why did the economical two door car die off?
>>28793971because we can't have nice things anymore
>>28793971The normies that would've bought them to serve as sensible daily drivers all got psyopped into thinking that they need a crossover SUV with a '''commanding seating position''' to fit their '''rugged''' lifestyle of commuting to work and the grocery store.
>>28793975No, they got psy oped into thinking they need four door sedans
>>28793981Nope, the best-selling vehicles in the US that aren't full size pickup trucks are the RAV4 (358,134 sold in '25) and CR-V (307,501 sold in '25). Both of these outsell any of the sedan offerings from either brand (closest is the Camry at 234,426 sold in '25).Sedans are nearly a dead class of vehicle outside of the luxury/sport realm.
>>28793971You can't carry shit in them
>>28794027i'm talking about the order of events sedans killed coupes and then crossovers killed sedans 4 door sedans were the start of the enshittification
>>28794051Because you need all that space for the activities you don't do, the knick knacks you don't move, the spouse you don't have, and the kids you will never have, of course!
>>28793971They all turned into hatchbacks.
>>28794027This is crazy. In 1978 the thunderbird sold 350k units. Best selling car wad the cutlass at 580k.We had half the people in this country and they could just buy nice things, even during a dual recession/energy crisis.
>>28793981and then what happened to the four door sedan drivers? Crossovers. That's the point.
>>28793975>>28793981>>28794027It's because when the Federal government passed emissions regs they left leeway for pickup trucks as "Light commercial vehicles" because they were useful for small businesses etc. The Car manufactures caught on and realised it would be easier and cheaper to sell people pick ups instead of regular cars that needed to meet the stricter emissions standards so, they started marketing pickup trucks and SUVs which are basically cars build on pickup truck chassis' (legally the same type of vehicle as the pickup truck) to boost profit margins If you want nice cars again you need the cafe standards to be changed
>>28793971i wuv my celica eventho people keep crashing into it while its parked and i'm in work or shopping. jesus i hate people that cant park
>>28793971more taller more bigger more doors more saferdon't you want to be safe?>>28794131How many different models of car were on the market then vs now?
>>28793971how am I supposed to get my girlfriend's mixed race sons in and out of that thing?
People got too fat to squeeze between the b pillar and a folded forward seat
>>28793971>>28793975Mostly because young people (who were the main buyers) got priced out of new cars that's also why the SUV craze happened they're easier for older folk to get in and out of
>>28794314You're acting this is somenthing that just happened to the oh so poor and vulnerable manufacturers and just a terrible misfortune and injustice ignoring that they WANTED and pushed for it to be this way
>>28793971A sporty rugged comfortable economical 4-door crossover coupe fits the average buyer's needs better.
getting in the back of one was a humiliation ritual
Because only millennials and older can afford cars nowadays and most of them either have kids or need big trunks for family stuff.
>>28793971i am in my early 20s and this fits my active youth lifestyle. i quite enjoy it
>>28794745>>28794785This is it. Young people don't buy cars like they once did. It's a combination of changing lifestyles and ideals but also the economic realities of boomers holding all the buying power in the western world.
>>28793971>why did the economical two door car die off?these type of Japanese cars were part of the "romance type"- they were meant for dating and were used during your young adult, college time lifestyle. It is sad however to forget that segment of the populace- its not like there aren't college-aged people around anymore. They need cars like these. There is a certain air of romance about them, something about only having enough space for your partner or friend.
>>28794785>>28794884correct, but you're also missing another piece of the puzzle:used carsin previous decades, there were good reasons to buy new vs used. used cars were cheaper, yes, but also meaningfully worse, at least in some metricsif you were shopping for a car in the 90s or 00s, a 10 year old used car was significantly worse than a new one, in safety, in features, in performance, everything. oh, also design, ofc, which changed a lot more back in those daysbut ffwd to the '10s and 20's, and that is no longer the case. a car from the late '00s or early '10s is just as good, if not better, than modern offeringsperformance hasn't increased that much (outside EVs, ofc), safety hasn't improved that much, real world mileage neither. and if anything, slightly older cars look better than modern blobs.net result being that even if a young person was able to buy a new economy car, there's really no reason to. why buy a new polo gti if a used golf gti is just as good, if not better? why buy a 2series if a used 3 series is an option?
>>28794916Exactly,the difference between a new 1995 car with a 10 year old carburated probably rusty shitbox with no power steering or airbags was far wider than the difference between a new car and even a 30yo one now
>>28795522mine has no rust and has power steering tho its got bluetooth calling and sat nav/music too
>>28793971because all of them got wrapped around the tree
>>28794121>I'm a loser therefore everyone is!Lol.
>>28794314This but also>>28794749This.Couple that with more stringent safety standards and it becomes increasingly more difficult to bring an affordable two-seater (or 2+2) to market.Now, that being said, manufacturers are more than happy to sell a higher-margin crossover that doesn't need to achieve ~60mpg while weighing 4000lbs. They successfully lobbied their way out of making economy cars.
>>28795580A Toyota paseo got 28 mpg. A 2025 RAV4 hybrid gets 39 mpg.
>>28795616wonder how much a hybrid paseo would get
>>28793971Because cheap cars, and cheap things in general don't exist anymore. The top 10% of income earners contribute over 50% of the spending in the total economy. Every manufacturer of every good as well as services like restaurants are shifting to cater solely to the high income luxury buyers. They spend like crazy. There's no point to sell 100 $20,000 cars and go through all that trouble when you can sell 20 $100,000 cars much more easily without as much haggling involved.
>>28793971that piece of shit, particuolarly, died off because nobody wanted it
I mean Honda just made one called the PreludeIf it was just a civic coupe it wouldn't add 15k to the pricetag
>>28793971Because we live in a world people expect two doors=fast. There were one of the last economical coupes sold in the US. Everyone loves to talk mad shit on them because it doesn't have 300+ HP and AWD.
>>28796268Please forgive this horribly edited post
>>28794131a 1978 Cutlass cost the 2026 equivalent of like $32,000, is why. buying a V8 Cutlass in 1978 was like buying a Honda Civic today.
>>28796051Isn't it slower than the Civic somehow?
>>28796348Exactly. A v8 thunderbird in '78 was ~27k in today's money. A 30k equivalent would have AC, power windows, and probably moreFuck this shit
>>28793971economy car=no money=practical person=has to save every penny=car has to be extremely versatilegeez, i wonder why. 2 door eco cars were cancer that should never had happened. blows my mind why would you spend like 1k$ less just to have 2 doors instead of 4. you realise you wont be able to add 2 missing doors ever? and your resale value will always be worse.
>>28794314Isn't CAFE standards focused on efficiency, not emissions? They are two different things. Like diesel is obviously more efficient, but it produces more NOx emissions.CAFE is just about fuel efficiency. You're not wrong about the different standards for light trucks, though. But getting better fuel efficiency is a pretty straightforward process -- just make the car significantly more aerodynamic.That might bring some aesthetic complaints or some practicality tradeoffs, but it's the low hanging fruit.
>>28793971>why did the economical two door car die offWomen want you to buy a safe car for the children you didn't know were now a thing you had to make.
>>28796268not sure why anyone would buy that when scion made another coupe that drove the correct wheels at the same time, I can excuse slow for at least being RWD+manual
>>2879626870% of Scion's buyers were retirees. That's why they were a joke.
>>28796515>for the children you didn't know were now a thing you had to makeWat. Ever since I was a kid I imagined growing up and having a white picket fence lifestyle.
>>28796348>>28796493>1978 HECKIN' V8 THUNDERBIRD!!>130 hp, 15 mpg, 0-60 in 15 secondsEpic.
>>28793971It costs manufacturers less to make 1 body style of car than it does to make 2 body styles. And with like 80% of the car market buying vehicles with 4 doors (excluding commercial/fleet sales) then making coupes isn't very viable economically.So basically, you can sell a 2 door and 4 door version of a car, or you can sell just the 4 door version and still make like 80% of those sales without spending the money on tooling & manufacturing the second body style.tl;dr - market trends and manufacturers being focused on profit margins made them not worth making.
