Ike

Eh, it's all subjective. I and many others really like the boxy aggressive looks of cars like the Evo/WRX/STi, so your opinion is not universal. Can't really call a WRX a sleeper anymore but for some time after release it certainly was and that was another big part of the appeal.

No More Oldsmobiles

Sure, beat up on them now that they can't fight back.


Actually, how many cars were making 245 hp in 1996?


(There. That ought to keep 'im busy while I tell you exactly who started the current hp wars: Aftermarket tuners and "Fast & Furious.")

Ike

As for your first qustion I don't know and I'm not going to look, but there were certainly a few other affordable ones that were faster. The F&F didn't start a damn thing other than bringing what was already going on for years into the mainstream while adding a cheese factor to it. The mainstram may not have realized it but some of us were driving around on the streets with 9-13 second 4 and 6 cylinder turboed street cars that were modded and could blow the doors of 99% of the cars on the streets.

This may sound really dumb, but I think the WRX being introduced had a lot to do with Gran Turismo. I know whenever I drove one in GT I wished that I could buy one and didn't understand why all the US Subarus were underpowered. I'm not exactly sure why Subaru finally brought the WRX stateside but I'm glad they did and I think it had a large impact on the current HP wars and what modles are being released by other manufacturers today. I just don't see the RX-8 having influenced anything yet, other than maybe some door deisigns which I think was influenced by Saturn in the first place. Yes Saturn recycled it as well, but they were the first to recycle the idea and it's quite tough to come up with a truely original idea in todays car market.

m477

I also think that Gran Turismo had alot to do with the success of the WRX. After all, Mazda sold an AWD turbo rally car in the US years before the WRX even existed in Japan, but the American market wasn't really ready for such a car at that time.

I think you're wrong about the Saturn thing though. The original RX-8 prototype (RX-EVOLV) came out in the 1990s. Sure, there have been other cars and trucks with them before in the past, but I don't know of anyone else that made a "4-door sports car" with the freestyle doors before Mazda.

Reactionary

I'll have to agree with Ike here.

No More Oldsmobiles

Precisely. The movie made the general public aware of what had been going on. More awareness of how fast these cars were, followed by a desire among average driver for more hp.
I've never seen F&F, but movies do influence behavior -- Marlon Brando in "The Wild One," John Travolta in "Saturday Night Live," etc., spurred imitators in real life.

Connect the dots, Ike. The movie made Joe Average understand why that bondo-covered Civic just blew his doors off. HP wars ensued.

You are really reaching, lol. I like it better when you give a more objective view on cars, which you certainly are capable of.

Ike

I agree with your first few points, but I think you're underestimating what an impact Gran Turismo had on many people. Prior to Gran Turismo very few people knew what a Skyline was, or a WRX, or STi, Evo, Sylvia, etc... Kids in general love cars, and what GT did was turn an entire generation of kids that are now young adults into enthusiasts. Gran Turismo turned those cars into Legends in the US before they even reached our shores.