UCP Car of the Decade [Final]

[Kitdy]

So the three finalists are the Bugatti Veyron, the Nissan GT-R, and the Pagani Zonda F.

Which will get your vote? If you please - and I hope you do as it inspires some good discussion and that is what a forum is all about - let us know what you vote for, and most importantly, why that car deserves your vote.

The last decade I feel was a great decade for cars - I feel the 90s was a recovery from the lacklustre 70s and 80s (this is from a North American perspective at least) and it seems to me that the late 90s rolled onto the early 2000s and we had a great selection of cars of high quality to choose from. We had a decade of supercars, dick wagging contests, Nürburgring laptimes, Top Gear, hypercars (if you believe there is such a thing), horsepower wars, displacement wars... We had it all. It was a decade of excess up until late 2008 at least, and perhaps the 3 cars that made it to the final represent this - perhaps not. Some, like csl, will decry there being 3 supercars in the final, others I am sure think these three are worthy and in some way helped define this automotive decade.

EDIT: DAMNIT!!! I forgot to click add a poll! I typed in the amount of entrants but I didn't click the poll button! I need a mod to delete this please.

So go ahead and vote - I urge you to take a minute and think about your vote before you do though. Your gut reaction may feel right, but when you use your brain to temper your emotions I feel you will come up with a better answer.

May the best car win!

[f6fhellcat13]

This is bullshit! MINI!

[IBrake4Rainbows]

The GT-R is the Real World Capable Car.

The Veyron is the Hypercar.

And the Zonda F is somewhere in between.

I vote for the Veyron for three reasons.

1) It's a perfect representation of the ostentatious, hyped and overly complex '00's.

2) It's, despite the negativity, a car that cannot be ignored.

3) It's a car thats going to be on the bedroom wall of an 8 year old boy, and thats exactly what a Supercar should be.

[Kitdy]

OK so I screwed up the other thread. Here we go, with voting this time!

Here's what I posted in the other thread:

So the three finalists are the Bugatti Veyron, the Nissan GT-R, and the Pagani Zonda F.

Which will get your vote? If you please - and I hope you do as it inspires some good discussion and that is what a forum is all about - let us know what you vote for, and most importantly, why that car deserves your vote.

The last decade I feel was a great decade for cars - I feel the 90s was a recovery from the lacklustre 70s and 80s (this is from a North American perspective at least) and it seems to me that the late 90s rolled onto the early 2000s and we had a great selection of cars of high quality to choose from. We had a decade of supercars, dick wagging contests, Nürburgring laptimes, Top Gear, hypercars (if you believe there is such a thing), horsepower wars, displacement wars... We had it all. It was a decade of excess up until late 2008 at least, and perhaps the 3 cars that made it to the final represent this - perhaps not. Some, like csl, will decry there being 3 supercars in the final, others I am sure think these three are worthy and in some way helped define this automotive decade.

So go ahead and vote - I urge you to take a minute and think about your vote before you do though. Your gut reaction may feel right, but when you use your brain to temper your emotions I feel you will come up with a better answer.

May the best car win!

[csl177]

Try again... :)

[Kitdy]

The poll closes in 4 days aka March 3 at 3:36 AM EST.

[Kitdy]

Mods, please delete/merge this thread with this one (http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/awards/41215-ucp-car-decade-final-time-poll.html).

Many thanks.

[Ferrer]

It's curious because the car that I'd never vote is the one I like and the others are brilliant but they leave completely cold.

First the one that would neve get my vote. The Zonda. I simply adore it. It's everything a supercar should be. It's dramatic, stylish, it has charisma, incredible attention to detail and it looks a bit preposterous. And after a period of average and the ugly prepotent Ferraris and sub-par and outdated Lamborghinis, the Zonda came to restore all the glory the italian supercars deserve. And on top of all it's got the engineering, the performance and the handling. And a big normally aspirated V12 and a proper manual. But next to its contenders it doesn't represent an incredible leap forward like they do. It's just an improvement on the traditional receipe, and there's nothing wrong with that, just not worth of an award.

Now, for the ones I think are deserving winners. Both cars merits have been extensively discussed elsewhere, so I'm not going to repeat all the points that have been exposed and which I mainly agree with all of them. But this the time to decide, which is really more deserving.

And I personally think that it is the GT-R. Yes the Veyron is perhaps outright more impressive, but as has been said other cars have caught with it and ever surpassed it. They are not probably on the same lever of allroundness but they do pretty much the same for less. However, that doesn't detract from the fact that, if the Bugatti wins, it'll be a deserving winner and an astonishing engineering achievement in itself in my opinion.

The GT-R on the other hand is the other way round from the Veyron. Impressive performance but wrapped up in a (more or less) practical package and excellent value for money. The Veyron runs very fast, but then again it has 4 turbos and a million horsepowers. The GT-R on the other hands beats cars that should teorethically beat it if you looked at the numbers. And it often costs quite a lot less. And you can buy and service one in a Nissan dealer. Well done indeed Nissan, you've created THE benchmark.

Where the Veyron runs on brute force, the GT-R runs on whitchcraft. And that's why I think it should win.

[henk4]

I agree with Ferrer. The GTR of these three is by far the most sensible, practical and obtainable car. It still sets the benchmark in terms of value for money, and even though Porsche has frantically pumped up the performance of the Turbo, they still did not manage to reduce its price.......

[RSOWNER]

I too am with Ferrer + Henk4. The Zonda is a throw-back to supercars of days gone by, radical styling and old fashioned muscle, sort of the pinnacle of that concept but not worthy enough for the award.

The Veyron indeed takes modern engineering to its extreme but at the end of the day thats all it is, an engineering exercise. It doesn't really advance/benefit the way future cars will be made in any way i can see at least.

The GTR however does just that whether intentionally or not, other manufacturers have been all over it since they could get their hands on one trying to figure out how they can improve to compete with it and as Henk4 said they just can't do it for a similar price. It's probably the best compromise of being an all rounder (aside from off-roader) as well. For these reasons it gets my vote (just as it did in the prelim's). :)

[Niko_Fx]

The GT-R on the other hand is the other way round from the Veyron. Impressive performance but wrapped up in a (more or less) practical package and excellent value for money. The Veyron runs very fast, but then again it has 4 turbos and a million horsepowers. The GT-R on the other hands beats cars that should teorethically beat it if you looked at the numbers. And it often costs quite a lot less. And you can buy and service one in a Nissan dealer. Well done indeed Nissan, you've created THE benchmark.

Where the Veyron runs on brute force, the GT-R runs on whitchcraft. And that's why I think it should win.

While I agree 100%, and admit that the GT-R does not get enough credit, I gave my vote to the Zonda F... simply because if I were a multi-millionaire I couldn't imagine myself driving another car. Oh, and the paddles on the GT-R are such a turn-off :(

[cmcpokey]

does anybody else find the fact tha tthe Veyron and GT-R made to the finals a bit odd? they both have traits that we here at UCP generally eschew. Turbocharged, all wheel drive, paddle shifters. but i think they are both amazing cars on so many levels, and they are really the pinnacles of the decade. i can't add anything that Albert didn't already say, but i agree with him completely. GT-R has my vote.

[wwgkd]

I agree with Ferrer, et al. Of the 3, I would buy the Zonda, but I vote for the GT-R. It's definitely not my kind of car but it has done more with less and that earns it the spot.

[csl177]

The R35 GTR was introduced in 2009... impressive but not produced for the entire decade.

Pagani Zonda? Italians sure can style a car, but it's not remarkable enough to consider for COTD.

Bugatti's Veyron exemplifies the excesses of the the 2000's, so got my vote. It could have just as well been Hummer.

[cmcpokey]

The R35 GTR was introduced in 2009... impressive but not produced for the entire decade.

Pagani Zonda? Italians sure can style a car, but it's not remarkable enough to consider for COTD.

Bugatti's Veyron exemplifies the excesses of the the 2000's, so got my vote. It could have just as well been Hummer.

actually introduced october of 2007, on sale early 2008. the other 2 in 2005. so not that much newer, but still not the majority of the decade. i still think the mini is a better fit than any of these.

[VOGUE_MAN]

I voted for the R35 which I admit is the car I would least like own out of the three however I do think it is the best.
Generally speaking an R35 in Australia costs somewhere around 10% the price of a Veyron or Pagani and for that you get what I would think is about 99% of the car. Admittedly you won't get the same reactions from other motorists and people will know you're only well to do rather than super rich, but on a racetrack there's no reason you won't be alongside the Zonda and ahead of the Veyron.

[Ferrer]

does anybody else find the fact tha tthe Veyron and GT-R made to the finals a bit odd? they both have traits that we here at UCP generally eschew. Turbocharged, all wheel drive, paddle shifters.
I think that would be due to two things. First there's many people that vote but don't post usually so as far we are concerned they don't have an opinion on turbochargers, flappy paddle gearboxes or four wheel drive.

And secondly we shouldn't be judging personal preference here, but overall merit. And let's be honest, a car with a classic receipe isn't going to be very impressive today. The cars that make the automotive industry progres are the others, and even the classics can benefit from it.

[cargirl1990]

Nissan GTR. Why? Becuase I like it THAT much...

[csl177]

actually introduced october of 2007, on sale early 2008. the other 2 in 2005. so not that much newer, but still not the majority of the decade. i still think the mini is a better fit than any of these.

You're right, my bad. :o Should have remembered the year since I got to spend a day driving (hard and critically) one of the first GTRs brought to the USA. There were many more things about it that I disliked (as a driver) than liked, per my amateur review posted in this forum. Aside from my critique, just on merit it didn't belong in the COTD final. But we are dealing with opinions, no? Even critical thinkers must deal with emotion.

Overall COTD should be for something that made an impact on several levels, good or bad, and I agree the Mini is a strong positive choice. But this is the list we have. Hence my selection of an over-engineered, over-priced rolling temple to technology that has nothing to do with real-world conditions, but everything to do with excess for it's own sake. Telling that it's winning the popular vote.

[Ferrer]

The Mini is a great car, no doubt about it, but it isn't very practical, or comfortable, or frugal, or cheap, or easy to use. It had a crude, but lovely, Chrysler engine and you couldn't fit anyone in the back. And it's bloody expensive.

In my opinion the merits of the Mini, as far as an award would be concenrend that is, are that it is an astounding marketing success. And is that actually good?

[csl177]

You aren't wrong, Ferrer... although I wouldn't call the Mini a great car. The same marketing effort was used for the Veyron, though.
PR image is everything, particularly when your product is either unattainable or stylishly mundane. Just the targets are different.
Sell the image, bank the response.

[Ferrer]

Have you driven an S? It's without any shadow one of the cars I've had most fun in. Second only to the Z4M probably. Forget the image, forget the looks, forget the reputation. Forget even the lesser models, or many of the idiots who drive them. As a driving device the S is hard to beat in my opinion.

[csl177]

Yes, test drove one in 2006 and was sorely tempted. Scared the salesman when exploring the cars' lateral transition limits in an empty parking lot. :D They are a hoot, really fun but not especially practical, and it's not difficult to want $6K+ worth of options added,
killing the bargain vibe.

[Cotterik]

the zonda F is my favourite supercar. the GT-R is the one car i would want to own every day. but i cant not give the vote to the veyron. as far as automotive preference goes. it's a concorde.

[ScionDriver]

Has to be the Veyron. A car that was an impossible task, took most of the decade to actually get built, makes no sense other than for existing for it's own purpose and as Jeremy Clarkson says it was the automobile's Concorde moment. It is excessive and no doubt will be on the wall of tons of children for years to come. As the '90s had the McLaren F1, the 00's had the Veyron.

[Ferrer]

Yes, test drove one in 2006 and was sorely tempted. Scared the salesman when exploring the cars' lateral transition limits in an empty parking lot. :D They are a hoot, really fun but not especially practical, and it's not difficult to want $6K+ worth of options added,
killing the bargain vibe.
That's precisely where we should change our approach to the Mini, especially the S. Don't be fooled by the four seats, the rear hatch or the city car looks, because it isn't one. What the Mini is, is a thoroughbred sportscar.

It's impractical, uncomfortable, thirsty, hard, noisy, expensive and can be a bit dangerous and unforgiving sometimes. DSC-off, you need to know what you are doing when you are trying to extract all the performance it can give, because you are going to go sideways often and it's going to take you into lairy situations.

On the upside though, it's a completely rewarding and enjoyable drive in the right roads. Don't try to use it anywhere else, it just doesn't work. In the city it's too hard, on the motorway too nervous.

And that's why you shouldn't compare it to a Volkswagen Polo GTI. You should compare it to a Porsche Boxster. And on that basis, it's a great car and pretty good value for money, especially if as you say try to keep sensible with the options.

Does that detract from the lesser, slower city car versions? Yes. Should we care about it? When the S is so good? I don't think so.

[Kitdy]

The Veyron wins UCP Car of the Decade. I am surprised that the Zonda got so many votes to be honest - nearly as many as the GT-R. Strikes me as odd - the GT-R really brought something new to the game, like the Veyron. The Zonda did not.

I woulda liked to hear from people the reason why the voted for such and such but not many commented. Oh well.