Week In Review: August 10th-14th
Andrew Maness August 14, 2015

1976 Dodge Monaco Brougham

When you look at this 1977 Dodge Monaco, does you skin begin to itch? Mine does. This thing is practically the automotive manifestation of a guy in a polyester suit, complete with a comb over and bad pickup lines. The Dodge Monaco is an easily overlooked malaise era car. It didn’t have any particularly innovative features that were unique to the model, didn’t offer any sort of attention grabbing performance capabilities, and certainly didn’t stand out from the crowd design wise.

Malaise Monday: 1974-1978 Dodge Monaco

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We stopped to take our first break after an hour of driving and I exited the Maxima with a big grin on my face. My friend who had been trailing me in his tuned A3 walked right up and said “I can’t believe how well that thing is handling, you’re keeping up with the front of the pack!”. The front of the pack consisted of brand new R8, RS7, S7, and two S5s. I had not lost sight of them through all the winding roads and in many places had to back off because I had caught them. When I tell you I was shocked by how composed the SR was on these twisty roads, I mean it, I really, really do.

Future Used Car Review: 2016 Nissan Maxima SR

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It can be hard to fathom what owning, driving, and caring for one of these machines would be like. However it’s important to remember that at the end of the day, they’re just cars, the do the same basic things that your vehicle does, they’ve just done them much longer, and in much more interesting settings.

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2007 Pontiac Solstice GXP ad

So what if it shares a manual transmission with the Hummer H3, Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon? It was built to take a beating and with all that torque on tap, that’s a good thing. As for the overall low quality cabin, that comes with the territory. This is a Pontiac, not a BMW, not a Porsche, not even an Audi. It’s not going to feel premium and it isn’t trendy

Underrated Ride Of The Week: 2007-2009 Pontiac Solstice GXP

 

 

Andrew Maness Head Writer

Native New Englander currently residing in Los Angeles. I like to go fast and tell stories, sometimes from behind a camera, sometimes in front of one.