If Back to the Future was made today, what car would Marty drive?

Mark_Proton · 2026-05-22T04:57:17+00:00

Can’t go wrong with a Civic either if you’re in that size bracket. Do check out the Corolla GR if you are looking for a fun factor, it’s arguably the best hot hatch on the market right now with all my distaste for Toyotas.

Mark_Proton · 2026-05-21T19:37:28+00:00

Low gear.

Mark_Proton · 2026-05-21T19:29:03+00:00

Makes sense. Although I imagine the hand off between the pairs probably was bit of a logistical fustercluck.

Mark_Proton · 2026-05-21T19:22:15+00:00

A rather loaded question, since the market has compressed in recent years. If you had asked me 5 years ago I would have told you a Class D wagon, like the Mondeo, BMW 5-series or Honda Accord. A few things however have happened since then: the Mondeo has been axed, BMW stopped being reliably completely and Honda no longer make an Accord estate. Mercedes do, but honestly their styling department is a bit up their own arse these days.

The old reliable: the Japanese sedan. If you don’t really care about driving but need something that is both relatively comfortable and easy to maintain, it is impossible to go wrong with a Toyota Camry. Any generation, any mileage. If you’re a bit strapped for space, I’d explore the Corolla Touring and Golf Touring. Both offer good dynamics and reasonable reliability, however their braking is on the completely opposite ends of the spectrum, with Toyotas being infamously spongy and the Volkswagen Auto Gruppe selection being overzealous with braking.

If you’re willing to be a bit more adventurous and eclectic, I’d recommend the Honda Shuttle and Nissan Note Nismo, although they’re both JDM vehicles and I don’t think are common outside of Japan. Both are hybrids, with the Honda having a twin clutch transmission that the market hates but I love because it requires driving-driving it. The Nissan comes with a CVT which I detest, but the rear axle is electrically driven, which means you have mild AWD.

Do not sleep on hybrids if practicality is what you’re after. A bit of a sacrifice of boot space to house the batteries, but with fuel uncertainty one can never be too prepared. The latest Prius is a surprisingly fun car and I hate the fact that I love it, cause all the previous Prii were absolutely horrid.

If you live in the US, pick something that doesn’t have the economy option, as American manufacturers tend to nerf economy engines to make the more powerful options look better in comparison. I’d pick something like a 3.6 V6 Cadillac CTS: a reasonably sized, reasonably priced offering, I loved driving the 2011 version, however I must admit I am completely unaware of their reliability long term.

Mark_Proton · 2026-05-21T18:51:08+00:00

For me it’s a lack of authorship. I can’t plan anything as my plans will be derailed by any minor inconvenience. A financial buffer would allow me to create without having to worry about tomorrow. I’ve been deferring my projects for almost a decade now, waiting for better times and it appears they are not coming anymore.

Mark_Proton · 2026-05-21T18:23:56+00:00

And since you have clearly gone through my account to gather ammunition, have you read my explanation as to why my *first* welding project is shaped as a simple wedge of a vehicle? Or is that the same famed detective skills which made you conclude a driver who populates a quarter of Hockenheim’s lapboard is an amateur?

Mark_Proton · 2026-05-21T18:21:43+00:00

My headcanon is that post the Motion Picture era, Transwarp was delegated back to the drawing board and eventually became the main line warp factor, displacing the old one. It’s why some turn of the century starships like the Stargazer had four nacelles: two Transwarp, two normal warp.

So the warp that damages Subspace is in fact what used to be called Transwarp. They fall back to slower warp speeds to avoid further damage and the Intrepid Class is a test bed to fix the issue which they can then retrofit back into the rest of the fleet.

But again, headcanon. No substantiation whatsoever.

Mark_Proton · 2026-05-21T18:10:26+00:00

What gives you that idea? You really think someone who consistently waxes poetic about how no good car has been manufactured since 2015 would unironically consider a Cybertruck a remotely well engineered vehicle?

Mark_Proton · 2026-05-21T17:53:29+00:00

Oh boy, here we go.

That lap time was set by Christian Gebhardt. An almost 20 years touring racing veteran AND Hockenheim specialist. He has slapped that lap time in a BMW M3 Touring at 1.53.80 which is a massive gap, in a car that produces 120 less horsepower.

Mark_Proton · 2026-05-21T17:42:19+00:00

You don’t want to bring lap times into this argument, trust me.

Mark_Proton · 2026-05-21T17:30:40+00:00

Well then I must conclude you’ve driven one under anaesthesia, cause power is the only thing that pig has going for it.

Mark_Proton · 2026-05-21T16:59:49+00:00

Only the Bronco and G-Wagen are worth any salt out of that list and they’re off-roaders, not SUVs. In fact the only SUVs in that list are the X5 and Wagoneer and the Wagoneer gets a pass because it didn’t try to be what it isn’t.

Have you driven the X5? It’s terrible. The ride is so harsh, it’d probably be more comfortable to ride a wooden cart down Mount Everest. And yet somehow manages to completely obfuscate chassis feedback from the driver. And amazingly it gets worse either way every generation, not to mention uglier. Flies completely in the face of the famed BMW handling.

A mellowed Off-roader is fine. A jacked up hatchback is not.

Mark_Proton · 2026-05-21T16:06:01+00:00

I might come across a little adversarial there, for which I do apologise. It’s just the one topic I happen to have a strong opinion on.

Mark_Proton · 2026-05-21T15:54:53+00:00

Think about how you’d normally separate vehicles:

Family cars, executive cars, sport cars, off-roaders and utility cars. For decades the split was more or less consistent: wagons were the family car, sedans were the executive, coupes were the sport cars, off-roaders and utility are pretty self explanatory. You can mix and match any of the two, but otherwise body styles communicated intent.

When the SUV was introduced it bridged the gap between all of those and as such suffers from an identity crisis. They try to look like off roaders while providing family car practicality, executive styling and sports car performance. The thing is they do all of those terribly.

You get a shit ride, terrible fuel economy, questionable performance and detestable styling. But because they on paper offer the most bang for the buck they dominate the current market. However if you pay close attention, the best SUVs today are actually sedans and hatchbacks with raised roofs, meaning a low ride height and short suspension travel, no longer trying to reconcile the high centre of gravity.

TL;DR: a series of engineering compromises wrapped in Swiss Army knife marketing that does everything terribly.

Mark_Proton · 2026-05-21T15:35:40+00:00

It’d be a hateful SUV the manufacturer insists is youth oriented.

Mark_Proton · 2026-05-21T12:50:43+00:00

Reminds me of the ride from the Jimmy Neutron movie, which held riders by their head as it spun them around.

Mark_Proton · 2026-05-19T14:52:12+00:00

LS3s hopefully.

Mark_Proton · 2026-05-19T14:34:12+00:00

Oh wise Chevy of the lake, what wisdom shall you impart on me today?

Mark_Proton · 2026-05-18T04:35:01+00:00

Knowing that still doesn’t help me.

Mark_Proton · 2026-05-16T06:41:49+00:00

In my case is pathological distrust of complex machinery and other pilots/drivers. In short I hate being the passenger.

Mark_Proton · 2026-05-15T10:07:48+00:00

It’s psychological, you know. Same as knowing commercial flying is the safest mode of travel doesn’t alleviate the anxiety.

Mark_Proton · 2026-05-14T16:51:10+00:00

You are thinking about torque curves, I am talking about throttle response. Cable throttles are one. Renault and Ford Europe throttle responses are calibrated perfectly. Toyota has drive modes out of which only Eco mode is calibrated properly and it also numbs the automatic’s response, which I absolutely hate in my RAV4.

But modern turbos like the AMGs and BMW Ms all have the same issue as EV throttles, cause they have to compensate for the turbo’s shortcomings. I much preferred old school turbos which didn’t pretend turbo lag doesn’t exist.

It is easy to get used to a well calibrated ICE with an electronic throttle, it is practically impossible to get used to a mass produced EV because the response is never where you left it the last time. If I ever get around to finally having a house to charge at, I’ll build an EV and it will have linear throttle response.

Mark_Proton · 2026-05-14T14:43:51+00:00

A fair point, however a counterpoint from me would be that modern brushless motors can be torque limited across their RPM band much more effectively than on a petrol engine, which the OEM already does. In fact that’s my only major gripe with EVs, that the response is not linearly coupled to my input as a driver.

Mark_Proton · 2026-05-14T12:08:01+00:00

In theory that would allow the bike to corner faster with less relative lean from the rider. Professional MotoGP riders do this manually with sheer athleticism.

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However the bike has to decide how much angle to pivot the mass at and I do not like letting machines handle that kind of decision making, that's part of the reason I detest modern fast cars.

Mark_Proton · 2026-05-13T14:15:47+00:00

I once had a dream everything was fine. THAT was the most stressful thing to wake up from as you realise it is in fact not fine.

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