WOW. That is a paradigm shift of epic proportions. My first brand-new car was a 1988 GTI 16v. At the time, the GTI line was positioned very separately from the Golf line, with the GTIs being the hot-hatch sport model. Removing the shifter from a GTI is like putting a cup holder armrest on an F-18.

I loved that rally car so much, wrecked it a couple times because I was young and driving it too fast. That didn't kill it though, it was only after all the plastic and rubber parts started to atrophy after 10 years that I finally got rid of it.

My first hint that they used too much plastic in their design was coincidentally, one of the manual shift linkage parts. The shifter on that car was always stiff, very sports car like. So even when it was new off the lot you had to use a bit of elbow grease to get the thing into gear. There was a part in the shift linkage which was made of that same kind of plastic that you make Molex connectors out of, and it got brittle after a few years of ownership, and broke. Tiny little part about 2 inches long.

So the car was mostly cheap plastic, and eventually everything that was plastic and rubber started to fail, one at a time. Once, the fuel pump failed, and they replaced it (TWICE) and it still failed (turns out it was the SECRET fuel pump inside the gas tank that had actually failed, and which should have been replaced to begin with). After 10 years, the head gasket leaked and I started burning coolant. I got THAT repaired (properly repaired with replaning the head and everything), and the car overheated on its next long drive. That drive ended at a Honda dealership and I haven't looked back since (I'm on my second Honda now, the prior one having been rear-ended on the WA520 bridge).