Question of the Week: What Car is top at “Poverty Spec?”—WINNER’S UPDATE

WINNER’S ANNOUNCEMENT:

We’re back to announce the winner for our Question of the Week, where our victor will accept a $25 credit for a hat or T-shirt from the BaT Gear Store and the acclaim of their peers.

This week, our question was: What car is best at “poverty spec?”

Thanks to everyone who chimed in! The most frequent nomination seemed to be for the Type 1 Beetle—as bare-bones as one could get. But even in Deluxe trim, to us early Beetles seem uniformly simple in nature (after all, that was the point of the volks-wagen). So this week, we’re exercising our editorial privilege and awarding the prize to BaT member @RoyalCX, who nominated the base Euro-spec W123 280:

I had a Euro poverty-spec 1980 Mercedes W123 280, equipped with a four-speed manual, that I imported into the US in 1985. A tachometer and sunroof, but no AC or power windows. In the US during the ’80s, it was a relatively fast car, blowing away any Audi and cars like the BMW 318 i and 325es. Americans were used to the W123 diesels, so many people were surprised. Despite it being a factory poverty-spec, it had a Zender front spoiler, a discrete BBS rubber rear spoiler, and color-keyed Ronal wheels. Embarrassing to think of today, but quite the cool car in an age of bad taste. The simplicity made it a fun car to drive at full speed, unlike the numb, super-fast cars of today. As they say, more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow.

Despite being a range-topping model, the 280 could be specified with as much or as little as you desired, and a minimalist W123 with the hotter 2.8L inline-six gas engine chartered into hot rod territory! Congratulations, RoyalCX! Be sure to check your email to claim the prize.

Now, let’s take a look at some other popular nominations from this week’s discussion thread:

“I worked on a Yugo when working in the car industry. Barebone car. No A/C, heater or radio. The 2-door version was the Yugo, The 4-door version was the Wego, the station wagon was the Yallgo and the one in the redneck’s backyard on cement blocks was the Nogo.”

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Turboman003 commented on Question of the Week: What Car is Best at "Poverty Spec?"—WINNER’S UPDATE

The Yugo was another popular nomination, although many would quibble with the copy in the print ad above…

“More of a sleeper than poverty spec, I had a non-GT-S Corolla FX16 that fit my needs perfectly. No add-on aero, graphics, power windows, no A/C… (in retrospect I should have held out for that). It had steel wheels with good rubber, a slick 5-speed and a twin-cam 16 valve motor with 7500 RPM redline that really came alive when you hit 4000 RPM. Otherwise completely nondescript.”

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Ben commented on Question of the Week: What Car is Best at "Poverty Spec?"—WINNER’S UPDATE

Image: Car and Driver

“The 1992 to 1996 Dodge Viper was the ultimate poverty spec car. ABS, what’s that? Power windows? No way. Air conditioning that works when the car is warm? Nope. A roof that won’t leak? Wait for the coupe. Nothing to prevent you from meeting your maker the fastest way possible.
One of the few cars I have driven other than a 1977 Porsche 930 that will reveal your driving deficiencies faster than anything you thought possible.”

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Poink commented on Question of the Week: What Car is Best at "Poverty Spec?"—WINNER’S UPDATE

Like the Beetle, the Viper was born as a simple machine, albeit with a different purpose. And that’s perhaps the last time a Beetle and a Viper will ever be mentioned in the same sentence. 

“The Series I Land Rover. Doors and roof were optional, and the doors (initially) didn’t even have outside handles! Even the Tickford Station Wagon (a luxury, coachbuilt version of the base model) is very primitive inside.”

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LandymanIIA commented on Question of the Week: What Car is Best at "Poverty Spec?"—WINNER’S UPDATE

“N/A Miata. What more do you need? I mean, you get a classic British sports car driving experience (maybe a little more) without a garage floor stain or bloody knuckles.”

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mb4design commented on Question of the Week: What Car is Best at "Poverty Spec?"—WINNER’S UPDATE

An NA Miata powered by a 1.6L four-pot sans power windows, air conditioning, and power steering was really something. 

And we’ll wrap up this week’s discussion with an anecdote penned by @Jim_Rosenthal about a salesperson’s worst nightmare:

I’m thinking here of a Tacoma, vintage 2008, which I still own.

I ordered this truck from the local Toyota dealer in Annapolis; it had to be ordered because of what I didn’t want on it- ANY options. The standard four-cylinder, five-speed stick, 2WD access-cab Taco was exactly what I needed. But boy did they try to sell me options- the SR-5 package, cruise control (see below), I can’t remember what-all else. We wrote it up with no options.

Three to four weeks later, the Tacoma showed up, and they called me to come get it. I had a friend drop me off at the dealer, and I sat down with them to do the paperwork.

The price had risen somehow, and $500 was added. I had a copy of the original sales agreement, and I took it out and showed them. They said the price had gone up.

I put my coat back on, stood up, wished them luck selling a four-cylinder, 2WD, manual-shift, stripper Tacoma, and headed for the door. About four steps later, they were telling me they’d rewritten the sales sheet, and I could have it for the original agreed-on price. I drove it home.

All Tacomas were built with options like cruise control, intermittent wipers, etc, already installed. All we had to do to wake them up was buy the switches and install them. The SR-5 package was $2000, then began to drop in price as they kept asking me to buy it. It got to the point where they were nearly willing to give it away, just to say they’d won. But all I wanted was cruise and intermittent wipers…

I still have the truck. It just got some paintwork, and we’re going to refinish the wheels. It isn’t really poverty-spec, but it was the closest thing to an ultra basic car I’ve ever bought. It has 350K miles on it now.

That’s it for this week’s Question of the Week! Thanks to everyone who participated, and congratulations once again to our winner, RoyalCX. We’ll be back with a new question soon.

ORIGINAL POST:

Welcome to the BaT Question of the Week! For those unfamiliar, here are the rules: we ask an automotive-themed question, and the author of our favorite answer from the comments is awarded a $25 credit to the BaT Gear Store.

This week’s question is: What car is best at “poverty spec?”

Poverty spec, for anyone unfamiliar with the term, refers to a stripped-down, base-model car without optional extras and creature comforts: the cheapskate’s choice, economy of circumstance, the runt of the fleet, or the punishment car.

But with some cars, less really is more. In today’s world of haptic touchscreens and tech overload, a simple, analog driving experience can feel like a breath of fresh air. Remove the unnecessary frills, and you’re left with pure driving bliss.

So now you get to tell us:

What car is best at “poverty spec?”

Tell us about it in the comments, and give a thumbs-up to any other nominations you deem worthy. We’ll announce the winner on Monday.