What Car Should Never Go Hybrid?

I recently got back from my trip to Tokyo, Japan, where I was given the opportunity to — very briefly — drive the all-new Honda Prelude. After my first drive review of the little sports coupe went live, there was a hell of a lot of discourse online about whether or not this car is a real Prelude. It seems a big sticking point is the car’s hybrid motor. Unlike any Prelude before, it’s got a hybrid drivetrain with two electric motors, and some of you aren’t thrilled about that. This idea is what leads me to today’s question.

I want to know what car you feel should never go hybrid. What car needs to remain internal-combustion only, for it would be an affront to God himself if engineers dared add an electric motor to the drivetrain? A lot of you like to describe yourselves as purists, so here’s your chance to flex that cred. Of course, you could look at it from the other direction of an electric car that ends up going hybrid, but I have a weird feeling that you’re not going to be doing that.

I thought long and hard about this question. I know I came up with it, but since I’m an enlightened individual, there really are not many (if any) that I think couldn’t be reinvented with a hybrid powertrain. However, the closest I got to actually feeling that way about a car is the Mazda RX-7. You need a Wankel rotary motor. You need twin turbochargers. You simply cannot have any sort of hybrid component.

Here’s why: adding a hybrid would almost undoubtedly make a theoretical next-generation RX-7 a better, more livable, more powerful, more economical vehicle. The RX-7 isn’t supposed to be those things. It should be loud, and a pit of a pain in the ass to drive at low speeds. It should have almost no torque, and it should get terrible fuel economy. Adding in a hybrid motor would ruin all of that. All of that being said, Mazda, I implore you to ignore everything I just said and make a hybrid RX-7. It would be the tits.

Anyway, that’s enough out of me. Head on down below and let your fellow Jalops. know what car should never get a hybrid powertrain. As always, if you explain your answer, you’ll be my favorite for the whole afternoon.