[Back in a Subie]

Julie Tilsner

It's safe to say that 2009 is a year that will go down in the history books. A year of change. A year of challenge. And if you're one of the few car buyers out there, you may not be surprised to hear that a few well-known brands and makes will cease to exist in 2009.

Desperate car-makers are trimming their lineups and in some cases eliminating entire brands. Here are six cars you won't be seeing after 2009.

The Honda S2000 -- One of Honda's only nods toward the impractical. A two-seater, six-speed roadster that is sleek and sexy and very un-Honda-like. Sadly, this black sheep isn't long for the family Honda.

The Chrysler PT Cruiser -- This is the car that makes everybody go "cool!" when it speeds by. Say what you will about Chrysler these days, the PT Cruiser had style, and even non-car types could point it out admiringly on the road. But 2009 will be the last year for this daddy-o, says Chrysler. I guess they have bigger fish to fry these days.

Saturn - GM, standing hat in hand before congress last year, promised to help cut its costs by eliminating entire lines of cars that were no longer best-sellers. And although it hasn't officially announced it, it hinted at ending its well-known Saturn line, including the Saturn Sky.

The Hummer H3 -- can't say I'm sorry to see this one go. Nothing symbolized the wretched excess of the last eight years like a Hummer. But there are car enthusiasts out there who will mourn the Hummer's passing. This one, apparently, was unparalleled for off-road action.

The Lexus SC -- Sometimes the times call for action. And in times like these, offering a luxury convertible such as this one seems downright profligate. When Lexus ends the SC's run this year, the company will be left without a convertible in its lineup. Maybe it's best to wait for an economic turnaround before offering another such scandalous luxury.

The Dodge Viper -- So fast, so cool, so very Steve McQueen, it's a shame to see this one go. To this day the Viper, which was built for speed more than anything else, holds the lap record on the world's most demanding test track -- the Nurburgring, a 12.9-mile circuit in the mountains outside Nurburg, Germany.

Source

[NewSong]

The Viper gone? Ridiculous...

Getting rid of the Nurburgring KING is akin to Ferrari dumping their mid-engine cars. This car was the very essence of performance.

[Andrew@ET]

s2k and viper Wonder what this means for resale value of a car that wont be made anymore.

[Crimson92]

not sad to see the PT go, and who ever pointed and said cool to it...is either stupid or retarded...maybe gay????

sad about the s2k and viper

kinda neutral on saturn...they had some nice ones.

who cares about the h3...waste of metal

[Year's_End]

+1

[Wake27]

Viper? Bummskies.

[xg3]

Originally Posted by Andrew@EMS

s2k and viper Wonder what this means for resale value of a car that wont be made anymore.

Viper might go up in value a little... in term of used car... since it is produced in low volume and it in a league on its own.

but S2k is quite common and alot of roadster in the same class... so chances are... the resale value will stay relatively the same as now

[BoostedBMW]

Its sad to see the s2k go , but there are lots of rumors about an s2k replacement. Although most that I have seen have been some really strange ones.

[youyou]

Originally Posted by Mi330xi

The Lexus SC -- Sometimes the times call for action. And in times like these, offering a luxury convertible such as this one seems downright profligate. When Lexus ends the SC's run this year, the company will be left without a convertible in its lineup. Maybe it's best to wait for an economic turnaround before offering another such scandalous luxury.

Lexus does have a convertible in the lineup coming up.
The IS350 C

[Couch]

The Viper will not be gone, imo. Someone will buy the name and keep the legacy alive.

[JIM E92]

Hate to see the Viper and S2K go too. One day we will all be driving boring Prius like cars and look back on the good ole days of high powered RWD sports cars.

[chrisE92]

The Chrysler PT Cruiser -- This is the car that makes everybody go "cool!" when it speeds by

What? I think they mean "the car that makes everybody when it speeds by"

[vAnt826]

The Chrysler PT Cruiser -- This is the car that makes everybody go "cool!" when it speeds by. Say what you will about Chrysler these days, the PT Cruiser had style, and even non-car types could point it out admiringly on the road. But 2009 will be the last year for this daddy-o, says Chrysler. I guess they have bigger fish to fry these days.

That statement just made this whole article irrelevent.

[Deda]

i fell sorry for viper!

[M2381]

Originally Posted by Mi330xi

Julie Tilsner
The Chrysler PT Cruiser -- This is the car that makes everybody go "cool!" when it speeds by. Say what you will about Chrysler these days, the PT Cruiser had style, and even non-car types could point it out admiringly on the road. But 2009 will be the last year for this daddy-o, says Chrysler. I guess they have bigger fish to fry these days.
Source

Whoever wrote that was FUCKING HIGH

[gshb]

s2000 replacement seems unlikely. ashame really. all they needed to do was to give us the updated jdm model with touchscreen to make it last a couple more model years.

[Crimson92]

i remember reading that honda axed the s2k successor

[pmeloche]

Originally Posted by Mi330xi

The Chrysler PT Cruiser -- This is the car that makes everybody go "cool!" when it speeds by. Say what you will about Chrysler these days, the PT Cruiser had style, and even non-car types could point it out admiringly on the road. But 2009 will be the last year for this daddy-o, says Chrysler. I guess they have bigger fish to fry these days.
Source

I would like to see the psychological profile of anybody who points at a PT Cruiser and says "cool". This article fails badly.

[ChrisV]

Originally Posted by pmeloche

I would like to see the psychological profile of anybody who points at a PT Cruiser and says "cool". This article fails badly.

Ok. Look at me. I'm 45 now. Over the last 30 years, I've owned over a hundred different cars, from custom classic air cooled VWs, to big block musclecars, to Porsches and BMWs. When I was in my teens I apprenticed in a vintage car restoration shop, working on things as diverse as restored '50s cars to a 1911 Miller Indy car. I owned a shop that built hot rods and racing sports cars, until I had to sell it to pay for medical expenses when I was a passenger in a friends race car that exploded and burned to the ground. I've been utocrossing since I was 16, and was a BSCC and SCCA autocross driving instructor. I've been into fast cars since I saw GT40s race in the late '60s when I was like 5 years old, and I've been into custom cars/street rods since I started building models cars at about the same time. besides my modified E38 740iL, I have a project '63 Mercury Comet convertible, that I'm building a custom frame for, and powering with a modded Lexus 4.0 liter DOHC V8 and Toyota 5 speed manual transmission. My favorite factory cars are the '63 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso, the '35 Talbot Lago T150 C, the '90 Ferrari F40, the '69 Ford GT40 (last of the mark 1 versions) and the Lamborghini Miura, but I also like custom cars by Chip Foose, Rick Dore, and John D'Agostino. There's my history and my taste in cars.


I bought a 2002 5 speed Touring edition PT new and had it for 5 years. Had zero problems with it in those 5 years. Not only drove it daily as the family car, we drove it regularly from Baltimore to Hartford CT (a 6 hour trip) and back comfortably, as well as trips to Maine and Orlando. It got used to take the family on camping trips before we bought a travel trailer, and had no problem carrying 5 people and all our gear. it got used to haul all sorts of cargo, from 1200lbs of bagged crushed rock for the driveway, to carying the lumber for my deck project (with the passenger front seat folded down, you could fit 8ft 2x6s all the way up to the dash and close the hatch). I carried the 45 gallon stand up compressor AND other purchases home from Sears with one rear seat folded up and the other still being able to be used by my son. And by flipping a lever, both rear seats could be removed, leaving a long, low flat load floor, allowing me to carry hom the 14 32x64 replacement Pella windows for my house stacked up with the hatch closed.

The fact that it was taller than typical station wagons (especially the smaller ones we looked at at the same time as the PT), meant that ingress/egress from front OR rear seats was quite easy, making it easier to get in and out (especially when we looked at the fact that we often transported my 85 year old in-laws when up in CT).

I also taught my wife how to autocross using it, with both of us driving it for a season, where it was competetive in H Stock, even though it didn't have to be.

I like the mini '37 Ford street rod styling in a small, practical, economical package. I love the customizing options for it. And the reason it was successful, where other small wagons were not, was specifically due to the unique styling. How many other small wagons had waiting lists for the first two years of production? Some might say it was ugly, like the Aztek. Sales figures for both of them tell a different story (was there a waiting list for the Aztek? Hell, even the LAST year of PT sales, which were down considerably, totalled more than ALL the years of Aztek sales combined. THAT vehicle was actually ugly).

I like the PT. It was a great little family car. My experiences with it were pretty typical of owners that I've met both in person and through the PT forums. It didn't HAVE to be a race car. Just fairly inexpensive, practical, and stylish. It was exactly the type of car that enthusiasts wanted people to drive instead of behemoth SUVs that were rarely used for their carrying or towing capacity.

Now, you want to get childish and insulting about my tastes, go right ahead. It'll only make you look bad.

[Big Windy]

Originally Posted by ChrisV

Ok. Look at me. I'm 45 now. Over the last 30 years, I've owned over a hundred different cars, from custom classic air cooled VWs, to big block musclecars, to Porsches and BMWs. When I was in my teens I apprenticed in a vintage car restoration shop, working on things as diverse as restored '50s cars to a 1911 Miller Indy car. I owned a shop that built hot rods and racing sports cars, until I had to sell it to pay for medical expenses when I was a passenger in a friends race car that exploded and burned to the ground. I've been utocrossing since I was 16, and was a BSCC and SCCA autocross driving instructor. I've been into fast cars since I saw GT40s race in the late '60s when I was like 5 years old, and I've been into custom cars/street rods since I started building models cars at about the same time. besides my modified E38 740iL, I have a project '63 Mercury Comet convertible, that I'm building a custom frame for, and powering with a modded Lexus 4.0 liter DOHC V8 and Toyota 5 speed manual transmission. My favorite factory cars are the '63 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso, the '35 Talbot Lago T150 C, the '90 Ferrari F40, the '69 Ford GT40 (last of the mark 1 versions) and the Lamborghini Miura, but I also like custom cars by Chip Foose, Rick Dore, and John D'Agostino. There's my history and my taste in cars.


I bought a 2002 5 speed Touring edition PT new and had it for 5 years. Had zero problems with it in those 5 years. Not only drove it daily as the family car, we drove it regularly from Baltimore to Hartford CT (a 6 hour trip) and back comfortably, as well as trips to Maine and Orlando. It got used to take the family on camping trips before we bought a travel trailer, and had no problem carrying 5 people and all our gear. it got used to haul all sorts of cargo, from 1200lbs of bagged crushed rock for the driveway, to carying the lumber for my deck project (with the passenger front seat folded down, you could fit 8ft 2x6s all the way up to the dash and close the hatch). I carried the 45 gallon stand up compressor AND other purchases home from Sears with one rear seat folded up and the other still being able to be used by my son. And by flipping a lever, both rear seats could be removed, leaving a long, low flat load floor, allowing me to carry hom the 14 32x64 replacement Pella windows for my house stacked up with the hatch closed.

The fact that it was taller than typical station wagons (especially the smaller ones we looked at at the same time as the PT), meant that ingress/egress from front OR rear seats was quite easy, making it easier to get in and out (especially when we looked at the fact that we often transported my 85 year old in-laws when up in CT).

I also taught my wife how to autocross using it, with both of us driving it for a season, where it was competetive in H Stock, even though it didn't have to be.

I like the mini '37 Ford street rod styling in a small, practical, economical package. I love the customizing options for it. And the reason it was successful, where other small wagons were not, was specifically due to the unique styling. How many other small wagons had waiting lists for the first two years of production? Some might say it was ugly, like the Aztek. Sales figures for both of them tell a different story (was there a waiting list for the Aztek? Hell, even the LAST year of PT sales, which were down considerably, totalled more than ALL the years of Aztek sales combined. THAT vehicle was actually ugly).

I like the PT. It was a great little family car. My experiences with it were pretty typical of owners that I've met both in person and through the PT forums. It didn't HAVE to be a race car. Just fairly inexpensive, practical, and stylish. It was exactly the type of car that enthusiasts wanted people to drive instead of behemoth SUVs that were rarely used for their carrying or towing capacity.

Now, you want to get childish and insulting about my tastes, go right ahead. It'll only make you look bad.

Still, nobody says "Cool!" when a PT cruiser goes by. Most that I know wouldn't point it out on the road at all, let alone point it out admiringly.

[ChrisV]

Originally Posted by Big Windy

Still, nobody says "Cool!" when a PT cruiser goes by. Most that I know wouldn't point it out on the road at all, let alone point it out admiringly.

A lot of people did when they were new, and for a number of years. Because, in fact, they were in their own way. It's part of what caused half a million people to buy them, and a good portion of why enthusiast clubs were formed around them, even worldwide before they were on the market (like in Europe and Japan). I still think they are cool little cars that got forgotten by Chrysler and were poorly updated over the years (with the exception of the early 220 hp GT version)

[pmeloche]

Originally Posted by ChrisV

Ok. Look at me. I'm 45 now. Over the last 30 years, I've owned over a hundred different cars, from custom classic air cooled VWs, to big block musclecars, to Porsches and BMWs. When I was in my teens I apprenticed in a vintage car restoration shop, working on things as diverse as restored '50s cars to a 1911 Miller Indy car. I owned a shop that built hot rods and racing sports cars, until I had to sell it to pay for medical expenses when I was a passenger in a friends race car that exploded and burned to the ground. I've been utocrossing since I was 16, and was a BSCC and SCCA autocross driving instructor. I've been into fast cars since I saw GT40s race in the late '60s when I was like 5 years old, and I've been into custom cars/street rods since I started building models cars at about the same time. besides my modified E38 740iL, I have a project '63 Mercury Comet convertible, that I'm building a custom frame for, and powering with a modded Lexus 4.0 liter DOHC V8 and Toyota 5 speed manual transmission. My favorite factory cars are the '63 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso, the '35 Talbot Lago T150 C, the '90 Ferrari F40, the '69 Ford GT40 (last of the mark 1 versions) and the Lamborghini Miura, but I also like custom cars by Chip Foose, Rick Dore, and John D'Agostino. There's my history and my taste in cars.


I bought a 2002 5 speed Touring edition PT new and had it for 5 years. Had zero problems with it in those 5 years. Not only drove it daily as the family car, we drove it regularly from Baltimore to Hartford CT (a 6 hour trip) and back comfortably, as well as trips to Maine and Orlando. It got used to take the family on camping trips before we bought a travel trailer, and had no problem carrying 5 people and all our gear. it got used to haul all sorts of cargo, from 1200lbs of bagged crushed rock for the driveway, to carying the lumber for my deck project (with the passenger front seat folded down, you could fit 8ft 2x6s all the way up to the dash and close the hatch). I carried the 45 gallon stand up compressor AND other purchases home from Sears with one rear seat folded up and the other still being able to be used by my son. And by flipping a lever, both rear seats could be removed, leaving a long, low flat load floor, allowing me to carry hom the 14 32x64 replacement Pella windows for my house stacked up with the hatch closed.

The fact that it was taller than typical station wagons (especially the smaller ones we looked at at the same time as the PT), meant that ingress/egress from front OR rear seats was quite easy, making it easier to get in and out (especially when we looked at the fact that we often transported my 85 year old in-laws when up in CT).

I also taught my wife how to autocross using it, with both of us driving it for a season, where it was competetive in H Stock, even though it didn't have to be.

I like the mini '37 Ford street rod styling in a small, practical, economical package. I love the customizing options for it. And the reason it was successful, where other small wagons were not, was specifically due to the unique styling. How many other small wagons had waiting lists for the first two years of production? Some might say it was ugly, like the Aztek. Sales figures for both of them tell a different story (was there a waiting list for the Aztek? Hell, even the LAST year of PT sales, which were down considerably, totalled more than ALL the years of Aztek sales combined. THAT vehicle was actually ugly).

I like the PT. It was a great little family car. My experiences with it were pretty typical of owners that I've met both in person and through the PT forums. It didn't HAVE to be a race car. Just fairly inexpensive, practical, and stylish. It was exactly the type of car that enthusiasts wanted people to drive instead of behemoth SUVs that were rarely used for their carrying or towing capacity.

Now, you want to get childish and insulting about my tastes, go right ahead. It'll only make you look bad.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. I've had PT Cruiser as rental cars and they were terrible. Not that they were not functioning properly, it's just that they were not to my taste, exterior-wise, interior-wise, and powertrain-wise. I thought it was just myself but my colleagues had the same opinion. In fact, I know of nobody who likes them. I'll grant you rental companies do not buy the slickest variant of a model but overall I find this car to be objectionable. I do not like the retro look that it represents. Very few model succeed in capturing the essence of the older model they represent. For that matter, I do not like the new Challenger and Camaro. And let's not talk about the godawful Ford Thunderbird.