bashing whenever anything LGBT-related hits the news, or whenever someone speaks in opposition expecting a normal discussion and not a 10-on-1, or whenever someone looks at the poll results.

 

[Wolfe]

You may be onto something. It is kind of interesting how the people who can't fathom accepting the concept of same-sex relationships and the people who can't fathom accepting a "slow" or "cute" car are both minorities who struggle to back their arguments effectively.

 

[White & Nerdy]

I was more reffering to how the opposites of those things tend to gang up on any opposition and to start every argument by assuming said opposition is only opposing them because it just isn't as evolved/mature/secure/whatever as they are. And, indeed, to be the same exact people in many cases. Also how they tend to show up more on the internet than in real life - at least around here.