Good morning! This week, I’ve been showing you cars from a Facebook group called “Underappreciated Survivors For Sale.” Often, I think the cars shown there are too appreciated, or at least too spendy; there are a lot of $10-15k cars that I don’t think are worth that much. But there are some gems hidden in there, with reasonable prices. Today, we’re going to look at your choices from the week, and you can decide which one most deserves the title of “underappreciated.”
Yesterday, we looked at two little convertibles, and I honestly thought the Metro was going to win. I figured the Fiat would be too rough and too obscure for most of you, but I was wrong. You chose the little green machine by about a 60-40 split. It was that video of it buzzing down the street that sold you, wasn’t it?
Personally, I like them both, but I think I’d have to go with the Fiat here as well. I mean, I already have a scruffy, often-broken British car; it could use a scruffy, often-broken Italian friend, right? The Metro is neat, but I’d get a much bigger kick out of seeing the Fiat every morning. Oh, and by the way, there was some question about the originality of the Metro’s color – that is absolutely the factory color. Geo had an amazing range of paint options back in the day.
I don’t do much browsing on Facebook Marketplace for cars, because frankly, the interface sucks. I have yet to figure out any rhyme or reason to the sort order, and sometimes it ignores search filters altogether and just shows you whatever it wants. And the fact that it’s free means there are a lot of spam ads to sort through. But once in a while, it makes for a nice change of pace to brave the wilds, and see what there is to see. We did pretty well this week, I think – and if you disagree, you should have seen the cars I didn’t use. You almost had to choose between a Cimarron and a Topaz, but I thought better of it. Maybe next week, if they’re still around. For now, let’s recap our week’s winners, and you can tell me which one deserves more attention than it gets.
1992 Plymouth Acclaim
Why it’s underappreciated: Chrysler’s engineering team deserves a lot of credit for the K-car architecture. It was designed on a shoestring budget, put into production quickly, and stretched over an entire product line. Sure, the build quality wasn’t great to begin with, but if you keep producing something long enough, making small improvements along the way, eventually it gets good. The AA-platform Plymouth Acclaim and Dodge Spirit were the end product of a decade of improvements, and they were solid and reliable cars.
And no, they are not, in fact, fun. One hundred horsepower and a non-overdrive automatic transmission is as exciting a recipe as a bowl of plain oatmeal. But here’s the thing: Non-fun cars still get used for fun purposes. Road trips, concerts, dates, weekend getaways, trips to the beach – in the moment, no one cares what car takes you on those adventures, not really. But the memories of those adventures always include the car. When I first posted this car on Monday, lots of commenters had stories to tell about it, or a car like it, and those stories are what makes this car interesting.
1996 Audi A6 2.8 Quattro
Why it’s underappreciated: Audi took the US market by storm in the mid-80s, with the one-two punch of the Quattro drive system and the sleek new 5000. Sales were strong, and Audi’s reputation was growing – until 60 Minutes came along and ruined it. Audi’s sales tanked, but the cars just kept getting better. This A6 comes from a period when not many Americans paid any attention to Audi, but they should have, because it’s excellent.
Not long after this car was built, Audi’s engineers went absolutely nuts adding complexity, and reliability went to hell. But this car’s simple single-overhead-cam V6 is pretty solid. It also has timeless styling, a comfortable interior with plenty of comfort and convenience features but refreshingly few pointless gadgets, and of course, that famous Quattro all-wheel-drive system.
2002 Ford Escort ZX2
Why it’s underappreciated: For years, small economical cars had a sporty two-door counterpart. Nowadays, we don’t even have small economical cars to base sporty two-doors on. The Ford ZX2 was one of the last of its kind, and it’s a great example of the breed. It handles well, thanks to its Mazda DNA, and it’s pretty quick, thanks to its twin-cam Zetec engine. Sure, it’s a little weird-looking, but what Ford from the late 90s and early 2000s wasn’t?
The only real bummer about this one is that it’s an automatic. Cars like this are supposed to be a fun and stylish alternative to a typical economy car, without sacrificing the “economy” part, and checking the box for an optional automatic transmission takes away both some of the fun, and some of the economy. But Ford ZX2s aren’t hard to find, so if this particular one doesn’t float your boat, you can look for a stickshift example. Whether you’ll be able to find one in emerald green is another story.
1973 Fiat 850 Spider
Why it’s underappreciated: Actually, it isn’t, these days. For a long time, little sports cars like this were nearly forgotten and dirt-cheap, but now that so few of them are left, they’re starting to come up in value. And while MG Midgets and Triumph Spitfires are easy to find, the Fiat 850 Spider is much less common, and quite a bit more exotic, thanks to its rear-engine design.
Several commenters yesterday mentioned an engine swap to wake this car up, but I think that would be a mistake. Fiat has a long history of sports and racing cars, including hotter versions of these old rear-engine designs, and if it were me, I’d keep it in the family and wake this one up with some Abarth parts or something similar. It won’t be a drastic change, but it’s a lightweight car; a little extra horsepower would go a long way.
I’m a big fan of underdogs; always have been. I don’t know if it’s a contrarian streak, or just weird tastes, but the stuff nobody else pays attention to is usually the stuff I love. I like all four of these, and I think they all deserve more attention than they get. But what about you? Which one of these four are you singing the praises of?
The Fiat easily in this one.
It’s up against two FWD cars I have zero interest in & an Audi that I shudder thinking of having to maintain.
Can we stop calling this feature ‘Shitbox Showdown?’. Just because they’re strays, mutts and cast-offs and some are a little mangy, it doesn’t mean they’re not worthy of love and a little dignity. Many of the cars that pop up in here are genuinely interesting and are selling for a low low price. I’ll happily take the Fiat and the Audi.
We mean it as a term of endearment.
Having had a similar-vintage K-car (a Dynasty), I didn’t hate it, but it was very much a car-as-appliance car.
Having had a similar-vintage Taurus, I can’t look at that ZX2 without thinking about that era Ford and how amazingly bland they felt.
No real pull for the Audi.
But that Fiat. That Fiat is the start of an obsessive project, I think, that starts with a shitbox and tries to see how non-shitbox it can get on a baling-wire-and-JB-Weld budget. It already has cool as hell paint. Might as well go for it.
For me, it was a toss up between the Acclaim and the ZX2, but I had to lean to the Acclaim.
The Ford is a little coupe with edgy styling, and that will get immediate appreciation as there is potential there. You could see a path forward, so it doesn’t need help.
The Audi and the Fiat are obvious. Maybe the Audi was ignored in it’s day, but we get it now and look back at not-modern Audis with affection and an appropriate amount of respect. The Fiat will always be met with some good natured mockery, but it is also welcome at numerous car shows and there is a deep love for the spunky Italian.
The Acclaim, however, has zero potential. It is what it is and it has no aspirations beyond that which is awesome. As our Shaman of Shitboxes pointed out, it was the end result of years of improvements to a product that saved a company. There was a turbo charged engine available through 1992 in the base and LE models! That counts for something! It was the final hurrah of an entire design language and layout. After this you got the Breeze, Cirrus, and Stratus which were a wild departure. It was a dinosaur that made every effort to evolve and that has a certain nobility to it.
I’m voting for my favorite one out of these even though the one that deserves more attention is the Fiat. The Audi is the best car out of these.
Then Fiat, Plymouth, then Escort
Is there another option? ????
You can not play.