Newer cars have lost the spirit; 90s jdm cars are best

I was on the Autotrader & Cargurus websites the other night… and I was browsing around for something just like this Nissan Laurel. Well not exactly this. But a newer version of ‘something like this’. Something you could go to a dealership & finance. Problem is… most newer cars have lost the spirit.

Why doesn’t it exist????

Like seriously… how far have we fallen from the axis of cool? And who do we have to bribe or kidnap in 2021 to get an engaging, decent-sized RWD sedan with a God-blessed manual transmission! (sidenote: thank you BMW for keeping it true)

It’s sunk in that I’m beating a dead horse – I don’t care though…

I understand the manual transmission has become obsolete – but I don’t care. And I get it that the majority of Americans don’t want to have to think about driving when they drive – but I’m not one of them. All these performance sedans & SUVs coming out… if they don’t have a manual trans option… I just don’t care. It’s a wet blanket. It doesn’t matter how fast they do 0-60. Newer cars have lost the spirit. If you take away the manual transmission, you take away the very reason I want to go fast in the first place: The anticipation, the physicality of it, the point-break.

I don’t want my new car to be over-engineered with nerd tech…

It doesn’t have to shift for me, back up for me, or monitor my blindspots. And I don’t want it to have electronic booby traps & complications that I can’t afford to maintain. I want to ENJOY modifying a new car… NOT sweat like I’m diffusing an Iranian car bomb every time I turn a wrench. (sidenote: that’s where BMWs spook me). It’d be nice if it had some shape/style to it & wasn’t ugly as sin. And it’d be a sweet bonus if it wasn’t 60+ thousand dollars! Which it wouldn’t have to be…. if it wasn’t packed with a bunch of dumb nonsense.

I can’t be the only one who wants this…

We as car enthusiasts are a small minority… I get that. I understand car manufactures cannot make decisions based on what a very small/vocal group of enthusiasts want. But they should. Because what I can’t wrap my head around… is why all the car manufacturers keep catering to the laziest, softest, lowest-common-denominator type of buyer. You can’t stand for anything as a brand, nor can you create passion & loyalty… if all you do is cater to control groups of people who don’t even really like driving in the 1st place. But until that changes, I guess us true enthusiasts will keep buying JDM imports & Euro-trash classics while the rest of the nation trades their balls in for lane keep assist.