We met a young woman recently who was thrilled with the brand new, 2018 GMC Terrain she had just purchased. When we told her we found it interesting that someone as young as she was would aspire to own what was essentially a modern version of a minivan, we call them cross overs, GM insists on calling them "SUV's", she didn't bat an eye which we found even more interesting and confounding since to us, owning a mini van or any family vehicle at her age would have been a fate worse than bell bottoms.
The types of cars we liked when we were her age were either pony cars or personal luxury cars like this 1983 Pontiac Grand Prix LJ. Motivated, if barely, by a god's green earth, 140 horsepower, 305 cubic inch Chevrolet V-8. For our money, this was the more than perfect steed to tell the world that we was ready to mingle. Not quite sure what Millenials are attempting to tell the world by driving a cross over. Perhaps they just like what they're driving. Imagine that. By the way, we never owned a personal luxury car like this back then because they were too expensive and they weren't ideal in winter in the northeast.
Nowadays, we fawn all over cars like this old Grand Prix and even we can tell that we're woefully out of touch with what the young and the restless are driving these days. For the record, we much prefer the pre downsizing era Grand Prix to this thing but at least it has a Chevrolet V-8 under the hood and not the Buick V-6. After all, we have our standards.
Our standards include blind appreciation for spatially inefficient, clumsily styled gas guzzlers like this Grand Prix. Meanwhile, Millenials, like utility based vehicles large enough to haul around a small army. Amazing how much more practical "they" are than we "are" at their age. We became practical when we had to be. Kids today? Who knows what they're thinking and don't get is wrong, it's not a bad thing. Seriously, back in the our day, who didn't have a car like this or had a friend or two that did. Then again, super stylish cross overs weren't available when we were younger.
General Motors had no less than four "personal luxury cars" like our Grand Prix to choose from in 1983 and a total of eight of them if you count those high falutin front wheel drivers from Buick, Oldsmobile and Cadillac. GM also had a plethora of two door variants of their four door sedans so it was a hey day for coupe lovers. Today, General Motors makes but one "coupe" version of one of their four door sedans; a less than satisfyingly styled two door version of their Cadillac ATS that's about as fetching as a two door, 1996 Camry. Thanks, but no thanks.
What's replaced the personal luxury in showrooms today? One guess and if you said "cross overs" you've hit the bucket seated jackpot. These types of cars died off years ago and these days, it looks like even four door sedans are being shoved to the discount rack to make room for more utility based, practicality first and foremost cross overs. But, y'know, just to show these young whipper snappers that we're not all about style over substance, our Grand Prix did come with a fairly sizable trunk. See? We can be practical too.
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