Our Two Cents: Dream Vehicles That Don’t Exist
For this installment of Our Two Cents, we asked the team here at Hagerty Media about their dream vehicle. But we aren’t talking about a vehicle they can buy, rather we asked about one that doesn’t exist on the market.
Many of us wanted a new vehicle with features of older ones, but that wasn’t all we came up with. I bet you’ve never considered some of these ideas until now, so let’s get right to it!
A Throwback Truck?
“Brand new, full-size pickups that just do pickup things well, no excessive luxury items, that costs under $25,000. I appreciate the old days where the trusty pickup was a means to do work, and not a luxury vehicle. In reality, I think what I am asking is for GM to just bring the GMT400 back.” – Greg Ingold
A Legit Fast Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ?
“A BRZ/FRS with reliable 300hp. I don’t have a ton of time in these cars, but the small amount I do I really liked the feel and experience, I just wanted a little more under my right foot. Sure, I should just buy a C5 Corvette but it would be cool to not have to shop a 25-year-old chassis when a new platform is so close to what I want.” – Kyle Smith
The Best of Japan, Inc?
“I want a new, AWD Honda wagon with clean, timeless styling and a 300-hp inline-six mated to a 6-speed manual. Then add a Mazda-gorgeous instrument panel, and an efficiently packaged cargo hold that will swallow my bike.” – Joe DeMatio
All Or Nothing?
“A front-engine, rear-drive, stick shift convertible that has a V-12, Italian styling, and a sophisticated European interior, but the reliability and running costs of a ’99 Camry. It’s trackable but not uncomfortable around town. It’s inexpensive enough that normal people can afford one and stays that way. No flipping. Only genuinely cool people buy it.” – Andrew Newton
“When I grow up, I want to live in Andrew’s dreams. They seem like such a cool place.” – Kyle Smith
“Now I want a beige Ferrari 812 with a slush fund, ensuring I have a comprehensive ownership experience that mirrors the reliability of a Camry.” – Sajeev Mehta
The Ultimate In Auto Transport?
“I want a C-130 cargo plane with electric props that can haul my favorite cars wherever in the world I wish to drive them, but won’t give me the equivalent CO2 footprint of France.” – Aaron Robinson
The Most Practical Off-Roader?
“Oh man! Tons of great ideas here! Big fan of Joe’s wagon idea. Can’t decide if I want to say something that would actually be possible to create/build or just go full-on dreamland mode. How about both?
Dreamland: full-size 4×4 camper van that seats/sleeps six with plenty of cargo room for skis and bikes. It will handle/perform like the best off-roaders on earth, and on dirt it handles/performs like the best hypercars do when they are on the road. Is that too much to ask for?
More realistically: I would love a full-size SUV with minivan sliding doors. Give me plenty of ground clearance, decent 4×4 performance, excessive towing capabilities, and the greatest doors ever conceived in the history of the automobile, all in one package! Oh, and add a hybrid drivetrain of some sort for amazing MPGs and fuel-source flexibility!” – Ben Woodworth
A Gran Touring Minivan?
“It’s hard to argue that the most sensible vehicle available isn’t a minivan, because it is. New ones handle adequately and some have decent horsepower—Honda Odysseys have 280—but my issue remains that no manufacturer has ever built a genuinely performance-oriented, fun-to-drive minivan. I’m not talking a sliding-door Hellcat here, and of course, it would be a niche version of whatever minivan it was based on.
But give me seven seats, a taut, lowered suspension; maybe 325 horsepower with a snorty exhaust, a pair of Recaros up front, Brembos at all four wheels, reasonably wide, sticky tires on good-looking wheels, plus an all-wheel-drive option and a Class 3 towing package, which can handle a reasonable number of towable toys. Suddenly you’ve got a bunch of potential customers who have never seriously considered a minivan before»like me.” – Steven Cole Smith
Chop ‘Em Down?
“Mine is simple, yet complex: I want trucks/SUVs to sit as high as modern CUVs, and CUVs/cars to sit as high as cars from 20 years ago. Then we can have less frontal area, better visibility, and smaller wheels with taller sidewalls. What I wouldn’t do for vehicles with smoother rides and better outside views!” – Sajeev Mehta
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A vehicle WITHOUT electronic display screens – just easy to manipulate toggle switches where I can reach over and use a switch. (BTW whatever happened to “heads-up displays?)
That way I don’t have to look over at a screen while driving and take my eyes off the road and… OMG! Watch out for the ….. BAMMM!!
Wow I’m glad I’m not the only one!! We keep being told to stay off our phones so we don’t wreck and then every car or truck comes with a giant flat screen TV to control AC and heat and music etc. I like my older cars and trucks for the simplicity.
my thoughts are mixed concerning 85″ QLED OLED LCD VHS or whatever display screens in cars. worst thing for me is the glare or brightness when driving at night. but overall, i prefer to be without. as a compromise, my ’23 impreza’s screen can be turned off. same with my ’22 challenger. and most if not all relevant items can still be controlled with knobs & buttons. ahhh, the simple life.
head-up displays? i think they made somewhat of a comeback around 2020, at least in some nissan models
Anything and or everything with a manual transmission. Just think of every car, truck, van, or SUV on the market today and add a manual to them. 1000 instant cool points.
I would not have any of these. Just give me a 1985 F-250 and I will have the Gold!! We had one regret selling it ever since. That truck pulled stock trailers loaded with 1600lb steers and pulled like a scalded dog. Couldn’t no other truck on the yard come close to it’s power loaded or not. No Chevy, No Dodge, it would leave them on the porch. I would love to buy another one 1985 F-250 4×4 with the big 460 in it.
Man what a truck that Ford was💪💪
An 85 460 Ford was pretty comparable to a GM 454. 230 Hp, 390 lbs ft.
The torque was impressive, but it was all done by 4,000 rpm with a torque curve that never instructs the power curve.
With 4.10 gears and short 31.6” tires, they seemed adequate enough, but they were at best, adequate.
I can wax nostalgic with the best of them, especially when it comes to the 7.3 Powerstoke, but a 6.0 LS is ancient compared to modern engines and flat out destroys old 460s and 454s .
I got fed up a truck prices. Wait times and lack of parts ……. def issues too
I picked up three early 90 dodges took all the best parts built one Dodge with Help from friendly mechanics exactly the way I wanted it
painted the color I wanted
Cummings engine inter cooled five speed long box and power and did i mention vent windows.!
Need a no-frills pickup that I can fit a motorcycle in the back. Everything built now has 4 doors and a small bed.
I gave up on trucks for hauling my bikes and switched to vans. While easier to load and more secure, I love the extended cargo van that replaced my regular cab, short bed pickup, though the never ending van jokes from friends and family are tiring.
function over form, for sure. feel good about your intelligent choices and let the annoying clan be water down a ducks back
i bought a barely running ’99 quest van for similar reasons. i was mainly gonna use it for making runs to picaparts. the rear hatch’s low floor height makes loading an engine easier (i’m positive you’re aware of this). i’ve yet to get it running, but it’s the thought that counts!
Lots of dreaming going on here, so why not throw mine in… How about an American made [or I’d settle for American LEGAL] Japanese KEI Class truck? Yeah, I know, every red blooded ‘Merican male wants a huge v-8 to haul his boats/horses/5th wheel trailer/musclecar/battleship/whatever. My dreams of ever being able to afford any of that have long since been dashed as a pipe dream. But what I could really USE is a cheap/inexpensive to run truck to not only run into the local hardware store for some occasional lumber runs, to the feed store for some grains and wood chips for the barn, an occasional trip to the home box store for a freezer/grill/mower/bulky-whatever without having to rent a trailer or truck just to get it home… Better yet, build me an ELECTRIC KEI Class truck and I might [might I said] be convinced it’s an electric vehicle that makes sense. I’m not going on the highway with it and I’m not going cross country, I’m just using it EVERY WEEKEND to run into town to get the stuff I need to survive. Throw in ZERO registration and lowered insurance on that ‘lectric KEI truck and we’ve got ourselves a deal, Partner!
Generally, lighter weight, fewer electronic gadgets & nannies, and less angry-Transformer styling would work for me. I’d like something like my old ’67 El Camino, but with actual brakes and a better camber curve. The early Dakota pickups are also appealing, after a 360 swap. The current behemoths sold as half-ton pickups are as laughable in their posing as they are complex and unattractive. Minivans that handle would be agreeable. Budget muscle and sports cars would be brilliant, though probably a hard concept to sell to corporate management. The big roadblocks are Govt-mandated no-talent compensators and design interference, a soft & lazy population, and society’s fascination with electronic gizmos. This just isn’t the same world or set of priorities many of us grew up in…which is why we’re arguably tilting at windmills here…but one can still dream,,,
I want a Transformer vehicle for $30k that at the push of a button goes from an off road minivan to a McClarenish 600hp convertible and my wife wishes I looked like Brad Pitt. So I’m pretty sure neither of us are getting our wish. 😁
I’d take a Porsche Vanamera 4S, vinyl seats because the kids are going to vomit on them anyway, the way I’m going to drive it. Keep the options sheet short, it should come in under $150k, be a hit at PCA HPDEs and school pickup lines alike.
It’s not that much of a stretch right? Porsche just announced a 3 row SUV…
Room for 1-8 folks, or 3 plus 4×8 of cargo. Garage-able.
Interior you sit down in, not climb up to.
HiWay mileage high-teens or better.
Enough power to pull ahead of the pack.
Sounds like what I built for myself.
’92 Olds Custom Cruiser (injected ’76 Olds 455, automatic w/O’Drive).
Low option trucks are made for fleet and government buyers. They come up at auctions, usually when they’re a decade old- many with relatively low miles.
Driving a 2004 plain jane 1500 Suburban, ordered w/RWD 3.73 axle and towing package. 5.3 runs like the day I picked it up. tows everything I have every had… up to about 8k pounds +/- with no problem.
Cost around 40k and was my fifth new RWD Suburban going back to 1987? Always 100% maintained.
Did also have a used 1960 “Suburban” designated as a Carry All. All rear seats were removable, too.
I spent over 50 years as a professional mechanic, running my own shop in NJ for 45 years of that.
Would gladly buy a new version of the exact same truck, which I am still driving at 200k.
Everybody makes fun of minivans like soccer mom stuff and what not, it’s the most practical thing to drive the doors slide back. They don’t open out, very comfortable most of them have a lot of horsepower consider the Toyota sienna which I think is over 300 hp. Comfortable room for, six adults with a lot of room left over you can squeeze eight people in there, but you can have six full size adults with a lot of room. I think it’s time that loses its Soccer mom moniker And just make people feel it it’s more practical because it really is
Bought my first minivan in the early 80’s and have never been without one since then. I buy them even after the kids moved out on their own. WAY more efficient use of interior space than any SUV.
Practical as a people hauler? Yes.
As a support vehicle for a car enthusiast?
FWD minivans are poor tow vehicles.
They also make 300 HP well up in the power band with much smaller torque peak and far less “area under the curve”, which requires high-RPM operation with heavy loads. This was a common complaint and pitfall of the Ridgeline when used as a truck.
I’m all in with the throwback pick-up! Single cab no bells or whistles!
Make a truck that will be used by truckers=standard 8 foot box. Far too much emphasis on making a P/U that is a car. Don’t understand how a P/U features a 4 foot box.