Originally Posted By: dailydriver
Originally Posted By: 123Saab
I miss VW's presence, 2015 was a great year (Me being a Finn and also a VW person)
I enjoy the WRC a lot.
Yeah, but VeeDub just DUMPED (R&D, support, tech, etc.) coin into the effort until they just
totally dominated (just like Toyota used to do with TTE, and like I was more than a little worried they would do once again with Gazoo Racing), and make the whole series a lot less'interesting'.
They also "bought" the absolute BEST crews money could buy for their FULL, EVERY EVENT, 3 car effort, so unless they ALL suffered catastrophic failure/crashes on the SAME event, they were assured of a win.
YES, MS-RT/Ford World rally Team was VERY VERY fortunate to 'score' Ogier, instead of the infinitely funded Toyota, where I thought/was worried that he would end up (I STILL don't understand HOW that happened, unless Ford Corporate Worldwide kicked in a BUNCH of coin towards his salary
).
But yes, being a Ford rally fan from WAY BACK to the RWD, NA, Group 4 (and before that) Escort RS days, I certainly hope that Ford/M-Sport continue on their winning ways!!
I miss VW too, and Subaru even more. I grew up with Subarus as were my first two cars. Loved watching McRae, Burns, and Petter do amazing things.
So once Subaru left WRC, and they miffed some of the engine design on the new Imprezas that I would have liked for my everyday car, I switched allegiance to Hyundai. Family is half Korean as it is so that made it easy. I really enjoyed the new designs ever since Kia/Hyundai poached Peter Schreyer from Audi. Would be great to see a proper i20 over this way but the Rio/Accent is about as close as one can get - even made on the same platform, so actually a lot of the same car. Has been a blast to drive and has the absolute best power to weight ratio in it's class, so for city driving (and parking!) can't complain.
Love me some Ford too though. If I recall they were instrumental in Korea launching a car industry way back when!
But here is hoping Hyundai continues to ramp it up. They seem to be building toward success at the moment but still have a ways to go. In the meantime, more competitors and models would make WRC in general a lot more exciting...who knows...maybe VW and Subaru will be back! Need to showcase those new global platforms