![]() ![]() However, it actually beat the Charger to market by a few short years. The whole thing seemed like something done on a whim, and that’s perhaps just one of the many reasons why Chevy decided to axe the Trailblazer SS post-financial collapse.įor any Gen Z readers, the Magnum was a Charger station wagon. The 6.0-litre V8 delivered a healthy 395 horsepower and its 20-inch chrome wheels are some of the most indicative styling choices of the decade. Long before Dodge was stuffing Hellcat V8s into the Durango, Chevrolet had the bright idea to drop its Corvette-sourced LS2 V8 into a completely unassuming, grocery and hockey-practice Trailblazer, creating one of the best sleepers to come out of the mid-2000s. With its FWD layout, 260 horsepower, and 0 - 100 times around 5 seconds, the turbo SS may just be able to scratch that Type R itch for a third of the price. The supercharged 2.0-litre variant, however, boasted 205 horsepower and cut 0 - 100 times by over a second and a half.īest of the bunch, though, was a final turbocharged version, which received high praise in 2008 for its impressive powerband and handling prowess. The standard SS received a 2.4-litre NA engine, which was admittedly a little asthmatic - a meager 171 horsepower was only good for 0 - 100 km/h times around 7 seconds. In many ways, the Cobalt SS was like the millennial Chevelle - a cheap, two-door commuter Chevy with a “hot’ engine stuffed under the hood, mostly purchased second-hand by dazed and confused youths. Parking lot meets were simply littered with the things from the mid-2000s through to the early teens. It cannot be overstated how integral the Cobalt SS was to my generation of car enthusiasts. The XLR-V’s historical significance, combined with its rarity may just make it a future collector’s item. Still, there’s nothing to mock about the ultra-hot XLR-V which not only featured a supercharged variant of the 4.6-litre Northstar V8, but also an early version of GM’s magna-ride suspension. But the XLR was still a sales flop, failing to excite both the Cialis oldies and the Escalade newbies. ![]() Since the average Corvette buyer was in their mid-50s and the ‘Vettes of the day were only getting more hardcore and back-breaky, why not make something a retired golf-ist might enjoy? Seems like a solid pitch. It’s not difficult to see GM’s thinking with the XLR. Gather 'round children and let me tell you about the time GM made a luxury Corvette, and incidentally, the last convertible Cadillac. If ever an entire generation of cars were an allegory for capitalism, it was in the ‘00s. So many on this list feel like a defiant western hoorah - cheap, loud, bold, classless - with lives abruptly cut short by a crisis triggered by shortsightedness and greed. So many ‘00s cars boomed, then busted… and then disappeared. Still, so few vehicles can escape the time in which they were created and lived. Seeds were planted in the ‘00s for what would be the true golden age of sports cars, muscle cars, hot hatches, and even SUVs here in the ‘20s. The Dodge Caliber is the worst car I have ever driven.īut the ‘00s was also the dawn of the millennials and the return of engineers to the helm of development. The bean counters and boomers still reigned supreme forcing nostalgia-bait trash like the Chrysler PT Cruiser and Chevrolet HHR into the market. No growing pains.Īnd true enough there was a lot of truly boring, humdrum crap from the 2000s. Most will mark the return to sports performance in the early 90s… but then mentally jump to the ultra-high performance of today with nothing in between. The 2000s tend to get written off in the minds of automotive enthusiasts. Some, actually quite interesting, awesome and nothing if not indicative of their place in time. The election of the first African-American U.S. In between were two ethically dubious wars. A cataclysmic event which wiped out livelihoods and savings, and which saw some of the oldest nameplates in American automotive disappear forever. When we were forced to accept that history was not over as the previous decade had predicted. The 2000s as a decade can be defined by two key, tragic events. ![]()
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