Is Asking for A Sporty Midsize Too Much?

Why is it these days that automakers are so unwilling to build a vehicle outside of the genre?  It wasn’t that long ago that vehicles like the GMC Typhoon, Taurus SHO, F-150 Lightning and Ram SRT-10 existed.  Now, Ford won’t even build a new Lightning because “it doesn’t make sense”.  What?  Accountants seem to be in charge of the development these days.  Vehicles are built for maximum profitability rather than fun.  Which brings to my point of the disappearing sporty midsize.

I personally think I drive the last of a dying breed.  The Mazda 6 of 2004 was a really affordable little car that could be had with a V6, 5-speed manual and suspension that could actually make the car go around corners.  Name a single midsize vehicle on the market now that has a V6 engine and manual transmission.  I don’t think you can.  I can’t.  Even the Mazda 6 lost its manual transmission on the V6 trims.  It also got big and lost a lot of its agility.  Another case is the Nissan Maxima.  It wasn’t that long ago that one could get a Maxima with a fire breathing V6 and a 6-speed manual.  Now it has a CVT which is the antithesis of sporty.  The trend now seems to be that if you want good power and a manual transmission in a midsize you have to go to a premium brand.  The G37 and BMW 3-series still offer such things, but they are not affordable.

So did people just not buy these cars?  Is there no demand?  Is the midsize vehicle equal to the minivan now?  When I buy a car, going fast in a straight line is not a big deal to me.  At the most favorable estimates, my current car has 250 horsepower and I never feel like it is too slow.  However, if it wallowed like a beached whale around every single corner, I would hate it.  Unfortunately, mostly every automaker has gone to a “good enough” on the handling for their major midsize vehicles, even Mazda.  Couple that with the fact that they will likely not get touched by the aftermarket and that makes for one depressed Chocobo.

But there is icing on the cake: they will get good MPGs!

Just kidding, nobody cares about MPGs.