As the sum of many, many parts, the difference between a car being merely OK or good, or not just good but excellent, rarely comes down to just a few small tweaks or, even more rarely, one singular change. But it’s not unheard of. Today, I want to talk about the cars that came that close, how they missed, and what a bullseye would have looked like.
One Achillies heel of many nearly-awesome cars is the lack of available manual transmission. No, I’m not one of those people that believe any and every car could be improved with a stick, but there are a few that might have been seen as masterpieces with such a change.
The Subaru SVX is one grand touring car that was never available with three pedals. What made things worse on this automatic-only coupe was that the transmission you got was notorious for shooting craps prematurely. It seemed to be dying for a row-your-own ‘box that it never got.
The same thing happened with what might be the coolest Lexus-branded Toyota ever sold here: the IS300 SportCross wagon seen in the topshot. The sedans could be had with a manual but not the long-roof. If the factory had offered a stick option, they likely would have sold about ten, but in retrospect it could have been a solid 3 Series Touring rival. No wonder so many people do conversions on them.
Even some disastrous cars might have been drastically improved with a single change. In 1978, General Motors released mid-sized Buick and Oldsmobile sedans with a controversial fastback shape.
If these had been like American Saab hatchbacks with cavernous space in back, they might have attracted a following of those that didn’t want a station wagon. Sadly, they featured a trunk lid without even the benefit of a folding rear seatback. A hatch might not have saved them, but it certainly would have improved them exponentially and even gotten a cult following.
There are a lot more cars that were one change away from greatness, or at least more goodness. What are some more you can think of?
Top graphic image: Lexus
Source: www.theautopian.com
