In 1980 there was quite a choice when you wanted to buy a limousine. You could go for a Mercedes E or BMW 5 Series just as today, but there were also some really individualistic limousines available if you didn't want to swim with everybody else. Auto Motor und Sport assembled this nice group of five cars: Alfa-Romeo Sei, Lancia Gamma i-e, Rover 3500 V8 S, Saab 900 Turbo and Citroen CX 2400 GTI. This gave you a choice of very different shapes, but also a broad range of engine technologies. The Alfa-Romeo 6 came with a V6 and six Dell'Orto carburetors, the Citoen had a straight four cylinder engine with fuel injection, the Rover was propelled by the ex-Buick V8 with SU carburetors, the Lancia had a four cylinder boxer engine with Bosch L-Jetronic and the Saab 900 Turbo had a Turbo aspirated straight four cylinder. While the engine choice was quite diverse, the power output was quite comparable, ranging from 130 to 158 hp. 0-100 km/h could be reached in 9.4 to 10.9 secs. Top speed was 192 to 202 km/h. The Rover and the Alfa were fastest thanks to the superior engine power output. Interestingly the Rover was the most fuel efficient car with 13.6 l/100 km despite the largest engine and the highest number of cylinders. None of the cars was all wheel driven, the Alfa and the Rover powered the rear wheels the others the front wheels. Roughly DM 27'000 to 31'000 had to be on your bank account if you wanted one of these cars, 2.5 to 3 times of what a Ford Fiesta Festival would have cost you then.I guess we can only dream of so much individualism today!
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Yes, you have less choice among brands today. But you can get a very individual car from the premium manufacturers (the usual Audi, BMW, Merc etc.): the choice of engines, transmissions, trim levels, and optionals is huge. As huge as the price span between the entry level-no optionals mode and the full-optionals-high end model...
Well, maybe there's more choice in terms of cosmetics and accessories, but where would you find a boxer engine or the choice between fuel injections and carburetors today? The degree of engineering freedom was much larger in the past, clearly. And the result (i.e. noise, driveability, feel) reflected this choice.
In a standard German "executive" series you can choose between RWD/ FWD or AWD, from 4 to 8 or 10 cylinders, diesel and petrol, normally aspirated or turbo, with manual box/autobox/double-clutch box, in limousine/cabrio/station wagon/2-door coupé/4-door coupé/SUV/SUV coupé bodies... I'd argue it's well beyond accessories...
Having driven an Audi S4 and an A4 2.0 tdi FWD back-to-back, I can say they really offer completely different driving experiences, noise, feel and driveability...
Btw, the Subaru Legacy/outback has wonderful boxer engines: either 3.6liter flat 6 or 2.5 liter turbo flat 4.
But it's true that carburetors are not an option anymore...
you have a point, fair enough. I guess the significant difference is that in 1980 you could have all this choice at approximately the same price. This is not true with an S4 versus an 2.0 TDI any more ;-)
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