I had an engineering internship at an automotive part supplier company in 2000 and had access to all the industry magazines. I remember seeing all those Cadillacs and other American concept cars at the time and actually being excited about where the future was headed. Of course we now know all the American companies at the time were still transitioning over to Jack Welch's business mindset of make the execs super rich off the backs of the smart people working for them...and now here we are.
I'm not sure I understand what you mean, I get the Jack Welch part and constantly cutting the lowest 10-20% of staff. American car companies were definitely anemic from the late 90s to 2008 when the financial crisis happened. But after that most of the American car companies basically rewrote their play book (aside from dodge and cheysler of course, they're still garbage) and started making actually decent cars. Cadillac rebranding has been nothing short of incredible. They went from cars strictly made for old people that drove once a week to church on Sunday and 20mph under the speed limit to high performance luxury sedans that now appeal to younger people. The cts-v and ats-v are awesome cars. Fast as hell, handle great, and feels like a good luxury car inside. Plus they invested into motorsports to help rebrand their imagine and it worked great. I just don't entirely agree with what you say when some foreign companies have gone backwards as hell. Look at BMW, I utterly adored my e46 330ci, like I absolutely loved that car. But the new bmws have lost everything that made them great. And lets not even talk about BMWs obsession with using plastic in their engines, poor quality plastic at that. My buddy works at our local BMW store and brings home cars for us to test drive occasionally. Aside from a few of the M cars the rest of the BMWs have lost everything that made them great and gained no benefits. And then we have GM/Chevrolet continuing to store massive wins with the c8 corvette and zl1 camaros.
@@beeman4266 my dad's a bmw master tech & I completely agree. Even the i8 didn't manage to feel as good as something like an old 2001 2.8 Z3 or an E46 M3, it just feels wrong & that was their halo car to transition into their new era. Also, the new kidney grills still have not grown on me lol
@@von... I've only driven 1 i8 and I... wasn't very impressed. It was definitely no m3 or m5, I didn't know it was supposed to be their new flagship car. On top of that it was rather ugly imo. It's hard to beat the beauty of an e46 M3 and the e92s aren't bad either. But I'd never buy any BMW newer than a 2008. I got my e46 330 from my buddy the BMW store for 1200 because it was a trade in and misfiring. They didn't want to bother diagnosing and putting money into it so they just sold it to me at cost. It wasn't perfect by any means, the right side paint was faded, it had 186k miles and it was misfiring pretty bad. Turns out.. it had the ORIGINAL SPARK PLUGS at 186k miles. 50 or so bucks later the car ran beautifully. Vanos still worked perfectly, the car has great power, clutch was strong, none of the gears grinded when shifting, and the engine was in damn near perfect condition. Although it did burn about a quart of oil every 2k miles or so but iirc that's normal for those engines. Idk, I have a c5 corvette that's fairly modded and around 400whp. Although I love that car, I actually enjoyed driving my 330 more. It just.. felt SO good to drive, I can't even explain why either. It's such a shame how far BMW has fallen, it seems like they're like Apple now with planned obscelesence. Lease a car from them for 3 years, return it and get another. Such a shame, they made such great cars. Although one of my favorite bmws I've ever driven was a 2013 135i with the m sport package. That thing was fun and felt more like an e46 BMW. And it wasn't a giant land yacht either. And a shout out to the e60 m5's. I'd never in a million years own one but man they're fun to drive. That v10 is pretty great. The rod bearings though.. not so much.
I'd like to call your comment about Cadillac absolutely bullshit. I don't think there are even a thousand of any make in my province. Last time I saw one in the shop I was 17. I'm 26....
@@FeedMeSaltI agree with you. They sell cars that appeal to younger buyers at a price that only wealthy can afford with brand prestige that’s a net negative to that very demographic. Cadillac sports sedans are for people who really really want a modern take on a muscle car which for most is satisfied by the Dodge offerings.
You forgot the Viper. The production version was nearly identical to the prototype in 1989 and Dodge lost money on basically every one. It would become on of the most iconic American exotics in history and dodge used the cross bumper styling on many of it's vehicles. Would have been a good addition to this list.
The LFA is a mediocre Vehicle that is overhyped because its so fucking rare. The only thing that is really outstanding is the V10 Sound, but thats about it. Weight, Performance, Driveability is something you can have on any other supercar. So saying its the best supercar is like saying the C63 is the best coupe ever made because the Stock sound is so good...
@@DarkSession6208I agree and hate to ageee since I love LFA’s. But the Lfa is corvette territory with performance and the selling point was the sound and gauge cluster was out of the world for the time it was released. I still pick an Lfa over soooooo many cars. It’s sexy and knows exactly how to whisper in your ear while it excites you.
7:00 The VW Phaeton is probably one of the Best Used Cars you can buy the past few Years because they're so cheap now, even the Top of the Line W12 (which also is the most reliable one) but they're in general really reliable and the Interieur is amazing. Doug De Muro did a great Review of one a while ago if you wanna see the Interieur. I heard they're rather rare in the USA. Here in Germany to this Day i see Phaetons at Supermarket Parking Spots, Autobahn etc. They're also known to easily run up to 400000 kilometers (250k Miles). Hell, VW still offers 7 Year Warranty for them, at least here in Germany Prost & Cheers from Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps
The Volkswagen Phaeton was a failure because they already had the Audi S8 competing with the S-Class. It caused internal competition which is not always good.
@@chartreux1532 no they are not. Germans have some the most expensive parts . Especially for a special vehicle like phaeton. Plus they are extremely complicated and problematic
I wish the Chrysler ME412 would've been in this. I worked for MOPAR when this was announced as a concept and would love to see more of the background story.
Mercedes Benz hated that Chrysler made a supercar that was going to be faster, more powerful and cheaper than the SLR McLaren. Even that car now, with its timeless design, if it had the Hellcat engine in it, would have been a proper send off of the ICE era from Chrysler instead of that old ass 300 model that’s been on life support for the last decade
@@original__gmebvy Well duh, why would Mercedes want to have to compete with itself? It would be like Chevy making a new Camaro that's faster than a new Corvette. Manufacturers have one flagship car. Chrysler could've made the ME412 if they had made better business decisions in the 80s/90s, so they wouldn't need to merge with Daimler to avoid bankruptcy.
Haven't hopped in the comments in ages but this really brings back old donut to me, more of this boys! Great vid! Not everything needs to be big and flashy (although all the effort that goes into the big flashy vids shouldn't go unpraised and unnoticed), this content is great as well! Thanks boys!
Seems maybe you missed the car on the lift behind them and the car on the thumbnail. It was a great vid but it was very clearly brought to us by "the all new Lexus whatever"
@@Onewheelordeal seems you may have missed the point of my comment. I'm not denying this is probably in some way sponsored (?). The point I'm making is that It was more of a list than anything, in my mind. It wasn't some Rocket ship Mr beast video or something, is more my point. But I do get what you're saying dude, and I respect you for it!
Some companies will still make outlandish things just to make you remember them, it doesn't matter if they sell or not really... The only thing that matters is you get a strong memory of that company, so they can push better products they've done careful market research into. It also lets them test out new ideas for said products. This is basically the halo effect, I never noticed it was so big in the automotive industry until now.
I was lucky enough to experience the LFA at an event called MFEST more than 10 years ago... it sounded so good but the price tag was outrageous (coming from a guy who was only in his early 30s) and i thought only folks who had money to spare would spend on it vs an enthusiast that really loved to beat up their cars and hit the track.
Age doesn't = money, and only folks who have money to spare can spend on ANY new car. If a supercar is even an option in the first place then they are rich and have multiple regular incomes of money to spare by default.
I remember that and was so sad, cause I was always an LFA fanboy from its release. Even the older design concept of it had its own charm, but man the redesign just looked so futuristic at the time. Even now, 10+ years later it still looks good and people actually started coming around to it since it didn't look great on paper, but the combination of everything made it into a great driving experience.
I really enjoyed my Equus. Bought it at 290 000km and sold at 315 000km with very minor gremlins and negligible oil consumption. I would never consider buying any of the other cars in today's list, let alone a high mileage one. The air suspension system is infamous for being unreliable but apart from that, Hyundai had built a worthy LS430 competitor out of this and the V8 is, IMO, one of the most under-appreciated and unknown V8s in existence.
I own a 2014, bought it at 33K, now it has 105K miles... swapped in some rebuilt bags when the suspension started to leak... $2G. Dealer wants 10G... IF the dealer as the equipment to even work on the Equus. Grrrr.... But I'm absolutely PASSIONATE about this car... and best of all, it EXISTS in the wild, and is affordable to buy, and to have repaired. What's the suspension cost on a Phaeton? Genesis cars top the Best Of lists today, because of the lessons learned on these absolute sleepers.
Yes, RMT components is what most people go with when replacing the suspension on these. I pulled the trigger on mine because it had a fresh pump, solenoid block and bags, the whole system. But still, in negative temperatures it would sometimes deflate due to some glitch, and I would need to unplug and replug the battery for the computer to reset and reinflate the bags. Sold it because I had an offer for 30% profit, it needed about 2k of tyres and I had bought it straight pipe, which was sometimes just too loud for my taste. @@mr.morelock
When I was getting my 2012 Veloster, I sat in the Equus in the showroom... damn that thing was luxury. The rear seat entertainment/AC controls blew my mind. This was a car you were driven in, you didn't drive.
I think the PT cruiser was kinda the start to the crossover movement, everyone wants a lot of storage space and seats but still get good gas mileage, and the pt cruiser did that, and you could get “sport” versions also, and who else was offering a comparable? I mean a blazer got the same gas mileage as a full size truck, so really they were the first and the practicality of it is what made it appealing.
I'm surprised you didn't mention it, especially since you mentioned Yamaha earlier, but Yamaha developed the motor for the LFA. If i remember correctly the guy in charge of designing their MotoGP motors at the time was put in charge and he went over to the musical instrument division and said "I want the perfect tone for a car engine..."
The engine block is manufactured at Toyota's then-dormant F1 facility, the cylinder heads and the assembly are done over at Yamaha, then shipped back to the LFAs waiting for an engine. Wondering what happened to that high tech facility Toyota had...is it still around?
@@grozaphy Since the 2000GT (2T engine, and the car was assembled right at the Yamaha factory!) then the 4A-G 16 valve (also Yamaha cylinder head) then the 20 valve Blacktop (definitely Yamaha did something with it) then the last gen Celica engine (2ZZ or something) Then you have the Taurus SHO engine...
The Subaru at that time didn't have a separate center diff. So they just made the center diff part of the automatic transmission because that was much easier at the time.
The VW Phaeton is genuinely one of my favorite cars of all time. It has some features that at the time even Rolls Royce didn't deliver, and that beastly W12 that also powers the Bentley Continental.
My favorite Yamaha engine is the first Gen Taurus SHO engine. The 3.0 and 3.2 if u had the automatic slapped around BMW’s and Audis for way less money.
15:30 ha! I worked on that shoot with the two Caddy prototypes. The El Mirage was insanely gorgeous, inside and out. Fun Fact: The house we shot at, was used in John Woo's Face/Off as the clinic where Nic Cage's & John Travolta's characters had their face-swap surgeries. Cadillac should've released the El Mirage, even with a more 'normal' interior. The body and the overall size... yeah... they'd have sold every one they built, no problem. 15:56 the house again in the top-center photo in their GIS. It looks like a tech company headquarters, but it's a residential house designed by architect Ed Niles.
The Audi A8 sold way better than the Phaeton while technically it was kind of the same car. And Audi is part of the VAG group. So I'm not sure if VAG really lost money if you combine those two.
Great video, although very interesting to me that you didn't bring up ford's entire EV lineup since they're average margin on them is -50% and below, would have loved your take on it, since it is insane to think about
@@overcast2959It was, others like Toyota did it as well. They existed to balance fleet emissions and weren’t expected to sell let alone turn profit directly.
Dude that GT90 was my favorite car ever since Need for Speed 2 I remember being a kid and always picking that car, had posters on the wall and everything, I didn't know anything about it because I was a wee kid and growing up in Romania a country that just got out of communism, but damn did I love how it looked, too bad it never made it out. That was such a futuristic-looking car for its time especially when all you see around where I grew up was a Dacia 1300 the Gt90 looked like a UFO to me.
Thing with the PT Cruiser is, the looks were just part of it, when people saw how much interior room it had, they just lost their minds. As for the Prowler, it was just so close to being just right, just a bit more power.
Are you unable to pay attention? Planning has nothing to do with it. Plan all you want, that ain't what's going to happen. Can tell you have never picked up a tool in your life.
PT Cruiser is common even is Eastern-Europe, even though US cars are kinda rare. It's the most common out of all US cars(not counting the European Fords, obviously)
my friend had a PT Cruiser with real faux wood panelling , and he paid 10k over retail, for all the goodies. years later, it turned out to be a shit show of a car. always had issues.
The XLR actually wasn't inspired off of the Cien. If anything, it was the other way around. The XLR was based off of the concept car, the Evoq, which was unveiled in 1999 if I recall correctly. The Cien was unveiled 3 years later.
The Prowler (designed by Chip Foose if im not mistaken) was friggin' cool looking, but if it had been given a higher powered engine like a V-8 with 400-ish Hrprs, and the purple wasnt that attractive, put it red, yellow, blue, etc, traditional hot rod colors, it would have sold like hotcakes.
Unfortunately the only V8s that Plymouth had access to at the time were old truck engines. It would've been a major success if they designed a V8 specifically for it though. 400 hp would've been crazy in 1997, 300 would be more realistic.
the 318 Magnum truck engines were the only v8s they had...their Magnum v8 only made 10hp more but weighed 190lbs more and took up a LOT of space. The prowler made 23hp more than the s2000 and yet it weighed the same amount...it was pretty good for the era. Even the camaro with 320hp in 1999 was a full 600lb heavier than a Prowler
The LFA has no discussion, is one of the best ever cars, just the sound grants it, and apparently is perfect in almost everything else. It's there in the heaven with the mclaren f1, the miura or the f40. I need one.
I almost bought a used Phaeton a few years ago but since i knew so little about it i did some research on it and apparently the wiring and computer problems they came with were a HUGE problem so i passed on buying it. I did test drive it and it was phenomenal but the last thing we needed was something with issues like that
My cousin has a phaeton, and i can 100% say that its a sick ass ride, especially for the time! VW dealerships were required to have Phaeton specific technicians to work on the vehicles as the platform was so different.
One of the reason the LFA failed was the requirements that Toyota set in order to buy one. They wanted "influencer" like Paris Hilton to drive the car and be seeing. It was sold as a status vehicle and not a sport car. They wanted to compete with the luxury brands ie Ferrari, Lamborghini but at double the price of cars and they failed miserably.
So the Ford gt90 is the car that turned me into a gearhead. That specific car was an unlockable on need for speed 2 for the ps1. The moment I unlocked that car and drove it, I immediately begged my parents for a subscription to automobile and motor trend magazine and started going to the Detroit Auto show every Year. I saw the early 2000s and 2015 Ford GT debut in person. I always liked cars a little bit but that car changed my whole world.
I think the Prowler was designed by Chip Foose. I consider the Prowler one of a handful of cars that were let down by a weak powertrain. Also on that list would be the Chevy SSR and the Lexus SC430.
Uhhh...what? the SSR had a 400 crank hp LS that could make 410whp with a relatively mild off the shelf cam and exhaust back in 2006 lol. Auto or not theyre still FAST for their weight yet still 200lbs less than a Silverado ext cab
The GT90 absolutely obliterated my tiny mind as a 6-7 year old in the UK. It was on display at the Coventry Motor museum and it was the coolest thing I ever saw.
Cadillac cien, Ford gt90 concept OooOooOo that's a fully fantastic car. Lexus LFA is still modern car til today😎. In my opinion. I never thought this video would be very nice, they are missing one concept car. i didn't remember what's it's named.
Audi R8 is the most successful halo car in history imo, it was so successful it lasted nearly 20 years and set Audi design language that we saw throughout the 2010s.
Was a kid in the 90s, and the GT90 was certifiably crazy. Those sharp lines were totally unlike anything out there, and over 700 HP was just plain crazy talk!
I have a phaeton. They are engineering marvels, when they work. Plagued with electrical issues. When it's running however, wow, drives soo smooth and so comfortable. Expensive driveway ornament at the moment though 😂.
I tried my hand at selling cars back in the 90's and worked at a Pontiac/Subaru dealership in Van Nuys, CA. I loved taking customers out for a rip in the SVX. It was a quick car for it's day. Unfortunately customers were buying 2 Legacy's for less than the SVX.
Y’all forgot one very important car: ZE1 Honda Insight. The first production hybrid vehicle ever sold in North America. All-aluminum unibody. 1,800 lbs. Most aerodynamic car for 14 years. Most fuel-efficient production car ever year it was produced, and still one of the most fuel-efficient mild hybrids in existence today. Only 17,000 produced. One of only three mild hybrids ever offered in the US with a manual transmission. Also a car that Honda lost money on every one soldz Honestly probably deserves its own video haha.
I'm surprised you guys didn't talk about the Chrysler ME Four-Twelve. One of Chrysler's few attempts to appeal to the supercar market in the early 2000s and ultimately one of the reasons the Daimler-Chrysler partnership ended if I'm not mistaken.
I'm surprised the Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge or Nissan Juke-R weren't mentioned. The Juke-R did make production with an insane price tag while Eau Rouge was scrapped due to it being too costly.
The only thing that gives it away as Nissan on the 3x 90 would be the 300 ZX headlights and then the Skyline reflectors on the back and perhaps maybe one of the sets of brake lights is from an R32
I owned a new SVX. Great car with a true top speed over 160 mph. I confirmed this with a friend and his Porshe at the time. I left multiple Mustangs and Camaro's behind with it, given enough road. It was a truly slippery car for the time. It's trans seals were trash though and after the 3rd repair, I traded it in one a Pontiac GT (WIDETRACK!!!!!...lol) (slow but decent looking...again, for it's time).
12:11 No wonder it didn't take off (figuratively). The outer mold line of the F-22 is tailored for stealth, not speed. The F-15 is faster not because of its engines, but because of its better aerodynamics at high speed. The blocky stealth shaping of the F-22's OML generates too much wave drag that the area-ruled fuselage of the F-15 just doesn't have.
fun fact: Toyota Gazoo Racing only exists because of the LFA. Akio Toyoda was directly involved in the LFAs development and he raced it on the Nurburgring under the name Morizo for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team. that's why the GR Corolla has a version named Morizo
Fun one you missed, the Buick Reatta. Goofy 2 seater with some pretty impressive tech for the first year models. Was only ever supposed to be a halo car.
Let's be honest, the Plymouth Prowler didn't sell well because it was way too expensive for the time. As amazing as it was, it was a tough sell unless you really had disposable income for a fancy car and chose it over something else. The PT Cruiser, even at release, was HIDEOUS and everyone knew it. It sold well because it fit a certain category that didn't have a lot of competition at the time, the crossover SUV... thing. LFA was also a 'cool car' but outpaced by much less expensive sports cars, like the Corvette and the GTR at the time.
Holden Monaro revival - started as a car show skunkworks sample that was so popular it went into production, and even crossed to the US as the Pontiac GTO revival.
Justin owning multiple SVXs got my like 😆. I've only seen 1 in my life, someone in my college apartment complex had it, never figured out who. Appreciate the classics man!
I had an engineering internship at an automotive part supplier company in 2000 and had access to all the industry magazines. I remember seeing all those Cadillacs and other American concept cars at the time and actually being excited about where the future was headed. Of course we now know all the American companies at the time were still transitioning over to Jack Welch's business mindset of make the execs super rich off the backs of the smart people working for them...and now here we are.
I'm not sure I understand what you mean, I get the Jack Welch part and constantly cutting the lowest 10-20% of staff. American car companies were definitely anemic from the late 90s to 2008 when the financial crisis happened.
But after that most of the American car companies basically rewrote their play book (aside from dodge and cheysler of course, they're still garbage) and started making actually decent cars. Cadillac rebranding has been nothing short of incredible. They went from cars strictly made for old people that drove once a week to church on Sunday and 20mph under the speed limit to high performance luxury sedans that now appeal to younger people.
The cts-v and ats-v are awesome cars. Fast as hell, handle great, and feels like a good luxury car inside. Plus they invested into motorsports to help rebrand their imagine and it worked great.
I just don't entirely agree with what you say when some foreign companies have gone backwards as hell. Look at BMW, I utterly adored my e46 330ci, like I absolutely loved that car. But the new bmws have lost everything that made them great. And lets not even talk about BMWs obsession with using plastic in their engines, poor quality plastic at that. My buddy works at our local BMW store and brings home cars for us to test drive occasionally. Aside from a few of the M cars the rest of the BMWs have lost everything that made them great and gained no benefits.
And then we have GM/Chevrolet continuing to store massive wins with the c8 corvette and zl1 camaros.
@@beeman4266 my dad's a bmw master tech & I completely agree. Even the i8 didn't manage to feel as good as something like an old 2001 2.8 Z3 or an E46 M3, it just feels wrong & that was their halo car to transition into their new era. Also, the new kidney grills still have not grown on me lol
@@von... I've only driven 1 i8 and I... wasn't very impressed. It was definitely no m3 or m5, I didn't know it was supposed to be their new flagship car. On top of that it was rather ugly imo. It's hard to beat the beauty of an e46 M3 and the e92s aren't bad either. But I'd never buy any BMW newer than a 2008.
I got my e46 330 from my buddy the BMW store for 1200 because it was a trade in and misfiring. They didn't want to bother diagnosing and putting money into it so they just sold it to me at cost. It wasn't perfect by any means, the right side paint was faded, it had 186k miles and it was misfiring pretty bad.
Turns out.. it had the ORIGINAL SPARK PLUGS at 186k miles. 50 or so bucks later the car ran beautifully. Vanos still worked perfectly, the car has great power, clutch was strong, none of the gears grinded when shifting, and the engine was in damn near perfect condition. Although it did burn about a quart of oil every 2k miles or so but iirc that's normal for those engines.
Idk, I have a c5 corvette that's fairly modded and around 400whp. Although I love that car, I actually enjoyed driving my 330 more. It just.. felt SO good to drive, I can't even explain why either. It's such a shame how far BMW has fallen, it seems like they're like Apple now with planned obscelesence. Lease a car from them for 3 years, return it and get another. Such a shame, they made such great cars.
Although one of my favorite bmws I've ever driven was a 2013 135i with the m sport package. That thing was fun and felt more like an e46 BMW. And it wasn't a giant land yacht either.
And a shout out to the e60 m5's. I'd never in a million years own one but man they're fun to drive. That v10 is pretty great. The rod bearings though.. not so much.
I'd like to call your comment about Cadillac absolutely bullshit.
I don't think there are even a thousand of any make in my province.
Last time I saw one in the shop I was 17. I'm 26....
@@FeedMeSaltI agree with you. They sell cars that appeal to younger buyers at a price that only wealthy can afford with brand prestige that’s a net negative to that very demographic.
Cadillac sports sedans are for people who really really want a modern take on a muscle car which for most is satisfied by the Dodge offerings.
You forgot the Viper. The production version was nearly identical to the prototype in 1989 and Dodge lost money on basically every one. It would become on of the most iconic American exotics in history and dodge used the cross bumper styling on many of it's vehicles. Would have been a good addition to this list.
7:39 186 mph is about 300 kph, and 131°F is 55°C that’s where those oddly specific numbers come from. Converting to freedom units
good catch!
Hahahaha 😆 fantastic.
Thanks.. they don't want to show the rest of the world.
🤭👍
While they are round numbers, it is still weirdly specific... It's not like any consumer would say that's what they are looking for in a car.
The Lexus LFA is am example of what happens when you let good engineers have control. And its arguably of the best superar ever made.
A lot of people gave it shit when it released though. lol.
@@MaddNomad1015 Just purely because of the badge.
The LFA is a mediocre Vehicle that is overhyped because its so fucking rare. The only thing that is really outstanding is the V10 Sound, but thats about it. Weight, Performance, Driveability is something you can have on any other supercar. So saying its the best supercar is like saying the C63 is the best coupe ever made because the Stock sound is so good...
@@DarkSession6208I agree and hate to ageee since I love LFA’s. But the Lfa is corvette territory with performance and the selling point was the sound and gauge cluster was out of the world for the time it was released. I still pick an Lfa over soooooo many cars. It’s sexy and knows exactly how to whisper in your ear while it excites you.
I would say it happened because of Akio Toyoda, if he was just the run-of-the-mill CEO, Lexus LFA wouldn't have happened.
7:00 The VW Phaeton is probably one of the Best Used Cars you can buy the past few Years because they're so cheap now, even the Top of the Line W12 (which also is the most reliable one) but they're in general really reliable and the Interieur is amazing. Doug De Muro did a great Review of one a while ago if you wanna see the Interieur.
I heard they're rather rare in the USA. Here in Germany to this Day i see Phaetons at Supermarket Parking Spots, Autobahn etc.
They're also known to easily run up to 400000 kilometers (250k Miles). Hell, VW still offers 7 Year Warranty for them, at least here in Germany
Prost & Cheers from Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps
They are good if you want to bankrupt
@@chrisxa1222
If you have bought one new yes. Now theyr'e cheap as hell, fantastic and easy and cheap to maintain because it's VW
The Volkswagen Phaeton was a failure because they already had the Audi S8 competing with the S-Class. It caused internal competition which is not always good.
@@chartreux1532 no they are not. Germans have some the most expensive parts . Especially for a special vehicle like phaeton. Plus they are extremely complicated and problematic
@@johnnymason2460 the phaeton was destined to be a failure. People who spend that kind of money for a car want the image. Vw didn't have that image
It's Not About Money, It's About Sending a Message
It's Not Knowing When To Use CAPITAL Letters Correctly.
let's not forget the money they get from the government to try new things... they make money.
@@Ryanbmc4 It's not about being a grammar nazi,
@@BobbyBlackOps Nazi is a proper noun and you finish a sentence with a period.
@@Ryanbmc4 🤓
19:15 "If the NSX went below the Prowler, you guys would stop following us" - true, true 😂
I wish the Chrysler ME412 would've been in this. I worked for MOPAR when this was announced as a concept and would love to see more of the background story.
Mercedes Benz hated that Chrysler made a supercar that was going to be faster, more powerful and cheaper than the SLR McLaren.
Even that car now, with its timeless design, if it had the Hellcat engine in it, would have been a proper send off of the ICE era from Chrysler instead of that old ass 300 model that’s been on life support for the last decade
Was going to ask the same thing! Car was a legend. Definitely want to know more about it
@@original__gmebvyit looks like Chrysler copied Audi’s homework
@@original__gmebvy Well duh, why would Mercedes want to have to compete with itself? It would be like Chevy making a new Camaro that's faster than a new Corvette. Manufacturers have one flagship car. Chrysler could've made the ME412 if they had made better business decisions in the 80s/90s, so they wouldn't need to merge with Daimler to avoid bankruptcy.
Haven't hopped in the comments in ages but this really brings back old donut to me, more of this boys! Great vid! Not everything needs to be big and flashy (although all the effort that goes into the big flashy vids shouldn't go unpraised and unnoticed), this content is great as well! Thanks boys!
I want some tool party vids personally. This was good too though.
Seems maybe you missed the car on the lift behind them and the car on the thumbnail.
It was a great vid but it was very clearly brought to us by "the all new Lexus whatever"
@@Onewheelordeal seems you may have missed the point of my comment. I'm not denying this is probably in some way sponsored (?). The point I'm making is that It was more of a list than anything, in my mind. It wasn't some Rocket ship Mr beast video or something, is more my point. But I do get what you're saying dude, and I respect you for it!
@@Onewheelordeal Paid advertisements pay the bills. Everyone knows Lexus paid them but why does that change the video?
Some companies will still make outlandish things just to make you remember them, it doesn't matter if they sell or not really... The only thing that matters is you get a strong memory of that company, so they can push better products they've done careful market research into. It also lets them test out new ideas for said products. This is basically the halo effect, I never noticed it was so big in the automotive industry until now.
I was lucky enough to experience the LFA at an event called MFEST more than 10 years ago... it sounded so good but the price tag was outrageous (coming from a guy who was only in his early 30s) and i thought only folks who had money to spare would spend on it vs an enthusiast that really loved to beat up their cars and hit the track.
Age doesn't = money, and only folks who have money to spare can spend on ANY new car. If a supercar is even an option in the first place then they are rich and have multiple regular incomes of money to spare by default.
I remember when the LFA launched and the internet dragged it through the mud. Great to see it being loved now.
I remember that and was so sad, cause I was always an LFA fanboy from its release. Even the older design concept of it had its own charm, but man the redesign just looked so futuristic at the time. Even now, 10+ years later it still looks good and people actually started coming around to it since it didn't look great on paper, but the combination of everything made it into a great driving experience.
I really enjoyed my Equus. Bought it at 290 000km and sold at 315 000km with very minor gremlins and negligible oil consumption. I would never consider buying any of the other cars in today's list, let alone a high mileage one. The air suspension system is infamous for being unreliable but apart from that, Hyundai had built a worthy LS430 competitor out of this and the V8 is, IMO, one of the most under-appreciated and unknown V8s in existence.
I own a 2014, bought it at 33K, now it has 105K miles... swapped in some rebuilt bags when the suspension started to leak... $2G. Dealer wants 10G... IF the dealer as the equipment to even work on the Equus. Grrrr.... But I'm absolutely PASSIONATE about this car... and best of all, it EXISTS in the wild, and is affordable to buy, and to have repaired. What's the suspension cost on a Phaeton? Genesis cars top the Best Of lists today, because of the lessons learned on these absolute sleepers.
Yes, RMT components is what most people go with when replacing the suspension on these. I pulled the trigger on mine because it had a fresh pump, solenoid block and bags, the whole system. But still, in negative temperatures it would sometimes deflate due to some glitch, and I would need to unplug and replug the battery for the computer to reset and reinflate the bags. Sold it because I had an offer for 30% profit, it needed about 2k of tyres and I had bought it straight pipe, which was sometimes just too loud for my taste. @@mr.morelock
When I was getting my 2012 Veloster, I sat in the Equus in the showroom... damn that thing was luxury. The rear seat entertainment/AC controls blew my mind. This was a car you were driven in, you didn't drive.
I think the PT cruiser was kinda the start to the crossover movement, everyone wants a lot of storage space and seats but still get good gas mileage, and the pt cruiser did that, and you could get “sport” versions also, and who else was offering a comparable? I mean a blazer got the same gas mileage as a full size truck, so really they were the first and the practicality of it is what made it appealing.
Not the Pontiac Aztek? 🙃
@@ads1035aha😅
Love how you seem to never lack ideas. You guys are a huge inspiration! Appreciate you!
they just need to stay away from Subarus cuz they don't know how to properly handle them
agree@@GlycerinZ
i always said the clk gtr was my favorite car of all time. and not even because of its pedigree. i just like how it looks.
Oh you guys should definitely make the SVX the car it should’ve been, Justin’s already half way there with the 6 speed😂
Yesss I own a 5 speed swapped one and love it so much but it’s so expensive to do anything to so I’d love to see them do it
I'm surprised you didn't mention it, especially since you mentioned Yamaha earlier, but Yamaha developed the motor for the LFA. If i remember correctly the guy in charge of designing their MotoGP motors at the time was put in charge and he went over to the musical instrument division and said "I want the perfect tone for a car engine..."
The engine block is manufactured at Toyota's then-dormant F1 facility, the cylinder heads and the assembly are done over at Yamaha, then shipped back to the LFAs waiting for an engine. Wondering what happened to that high tech facility Toyota had...is it still around?
@@ruikazane5123 toyota x yamaha engines are the best.
@@grozaphy Since the 2000GT (2T engine, and the car was assembled right at the Yamaha factory!) then the 4A-G 16 valve (also Yamaha cylinder head) then the 20 valve Blacktop (definitely Yamaha did something with it) then the last gen Celica engine (2ZZ or something)
Then you have the Taurus SHO engine...
Super happy to see some classic donut content. Bring more content like this back!
Loved Jerry's energy in this
Him doing accents is my favorite
if we all pitch in $2 we can get Jerry his CLK-GTR
I had a Prowler poster as a kid. Seen many over my life span, still a cool car if you ask me.
The Subaru at that time didn't have a separate center diff. So they just made the center diff part of the automatic transmission because that was much easier at the time.
Piech (P-h) also was the main engineer behind the Porsche 917. He basically saved Porsche from going bankrupt after winning Le Mans in 70 and 71
The VW Phaeton is genuinely one of my favorite cars of all time. It has some features that at the time even Rolls Royce didn't deliver, and that beastly W12 that also powers the Bentley Continental.
My favorite Yamaha engine is the first Gen Taurus SHO engine. The 3.0 and 3.2 if u had the automatic slapped around BMW’s and Audis for way less money.
missed out on a 90k mile 2nd gen SHO taurus for $2800...have regretted it ever since 7 years later
15:30 ha! I worked on that shoot with the two Caddy prototypes. The El Mirage was insanely gorgeous, inside and out.
Fun Fact: The house we shot at, was used in John Woo's Face/Off as the clinic where Nic Cage's & John Travolta's characters had their face-swap surgeries.
Cadillac should've released the El Mirage, even with a more 'normal' interior. The body and the overall size... yeah... they'd have sold every one they built, no problem.
15:56 the house again in the top-center photo in their GIS. It looks like a tech company headquarters, but it's a residential house designed by architect Ed Niles.
The Audi A8 sold way better than the Phaeton while technically it was kind of the same car. And Audi is part of the VAG group. So I'm not sure if VAG really lost money if you combine those two.
It was still ultimately a failure to sell it as VW.
The A8 and W12 is a much better combination than with VW.
@@WyleCote Not stealth wealth anymore
Those LFA's are screamers! I got to see one about a month ago leaving cars and coffee
Great video, although very interesting to me that you didn't bring up ford's entire EV lineup since they're average margin on them is -50% and below, would have loved your take on it, since it is insane to think about
-50? sounds insane! do you have a source?
I don't think that was on purpose lol
@@overcast2959It was, others like Toyota did it as well. They existed to balance fleet emissions and weren’t expected to sell let alone turn profit directly.
Ferdinand Pee-yech (the ch sound is soft and in the back of your throat)
Also, the Yamaha OX-99 11 looks so happy, look at him! He's just a lil' guy
i want to see Justin’s 6 speed SVX now 😅😅
Dude that GT90 was my favorite car ever since Need for Speed 2 I remember being a kid and always picking that car, had posters on the wall and everything, I didn't know anything about it because I was a wee kid and growing up in Romania a country that just got out of communism, but damn did I love how it looked, too bad it never made it out. That was such a futuristic-looking car for its time especially when all you see around where I grew up was a Dacia 1300 the Gt90 looked like a UFO to me.
Would be really cool to see Justin do a review of his 6 speed SVX for the channel
yes to this
I wanna watch employee's vehicle review in B2B style just like Jeremiah's Catfish back in the day...
Cadillac Cien was used in the movie The Island. Such a spectacular car it was. Kinda broke my heart when they shot at the car’s engine in the movie.
Love the LC500 in the background. They look so cool
Thing with the PT Cruiser is, the looks were just part of it, when people saw how much interior room it had, they just lost their minds. As for the Prowler, it was just so close to being just right, just a bit more power.
would love it if donut worked on a car just with better planning this time need moneypit back !
yeah!
Are you unable to pay attention? Planning has nothing to do with it. Plan all you want, that ain't what's going to happen. Can tell you have never picked up a tool in your life.
Recognised Need For Speed 2SE video, was so happy somebody reused it!
PT Cruiser is common even is Eastern-Europe, even though US cars are kinda rare. It's the most common out of all US cars(not counting the European Fords, obviously)
19:14 "If the NSX went below the Prowler, you guys would stop following us." You are right
my friend had a PT Cruiser with real faux wood panelling , and he paid 10k over retail, for all the goodies. years later, it turned out to be a shit show of a car. always had issues.
These two have great energy. I hope to see them team up more often. ❤
The XLR actually wasn't inspired off of the Cien. If anything, it was the other way around. The XLR was based off of the concept car, the Evoq, which was unveiled in 1999 if I recall correctly. The Cien was unveiled 3 years later.
I know he was messing around about dailying a CLK GTR in 4 years....but fuck, I really want that to actually happen.
CLK-GTR + Bernd Schneider + Klaus Ludwig = Legendary
'nuff said.
The Prowler (designed by Chip Foose if im not mistaken) was friggin' cool looking, but if it had been given a higher powered engine like a V-8 with 400-ish Hrprs, and the purple wasnt that attractive, put it red, yellow, blue, etc, traditional hot rod colors, it would have sold like hotcakes.
Unfortunately the only V8s that Plymouth had access to at the time were old truck engines. It would've been a major success if they designed a V8 specifically for it though. 400 hp would've been crazy in 1997, 300 would be more realistic.
the 318 Magnum truck engines were the only v8s they had...their Magnum v8 only made 10hp more but weighed 190lbs more and took up a LOT of space. The prowler made 23hp more than the s2000 and yet it weighed the same amount...it was pretty good for the era. Even the camaro with 320hp in 1999 was a full 600lb heavier than a Prowler
The LFA has no discussion, is one of the best ever cars, just the sound grants it, and apparently is perfect in almost everything else. It's there in the heaven with the mclaren f1, the miura or the f40. I need one.
I STILL want an NSX
Justin's six speed SVX was kind of a surprise, but that's fucking massively cool. Huge respect.
everyone says the video is good before they finish the video 😂
Some subscription levels give you early access to videos. So, most likely you're seeing comments from those people.
I almost bought a used Phaeton a few years ago but since i knew so little about it i did some research on it and apparently the wiring and computer problems they came with were a HUGE problem so i passed on buying it. I did test drive it and it was phenomenal but the last thing we needed was something with issues like that
James definitely has all the rizz
for real
My cousin has a phaeton, and i can 100% say that its a sick ass ride, especially for the time!
VW dealerships were required to have Phaeton specific technicians to work on the vehicles as the platform was so different.
One of the reason the LFA failed was the requirements that Toyota set in order to buy one.
They wanted "influencer" like Paris Hilton to drive the car and be seeing. It was sold as a status vehicle and not a sport car.
They wanted to compete with the luxury brands ie Ferrari, Lamborghini but at double the price of cars and they failed miserably.
14:31 i remember watching "Cobra 11" and 1 epidsoe had Maybach Excelero (i remembered it as Accelero) and they look quite similar
So the Ford gt90 is the car that turned me into a gearhead. That specific car was an unlockable on need for speed 2 for the ps1. The moment I unlocked that car and drove it, I immediately begged my parents for a subscription to automobile and motor trend magazine and started going to the Detroit Auto show every Year. I saw the early 2000s and 2015 Ford GT debut in person.
I always liked cars a little bit but that car changed my whole world.
I think the Prowler was designed by Chip Foose.
I consider the Prowler one of a handful of cars that were let down by a weak powertrain. Also on that list would be the Chevy SSR and the Lexus SC430.
Uhhh...what? the SSR had a 400 crank hp LS that could make 410whp with a relatively mild off the shelf cam and exhaust back in 2006 lol. Auto or not theyre still FAST for their weight yet still 200lbs less than a Silverado ext cab
@Shadow0fd3ath24
I guess I missed that they upgraded the engine; the first few model years, it was pretty slow.
The GT90 absolutely obliterated my tiny mind as a 6-7 year old in the UK. It was on display at the Coventry Motor museum and it was the coolest thing I ever saw.
Cadillac cien, Ford gt90 concept OooOooOo that's a fully fantastic car. Lexus LFA is still modern car til today😎. In my opinion. I never thought this video would be very nice, they are missing one concept car. i didn't remember what's it's named.
Audi R8 is the most successful halo car in history imo, it was so successful it lasted nearly 20 years and set Audi design language that we saw throughout the 2010s.
I live near a guy who owns a CLK GTR and he drives it on the street here in CT.
Also love the classic donut content and give props to the editors!
As a Brit I just want to tell you Jerrys British accent is ‘old man in the pub who always has a story about the Kray twins’
Was a kid in the 90s, and the GT90 was certifiably crazy. Those sharp lines were totally unlike anything out there, and over 700 HP was just plain crazy talk!
6:22
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit III on PS1, wow this takes me back, that game was so legendary, anyone remember the secret El Nino car.
@17:05 everyone forgets the problem with the Plymouth Prowler was that you could get a legit custom hot rod with a V8 for the same price.
Was starting to wonder if we were going to get another D list it's been so long. Love these!
I have a phaeton. They are engineering marvels, when they work. Plagued with electrical issues. When it's running however, wow, drives soo smooth and so comfortable. Expensive driveway ornament at the moment though 😂.
Bruh. That. Fucking Lexus in the back, looks so fucking fire. I feel like it’s aged so well
I tried my hand at selling cars back in the 90's and worked at a Pontiac/Subaru dealership in Van Nuys, CA. I loved taking customers out for a rip in the SVX. It was a quick car for it's day. Unfortunately customers were buying 2 Legacy's for less than the SVX.
Y’all forgot one very important car: ZE1 Honda Insight. The first production hybrid vehicle ever sold in North America. All-aluminum unibody. 1,800 lbs. Most aerodynamic car for 14 years. Most fuel-efficient production car ever year it was produced, and still one of the most fuel-efficient mild hybrids in existence today. Only 17,000 produced. One of only three mild hybrids ever offered in the US with a manual transmission. Also a car that Honda lost money on every one soldz
Honestly probably deserves its own video haha.
Shame you guys didn't mention the Cadillac Ciel along with the Elmiraj. That 4 door open top is absolutely gorgeous.
I'm surprised you guys didn't talk about the Chrysler ME Four-Twelve. One of Chrysler's few attempts to appeal to the supercar market in the early 2000s and ultimately one of the reasons the Daimler-Chrysler partnership ended if I'm not mistaken.
Hell yess bringing back the list and board I'm glad your going back to the roots!
I'm surprised the Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge or Nissan Juke-R weren't mentioned. The Juke-R did make production with an insane price tag while Eau Rouge was scrapped due to it being too costly.
Infiniti doesn’t build any of their concept cars
7:50 the specs are weirdly specific because its not metric. 22c, 55c, and 300km/h are somewhat less random sounding numbers
Dang I forgot about the Equus. I used to do some work on my neighbors and I was pretty blown away that this thing was a Hyundai back in the day
The only thing that gives it away as Nissan on the 3x 90 would be the 300 ZX headlights and then the Skyline reflectors on the back and perhaps maybe one of the sets of brake lights is from an R32
CLK GTR is also one of my favorite cars
Love that Cadillac has its own category 😂
3:45 they sneak up a brotato song in the mix, cool
So glad the SVX got a spot on the list. Still miss my old SVX
I owned a new SVX. Great car with a true top speed over 160 mph. I confirmed this with a friend and his Porshe at the time. I left multiple Mustangs and Camaro's behind with it, given enough road. It was a truly slippery car for the time. It's trans seals were trash though and after the 3rd repair, I traded it in one a Pontiac GT (WIDETRACK!!!!!...lol) (slow but decent looking...again, for it's time).
One of my favorite Gt90 features was the tires that said gt90 in the tread pattern
12:11 No wonder it didn't take off (figuratively). The outer mold line of the F-22 is tailored for stealth, not speed. The F-15 is faster not because of its engines, but because of its better aerodynamics at high speed. The blocky stealth shaping of the F-22's OML generates too much wave drag that the area-ruled fuselage of the F-15 just doesn't have.
fun fact: Toyota Gazoo Racing only exists because of the LFA. Akio Toyoda was directly involved in the LFAs development and he raced it on the Nurburgring under the name Morizo for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team. that's why the GR Corolla has a version named Morizo
Fun one you missed, the Buick Reatta. Goofy 2 seater with some pretty impressive tech for the first year models. Was only ever supposed to be a halo car.
Jeremiah and Justin are increasingly channelling their inner James and nolan
10:26 Guys I think you made a mistake, is GIORGETTO GIUGIARO. Nice video as always
Let's be honest, the Plymouth Prowler didn't sell well because it was way too expensive for the time. As amazing as it was, it was a tough sell unless you really had disposable income for a fancy car and chose it over something else. The PT Cruiser, even at release, was HIDEOUS and everyone knew it. It sold well because it fit a certain category that didn't have a lot of competition at the time, the crossover SUV... thing.
LFA was also a 'cool car' but outpaced by much less expensive sports cars, like the Corvette and the GTR at the time.
Thus. LFA was dated and underpowered on release. While being 3x the price of its competitors
Holden Monaro revival - started as a car show skunkworks sample that was so popular it went into production, and even crossed to the US as the Pontiac GTO revival.
I can't believe you went a whole video on Halo cars without mentioning the Warthog from Halo 3. Devastated.
Powered by Ford confirmed in the forza games 🤤🤤
Concept cars featured in 2000s sci fi movies is my favorite, like Minority Report and The Island
LFA is one of the most amazing vehicles ever produced. Nothing has come close since.
I don't know, there's been a lot of very impressive cars since the LFA.
As per usual, y'all are killing it with awesome content. Merry Christmas, Donut :)
The Phaeton FACTORY was a work of art.
The AC and Air Con was Silent!
Jer+Justin+quick cuts+sound sfx=hilarious
Justin owning multiple SVXs got my like 😆. I've only seen 1 in my life, someone in my college apartment complex had it, never figured out who. Appreciate the classics man!
Editor with the Mass Effect club music at 6:27, respect.
"If the NSX went below the Prowler? You guys would stop following us." You're gorram right we would. xD