QotW: What sacred model name should never be revived for a crossover?

JNC readers were pretty much in universal that the Mitsubishi Eclipse name would have been better laid to rest than revived for a crossover, even though the once great sport coupe had morphed into a bloated cruiser with little semblance of performance by the end of its run. But it’s not the only venerated name that has befallen that fate. For example, did you know that the Infiniti EX was called the Skyline Crossover in Japan? Clearly, the blasphemy must stop.

What sacred model name should never be revived for a crossover?

The most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “Tell us your tip for battling the winter weather with a JNC.” 

There was many a fine answer this week, including some that included actual legit advice from SHC and MikeRL411 that you should definitely read if you live in snowy climes. It came down to the two that entertained us the most, and despite Joe Hornberger achieving a close runner up status with his MIATA corollary, we have to award the prize to Andrew L, for is sheer number of incredible references. But he probably would’ve won due to a shout out to YMO alone.

I went car shopping last year, when I knew I was going to be moving from Tennessee to Cleveland, Ohio, and I figured my Z31 300ZX would no longer be a reasonable all-season daily driver. So after much hemming and protesting my wife’s admittedly reasonable stance against importing an Alto Works RS-R (“But it’s 4WD!”) I settled on a 2016 Subaru WRX. A more reasonable variant of the AWD + fun equation, modern Rexes look like respectable sedans to your in-laws but can still tear up some mountain roads while you blast Yellow Magic Orchestra. Win-win.

So I was prepared for the Great North’s infamous winters and lake-effect snow. The thing I wasn’t prepared for at all was what complete garbage the roads are up here. For the uninitiated, the quality of your average Cleveland street is somewhere between a construction zone and Fallujah in the spring of 2004. As such, the hard suspension, low stance and bolstered seats in my WRX are absolutely murderous. Every trip to the store, once a joy on the glassy byways of the Neverwinter South, has now become something akin to that Namco F-1 arcade game from the ’70s, except instead of dodging Ferraris and Lotuses, you’re constantly swerving to avoid dodgy asphalt patchwork, compressed mounds of diamond-hard ice that never melts, massive sharp edged steel plates in the road and Sarlacc-Pit-scale pot holes.

And so, ironically enough I find myself leaving the AWD winter specialist in the garage and cruising town in my old RWD Z31. The aging, floaty stock suspension and tired seats used to be near the top of my project list, but up here they’re assets! Besides, a large part of the fun of nostalgic-era vehicles is how accessible their limits are, and that’s doubly true in a couple inches of fresh snow.

Omedetou, your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop!

JNC Decal smash

permalink.
This post is filed under: Question of the Week and
tagged: .

17 Responses to QotW: What sacred model name should never be revived for a crossover?

  1. BlitzPig says:

    Any of them.

    Period.

  2. Nigel says:

    I agree with BlitzPig. I don’t want to say it here…Celica. (Not for an SUV Toyota).

    • Ben E. says:

      I was also going to say Celica. If they did that, I’d burn my Celica. And that would be a very, very sad day.

      • DallasD says:

        This one worries me. I can imagine an early 90s Celica lifted a little, with a slightly higher roofline. Thankfully, the name seems to be safe, as the RAV4 already fills that spot.

        Lol’d at ” would burn my Celica”

  3. robin says:

    Yes none of them… please stop it. It’s silly and shows the lack of creativity.

    Each language has gazillions of words, choose one and use it on a new model.

    Yes call it a Nissan And or a Toyota The , even a Honda What… but stop re-using names of certain model styles for crossovers… I hate to one day have to explain to my kid a Honda NSX was a sports-cars and the kid argues its the name of his/her mommies van ..sigh.

  4. Jacob says:

    For me, I just hope Toyota doesn’t do anything like that with the MR2, Celica, and Supra.
    They already did a good job turning the AE86 Corolla and all other cool cars into your Aunt Carol’s grocery getter.

    The FRS/86 is pretty cool though, and with the announcement of the new WRC Yaris, this gives me hope.

  5. Rial Solomon says:

    Honda City. The CR-Z promised the fun of a CRX. Didn’t happen. If a new City comes out as another ho-hum hybrid, I will cry.

    • Rial Solomon says:

      After I posted this comment I did an image search of the Honda City for nostalgia sakes. IT HAPPENED AGAIN!!! Apparently, there is a new Honda city and it’s a boring 4 door car… nothing is sacred!

  6. Power Tryp says:

    There really is one that stands out above the rest here and its a model we all pine for with it’s associated drift tax and the fact that it should have never been discontinued to begin with.

    Nissan Silvia.

    While we would technically be safer here in North America since we never got that model name us enthusiasts would cry ourselves to sleep and bemoan the continual enthusiast shunning that has been shown by Nissan with their refusal to pursue the IDx and it’s Nismo variant.

    Please Nissan, don’t read my comments.

  7. DallasD says:

    It’s several years off, but I shudder to think of a Honda S-car as a crossover. The S-Cross. The S-X. The NXX; New Xover Xperimental.

    Like he said, Honda, please don’t read my comments.

  8. Andre says:

    “For example, did you know that the Infiniti EX was called the Skyline Crossover in Japan?”

    Um, was it because it was based on the Skyline platform to begin with?

  9. EMC2 says:

    The Toyota MR2 XOver!

    Unless it was actually mid-engined 😉

  10. james says:

    I’ve a few like Nissan Sunny or Bluebird,Toyota Celica or even Mazda Savanna. I also agree with the sentiment that most of the names shouldn’t be revived as some soulless crossover.

  11. Bryan says:

    Assuming the Supra is safe with the BMW venture (another discussion). MR2 I would also just think doesn’t make sense given the meaning of the name.

    As others have mentioned, I’d hate to see it happen to the Celica, my car of choice over the years. I don’t want to think about it. Side note – the Celica should be revived, but in retro styling (1st gen) and RWD. I mean, come on, all the old muscle cars are doing it, why can’t Toyota do it to the car they birthed to be the mini-econo-muscle car?

    Back on topic…

    I would gouge my eyes out if I saw a Starlet badge on a crossover. I might resort to industrial sabotage, or some other illegal activity of some sort if they used 2000GT. Or at least end my long-standing, long-suffering devotion to Toyota. (This coming from a Cleveland Browns fan…)

  12. MainstreaM says:

    Going with the topic photo, I’d say starion. Mainly because no one remembers it and if they do they think it’s a Supra, Porsche, or a Mustang with a body kit. Hell I’ve even had someone refer to mine as a Fiero. With that being said, it would be an insult to not just the Starion but any boxy 80’s popup headlight model.

  13. Andre says:

    No, they did not bring it back, they’ve been making the City since it’s first iteration the mid-80s, continuing the nameplate in the South East Asian market, even releasing the Type S trim level in the late 90s, and the last few generations were basically 4-door-version of the Fit model (called Fit Aria in Japan, and City elsewhere).

    In fact, the new City is based on the Fit platform, which is a spiritual successor the 1EA/EF Civic Shuttle models, by resurrecting the Shuttle nameplate during Fit’s 2nd generation run, amongst other things like it’s sporty nature (look up a video of what Ichishima-san of Spoon Sports had to say about the first generation Fit) and even the similar engine size, not to mention the throwback the original Civic RS model with RS trim and even the legendary orange color combo.

    Now riddle me this. If you want to look at Honda’s blasphemy look no further than it’s motorcycle range and you will find Honda resurrecting the Integra nameplate on a friggin’ scooter.

Leave a Reply to james Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *