October 4, 2017 • 52 mins
When a car or truck is discontinued, those models don’t just magically disappear from dealer inventory. Sometimes it takes a long, long time to clear-out the old to make room for the new.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Go behind the wheel, under the hood and beyond with
car Stuff from how Stuff works dot com. I am
welcome to car Stuff. I'm Scott and Ben. We are
joined by our super producer Alex Williams here and uh,
we'll see if we'll see if a nickname happens somewhere
(00:25):
along the way and see if something develops, right right, yeah, yeah,
we'll be working in development with like a couple of
of high flute in Hollywood types. Now, oh yeah, I
feel like high power. Yeah, we're developing concepts. Oh yeah, sure,
you know I should probably get a pair of glasses
as well. It makes you look smarter, yeah, it makes
you look like I know where. Well, these are my
(00:46):
my old man reading glasses that I have to wear
every podcast. Now, since we're in a darker room, you know,
the papers want two feet from my face, I gotta
I need it. Yeah, pretty soon it's going to be
a stone cell with just candle light. Well, we're not
going backwards. Hopefully we'll get better in here, right, maybe
because some couches something yeah, big TV. Maybe even clean up.
(01:07):
Maybe you'll just have to get like a monocle fancy. Yeah,
you're right, we've talked about monocles. Yeah, yeah, your idea
with two monocles and those are just classes. Yeah, okay,
so we've got we've got an interesting topic to get to.
My my voice is a little squeaky day. I apologize.
It's it's just about ready to go out of me,
I think. So we'll see how long I can hang
(01:27):
in there today. But um we do have what I
think is an interesting topic. It's about cars that well,
I guess I've heard them called zombie cars, which isn't
quite accurate. There's another thing that would be a zombie car, yeah,
I think so, But it's cars that are kind of
on life support. These are the cars that, um, you
know are ready to go, but I haven't quite left
(01:47):
the dealer yet, right, So some of these cars might
be easily spotted by still being in the dealership now
in seventeen, but everybody knows they're not going to make it. Yeah.
Or there's a model year yeah, and they could be
a model years still on the lot in seen. Or
(02:08):
there's a couple that I want to talk about too
that um our seventeen model years that are going to
be going away for So these are cars that are
our future, Um you know, not dead yet cars. Maybe
like Mark Twain, the rumors of their death were greatly exaggerated.
Exactly right. Yeah, you know, this is an article that
I ran across an autoblog autoblog dot com if you
(02:28):
want to follow along with us, and it's called zombie cars.
Seven discontinued vehicles that aren't dead yet. Now zombie cars.
I don't know. That seems to me like that's, uh, well,
a couple of things zombies. Usually it doesn't that mean
it's come back from the dead. Really, I don't think
that's maybe an appropriate title for this one. These are
like almost like cars that are on life support, but
(02:51):
the doctors already know it's gonna happen. Yes, exactly right.
That's which is way longer and more depressed. So so
the idea is that, um, you know, these are cars
that have been discontinued, cars that and even brands I
guess in some cases that have been discontinued. And this
happens to nearly every car. I mean, there are very
few cars out there that have had a continuous run
from you know, let's you know what, maybe I shouldn't
(03:13):
say that there's very few cars that have made decades
long runs. Uh, you know, not many of them to
do that. They a lot of them end up going
going away after at a certain point because they become
redundant with other vehicles that are in the lineup. People
simply don't want them anymore. They don't buy them. They
have features that are outdated. The cost to um, you know,
completely redesigned them would be so much that they just
(03:35):
decided to forgo that and come out with a completely
new model that seats the suits the needs of their
buyers in a better way. Uh. There's there's a lot
of reasons why a car or even a brand might
go away. And what I do like about this article,
this autoblog article a lots of things, but one thing
in particular is that they have, right up to the
moment to write, up to the minute of this thing
(03:56):
being published, they have the sales numbers, and I like
that it's a year total from January one all the
way through today. I shouldn't say today, um as of
September one. This is when this was written, so I
would say that these numbers are probably accurate through August
thirty one, if you want to look at it that way.
August three one seen, but they also have a a
(04:16):
monthly sales total, so they were they were um telling
us how many models had sold of of the cars
will talk about in that month, so in August of
two thousand seventeen, how many they had sold and not
given anything away. But you know, on the of the
seven on the list, the one that sold the most,
the one we'll talk about first, only sold twenty six vehicles.
And for a big manufacturer, that's not a lot of eagles.
(04:39):
If you're talking about a you know, a smaller boutique manufacturer, uh,
you know, somebody who does supercars something like that. You
know a few cars like that, that's not bad. But
when you're talking about a major worldwide brand, that's obscene.
Six is pretty low. Depend on the internal scenarios that
could be a fire able, what could be and you
(05:01):
know that they're there are a couple of factors to play.
And this of course with the cars were talking about
or discontinued, so you know, people are maybe not too
hot about buying that vehicle or or you know what
it could be that it's the steel, then you know
that's that's the one you want to get, because that's
the one they want off the lot um. But you
can look at a couple of different ways. I mean,
you can say that, you know, there's a reason that
it's discontinued, no one wants it, uh, that that's why
(05:23):
the sales numbers are low, and they're just trying to
get rid of the the end, you know, the overstock. Uh.
The other way is, as I said that, you know,
people are saying, hey, maybe you know, I should go
and look at the twenty sixteen that are still in
a lot here, and since it's there, they're still you know,
brand new, or essentially you're buying a brand new car.
It's a year older, it's got you know, you've saved
yourself what twelve thousand miles or whatever the averages if
(05:45):
you want to look at it that way, if I
bought it a year earlier and have twelve thousand miles
on it already. UM, lots of different ways to look
at this. Sure, let's you know what, Let's go ahead
and dive into the first one, because I feel that
there is a very important asterisk that has to go
into the tail of the sixteen Honda c r Z. Yeah.
(06:06):
So this is, as Scott said first on the list,
it was supposed to be sort of a harbinger for
the return of the Honda cr X. Was also supposed
to show the hybrids can be cool. However, fuel economy
was and the performance was Uh those are the official
(06:28):
technical terms. Yeah, I don't think Honda released that. So
they tried a couple of different things. They put in
some suspension upgrades. You know, you could have a supercharger,
but it's still just wasn't catching on with the public.
So after the two thousand sixteen model year, it was discontinued.
Yeah yeah, okay, So so twenty six cars went to
(06:50):
new owners this this month, meaning August. Six cars now
out of there for the whole year, I guess the
total is a little bit better. They sold six and
twenty four c r z s this year, and you know,
of course the number will go up, but it won't
go up a lot. I mean, you're probably seeing a
falling off all of the prices that the are of
the of the numbers at this point, I mean clearly
(07:10):
with only twenty sold that that month. Um, you know,
there's only a couple of months left in the year
and then it's done. Anyways, it's it's completely done. So Uh,
you know, I would look for uh the sale. I
don't know how many your left on dealers lots. That's
another thing is that, you know, you make it to
the point where, uh, you know, you have to really
hunt to find one of these. You might have to
do a search across country if you want one. It's
(07:32):
a weird mission, it really is. I mean, but you know,
think about it. If you're in Indiana and you want
to buy one and it's in Oklahoma, it might be
a little bit difficult to get that car. You might
just have to give it up. Um it goes. Just
just to stay with this for the asterisk here, Uh
it went at zero to sixty was about nine point
five seconds, all right, So you know what a lot
(07:54):
of modern minivans we'll see CRX. You know, if you
had a CRX or you have a cr X. The
c RZ was a bit of a disappointment. I mean,
it was promising, but they just stuck with that hybrid powertrain.
I don't know why they did that. No one can
understand why they didn't just you know, give it something
incredible under the hood and people would have had fun
(08:15):
with it. And I don't know why they did that well,
this comes to the asterisk that I think we would
be remiss if we didn't point out here, and is
simply this, uh A hybrid technology being rolled out in
this way is still much much younger than any I
C technology so or the basics VICE technology. So we're
(08:40):
seeing the same thing that happens whenever there's any sort
of new application of tech, which is that there are
going to be a lot of competitors out of the gate.
And you know, being an early adopter is kind of
a gamble. So they're gonna be a lot of They're
gonna be a lot of hybrid engines, and we've already
seen so many, right, like the Chevy Volts is one
(09:04):
of the poster kids for this argument. We've seen so
many things that just didn't measure up to the expectations.
And with the speed at which this technology is evolving,
it's you can very easily make something that is rendered
obsolete in a number of years. Now, when we get
past this list of seven, um, I told you that
(09:25):
I've got a list of you know, discontinued cars for seen.
We'll just kind of, you know, quickly run through those,
but you'll find you'll find some hybrids in there, you're
gonna find some some pure evs as well. Electric vehicles. So, uh,
for a variety of reasons, they just don't work. And
we'll discuss a couple of them, because it does point
to um, well, I guess, I guess old technology versus
(09:47):
new technology, as you said, because some of the ranges
on some of the e v s will talk about
it just puts them right out of the game and
almost immediately as soon as you get you know, the
uh something else that that has you know, a two
mile range and you've got a car it gets eight nine,
it's not going to stand up. Yeah, exactly for the
same price. Speaking of vans, were you speaking of vans?
(10:10):
All right? Yeah, I guess so earlier you're speaking of Yeah,
this is something earlier. Yeah, the Chrysler Town and Country
I was killed off in Um now, okay, this was introduced.
This is the the basic van, I guess was introduced
in two thousand eight. Now we know that this is
from the long line of minivans from Chrysler that started
back in what the eighties, I guess we do. Yeah,
(10:33):
with the with the history that goes back to what
Ford in the nineties, seventies, if you want to put
it that way. Um, but the thing is, they decided
that they just didn't want to continually refresh this design.
It just wasn't becoming a profitable, profitable venture for them anymore.
They weren't competitive, and so they've replaced it with the PACIFICA.
Now the PACIFICA is I think the Pacific is a
(10:55):
well it is a minivan, right, I mean, the PACIFICA
has become a minivan. It was a crossover a come
him anything. Um, but the sales on this one, you know,
at the chryst of Town and Country, pretty low for
August of what's the number? Uh? They there were a
grand total of seventeen Town and Country Chrysler vans sold
(11:16):
this month, bringing the year's total to five hundred and
pretty low. Still pretty low for a major manufacturers. Only.
See again, this is just there's probably not that many
of them out there. So if you want one, go
out there and look for it. You could probably get
a real quick deal, depending on how long they've been
(11:37):
languishing in that lot. Oh yeah, yeah, you probably could
because the dealers want to move. Well, yeah, that's the thing. See,
this might be the time to you know, go out
and make your move. If you're a real, uh, a
slick talker, you know you might be able to talk
him out of this car for several thousand below m
s RP or even even more than that. Really. Yeah,
it's an old thing where you know, you buy your
sweaters at the beginning of the summer. Yeah, I've done that.
(12:00):
Why not I go to the Halloween store when when
November one? Yeah, of course is that right? Yeah, I go, Uh,
I get my swimsuits or bathing suits, whichever you want
to call them, at the end of the year as
well for the next year. Makes perfect sense. Thrifty just
by everything a year in advance. Thrifty. Alright, So here's
(12:21):
the next one our list is the Oh, this is
bad news for this whole brand, Scion Science Zion is
actually going away. But Science the Scion TC, in particular
low low sales numbers been eight sold in the month
of August of just eight um. So here's the thing
with the Scion TC. They say that it had sporty looks,
but the driving experience never quite measured up. Sacrificing sportings
(12:45):
for everyday usability. Yeah, I feel like in a few
years seeing because they only had the two generations before
Toyota killed it. Right, Yes, So I feel like in
a few years, seem one of these rolled down the
road will be sort of similar to seeing a saturn.
Remember saturns. Yeah, yeah, there's still a lot of saturns around. Yeah.
(13:05):
I was at a stop plight earlier I saw I
saw a saturn and uh no, it wasn't one of
the legendary ev ones, but I saw it. Gave me
a double take for a second because I saw it,
and they have been keeping it in good condition to
the point I was like, oh, that's I forgot those.
I forgot those existing. Wait for a while. We had
(13:27):
some co workers that drove those up until very recently. Yeah,
but but yeah, you know it's still a bit rare.
You're right, it's still a bit rare to see them around.
When you do, it catches your eye because it's something different,
and especially if they're in good shape like that one.
I mean, you know that's unusual. I told you I
drove a couple of those, right, is that right? Yeah? No,
I didn't know that. Yeah, I uh, I wrecked the
(13:49):
I'll have to say, there's no other way to say it.
I wrecked the hell out of one of those things,
Is that right? Yeah? I'm I'm alive and the car
kept me alive. It was one accident. I thought you
meant the is like repeated small accidents. No, no, there
was one big one. Oh really yeah? Yeah? Oh is
this the one you wrapped around a tree? Okay? Then
I do know the car hes? Okay, I have to
(14:10):
say it is this? Is this also the tree that
you went back and cut down? Yes it is, yes, sir,
because you're Mary Tree, right. But it was a very
petty person, unless that car was. You know, it kept
me alive, but it crinkled up like tissue. Oh man, well,
I guess that did his job right. So you'll probably
(14:31):
see Scions, you know, hopefully anybody who has one of
these will be able to keep it running because it
wasn't really a sports car, even though as a coupe
it felt more like a daily driver. Yeah. Yeah. And
the good news is if you do like the Scion brand,
a lot of those Scion vehicles will be sold as
Toyota cars. So, uh, the Scion f R S model
(14:52):
will return, but it's gonna be called a Toyota eighties
six but the TC simply didn't make the cut. It's
not going to not gonna be running uh this time
next year unless you find an old one on a
lot somewhere, you know, a dealer lot which probably had
a great deal on right. Um, So, anyways, there's a
there's a special release there's a special series for the
final final TC. Uh. There's a release series ten point Oh,
(15:15):
it's like a special edition that they created for this.
And again they only sold eight of these over the
last month, meaning in August. So just I mean the
total for the entire year. And these numbers may sound small,
but when we return from our break, we are going
(15:35):
to see numbers that make this look like a gangbuster sales,
but from big manufacturers too. We have returned. Scott Scott,
Scott Scott, what do you think of Cadillacs. I love Cadillacs, Yeah,
I do. I like cadalax. I've never owned one. I've
(15:55):
known people that have on them. You your dad owned
one for a while, Yeah, he owns a couple. He
still does. Um yeah, okay, Well they're great cars. What
do you think of him? You do you like them? Yeah?
I like him? Um Uh. They may not be sort
of the car for me, But also I would say
it depends on the model, yeah, heavily. Yeah, there's a
(16:18):
few that I'm not too fond of. There's a few
that I'm really fond of. And of course I like
the old classics, you know, I adore some of those
giant old cars. I don't know where this comes from,
because I used to really only only like small cars,
sall sort and I still do like small and sporty.
But there's just something about those giant old catileacts you
see driving around town. You know, the big boss hog catiacts,
(16:38):
you know, the uh you know, the converbile top and
the real load of the ground. Um, you know, maybe
maybe even have the horns on the hood. That kind
of vehicle. Huge cars. I've seen a bunch of them
around town over the last decade or so. Uh. They're
kind of big down here in the South, you know,
these these old bruisers, right. And sometimes sometimes you'll see
the old lady driving, you know, on Sunday or Saturday
(17:00):
with a pristine car from you know, the nineteen seventies.
It looks like it's just been washed and waxed. It's perfect,
I mean, looks showroom new and you can barely see
somebody behind the wheel, you know, you just see the
knuckles on top of the driving. But it's it's sometimes
you know, it's like, uh, it's like seeing a white whale.
I guess. You know, yeah, it goes that. But those
cars only go out on like Sunday for church and
(17:23):
then Thursday for Bible study. You know, well exactly, and
that's why they're in that condition. And that's they're only
taking out the garage. They don't even get dusty. Really right,
that's the kind of that's the kind of Cadillac I like.
But uh, there's another Yeah, okay, well the Cadillac s
r X. So this is a I guess is it
a crossover as a full suv? Um? I guess. I
(17:45):
guess it's be a looks like a big full su suv.
It's a bigger one. Um. And it was at one
point among Cadillac's best selling models, and it was a
significant departure from its CTS based predecessor, especially with the
switch being from rear or all wheel drive to front
or all wheel drive. And it also lost the VA option. Yeah,
(18:06):
and that's the thing because when it lost that VA option,
it turned the sales slump around for a while. Uh.
It has a successor, of course, the x T five,
and that uses the same layout as the s R X.
But it's continuing. Uh. This month or the month of August,
(18:26):
there there was a grand total of I'm not gonna
make you guess, because we're we have the same resource notes.
It's low. It's lower, like think of a number. It's
it's uh, it's it's lower than that. It was only five.
There were only five sales for the whole month. Again,
that's from Cadillac itself. Now, this is hard to believe
(18:48):
because this was, as we said early on, it was
one of Cadillac's best selling models. Now the big manufacturer,
Cadillac obviously General Motors with with General Motors behind them,
um to self five in one month, that's pretty low.
And the the total sales for the year fifty two.
Now again I have to believe that this is just
a case of you know, they're not making them anymore.
(19:10):
They're they're just they just aren't out there. People aren't
seeing them on the lot, they're not buying them. Um,
you know, the ones that are bought, they're probably trying
to find them from elsewhere, you know, bring them in
the ship from somewhere. So so five that might be
uh the way it goes for a while, maybe even
through the end of the year, until they're just completely
gone from the lot, you know. So here's here's another
(19:31):
one from Cadillac. And I can tell you this one
is no surprise to me, this one, this one comes
as zero surprise. So it's another Cadillac vehicle with even
lower sales and numbers, and of course it's a car
that's been discontinued. This is the Cadillac E l R.
Now we've talked about the E l R a couple
of times on this podcast. Um, I've spotted a couple
of them here in Atlanta. There really aren't that many around,
(19:54):
that's the thing. I mean, Um, they've always had really
really slow and low sales because people thought that they
were paying uh, sort of an upmarket price for an
economy cap Do you do you know how much they
were how much? Okay, I think we talked about that
there were there's seventy five thousand dollars. There's seventy five
(20:18):
dollars and and you have to remember, you know, this
is going back a full year. So going back to
November of sixteen, there's an article, uh that I have
a quote from here that says only five models were
sold in the first six months of So Cadillac reduced
the price by ten thousand dollars in addition to a
seven thousand, five hund federal tax credit, but that still
(20:38):
wasn't enough to promote the sales activity for this vehicle.
So you know, they were trying to save it last year. Uh.
You know, of course the federal tax credit, that's something
different because you know it's an electric vehicle. But for
Cadillac to reduce the price by ten grand on a
seventy five thousand dollar car and they still couldn't sell it,
that goes to show you something. I mean, as you said,
you know, they is just an economy car underneath the
(21:00):
Cadillac out you know, the exterior I guess um only
sold for what to model years I think total, And
even even so in between those two years, the two
model years that it was sold, there was a there
was a break. There were Yeah, they were not two
consecutive years, isn't it strange? So, so the sales for
the Cadillac E l R in the month of August.
(21:22):
Just one car, one car, and that person is joining
a fairly exclusive club. They are one of seventeen people
to buy one in seven only seventeen in all of
And I can kind of understand it because you know,
it's got the it's got that signature Cadillac hood in appearance.
(21:45):
But yeah, it's like the slab sides and the wedge
look a little bit too. So it's a good looking car.
I think it looks nice on the outside, but it's
not It's not a cat. When I pay seventy five
grand for an electric Cadillac New, I don't think so.
But we we've discussed that before. Now, Oh my gosh.
The next one on the list, this one, I couldn't
even believe I was reading this name when I when
(22:06):
I read it, Yeah, this is an oddball this car. Uh,
it's surprising this This is the reason it's surprising is
because it hasn't been around for about three years, this one.
But this one has gone three years ago. This one
car appeared on somebody's lit This is the the Dodge Avenger.
The last model year for the Dodge Avenger was in
(22:27):
twenty Yeah, so when I started saw Dodge Avenger I thought,
oh man, I've got bad information here. I've I've messed up.
I've I've clicked to a different list or something. I
didn't think that could be right. But somebody found a
Dodge Avenger on someone's new car lot and bought it.
So this is likely, you know what. Here's here's the
(22:47):
other oddball part about this. This isn't the only one
that sold in There were eleven other people this year
that bought Dodge Avengers, even though they ended back in
soeen model year. How weird is that? I mean, do
you think do you think they went to the lot
looking for something else, you know what, the Avenger. I
have no idea how this would happen. I mean, maybe
(23:10):
a couple of the others on our list that we've
already read will end up like this too. You know,
in three years from now, someone might be, you know,
looking for an electric vehicle and find an old E
l R sitting on some Catillac dealer somewhere. Yeah, you know,
dealer's lot. I should say that sitting on the dealer
hopefully slip of the tongue, well hopefully not. Yeah, slip
of the tongue. Not a weird more big profits no, no, no, no,
(23:32):
there's still one more vehicle on this list. It is
the former flagship of Volvo, the S A D, discontinued
in twenty sixteen. Yeah. Now, this is a car that
was used to be available. You could get a you know,
an inline six, or you could even get a V
eight in this car if you wanted. The final year
(23:54):
only presented turbo chart. They had a turbo chart four
cylinder for the final year. Um. Finally was replaced by
something a new modern version of the same vehicle. Really,
the S ninety I shouldn't say the same vehicle, but
it's replaced by a newer vehicle. Um, so you know,
it's it's just going away. Simply, the sad s are
gonna be gone. The S nineties are coming in. Um.
(24:14):
Same with same with the L E, L R and
the Avenger. Only one S A D was sold this
entire month, meaning in August. There's a reason this is
our closer for this list. Yeah. Yeah, total sales for
this year six six cars, six cars for the whole year.
So again I'm hoping that it's just a matter of
(24:35):
you know, there just aren't there on the on the lots.
I hope that's what's going on. Um, I hope that
you're not. They're not gonna end up with hundreds of
cars left over, you know, otherwise they're gonna have a
big fire sale, you know, yes, yeah, and you could
be part of it, right to them and let us
know how your experience. You know, all these cars that
we've we've read, you know, maybe search online, so if
(24:57):
you can get some deals on them, that's that's kind
of the way this works, um, is that you know,
you find find what they don't want on their lots anymore,
and you go for that, and you're likely to get
a pretty good deal. Um, Ben, I've got I've got
a couple more lists here, and no need to go
as in depth as we did on you know, and
I know if that's in depth, but uh, no need
to really expand on all of these as I go
(25:17):
through them. But if he finds I find something that
you want me to stop at, just tell me we
can discuss, um. Otherwise, I'll just kind of run through
a few of these and see if any of these
surprise you or if any of our shockers really all right, Well,
while I prepare myself to see if I'm going to
run into the deal of a lifetime. Let's pause for
a word from our sponsor, and we're back Scott. As
(25:42):
you see, I have prepared myself. I've got a fresh
cup of coffee, couple, uh stacks of hundreds. My my accountants,
you're ready to buy? Yeah, my accountant this year you
look ready? Thank you? You look ready? All right. So
we were going to list off some car as it
were discontinued in seventeen. So, um, some of these there's
(26:03):
a mix of cars here. I guess that, um you
know something that we're built up until about twenty sixteen
and then ended with the model year, and some they're
going to continue through the end of this year. And
we're gonna get to something that will be gone eventually.
But I'll tell you when we switch over to that,
I've got a few as well. I want to see
if we have the same list, all right. So, uh,
these are from a variety of places like Road and Track,
(26:24):
Motor Trend, Houston Chronicle, places like that. There are there
from all over the place, so I won't credit each one,
but the first one on our list here is the
Dodge Viper. Uh. Now, the Dodge Viper, that's a that's
I mean, it's a sad day when they don't make
Dodge Viper anymore. It really is. I've been upset about
this one for a couple of years. I knew it
was going to go away. Um it's been around since
(26:45):
two and it's man, you know, I just I'll tell
you something. Yeah, this is where we were already getting
sidetracked here, but we haven't had many of these during
our this episode. This morning I went to a classic
auto warehouse and I spent a lot of times. Spent
a few hours there actually this morning, just kind of
wandering around and looking at their stock. It's a huge,
(27:06):
huge place up in I think it's an Alpharetta Georgia. Um,
could be a little bit farther north and from that.
Um I'll think of the name of it in just
a minutation. But anyways, it's a type of place where
they have you know, maybe it seemed like two hundred cars,
you know, a ton of cars, and they're all in
excellent condition, you know, driving condition. Uh. None of them
are project cars or anything like that. But the prices
(27:28):
range from you know, a hundred grand for fifty five
Chevy that's immaculate. Uh, you know, it's like a pro
street car or something uh down to you know, uh,
an eight thousand dollar pickup truck that could be like
a shop truck for somebody. So there's a little bit
of everything in there. And uh one of the cars
that they had there was a first gen Dodge Viper
(27:49):
and R T ten Viper and just it's still a gorgeous,
beautiful car. It's one of those cars though, like you know,
the price seems like, well, you could do it. It's
one that we could talk about that you probably should
straight you know, kind of stay away from if you
if you've got the notion to to buy one, and
it kind of puts you at the end of your
(28:09):
your budget, yeah, you know, if you don't have the
money in reserve to to fix it, to maintain it.
It's one that you definitely should should avoid. And I
saw a couple of the old nighties Rolls Royce cars. Yeah,
we talked about they look beautiful but and and tempting,
but there's just no way, no way I do it
because of Rolls Royce maintenance. Oh man, you know what
(28:30):
a Royce Scott No I do. But come on, I
don't want to pay Rolls Royce prices when I take
it into the shop. You know, there's the cost of
buying the vehicle alone is dangerously low. Yeah, it really is.
There are a couple of there are a couple there.
There are some that had high prices as well. You know,
some some real old, beautiful ones with the flowing fenders
(28:51):
and you know, of course the spirit of ecstasy on
the hood and it's just beautiful cars. But um, anyways,
I thought i'd tell you what I was up to
this morning, but it's just just crazy. Did you get there?
I got there early this morning, I don't know, it's
around thirty nights like that. And wandered around for a
while and um, made a nuisance of myself there. Rest
of us were here. I know you were while I
(29:13):
was thinking about this podcast, really and uh and you know,
so I'm wandering around this, uh, this warehouse and I'm
looking and you know that Viper's just guess, just such
a beautiful car. And again that was the first gin. Um.
I only progressed a lot from there. I don't know
what gin they ended up on. I can't remember. It's
like five or something, um, but but still low numbers,
I guess, Um, I think there was in I think
(29:35):
they were down to selling about five hundred a year
or something like that. It was a pretty low and
inten I think so a year prior to that, even
the numbers were something like seven hundred and sixty. It
was never really a high volume car, was a handbuilt car.
But it's still gorgeous anyways. But it's gone for seventeen,
so he won't see any more of those around. You'll
see it on all these discontinued lists. Another one. Oh,
(29:57):
here's a Rolls race. This is a brand new Roles
race though from the from the factory, not like what
we're talking about. Um, this comes from articles. So they're discontinued.
I think. So this will be the last year the
Rolls Royce Phantom Coop and drop Head Coop, both of
them were discontinued in seen and it marks the end
of um tomorrow, Oh, it's mark the end of production,
(30:20):
I should say. Uh. They've come out with a special
version of this special edition of both of these variants
called the Phantom Zenith. Zenith meaning the pinnacle or the peak.
So so it makes sense that they would end on that.
But um, I like this quote. This is this is
from uh, the director of design at Rolls Royce, and
UH that person says, as the name promises, Zenith will
(30:43):
be the pinnacle, the best of its kind, the highest
standard achievable by which everything else has judged. And I
think that they said something like, you know, cars of
this magnitude will not be seen ever again, or something
like that. They're really talking these two kinds, you know,
these two cars up and it's only gonna be uh,
a limited run, right there? Only fifty Yeah, that they're
(31:04):
creating exactly just fifty cars. So you know, if you're
one of the lucky ones to get your hands on
one of those fifty vehicles, it's really apparently something very special.
By way of contrast, however, if you want to go
for something a little bit different, why not get a
Dodge Dart. Well, I think we're looking at the same list, Ben,
(31:24):
because that's the next on my list to now, the
Dodge Dart. Um. Okay, the problem with this one is
that just after a four year model run, Fiat Chrysler
Automobiles has pulled the plug on the Dodge Darts, so
it's gone. I'm kind of surprised by this one. It
seems like you know these these compact models. These uh,
these I guess you would call it um uh kind
(31:45):
of not really economy cars. There's a little more to
them than that. They're the sort of an economy car. Um.
I'm surprised that it didn't have a longer life than
it did. It just seems like it hasn't been around
for that long. But anyways, that that's uh, it's gone
as is. As we mentioned, well, we talked of the
town Country, but the Dodge Grand Caravan is also gone.
It's one of the original minivans um you know, popular
nineteen eighties, but it's just simply done. It's run its course.
(32:08):
It's over. The Volkswagen. I've heard this called EOS or
e O s um. Volkswagen is gone. That's the that's
the convertible, you know, the hard top convertible that they've
sold for a long long time. It was popular for
a long long time. Yeah, um, but it's gone. I
guess it had just poor sales so they decided to
(32:28):
drop that one. I think there's I kind of feel
like there's a move away from convertibles at this point
in history. It seems like a lot of manufacturers are
dumping anything convertible that they have, not all of them.
There always be some, Yeah, there will always been a
few around. But it feels like a lot of manufacturers
are just pushing away from their convertibles for some reason.
Maybe it's just it could be low sales. Could be that, uh,
(32:51):
I don't know. Maybe it could be safety is consumer
thing or people also is there lower market demand? I
sort of like when every stopped buying waterbeds. Well, yeah,
I kind of feel like it's a sales thing, Like,
I just don't think people are buying convertibles at the
numbers that they did in the past. Yeah, because if
we were manufacturing, I would feel that would be the
(33:13):
most likely. Without looking at the sales data, I would
feel like that would be the most likely, uh cause
of it, because if it were some highway safety administration stuff,
you know, then they would have been public about it. Yeah,
convertibles are expensive to build as well and to keep
working people working, order and maintain. I guess yeah, you're right.
(33:34):
There's also the Hyundai Equis, which I'm kind of if
only for the name alone, I'm I'm glad to see
it go. That name always confused me a big sedan,
but you know, it's still gonna be around, really, it's
just gonna be rebranded as something called the G ninety
and the Genesis. Yeah. Well then there's also the Hundai Genesis.
(33:56):
Uh in that car will be renamed the G eight
and well, actually it already has been named the G eighteen.
And then oh here's one, um, the Lincoln m K S.
Now Lincoln kind of they did a rework on just
about all of their cars for seen, and they decided
to just simply dump out of the the m K S.
So UM, I think, I feel, I want to say,
(34:17):
that's one of their smaller vehicles. It is. I like
the stands, I like the bigger tell cars. Anyways, that's
gone for now, actually gone for good really probably you're
not gonna bring it back. Uh here's the surprise, Aston Martin,
The dB nine is going away. This is one that's
been around for a long time. It was unveiled in
two thousand three. UM was designed by a guy named
(34:37):
Ian Callum and Henrik Fisker had a thirteen year run. Bens.
This is really weird to me. Yeah, yeah, thirteen years
in production, but it's not going to be in production anymore.
And UM, according to Car and Drivers Andrew Windler. It's
a place in the lineup will be filled by a
similarly styled and somewhat larger dB eleven. So it's not
(34:58):
it's going away, but not complete leag gone if you
want to look at it that way. You know, similarly
styled vehicle will be out there called the dB eleven.
So if you're in the market for an Aston Martin
Ben an Aston Martin dB nine, you know, just kind
of hang on a couple of months by the dB eleven.
It's all covered, don't worry. Yeah, the patients is key here.
Maybe maybe a company car. What do you think they
(35:20):
do that here? Company cars? I mean, if they do,
I haven't. I don't have one. Yeah, you don't have
a company car. I don't know. Do they still do
that in a lot of places. I mean it seems like,
you know, when you get a job offer, you get
a company car, maybe a membership to the club, you know,
the country club. Right, Well, when you they gave me
a car when I started working here. I'm pretty sure
Alex got a car too. This is bad news. I'm
gonna have to talk to management right well, the AALC
(35:41):
got a pontiac Astex. It's really it's a random it's
a random system. It's assigned based on what the other
people left in the parking lot when they when they
left the job. I understand, Okay, well maybe boy. Now
I don't know if I want to talk to management
or not. I might be better off without an Aztec.
I will warn you there is one beat up geo
metro down there. Then I'm not talking right. All right, Well,
(36:04):
here's one that I would like as a company car,
a BMW Z four, but it's gone. They're not gonna
be a Z four anymore. The good news is, though,
there will be Z five on its way. And I'm
liking this trend of I'm liking this trend of progress
with models just evolving, right to create a new entry
(36:25):
in the line or new generation. Yeah, yeah, I know
what you mean. And so instead of just coming out
with a new generation, I guess this is what they're doing.
But I guess in the case of the Z four,
it kind of is the new generation that's evolving, right
that the new generation will be the Z five. Yeah,
in a way, I mean, I don't know, maybe not
a redesign Z four, but it's a it's an all
new Z five. Yeah, that's a better way to say
(36:47):
one would hope. Right, here's one I want to interject.
I don't know if this major list the mini pacement.
I guess that's it's somewhat of a surprise to me though, Ben, Yeah,
a little bit. Yeah. I mean, I'm just surprised that
you know, any of the Mini line is going away?
But are they? Okay, I'm gonna get on my soapbox
again about this, and I won't keep it too long,
(37:10):
but you know what I'm gonna ask, man, how much
bigger can they get and still be called minis? Like?
At which point is it this ironic uh little John
from robin Hood kind of thing? Yeah? I feel the
same because remember when we did the Mini story and
you look at the earliest examples of minis which were
actually miniature. Yeah, I do. I don't know. All right, Well,
(37:33):
I understand what you're saying about this one, and this
one in particular. This is a it's kind of a
big bloated vehicle. I guess for Mini when when you
look at the brand as a whole, I guess, uh,
this is a they called the cousin of the five
door Countrymen, which is a crossover suv. And the thing
is that the Paceman had less utility because it only
had three doors instead of the five that the Countrymen offered.
(37:55):
So I guess it kind of makes sense, you know
that it's tougher to get in and out of if
you want to you know, access that backseat. Um, a
lot of buyers, a lot of buyers just simply chose um,
you know, Minis for their usefulness, for their practicality, but
the Paceman, uh, you know, just wasn't giving them that
utility that they needed. Right. Well, you know, I know
(38:16):
what you're saying about many not being so many anymore
as well. Um, here's another one on the list, the
Chrysler two hundred. Chrysler two hundred is gone as well, so,
um yeah, this was the this was the update to
the Sea Bring line of vehicles back in two thousand eleven.
And that's one that we talked. We talked about this
(38:36):
one in the Easter Egg show. I think remember it.
The two hundred is the one that had the skyline
where they omitted the Renaissance Center, which is which is
Chevrolet's headquarters. Um, kind of a funny move on their
part I thought. But um, anyways, this this vehicle has
been discontinued after just two years. Uh FIA Chrysler Automobiles
(38:57):
just kind of decided to throw in the throw in
the towel and decided they were gonna stop building them.
Back in h I think it was in December they
quit building them. But they're officially gone as of this year.
So you'll probably find a few of them, you know,
on found deal with lots around. But that's about it.
Um got a lot more if you want to get here.
So there's a just let's do these quick and stop
(39:20):
me if you want. Okay, that's what I promised before. Alright, alright,
so for the list is is a little bit longer. Uh,
Buick Verano is gone. That's a Sadan that was built
from two thousand and twelve to two thousand seventeen. The
Chevy Chevrolet SS is gonna be gone. My my voice
is going away now. The Chevrolet SS is going to
(39:40):
be gone, uh this year. So it's for it was
the only built from seventeen and it just simply wasn't
all that popular. They were really, I mean, it's a
great car, but only a few. As they've said, loyalists wanted,
you know, decided that they were going to purchase this.
You know, it's funny. It's like if you didn't know
about the car, he didn't know that it was on
(40:01):
the lot, you might just overlook it. It didn't look anything.
It didn't look really spectacular. It didn't it. It's kind
of like, um, it's a it's a big, full size sedan.
Of course, it's a lot faster and more expensive than
the impala Is. But um, it just didn't have the
sales numbers that they needed in order to keep it around. Um.
The Hundai is z Era is also gone. So again
(40:21):
the run for that one is two thousand six. Um,
you know this one. I think this one still will
be around. It's just not gonna be sold in the
North American market. So if you live elsewhere, you might
see this sold as something called the Grandeur. Um. The
Infinity q X seventy is going to be gone as well.
It's it's been around from I think it's four model
(40:42):
years from seen that's kind of a mid size crossover
suv vehicle. But that one's gone. This one is a surprise.
The Jeep Patriot is gone. There they've decided to dump
out on the Patriot, and they've kind of doubled up
on their Jeep Compass efforts. Now you might not like
the style, only know the Compass, but they have redesigned
(41:02):
the Compass, so it's going to look all new, and
so the Patriot is the one that they're going to
get rid of. Um just kind of a surprise move.
I don't know. I feel like the Patriot had more
of that old classic Geep military look, you know. To me,
I mean that the Compass didn't have that. But maybe now,
who knows. I haven't seen the new Compass yet, so
I'm not sure what if they're gonna do with that one. Um. Oh,
(41:23):
here's one of the hybrids that we talked about, and
it's a UM Alexis CT, which is a compact hybrid hashback.
And the problem with this was that they introduced it
back in two thousand eleven. And in two thousand eleven,
you'll remember that gas prices were somewhere north of four
dollars a gallon in a lot of places here in
the United States, and um and just simply put, people
(41:47):
just simply don't need that or want that anymore. And
you know, not only that this is an expensive luxury hatchback,
if you can call a hatchback a luxury vehicle made
by Lexus, and it's it's very expensive to buy. So um,
I kind of understand why that one is going away.
Uh oh, here's the next one. Okay, So we we
also said that we're gonna talk about some electric vehicles
going away, and there's a few, maybe a couple in
(42:09):
this list. The first one is a bit of a surprise.
It's the Mercedes Benz B class electric drive. But and
now that I've said that, maybe maybe it's not a
bit of a surprise because the range on this one
is just eighty seven miles, which, again going to our
earlier example, uh simply cannot compete with the range or
capabilities of some other electric vehicles like look at the
(42:32):
look at the Chevy Bolt or the Tesla Model three
that's coming out, um, you know those they have two
miles per charge and this one is, you know, an
eighty seven miles per try. It's just simply a car.
It's a subcompact ev by the way, it's just a
car that is simply outlived. It's uh, um technology, I
guess maybe or is that way it's uh, yeah, I
(42:53):
guess it's outlived. It's dated technology. Maybe that's it's outlived.
It's welcome, Maybe it's something like that. Uh. Here's another one,
the Mitsubishi. I'm I have trouble with this one all
the time. I MEEV, I AM I e V. That's
how it's spelled. Um. This is that really kind of
unusual egg shaped car that Mitsubishi makes. Um, that's a
(43:15):
city car of sorts. But it only goes fifty nine
miles per charge, so it doesn't make much sense to
keep that one in the lineup as well. And it's
only been around since two thousand twelve, so it's a
very short run for that one. But that's an unusual
looking car. You still see a few around town if
you live in a bigger city. Um, but man, just
that's an unusual I'm gonna say, Ben, that's an ugly car.
(43:37):
That's an ugly car. Yeah, I'm calling the baby ugly.
That's a that that I'm of vehicle is an ugly vehicle,
very strange looking. One that isn't ugly though, from Mitsubishi
is the Lancer, and the Lancer is gone for I
should say it's gonna be built through the mile a year. Um,
I don't know that. It's kind of surprised. I think
(43:58):
a lot of people are really gonna is the the
Evolution series of cars, you know, the ones that were
featured in I don't know if their feature but I
guess they were in the Fast and Furious movies. You know,
the tuner cars. I guess that people saw in the streets.
I see a lot of these around. But Mitsubishi, I guess,
is focusing on its SUVs instead of this. But they
are going to have a replacement for this one. But
(44:19):
there again, their thrust is gonna be towards SUVs from
this point forward. Um. But this, uh, they are gonna
have a new crossover vehicle that will replace the Lancer
in the lineup, and it's called the Eclipse Cross. And
I don't have any idea what the Eclipse Cross looks like.
But um, other than the fact that sounds like an anime,
I guess right, I guess we'll we'll find out soon enough. UM,
(44:40):
all right, let's just do these fast. The Nissan Quest
is gone. One more bites. The Smart for two is gone.
I can't believe that one that's a that's I'm surprised
that's a that's one from two thousand eight. Um. This
is the smallest, the cheapest Mercedes Benz that you can buy. UM. Unfortunately,
you know it had that little eighty nine horse power
our engine which required premium fuel. That is a huge
(45:04):
part of it. Now it UM. The good news is,
I guess if you like that style of vehicle and
that size of vehicle, they are going to offer their
all electric drive version of that. But you're not gonna
be able to get a gas powered Smart for two
after strange Volkswagen the ccs gone. That's probably not big
news or new news to anybody. I mean, I think
(45:26):
they've had low sales for a long time, especially this year.
I guess it's kind of a low volume car for them.
They never really sold a lot of them. Uh, sales
were down in the first seven months. And the thing
is that passat is is really close to the same
shape and size of that vehicle. It's a it's a
little bit smaller, but it's a lot more affordable, and
(45:48):
it its out sells the CC by a forty to
one ratio in the United States forty to one. No doubt,
there's no reason UM for them to keep the CC
in the line up anymore. So that has gone. There's
gonna be a new vehicle that replaces the CC called
the Rton and another Volkswagen. Well I'm running out of breath,
(46:12):
ben and run out of voice. Out of my voice here,
but um, the last one on the list, or my
list anyway, is the Volkswagen Tour Egg. And this is
a This is one of the first upsale, upscale crossovers
that was introduced back in way back in two thousand four. Um,
it's sort of a sporty but luxurious vehicle. It's I
guess it's been replaced by a new vehicle called the Atlas.
(46:35):
So again, a lot of these cars, as we've read,
you know, they're going away. Something else will take its place,
something brand new instead of just trying to reshape and
redo what they've already got this not working. Uh, and
hopefully at least the plan is that these the successors
of these cars will rise in popularity and gain a
larger percent of market share and be ultimately better vehicle
(47:00):
for their owners. Yeah, you know, there's probably a lot
more a lot of cars that are going away. Um,
you know that's by that's completely not a h I
should say, that's not a complete list there that I
gave you. Obviously, there's gonna be a lot more that
come to light to as the year goes on here.
As we get into you'll see, you know, a surprising
(47:22):
list of vehicles that you know. Every year, it's always
kind of surprise, Like the Smart for two really surprised me. Um,
I wish the Viper was a surprise to me. I
knew about that for a couple of years. I think
everybody did. Um. It's there are a couple of shockers
on the list, I think, and uh, and of course
there will be as the new year approaches to but um, anyways,
I hope that gives you an idea, Yeah, I know,
(47:47):
I hope that gives everybody an idea of you know,
the the speed at which things move here in the
in the auto industry. It's you're sure a couple of
these are maybe three, four or five years old when
they go away, But others, you know, some of these
that I've read off here, some of them had a
you know, seventeen or even a twenty year history and
they're gone after this year, or even entire brands have
(48:07):
gone away that's always a shock when a brand goes away. Yeah.
I mean, like think about when Plymouth went away recently, uh,
Pontiac went away. Yeah, the Eagle brand. That wasn't that
long ago. Oh yeah, yeah yeah. Saturn, one of my
one of my buddies used to have an Eagle talent
and I thought that was I thought, you know, Eagle
Eagle was one of those brands that you know, I
(48:28):
worked at Chrysler, you know the time when that went away,
and it's one of those brands that they were saying,
you know, numbers like we had read today for the
for the Cadillacs, you know, like you know when they
sold five for the month. It was like, you know,
some of these entire dealerships had sold three vehicles and
we were you know, the middle of the year. It
was that that was the point, so that it was
one of those that just had to go. I mean,
(48:50):
and you know, there's no what the writings on the wall,
the it's in the cards, what are the what are
you're saying? So I don't know that I don't know.
The saints. Let's make up some some new ones. The
spaghetti is already all over the floor. Not bad that's
an let's stick with that. Spaghetti's all all over. There
was already on the floor. All right. Well, now that
we have invented a new saying and explored uh, some
(49:15):
of these technically gone but physically still around vehicles, we
would like to hear from you. Are you one of
the six to seventeen people who bought a particular vehicle.
If so, I hope you got a deal. I'd like
to hear about it and hear about you, know, your decision,
because oftentimes people will buy a vehicle knowing already that
(49:39):
it's been discontinued. Um, maybe this maybe the show will
encourage somebody to search, you know, to seek out some
of these vehicles that that we've read, because again that's
where the deals are to be had. Yeah, and for
the record, I get the sense that a lot of
people didn't care for the newer dodged Dart because it's
still it gave them it was reminiscent of the Neon
(50:01):
to them. Yeah, I can understand that. Did you ever
drive a Neon? I have driven a Nion, Yes it
wasn't mine, but I've driven a few of them. Yeah.
When was a kid, I was in Puerto Rico and
my parents had picked up a a purple Dodge Neon
and it was just this is a rental car. Yeah
(50:24):
it was. It was just rough, you know, man, I
was too young to drive. Bed drove around a little bit.
You know the you know the Neon that's one that
the first model year. Um, there was somebody who I
worked with it that owned one, and they said that
the car was making them sick as they drove it,
and they couldn't understand. It was giving them a headache.
They felt nauseous when they when they drove their car.
(50:45):
And it turns out that the windshield had a flaw
that happened to line up right with where this person's
eyesight was. Um it's like like right in line with
their eyes on the road, and it was this it
caused this weird distortion in the glass and so it
was a legit thing. They took it back to the
dealer and got a new winshell put it and everything
was fine. It was just crazy, Yeah, it really was.
(51:07):
But I mean for them to spot that and to
understand what happened, you know, like why that happened, I
don't know if they were you know, one day looking
at a you know, a vertical line and it looked
like it was skewed in some way or what. I
don't know how you determine that your your windshields got
a flaw in it like that, but um, that's a
strange thing to you know, get in your car and
it even in the driver's seat and may have it
make you motion sick because usually you experience motion sickness
(51:29):
from the passenger seat or the back seat. Uh. Drivers
rarely get motion sickness. It's it's pretty you know, it's
an unusual Yeah, it really does. And and I didn't
understand it either until I saw it, and then I
understood exactly what she was talking about. Well, strange. Yeah,
let us know if you are a current owner of these,
uh of any of these vehicles, or if there's a
(51:51):
really important one that you think should also be mentioned
uh or added to our list. We'd love to hear
from you. You can find us on Facebook and uh's
the other one's got Twitter, Twitter where we're a car
stuff hs W. I don't know why I blanked there.
Seems like there's so much social media stuff going on
that's always changing. It's always changing. Uh So until Facebook
(52:15):
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You can also send us an email directly. We are
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(52:37):
send an email to podcast that how stuff works dot com.
Mhm
Go behind the wheel, under the hood and beyond with
car Stuff from how Stuff works dot com. I am
welcome to car Stuff. I'm Scott and Ben. We are
joined by our super producer Alex Williams here and uh,
we'll see if we'll see if a nickname happens somewhere
(00:25):
along the way and see if something develops, right right, yeah, yeah,
we'll be working in development with like a couple of
of high flute in Hollywood types. Now, oh yeah, I
feel like high power. Yeah, we're developing concepts. Oh yeah, sure,
you know I should probably get a pair of glasses
as well. It makes you look smarter, yeah, it makes
you look like I know where. Well, these are my
(00:46):
my old man reading glasses that I have to wear
every podcast. Now, since we're in a darker room, you know,
the papers want two feet from my face, I gotta
I need it. Yeah, pretty soon it's going to be
a stone cell with just candle light. Well, we're not
going backwards. Hopefully we'll get better in here, right, maybe
because some couches something yeah, big TV. Maybe even clean up.
(01:07):
Maybe you'll just have to get like a monocle fancy. Yeah,
you're right, we've talked about monocles. Yeah, yeah, your idea
with two monocles and those are just classes. Yeah, okay,
so we've got we've got an interesting topic to get to.
My my voice is a little squeaky day. I apologize.
It's it's just about ready to go out of me,
I think. So we'll see how long I can hang
(01:27):
in there today. But um we do have what I
think is an interesting topic. It's about cars that well,
I guess I've heard them called zombie cars, which isn't
quite accurate. There's another thing that would be a zombie car, yeah,
I think so, But it's cars that are kind of
on life support. These are the cars that, um, you
know are ready to go, but I haven't quite left
(01:47):
the dealer yet, right, So some of these cars might
be easily spotted by still being in the dealership now
in seventeen, but everybody knows they're not going to make it. Yeah.
Or there's a model year yeah, and they could be
a model years still on the lot in seen. Or
(02:08):
there's a couple that I want to talk about too
that um our seventeen model years that are going to
be going away for So these are cars that are
our future, Um you know, not dead yet cars. Maybe
like Mark Twain, the rumors of their death were greatly exaggerated.
Exactly right. Yeah, you know, this is an article that
I ran across an autoblog autoblog dot com if you
(02:28):
want to follow along with us, and it's called zombie cars.
Seven discontinued vehicles that aren't dead yet. Now zombie cars.
I don't know. That seems to me like that's, uh, well,
a couple of things zombies. Usually it doesn't that mean
it's come back from the dead. Really, I don't think
that's maybe an appropriate title for this one. These are
like almost like cars that are on life support, but
(02:51):
the doctors already know it's gonna happen. Yes, exactly right.
That's which is way longer and more depressed. So so
the idea is that, um, you know, these are cars
that have been discontinued, cars that and even brands I
guess in some cases that have been discontinued. And this
happens to nearly every car. I mean, there are very
few cars out there that have had a continuous run
from you know, let's you know what, maybe I shouldn't
(03:13):
say that there's very few cars that have made decades
long runs. Uh, you know, not many of them to
do that. They a lot of them end up going
going away after at a certain point because they become
redundant with other vehicles that are in the lineup. People
simply don't want them anymore. They don't buy them. They
have features that are outdated. The cost to um, you know,
completely redesigned them would be so much that they just
(03:35):
decided to forgo that and come out with a completely
new model that seats the suits the needs of their
buyers in a better way. Uh. There's there's a lot
of reasons why a car or even a brand might
go away. And what I do like about this article,
this autoblog article a lots of things, but one thing
in particular is that they have, right up to the
moment to write, up to the minute of this thing
(03:56):
being published, they have the sales numbers, and I like
that it's a year total from January one all the
way through today. I shouldn't say today, um as of
September one. This is when this was written, so I
would say that these numbers are probably accurate through August
thirty one, if you want to look at it that way.
August three one seen, but they also have a a
(04:16):
monthly sales total, so they were they were um telling
us how many models had sold of of the cars
will talk about in that month, so in August of
two thousand seventeen, how many they had sold and not
given anything away. But you know, on the of the
seven on the list, the one that sold the most,
the one we'll talk about first, only sold twenty six vehicles.
And for a big manufacturer, that's not a lot of eagles.
(04:39):
If you're talking about a you know, a smaller boutique manufacturer, uh,
you know, somebody who does supercars something like that. You
know a few cars like that, that's not bad. But
when you're talking about a major worldwide brand, that's obscene.
Six is pretty low. Depend on the internal scenarios that
could be a fire able, what could be and you
(05:01):
know that they're there are a couple of factors to play.
And this of course with the cars were talking about
or discontinued, so you know, people are maybe not too
hot about buying that vehicle or or you know what
it could be that it's the steel, then you know
that's that's the one you want to get, because that's
the one they want off the lot um. But you
can look at a couple of different ways. I mean,
you can say that, you know, there's a reason that
it's discontinued, no one wants it, uh, that that's why
(05:23):
the sales numbers are low, and they're just trying to
get rid of the the end, you know, the overstock. Uh.
The other way is, as I said that, you know,
people are saying, hey, maybe you know, I should go
and look at the twenty sixteen that are still in
a lot here, and since it's there, they're still you know,
brand new, or essentially you're buying a brand new car.
It's a year older, it's got you know, you've saved
yourself what twelve thousand miles or whatever the averages if
(05:45):
you want to look at it that way, if I
bought it a year earlier and have twelve thousand miles
on it already. UM, lots of different ways to look
at this. Sure, let's you know what, Let's go ahead
and dive into the first one, because I feel that
there is a very important asterisk that has to go
into the tail of the sixteen Honda c r Z. Yeah.
(06:06):
So this is, as Scott said first on the list,
it was supposed to be sort of a harbinger for
the return of the Honda cr X. Was also supposed
to show the hybrids can be cool. However, fuel economy
was and the performance was Uh those are the official
(06:28):
technical terms. Yeah, I don't think Honda released that. So
they tried a couple of different things. They put in
some suspension upgrades. You know, you could have a supercharger,
but it's still just wasn't catching on with the public.
So after the two thousand sixteen model year, it was discontinued.
Yeah yeah, okay, So so twenty six cars went to
(06:50):
new owners this this month, meaning August. Six cars now
out of there for the whole year, I guess the
total is a little bit better. They sold six and
twenty four c r z s this year, and you know,
of course the number will go up, but it won't
go up a lot. I mean, you're probably seeing a
falling off all of the prices that the are of
the of the numbers at this point, I mean clearly
(07:10):
with only twenty sold that that month. Um, you know,
there's only a couple of months left in the year
and then it's done. Anyways, it's it's completely done. So Uh,
you know, I would look for uh the sale. I
don't know how many your left on dealers lots. That's
another thing is that, you know, you make it to
the point where, uh, you know, you have to really
hunt to find one of these. You might have to
do a search across country if you want one. It's
(07:32):
a weird mission, it really is. I mean, but you know,
think about it. If you're in Indiana and you want
to buy one and it's in Oklahoma, it might be
a little bit difficult to get that car. You might
just have to give it up. Um it goes. Just
just to stay with this for the asterisk here, Uh
it went at zero to sixty was about nine point
five seconds, all right, So you know what a lot
(07:54):
of modern minivans we'll see CRX. You know, if you
had a CRX or you have a cr X. The
c RZ was a bit of a disappointment. I mean,
it was promising, but they just stuck with that hybrid powertrain.
I don't know why they did that. No one can
understand why they didn't just you know, give it something
incredible under the hood and people would have had fun
(08:15):
with it. And I don't know why they did that well,
this comes to the asterisk that I think we would
be remiss if we didn't point out here, and is
simply this, uh A hybrid technology being rolled out in
this way is still much much younger than any I
C technology so or the basics VICE technology. So we're
(08:40):
seeing the same thing that happens whenever there's any sort
of new application of tech, which is that there are
going to be a lot of competitors out of the gate.
And you know, being an early adopter is kind of
a gamble. So they're gonna be a lot of They're
gonna be a lot of hybrid engines, and we've already
seen so many, right, like the Chevy Volts is one
(09:04):
of the poster kids for this argument. We've seen so
many things that just didn't measure up to the expectations.
And with the speed at which this technology is evolving,
it's you can very easily make something that is rendered
obsolete in a number of years. Now, when we get
past this list of seven, um, I told you that
(09:25):
I've got a list of you know, discontinued cars for seen.
We'll just kind of, you know, quickly run through those,
but you'll find you'll find some hybrids in there, you're
gonna find some some pure evs as well. Electric vehicles. So, uh,
for a variety of reasons, they just don't work. And
we'll discuss a couple of them, because it does point
to um, well, I guess, I guess old technology versus
(09:47):
new technology, as you said, because some of the ranges
on some of the e v s will talk about
it just puts them right out of the game and
almost immediately as soon as you get you know, the
uh something else that that has you know, a two
mile range and you've got a car it gets eight nine,
it's not going to stand up. Yeah, exactly for the
same price. Speaking of vans, were you speaking of vans?
(10:10):
All right? Yeah, I guess so earlier you're speaking of Yeah,
this is something earlier. Yeah, the Chrysler Town and Country
I was killed off in Um now, okay, this was introduced.
This is the the basic van, I guess was introduced
in two thousand eight. Now we know that this is
from the long line of minivans from Chrysler that started
back in what the eighties, I guess we do. Yeah,
(10:33):
with the with the history that goes back to what
Ford in the nineties, seventies, if you want to put
it that way. Um, but the thing is, they decided
that they just didn't want to continually refresh this design.
It just wasn't becoming a profitable, profitable venture for them anymore.
They weren't competitive, and so they've replaced it with the PACIFICA.
Now the PACIFICA is I think the Pacific is a
(10:55):
well it is a minivan, right, I mean, the PACIFICA
has become a minivan. It was a crossover a come
him anything. Um, but the sales on this one, you know,
at the chryst of Town and Country, pretty low for
August of what's the number? Uh? They there were a
grand total of seventeen Town and Country Chrysler vans sold
(11:16):
this month, bringing the year's total to five hundred and
pretty low. Still pretty low for a major manufacturers. Only.
See again, this is just there's probably not that many
of them out there. So if you want one, go
out there and look for it. You could probably get
a real quick deal, depending on how long they've been
(11:37):
languishing in that lot. Oh yeah, yeah, you probably could
because the dealers want to move. Well, yeah, that's the thing. See,
this might be the time to you know, go out
and make your move. If you're a real, uh, a
slick talker, you know you might be able to talk
him out of this car for several thousand below m
s RP or even even more than that. Really. Yeah,
it's an old thing where you know, you buy your
sweaters at the beginning of the summer. Yeah, I've done that.
(12:00):
Why not I go to the Halloween store when when
November one? Yeah, of course is that right? Yeah, I go, Uh,
I get my swimsuits or bathing suits, whichever you want
to call them, at the end of the year as
well for the next year. Makes perfect sense. Thrifty just
by everything a year in advance. Thrifty. Alright, So here's
(12:21):
the next one our list is the Oh, this is
bad news for this whole brand, Scion Science Zion is
actually going away. But Science the Scion TC, in particular
low low sales numbers been eight sold in the month
of August of just eight um. So here's the thing
with the Scion TC. They say that it had sporty looks,
but the driving experience never quite measured up. Sacrificing sportings
(12:45):
for everyday usability. Yeah, I feel like in a few
years seeing because they only had the two generations before
Toyota killed it. Right, Yes, So I feel like in
a few years, seem one of these rolled down the
road will be sort of similar to seeing a saturn.
Remember saturns. Yeah, yeah, there's still a lot of saturns around. Yeah.
(13:05):
I was at a stop plight earlier I saw I
saw a saturn and uh no, it wasn't one of
the legendary ev ones, but I saw it. Gave me
a double take for a second because I saw it,
and they have been keeping it in good condition to
the point I was like, oh, that's I forgot those.
I forgot those existing. Wait for a while. We had
(13:27):
some co workers that drove those up until very recently. Yeah,
but but yeah, you know it's still a bit rare.
You're right, it's still a bit rare to see them around.
When you do, it catches your eye because it's something different,
and especially if they're in good shape like that one.
I mean, you know that's unusual. I told you I
drove a couple of those, right, is that right? Yeah? No,
I didn't know that. Yeah, I uh, I wrecked the
(13:49):
I'll have to say, there's no other way to say it.
I wrecked the hell out of one of those things,
Is that right? Yeah? I'm I'm alive and the car
kept me alive. It was one accident. I thought you
meant the is like repeated small accidents. No, no, there
was one big one. Oh really yeah? Yeah? Oh is
this the one you wrapped around a tree? Okay? Then
I do know the car hes? Okay, I have to
(14:10):
say it is this? Is this also the tree that
you went back and cut down? Yes it is, yes, sir,
because you're Mary Tree, right. But it was a very
petty person, unless that car was. You know, it kept
me alive, but it crinkled up like tissue. Oh man, well,
I guess that did his job right. So you'll probably
(14:31):
see Scions, you know, hopefully anybody who has one of
these will be able to keep it running because it
wasn't really a sports car, even though as a coupe
it felt more like a daily driver. Yeah. Yeah. And
the good news is if you do like the Scion brand,
a lot of those Scion vehicles will be sold as
Toyota cars. So, uh, the Scion f R S model
(14:52):
will return, but it's gonna be called a Toyota eighties
six but the TC simply didn't make the cut. It's
not going to not gonna be running uh this time
next year unless you find an old one on a
lot somewhere, you know, a dealer lot which probably had
a great deal on right. Um, So, anyways, there's a
there's a special release there's a special series for the
final final TC. Uh. There's a release series ten point Oh,
(15:15):
it's like a special edition that they created for this.
And again they only sold eight of these over the
last month, meaning in August. So just I mean the
total for the entire year. And these numbers may sound small,
but when we return from our break, we are going
(15:35):
to see numbers that make this look like a gangbuster sales,
but from big manufacturers too. We have returned. Scott Scott,
Scott Scott, what do you think of Cadillacs. I love Cadillacs, Yeah,
I do. I like cadalax. I've never owned one. I've
(15:55):
known people that have on them. You your dad owned
one for a while, Yeah, he owns a couple. He
still does. Um yeah, okay, Well they're great cars. What
do you think of him? You do you like them? Yeah?
I like him? Um Uh. They may not be sort
of the car for me, But also I would say
it depends on the model, yeah, heavily. Yeah, there's a
(16:18):
few that I'm not too fond of. There's a few
that I'm really fond of. And of course I like
the old classics, you know, I adore some of those
giant old cars. I don't know where this comes from,
because I used to really only only like small cars,
sall sort and I still do like small and sporty.
But there's just something about those giant old catileacts you
see driving around town. You know, the big boss hog catiacts,
(16:38):
you know, the uh you know, the converbile top and
the real load of the ground. Um, you know, maybe
maybe even have the horns on the hood. That kind
of vehicle. Huge cars. I've seen a bunch of them
around town over the last decade or so. Uh. They're
kind of big down here in the South, you know,
these these old bruisers, right. And sometimes sometimes you'll see
the old lady driving, you know, on Sunday or Saturday
(17:00):
with a pristine car from you know, the nineteen seventies.
It looks like it's just been washed and waxed. It's perfect,
I mean, looks showroom new and you can barely see
somebody behind the wheel, you know, you just see the
knuckles on top of the driving. But it's it's sometimes
you know, it's like, uh, it's like seeing a white whale.
I guess. You know, yeah, it goes that. But those
cars only go out on like Sunday for church and
(17:23):
then Thursday for Bible study. You know, well exactly, and
that's why they're in that condition. And that's they're only
taking out the garage. They don't even get dusty. Really right,
that's the kind of that's the kind of Cadillac I like.
But uh, there's another Yeah, okay, well the Cadillac s
r X. So this is a I guess is it
a crossover as a full suv? Um? I guess. I
(17:45):
guess it's be a looks like a big full su suv.
It's a bigger one. Um. And it was at one
point among Cadillac's best selling models, and it was a
significant departure from its CTS based predecessor, especially with the
switch being from rear or all wheel drive to front
or all wheel drive. And it also lost the VA option. Yeah,
(18:06):
and that's the thing because when it lost that VA option,
it turned the sales slump around for a while. Uh.
It has a successor, of course, the x T five,
and that uses the same layout as the s R X.
But it's continuing. Uh. This month or the month of August,
(18:26):
there there was a grand total of I'm not gonna
make you guess, because we're we have the same resource notes.
It's low. It's lower, like think of a number. It's
it's uh, it's it's lower than that. It was only five.
There were only five sales for the whole month. Again,
that's from Cadillac itself. Now, this is hard to believe
(18:48):
because this was, as we said early on, it was
one of Cadillac's best selling models. Now the big manufacturer,
Cadillac obviously General Motors with with General Motors behind them,
um to self five in one month, that's pretty low.
And the the total sales for the year fifty two.
Now again I have to believe that this is just
a case of you know, they're not making them anymore.
(19:10):
They're they're just they just aren't out there. People aren't
seeing them on the lot, they're not buying them. Um,
you know, the ones that are bought, they're probably trying
to find them from elsewhere, you know, bring them in
the ship from somewhere. So so five that might be
uh the way it goes for a while, maybe even
through the end of the year, until they're just completely
gone from the lot, you know. So here's here's another
(19:31):
one from Cadillac. And I can tell you this one
is no surprise to me, this one, this one comes
as zero surprise. So it's another Cadillac vehicle with even
lower sales and numbers, and of course it's a car
that's been discontinued. This is the Cadillac E l R.
Now we've talked about the E l R a couple
of times on this podcast. Um, I've spotted a couple
of them here in Atlanta. There really aren't that many around,
(19:54):
that's the thing. I mean, Um, they've always had really
really slow and low sales because people thought that they
were paying uh, sort of an upmarket price for an
economy cap Do you do you know how much they
were how much? Okay, I think we talked about that
there were there's seventy five thousand dollars. There's seventy five
(20:18):
dollars and and you have to remember, you know, this
is going back a full year. So going back to
November of sixteen, there's an article, uh that I have
a quote from here that says only five models were
sold in the first six months of So Cadillac reduced
the price by ten thousand dollars in addition to a
seven thousand, five hund federal tax credit, but that still
(20:38):
wasn't enough to promote the sales activity for this vehicle.
So you know, they were trying to save it last year. Uh.
You know, of course the federal tax credit, that's something
different because you know it's an electric vehicle. But for
Cadillac to reduce the price by ten grand on a
seventy five thousand dollar car and they still couldn't sell it,
that goes to show you something. I mean, as you said,
you know, they is just an economy car underneath the
(21:00):
Cadillac out you know, the exterior I guess um only
sold for what to model years I think total, And
even even so in between those two years, the two
model years that it was sold, there was a there
was a break. There were Yeah, they were not two
consecutive years, isn't it strange? So, so the sales for
the Cadillac E l R in the month of August.
(21:22):
Just one car, one car, and that person is joining
a fairly exclusive club. They are one of seventeen people
to buy one in seven only seventeen in all of
And I can kind of understand it because you know,
it's got the it's got that signature Cadillac hood in appearance.
(21:45):
But yeah, it's like the slab sides and the wedge
look a little bit too. So it's a good looking car.
I think it looks nice on the outside, but it's
not It's not a cat. When I pay seventy five
grand for an electric Cadillac New, I don't think so.
But we we've discussed that before. Now, Oh my gosh.
The next one on the list, this one, I couldn't
even believe I was reading this name when I when
(22:06):
I read it, Yeah, this is an oddball this car. Uh,
it's surprising this This is the reason it's surprising is
because it hasn't been around for about three years, this one.
But this one has gone three years ago. This one
car appeared on somebody's lit This is the the Dodge Avenger.
The last model year for the Dodge Avenger was in
(22:27):
twenty Yeah, so when I started saw Dodge Avenger I thought,
oh man, I've got bad information here. I've I've messed up.
I've I've clicked to a different list or something. I
didn't think that could be right. But somebody found a
Dodge Avenger on someone's new car lot and bought it.
So this is likely, you know what. Here's here's the
(22:47):
other oddball part about this. This isn't the only one
that sold in There were eleven other people this year
that bought Dodge Avengers, even though they ended back in
soeen model year. How weird is that? I mean, do
you think do you think they went to the lot
looking for something else, you know what, the Avenger. I
have no idea how this would happen. I mean, maybe
(23:10):
a couple of the others on our list that we've
already read will end up like this too. You know,
in three years from now, someone might be, you know,
looking for an electric vehicle and find an old E
l R sitting on some Catillac dealer somewhere. Yeah, you know,
dealer's lot. I should say that sitting on the dealer
hopefully slip of the tongue, well hopefully not. Yeah, slip
of the tongue. Not a weird more big profits no, no, no, no,
(23:32):
there's still one more vehicle on this list. It is
the former flagship of Volvo, the S A D, discontinued
in twenty sixteen. Yeah. Now, this is a car that
was used to be available. You could get a you know,
an inline six, or you could even get a V
eight in this car if you wanted. The final year
(23:54):
only presented turbo chart. They had a turbo chart four
cylinder for the final year. Um. Finally was replaced by
something a new modern version of the same vehicle. Really,
the S ninety I shouldn't say the same vehicle, but
it's replaced by a newer vehicle. Um, so you know,
it's it's just going away. Simply, the sad s are
gonna be gone. The S nineties are coming in. Um.
(24:14):
Same with same with the L E, L R and
the Avenger. Only one S A D was sold this
entire month, meaning in August. There's a reason this is
our closer for this list. Yeah. Yeah, total sales for
this year six six cars, six cars for the whole year.
So again I'm hoping that it's just a matter of
(24:35):
you know, there just aren't there on the on the lots.
I hope that's what's going on. Um, I hope that
you're not. They're not gonna end up with hundreds of
cars left over, you know, otherwise they're gonna have a
big fire sale, you know, yes, yeah, and you could
be part of it, right to them and let us
know how your experience. You know, all these cars that
we've we've read, you know, maybe search online, so if
(24:57):
you can get some deals on them, that's that's kind
of the way this works, um, is that you know,
you find find what they don't want on their lots anymore,
and you go for that, and you're likely to get
a pretty good deal. Um, Ben, I've got I've got
a couple more lists here, and no need to go
as in depth as we did on you know, and
I know if that's in depth, but uh, no need
to really expand on all of these as I go
(25:17):
through them. But if he finds I find something that
you want me to stop at, just tell me we
can discuss, um. Otherwise, I'll just kind of run through
a few of these and see if any of these
surprise you or if any of our shockers really all right, Well,
while I prepare myself to see if I'm going to
run into the deal of a lifetime. Let's pause for
a word from our sponsor, and we're back Scott. As
(25:42):
you see, I have prepared myself. I've got a fresh
cup of coffee, couple, uh stacks of hundreds. My my accountants,
you're ready to buy? Yeah, my accountant this year you
look ready? Thank you? You look ready? All right. So
we were going to list off some car as it
were discontinued in seventeen. So, um, some of these there's
(26:03):
a mix of cars here. I guess that, um you
know something that we're built up until about twenty sixteen
and then ended with the model year, and some they're
going to continue through the end of this year. And
we're gonna get to something that will be gone eventually.
But I'll tell you when we switch over to that,
I've got a few as well. I want to see
if we have the same list, all right. So, uh,
these are from a variety of places like Road and Track,
(26:24):
Motor Trend, Houston Chronicle, places like that. There are there
from all over the place, so I won't credit each one,
but the first one on our list here is the
Dodge Viper. Uh. Now, the Dodge Viper, that's a that's
I mean, it's a sad day when they don't make
Dodge Viper anymore. It really is. I've been upset about
this one for a couple of years. I knew it
was going to go away. Um it's been around since
(26:45):
two and it's man, you know, I just I'll tell
you something. Yeah, this is where we were already getting
sidetracked here, but we haven't had many of these during
our this episode. This morning I went to a classic
auto warehouse and I spent a lot of times. Spent
a few hours there actually this morning, just kind of
wandering around and looking at their stock. It's a huge,
(27:06):
huge place up in I think it's an Alpharetta Georgia. Um,
could be a little bit farther north and from that.
Um I'll think of the name of it in just
a minutation. But anyways, it's a type of place where
they have you know, maybe it seemed like two hundred cars,
you know, a ton of cars, and they're all in
excellent condition, you know, driving condition. Uh. None of them
are project cars or anything like that. But the prices
(27:28):
range from you know, a hundred grand for fifty five
Chevy that's immaculate. Uh, you know, it's like a pro
street car or something uh down to you know, uh,
an eight thousand dollar pickup truck that could be like
a shop truck for somebody. So there's a little bit
of everything in there. And uh one of the cars
that they had there was a first gen Dodge Viper
(27:49):
and R T ten Viper and just it's still a gorgeous,
beautiful car. It's one of those cars though, like you know,
the price seems like, well, you could do it. It's
one that we could talk about that you probably should
straight you know, kind of stay away from if you
if you've got the notion to to buy one, and
it kind of puts you at the end of your
(28:09):
your budget, yeah, you know, if you don't have the
money in reserve to to fix it, to maintain it.
It's one that you definitely should should avoid. And I
saw a couple of the old nighties Rolls Royce cars. Yeah,
we talked about they look beautiful but and and tempting,
but there's just no way, no way I do it
because of Rolls Royce maintenance. Oh man, you know what
(28:30):
a Royce Scott No I do. But come on, I
don't want to pay Rolls Royce prices when I take
it into the shop. You know, there's the cost of
buying the vehicle alone is dangerously low. Yeah, it really is.
There are a couple of there are a couple there.
There are some that had high prices as well. You know,
some some real old, beautiful ones with the flowing fenders
(28:51):
and you know, of course the spirit of ecstasy on
the hood and it's just beautiful cars. But um, anyways,
I thought i'd tell you what I was up to
this morning, but it's just just crazy. Did you get there?
I got there early this morning, I don't know, it's
around thirty nights like that. And wandered around for a
while and um, made a nuisance of myself there. Rest
of us were here. I know you were while I
(29:13):
was thinking about this podcast, really and uh and you know,
so I'm wandering around this, uh, this warehouse and I'm
looking and you know that Viper's just guess, just such
a beautiful car. And again that was the first gin. Um.
I only progressed a lot from there. I don't know
what gin they ended up on. I can't remember. It's
like five or something, um, but but still low numbers,
I guess, Um, I think there was in I think
(29:35):
they were down to selling about five hundred a year
or something like that. It was a pretty low and
inten I think so a year prior to that, even
the numbers were something like seven hundred and sixty. It
was never really a high volume car, was a handbuilt car.
But it's still gorgeous anyways. But it's gone for seventeen,
so he won't see any more of those around. You'll
see it on all these discontinued lists. Another one. Oh,
(29:57):
here's a Rolls race. This is a brand new Roles
race though from the from the factory, not like what
we're talking about. Um, this comes from articles. So they're discontinued.
I think. So this will be the last year the
Rolls Royce Phantom Coop and drop Head Coop, both of
them were discontinued in seen and it marks the end
of um tomorrow, Oh, it's mark the end of production,
(30:20):
I should say. Uh. They've come out with a special
version of this special edition of both of these variants
called the Phantom Zenith. Zenith meaning the pinnacle or the peak.
So so it makes sense that they would end on that.
But um, I like this quote. This is this is
from uh, the director of design at Rolls Royce, and
UH that person says, as the name promises, Zenith will
(30:43):
be the pinnacle, the best of its kind, the highest
standard achievable by which everything else has judged. And I
think that they said something like, you know, cars of
this magnitude will not be seen ever again, or something
like that. They're really talking these two kinds, you know,
these two cars up and it's only gonna be uh,
a limited run, right there? Only fifty Yeah, that they're
(31:04):
creating exactly just fifty cars. So you know, if you're
one of the lucky ones to get your hands on
one of those fifty vehicles, it's really apparently something very special.
By way of contrast, however, if you want to go
for something a little bit different, why not get a
Dodge Dart. Well, I think we're looking at the same list, Ben,
(31:24):
because that's the next on my list to now, the
Dodge Dart. Um. Okay, the problem with this one is
that just after a four year model run, Fiat Chrysler
Automobiles has pulled the plug on the Dodge Darts, so
it's gone. I'm kind of surprised by this one. It
seems like you know these these compact models. These uh,
these I guess you would call it um uh kind
(31:45):
of not really economy cars. There's a little more to
them than that. They're the sort of an economy car. Um.
I'm surprised that it didn't have a longer life than
it did. It just seems like it hasn't been around
for that long. But anyways, that that's uh, it's gone
as is. As we mentioned, well, we talked of the
town Country, but the Dodge Grand Caravan is also gone.
It's one of the original minivans um you know, popular
nineteen eighties, but it's just simply done. It's run its course.
(32:08):
It's over. The Volkswagen. I've heard this called EOS or
e O s um. Volkswagen is gone. That's the that's
the convertible, you know, the hard top convertible that they've
sold for a long long time. It was popular for
a long long time. Yeah, um, but it's gone. I
guess it had just poor sales so they decided to
(32:28):
drop that one. I think there's I kind of feel
like there's a move away from convertibles at this point
in history. It seems like a lot of manufacturers are
dumping anything convertible that they have, not all of them.
There always be some, Yeah, there will always been a
few around. But it feels like a lot of manufacturers
are just pushing away from their convertibles for some reason.
Maybe it's just it could be low sales. Could be that, uh,
(32:51):
I don't know. Maybe it could be safety is consumer
thing or people also is there lower market demand? I
sort of like when every stopped buying waterbeds. Well, yeah,
I kind of feel like it's a sales thing, Like,
I just don't think people are buying convertibles at the
numbers that they did in the past. Yeah, because if
we were manufacturing, I would feel that would be the
(33:13):
most likely. Without looking at the sales data, I would
feel like that would be the most likely, uh cause
of it, because if it were some highway safety administration stuff,
you know, then they would have been public about it. Yeah,
convertibles are expensive to build as well and to keep
working people working, order and maintain. I guess yeah, you're right.
(33:34):
There's also the Hyundai Equis, which I'm kind of if
only for the name alone, I'm I'm glad to see
it go. That name always confused me a big sedan,
but you know, it's still gonna be around, really, it's
just gonna be rebranded as something called the G ninety
and the Genesis. Yeah. Well then there's also the Hundai Genesis.
(33:56):
Uh in that car will be renamed the G eight
and well, actually it already has been named the G eighteen.
And then oh here's one, um, the Lincoln m K S.
Now Lincoln kind of they did a rework on just
about all of their cars for seen, and they decided
to just simply dump out of the the m K S.
So UM, I think, I feel, I want to say,
(34:17):
that's one of their smaller vehicles. It is. I like
the stands, I like the bigger tell cars. Anyways, that's
gone for now, actually gone for good really probably you're
not gonna bring it back. Uh here's the surprise, Aston Martin,
The dB nine is going away. This is one that's
been around for a long time. It was unveiled in
two thousand three. UM was designed by a guy named
(34:37):
Ian Callum and Henrik Fisker had a thirteen year run. Bens.
This is really weird to me. Yeah, yeah, thirteen years
in production, but it's not going to be in production anymore.
And UM, according to Car and Drivers Andrew Windler. It's
a place in the lineup will be filled by a
similarly styled and somewhat larger dB eleven. So it's not
(34:58):
it's going away, but not complete leag gone if you
want to look at it that way. You know, similarly
styled vehicle will be out there called the dB eleven.
So if you're in the market for an Aston Martin
Ben an Aston Martin dB nine, you know, just kind
of hang on a couple of months by the dB eleven.
It's all covered, don't worry. Yeah, the patients is key here.
Maybe maybe a company car. What do you think they
(35:20):
do that here? Company cars? I mean, if they do,
I haven't. I don't have one. Yeah, you don't have
a company car. I don't know. Do they still do
that in a lot of places. I mean it seems like,
you know, when you get a job offer, you get
a company car, maybe a membership to the club, you know,
the country club. Right, Well, when you they gave me
a car when I started working here. I'm pretty sure
Alex got a car too. This is bad news. I'm
gonna have to talk to management right well, the AALC
(35:41):
got a pontiac Astex. It's really it's a random it's
a random system. It's assigned based on what the other
people left in the parking lot when they when they
left the job. I understand, Okay, well maybe boy. Now
I don't know if I want to talk to management
or not. I might be better off without an Aztec.
I will warn you there is one beat up geo
metro down there. Then I'm not talking right. All right, Well,
(36:04):
here's one that I would like as a company car,
a BMW Z four, but it's gone. They're not gonna
be a Z four anymore. The good news is, though,
there will be Z five on its way. And I'm
liking this trend of I'm liking this trend of progress
with models just evolving, right to create a new entry
(36:25):
in the line or new generation. Yeah, yeah, I know
what you mean. And so instead of just coming out
with a new generation, I guess this is what they're doing.
But I guess in the case of the Z four,
it kind of is the new generation that's evolving, right
that the new generation will be the Z five. Yeah,
in a way, I mean, I don't know, maybe not
a redesign Z four, but it's a it's an all
new Z five. Yeah, that's a better way to say
(36:47):
one would hope. Right, here's one I want to interject.
I don't know if this major list the mini pacement.
I guess that's it's somewhat of a surprise to me though, Ben, Yeah,
a little bit. Yeah. I mean, I'm just surprised that
you know, any of the Mini line is going away?
But are they? Okay, I'm gonna get on my soapbox
again about this, and I won't keep it too long,
(37:10):
but you know what I'm gonna ask, man, how much
bigger can they get and still be called minis? Like?
At which point is it this ironic uh little John
from robin Hood kind of thing? Yeah? I feel the
same because remember when we did the Mini story and
you look at the earliest examples of minis which were
actually miniature. Yeah, I do. I don't know. All right, Well,
(37:33):
I understand what you're saying about this one, and this
one in particular. This is a it's kind of a
big bloated vehicle. I guess for Mini when when you
look at the brand as a whole, I guess, uh,
this is a they called the cousin of the five
door Countrymen, which is a crossover suv. And the thing
is that the Paceman had less utility because it only
had three doors instead of the five that the Countrymen offered.
(37:55):
So I guess it kind of makes sense, you know
that it's tougher to get in and out of if
you want to you know, access that backseat. Um, a
lot of buyers, a lot of buyers just simply chose um,
you know, Minis for their usefulness, for their practicality, but
the Paceman, uh, you know, just wasn't giving them that
utility that they needed. Right. Well, you know, I know
(38:16):
what you're saying about many not being so many anymore
as well. Um, here's another one on the list, the
Chrysler two hundred. Chrysler two hundred is gone as well, so,
um yeah, this was the this was the update to
the Sea Bring line of vehicles back in two thousand eleven.
And that's one that we talked. We talked about this
(38:36):
one in the Easter Egg show. I think remember it.
The two hundred is the one that had the skyline
where they omitted the Renaissance Center, which is which is
Chevrolet's headquarters. Um, kind of a funny move on their
part I thought. But um, anyways, this this vehicle has
been discontinued after just two years. Uh FIA Chrysler Automobiles
(38:57):
just kind of decided to throw in the throw in
the towel and decided they were gonna stop building them.
Back in h I think it was in December they
quit building them. But they're officially gone as of this year.
So you'll probably find a few of them, you know,
on found deal with lots around. But that's about it.
Um got a lot more if you want to get here.
So there's a just let's do these quick and stop
(39:20):
me if you want. Okay, that's what I promised before. Alright, alright,
so for the list is is a little bit longer. Uh,
Buick Verano is gone. That's a Sadan that was built
from two thousand and twelve to two thousand seventeen. The
Chevy Chevrolet SS is gonna be gone. My my voice
is going away now. The Chevrolet SS is going to
(39:40):
be gone, uh this year. So it's for it was
the only built from seventeen and it just simply wasn't
all that popular. They were really, I mean, it's a
great car, but only a few. As they've said, loyalists wanted,
you know, decided that they were going to purchase this.
You know, it's funny. It's like if you didn't know
about the car, he didn't know that it was on
(40:01):
the lot, you might just overlook it. It didn't look anything.
It didn't look really spectacular. It didn't it. It's kind
of like, um, it's a it's a big, full size sedan.
Of course, it's a lot faster and more expensive than
the impala Is. But um, it just didn't have the
sales numbers that they needed in order to keep it around. Um.
The Hundai is z Era is also gone. So again
(40:21):
the run for that one is two thousand six. Um,
you know this one. I think this one still will
be around. It's just not gonna be sold in the
North American market. So if you live elsewhere, you might
see this sold as something called the Grandeur. Um. The
Infinity q X seventy is going to be gone as well.
It's it's been around from I think it's four model
(40:42):
years from seen that's kind of a mid size crossover
suv vehicle. But that one's gone. This one is a surprise.
The Jeep Patriot is gone. There they've decided to dump
out on the Patriot, and they've kind of doubled up
on their Jeep Compass efforts. Now you might not like
the style, only know the Compass, but they have redesigned
(41:02):
the Compass, so it's going to look all new, and
so the Patriot is the one that they're going to
get rid of. Um just kind of a surprise move.
I don't know. I feel like the Patriot had more
of that old classic Geep military look, you know. To me,
I mean that the Compass didn't have that. But maybe now,
who knows. I haven't seen the new Compass yet, so
I'm not sure what if they're gonna do with that one. Um. Oh,
(41:23):
here's one of the hybrids that we talked about, and
it's a UM Alexis CT, which is a compact hybrid hashback.
And the problem with this was that they introduced it
back in two thousand eleven. And in two thousand eleven,
you'll remember that gas prices were somewhere north of four
dollars a gallon in a lot of places here in
the United States, and um and just simply put, people
(41:47):
just simply don't need that or want that anymore. And
you know, not only that this is an expensive luxury hatchback,
if you can call a hatchback a luxury vehicle made
by Lexus, and it's it's very expensive to buy. So um,
I kind of understand why that one is going away.
Uh oh, here's the next one. Okay, So we we
also said that we're gonna talk about some electric vehicles
going away, and there's a few, maybe a couple in
(42:09):
this list. The first one is a bit of a surprise.
It's the Mercedes Benz B class electric drive. But and
now that I've said that, maybe maybe it's not a
bit of a surprise because the range on this one
is just eighty seven miles, which, again going to our
earlier example, uh simply cannot compete with the range or
capabilities of some other electric vehicles like look at the
(42:32):
look at the Chevy Bolt or the Tesla Model three
that's coming out, um, you know those they have two
miles per charge and this one is, you know, an
eighty seven miles per try. It's just simply a car.
It's a subcompact ev by the way, it's just a
car that is simply outlived. It's uh, um technology, I
guess maybe or is that way it's uh, yeah, I
(42:53):
guess it's outlived. It's dated technology. Maybe that's it's outlived.
It's welcome, Maybe it's something like that. Uh. Here's another one,
the Mitsubishi. I'm I have trouble with this one all
the time. I MEEV, I AM I e V. That's
how it's spelled. Um. This is that really kind of
unusual egg shaped car that Mitsubishi makes. Um, that's a
(43:15):
city car of sorts. But it only goes fifty nine
miles per charge, so it doesn't make much sense to
keep that one in the lineup as well. And it's
only been around since two thousand twelve, so it's a
very short run for that one. But that's an unusual
looking car. You still see a few around town if
you live in a bigger city. Um, but man, just
that's an unusual I'm gonna say, Ben, that's an ugly car.
(43:37):
That's an ugly car. Yeah, I'm calling the baby ugly.
That's a that that I'm of vehicle is an ugly vehicle,
very strange looking. One that isn't ugly though, from Mitsubishi
is the Lancer, and the Lancer is gone for I
should say it's gonna be built through the mile a year. Um,
I don't know that. It's kind of surprised. I think
(43:58):
a lot of people are really gonna is the the
Evolution series of cars, you know, the ones that were
featured in I don't know if their feature but I
guess they were in the Fast and Furious movies. You know,
the tuner cars. I guess that people saw in the streets.
I see a lot of these around. But Mitsubishi, I guess,
is focusing on its SUVs instead of this. But they
are going to have a replacement for this one. But
(44:19):
there again, their thrust is gonna be towards SUVs from
this point forward. Um. But this, uh, they are gonna
have a new crossover vehicle that will replace the Lancer
in the lineup, and it's called the Eclipse Cross. And
I don't have any idea what the Eclipse Cross looks like.
But um, other than the fact that sounds like an anime,
I guess right, I guess we'll we'll find out soon enough. UM,
(44:40):
all right, let's just do these fast. The Nissan Quest
is gone. One more bites. The Smart for two is gone.
I can't believe that one that's a that's I'm surprised
that's a that's one from two thousand eight. Um. This
is the smallest, the cheapest Mercedes Benz that you can buy. UM. Unfortunately,
you know it had that little eighty nine horse power
our engine which required premium fuel. That is a huge
(45:04):
part of it. Now it UM. The good news is,
I guess if you like that style of vehicle and
that size of vehicle, they are going to offer their
all electric drive version of that. But you're not gonna
be able to get a gas powered Smart for two
after strange Volkswagen the ccs gone. That's probably not big
news or new news to anybody. I mean, I think
(45:26):
they've had low sales for a long time, especially this year.
I guess it's kind of a low volume car for them.
They never really sold a lot of them. Uh, sales
were down in the first seven months. And the thing
is that passat is is really close to the same
shape and size of that vehicle. It's a it's a
little bit smaller, but it's a lot more affordable, and
(45:48):
it its out sells the CC by a forty to
one ratio in the United States forty to one. No doubt,
there's no reason UM for them to keep the CC
in the line up anymore. So that has gone. There's
gonna be a new vehicle that replaces the CC called
the Rton and another Volkswagen. Well I'm running out of breath,
(46:12):
ben and run out of voice. Out of my voice here,
but um, the last one on the list, or my
list anyway, is the Volkswagen Tour Egg. And this is
a This is one of the first upsale, upscale crossovers
that was introduced back in way back in two thousand four. Um,
it's sort of a sporty but luxurious vehicle. It's I
guess it's been replaced by a new vehicle called the Atlas.
(46:35):
So again, a lot of these cars, as we've read,
you know, they're going away. Something else will take its place,
something brand new instead of just trying to reshape and
redo what they've already got this not working. Uh, and
hopefully at least the plan is that these the successors
of these cars will rise in popularity and gain a
larger percent of market share and be ultimately better vehicle
(47:00):
for their owners. Yeah, you know, there's probably a lot
more a lot of cars that are going away. Um,
you know that's by that's completely not a h I
should say, that's not a complete list there that I
gave you. Obviously, there's gonna be a lot more that
come to light to as the year goes on here.
As we get into you'll see, you know, a surprising
(47:22):
list of vehicles that you know. Every year, it's always
kind of surprise, Like the Smart for two really surprised me. Um,
I wish the Viper was a surprise to me. I
knew about that for a couple of years. I think
everybody did. Um. It's there are a couple of shockers
on the list, I think, and uh, and of course
there will be as the new year approaches to but um, anyways,
I hope that gives you an idea, Yeah, I know,
(47:47):
I hope that gives everybody an idea of you know,
the the speed at which things move here in the
in the auto industry. It's you're sure a couple of
these are maybe three, four or five years old when
they go away, But others, you know, some of these
that I've read off here, some of them had a
you know, seventeen or even a twenty year history and
they're gone after this year, or even entire brands have
(48:07):
gone away that's always a shock when a brand goes away. Yeah.
I mean, like think about when Plymouth went away recently, uh,
Pontiac went away. Yeah, the Eagle brand. That wasn't that
long ago. Oh yeah, yeah yeah. Saturn, one of my
one of my buddies used to have an Eagle talent
and I thought that was I thought, you know, Eagle
Eagle was one of those brands that you know, I
(48:28):
worked at Chrysler, you know the time when that went away,
and it's one of those brands that they were saying,
you know, numbers like we had read today for the
for the Cadillacs, you know, like you know when they
sold five for the month. It was like, you know,
some of these entire dealerships had sold three vehicles and
we were you know, the middle of the year. It
was that that was the point, so that it was
one of those that just had to go. I mean,
(48:50):
and you know, there's no what the writings on the wall,
the it's in the cards, what are the what are
you're saying? So I don't know that I don't know.
The saints. Let's make up some some new ones. The
spaghetti is already all over the floor. Not bad that's
an let's stick with that. Spaghetti's all all over. There
was already on the floor. All right. Well, now that
we have invented a new saying and explored uh, some
(49:15):
of these technically gone but physically still around vehicles, we
would like to hear from you. Are you one of
the six to seventeen people who bought a particular vehicle.
If so, I hope you got a deal. I'd like
to hear about it and hear about you, know, your decision,
because oftentimes people will buy a vehicle knowing already that
(49:39):
it's been discontinued. Um, maybe this maybe the show will
encourage somebody to search, you know, to seek out some
of these vehicles that that we've read, because again that's
where the deals are to be had. Yeah, and for
the record, I get the sense that a lot of
people didn't care for the newer dodged Dart because it's
still it gave them it was reminiscent of the Neon
(50:01):
to them. Yeah, I can understand that. Did you ever
drive a Neon? I have driven a Nion, Yes it
wasn't mine, but I've driven a few of them. Yeah.
When was a kid, I was in Puerto Rico and
my parents had picked up a a purple Dodge Neon
and it was just this is a rental car. Yeah
(50:24):
it was. It was just rough, you know, man, I
was too young to drive. Bed drove around a little bit.
You know the you know the Neon that's one that
the first model year. Um, there was somebody who I
worked with it that owned one, and they said that
the car was making them sick as they drove it,
and they couldn't understand. It was giving them a headache.
They felt nauseous when they when they drove their car.
(50:45):
And it turns out that the windshield had a flaw
that happened to line up right with where this person's
eyesight was. Um it's like like right in line with
their eyes on the road, and it was this it
caused this weird distortion in the glass and so it
was a legit thing. They took it back to the
dealer and got a new winshell put it and everything
was fine. It was just crazy, Yeah, it really was.
(51:07):
But I mean for them to spot that and to
understand what happened, you know, like why that happened, I
don't know if they were you know, one day looking
at a you know, a vertical line and it looked
like it was skewed in some way or what. I
don't know how you determine that your your windshields got
a flaw in it like that, but um, that's a
strange thing to you know, get in your car and
it even in the driver's seat and may have it
make you motion sick because usually you experience motion sickness
(51:29):
from the passenger seat or the back seat. Uh. Drivers
rarely get motion sickness. It's it's pretty you know, it's
an unusual Yeah, it really does. And and I didn't
understand it either until I saw it, and then I
understood exactly what she was talking about. Well, strange. Yeah,
let us know if you are a current owner of these,
uh of any of these vehicles, or if there's a
(51:51):
really important one that you think should also be mentioned
uh or added to our list. We'd love to hear
from you. You can find us on Facebook and uh's
the other one's got Twitter, Twitter where we're a car
stuff hs W. I don't know why I blanked there.
Seems like there's so much social media stuff going on
that's always changing. It's always changing. Uh So until Facebook
(52:15):
and Twitter get their models discontinue. You can find us there.
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