- 3,202
- Murcie LP710
GTP Cool Wall: 1992-1995 Autozam AZ-1
- Thread starter White & Nerdy
- 336 comments
- 17,860 views
- 4,209
- Wasilla, AK
My response there didn't really have anything to do with the AZ-1. The main reason I bothered to comment at all is because, during a previous CW thread regarding the early-90s Lotus Elan, I'd cracked on it for being FWD and people responded by saying Lotus had done tests and found that FWD was always faster or something.
Otherwise, yes, I know the AZ-1 isn't FF. I knew it all along. That and the use of a manual transmission are the only two things this car does right.
INEEDNAWZZZ
Premium
- 1,838
- Lincoln
- EGGSBAWCKS
- DigitalLuke64DD
Uh-huh, sure, that must've been the reason you said that.
- 4,209
- Wasilla, AK
It was, actually. If you've seen these threads before, you'd know I have a bad habit of continuing arguments between threads and trying to settle old scores.
- 34,949
- Indian Falls, NY
- slashfan7964
INEEDNAWZZZ
Premium
- 1,838
- Lincoln
- EGGSBAWCKS
- DigitalLuke64DD
Doesn't seem to get you anywhere, clearly, since you do the same thing every time; give your opinionated response based purely on engine size/power/drivetrain, wonder why we don't like that view, accuse everyone of wanting to live in a dystopian future, rinse and repeat.
No one is gonna have a go at you if you don't find it cool. If it's because of the looks, how you'd look whilst driving it, the image associated with it, whatever - those are legit reasons. Constantly going 'hurr, small engine, must be those eco mentalists, SU' is not gonna make things better.
- 27,387
- Toronto
- NewAesthetic
- SlipZtrEm
On the subject of Enthusia...
If you can have "a bit of fun" running the Dragon Range in a 4700lbs. van, try the Dragon Range downhill in the Honda Beat. Then explain what made your experience in an MR kei car so "awful". At least it'll be backed up by something.
- 40,929
So an argument from a thread from 3 months ago about the raw handling capabilities of FWD sports cars was "continued" as a "rebuttal" to a joking video post of a 4000 pound luxury sedan?
I'll post this:
Can I now hear a tirade about how the 1971 Pontiac LeMans was a superior sport sedan because its glorious RWD drivetrain allowed it to totally keep up with an elevated train that one time?
Last edited:
- 2,260
- N. Jessamine, KY
- JMoney-689
- Woodside689
Apologies for the double-post.
I don't think you understand what open minded means. Not that I am open-minded.
Politics and the automotive industry are closely intertwined. The U.S. Government helped fund Fisker and Tesla and bailed out GM and Chrysler. The highly controversial "Cash for Clunkers" program, started by President Obama, destroyed countless old cars.
And due to the stereotypes of people who drive certain cars, the coolness of those cars is affected. Example: Homosexual men driving Miatas. You can't just ignore politics when viewing cars.
I don't think you understand what open minded means. Not that I am open-minded.
Politics and the automotive industry are closely intertwined. The U.S. Government helped fund Fisker and Tesla and bailed out GM and Chrysler. The highly controversial "Cash for Clunkers" program, started by President Obama, destroyed countless old cars.
And due to the stereotypes of people who drive certain cars, the coolness of those cars is affected. Example: Homosexual men driving Miatas. You can't just ignore politics when viewing cars.
- 12,389
- Betelgeuse
- Beeblebrox_237
Quoted because awesome. All of you who think that a car is uncool because you think homosexuals drive it disgust me. It makes me sick to think that there are people who would judge others based on their sexual orientation.
I used to be able to laugh at the stpidity in these threads, but they've gone too far. I hope those of you here for the show enjoy yourselves, I'm going.
- 1,068
- Michigan
- OriginalCheezIt
- 22,551
- Arizona
- HamiltonMP427
Seems like a fun activity for many.
So you don't know how these threads are made...okay that's cool good job at putting your foot in your mouth.
- 27,222
- United Kingdom
Oddly enough, one of my real-life driving experiences is about as close as it's possible to get to driving the Astro on Dragon Range in Enthusia. Mainly because I've driven a real Astro (the one in my avatar) on some of the best roads in California.
It's a truly awful vehicle. It doesn't go (despite having an engine almost four times the size of my current car), it doesn't stop, it feels like it's about to fall over all the time, it overheats, and the auto gearbox in this particular Astro delivered every gearchange with an amusing clunk.
However, it was still great fun to drive. Mainly because anything is fun to drive when you put some effort in. I drove the thing down Highway One and it spent most of its time on the left-hand side of the road, overtaking tourists in convertible Mustangs. The only real problem with it is that driving it like that, cutlery kept crashing around in the back and all my beer got shaken up.
It does rather neatly lead me on to this, though:
Wolfe is right. If I could have fun in two tons of camper-van converted Astro with a broken gearbox, I'm damn sure I - and almost certainly even you - could have fun in something like an AZ-1. Despite its "weak" engine. The unfortunate thing is you're too set in your ways to give vehicles like that a chance.
The daft thing is, given the spurious reasons you give for deciding on a car's coolness, I'd be pretty sure you'd actually decide it was "cool" if you ever became open-minded enough to drive and enjoy something similar.
Last edited:
- 9,884
- Carthage, TN
- race_emhard
- 23,800
- Philippines
Pretty much this.
Subzero. Though I'd still rate a Suzuki Cappuchino much higher.
These things always even out. The whole point of the cool wall is to sort through those votes to come to a consensus. As opposed to the original cool wall, in which he who shouts loudest wins.
There will be people who will SZ or SU a lot of cars. But the Cool Wall always balances them out.
You do know many of the most iconic sports cars have less than two hundred horsepower? And that many of them have less than a hundred? When your car weighs nothing, you don't need big power. This is why Caterhams and Radicals make such a mockery of so-called supercars on the racetrack.
So... what's wrong with homosexual men driving Miatas? Consider your answer very, very carefully.
The "gay car" stereotype is incredibly overblown. As a long time member of dozens of online car clubs, including a number of Mazda clubs, the percentage of gay men with Miatas is no greater than the percentage of gay men with SUVs, crossovers, regular sedans or other sports cars.
They're just more visible because... OMG... open top.
Gay people like nice cars. Just like anyone else. Just ask Gaywheels.com: http://gaywheels.com/2012/07/gaywheels-top-10-posts-for-the-first-half-of-2012/
Oh... snap. Somebody better tell Chevy to man up the Camaro...
- 14,075
- Ireland
- driftking18594
- CiaranGTR94
Roo
Premium
- 7,453
- Hampshire, UK
- GTP_Roo
Gay people like nice cars. Just like anyone else. Just ask Gaywheels.com: http://gaywheels.com/2012/07/gaywheels-top-10-posts-for-the-first-half-of-2012/
Oh... snap. Somebody better tell Chevy to man up the Camaro...
Looking around that site, I found that the same list for this year includes the Dodge Challenger, and that the best selling car among the American LBGT community last year was the Ford F-Series:
Turns out gay people look for the same things in a car as straight people do: reliability, safety, value, and practicality.
Who'd have thought it.
Oh, and the little Mazda? Cool.
- 27,222
- United Kingdom
- 23,800
- Philippines
Funny enough, I don't know any gay auto-journalists here (though there are a number of high profile LGBT journalists in the local scene)... While that might be because we're the types who "don't ask don't tell"... there's also that the local auto-journalism scene is still very much a male-oriented one... an "old boys club", so to speak (and all the chauvinism, dirty jokes, unprofessional "hitting on the ladies" and other stuff that goes along with it)... though there are some great women in it, too.
- 2,260
- N. Jessamine, KY
- JMoney-689
- Woodside689
If you want to be accurate, neither of us do because we've never made them.
Not my point; I'm trying to say that politics affected the car world.
I didn't say there was. What led you to that assumption? It's just like the rednecks in pickups stereotype.
- 11,339
- The 51st state of america
- sparkytooth50001
Relevant:
Keef
Premium
- 25,190
- Dayton, OH
- GTP_KeefRacer
- GTP Keef
I think all kei cars in general are very cool. They're rare fruit being limited to Japan and they're also rather unknown here in the US. Seeing one would be a mystery to people on the streets and they would likely be interested and ask questions. They're also not fancy or expensive which is the main thing that results in a car being uncool. Pretentiousness is never cool. Having something different and interesting that everybody can respect and enjoy is cool. Plus, this particular one is a great little sports car that is fun to drive even when you're going slow. Good gas mileage, fun to drive, inexpensive, rare and interesting. Sub-zero.
- 23,800
- Philippines
When you say it affects coolness, the question is: why? A redneck affects the coolness of a car because "redneck" is a description of attitude and behaviour.
Gay isn't. It's a simple description of gender.
This is like saying whether a car is driven by men or women affects its coolness.
I'm sorry. That doesn't work. My aunt drove a Viper to work for several years. Another aunt drag-raced turbocharged rear-wheel drive Lancers in the 70's and 80's, and drove an S4 in the 90's (not only female, but a lesbian, to boot). Jeremy Clarkson's wife once raced a Lotus in road rallies.
There are gay NASCAR drivers. Gay Corvette owners. Gay Jeep drivers. It's the 21st century. I don't see how this actually has anything to do with coolness, at this point.
Now, if the MX-5 were the choice car of full-on, feather headdressed drag queens, that might be a different story. But it isn't.
