I originally planned to Autopian Ask ya’ll about your Thanksgiving road-trip plans and/or any past holiday-haul adventures, but it turns out Matt already posed that as his Big Question in yesterday’s Morning Dump:
Are you hitting the road this Thanksgiving? How long of a drive, and what are you taking?
… so there goes THAT idea. But do feel free to reply to Matt’s Q here if you missed it yesterday. There are no rules, man.
Still, I needed to come up with a new question, and thankfully, The Bishop came through: “The FC RX-7 is the cranberry sauce of cars. It just sits there and nobody understands how good it is. What other cranberry sauce cars are there?”
See, that’s a good question. I suppose it could have been just “what are some under-appreciated cars,” but a cranberry-sauce car feels like something a little more special. A car that is a little sweeter, a little tangier than a merely good, underloved car. And for sure, the FC RX-7 is a great one. Just look at these two Bring a Trailer examples:
Pretty great, right? While all pop-up headlights are fantastic by default, the FC’s have a neat trick. When stowed, the lamps can be flashed through those clear-lensed slots in the nose, so you can let the left-lane bandit ahead of you know that you’d like to spin up the 13B’s dual rotors. Neat!
How about going topless? Those taught 1980s body lines make it easy to clip the roof off without goofing up the styling, and in black with those wheels? Saucy, indeed.
Your turn: what cranberry-sauce cars would you like to feast on?
Top graphic images: Mazda; DepositPhotos.com
Another one… Toyota T100. The Pickups/Tacomas get all of the love, but the T100 was awesome. Thanks to the chicken tax, they are relatively rare, but they are tough as nails and incredibly reliable (especially when they went to the 5VZ). Fun fact: They were assembled on the HINO truck assembly line. Which other Toyota passenger vehicle was made there? The FJ Cruiser.
In the Mazda vibe I feel like the 2nd gen MX-6 always was a little sweeter than the Probe, but the Probe got all the press for it’s looks(and that name oy!). The MX-6 almost had this future retro vibe going in the early 90s before the New Beetle hit, nice 2-door coupe with swoopy lines.
Fantasic choice. They looked a little like a stretched out (on both axes) 911 to my eyes, which isn’t a bad style to imitate.
2014 and on Mazda6, to the extent that sedans even matter. Fulfills all your daily driver duties with some added zoom zoom, good gas mileage and an upscale interior. Plus it’s great looking.
I would argue the RX8 as well. I owned two and loved them. Good looks, amazing handling, inexpensive, easy for an idiot like me to maintain.
Also, the Chevrolet SS. Not a great looking car, but so good in every other way IMHO.
You say Cranberry Sauce.
But you show me it’s poor stand-in of Cranberry Jelly.
It’s like saying saying you want to talk about how great the Ford Focus is as a car, but then show me the American “2nd gen” Focus sedan instead of the the worldwide Ford Focus.
As the resident FC owner, I will agree. A cranberry sauce car is a good descriptor, but it’s also the middle child of RX-7s. Everyone loves the nostalgia of the original SA/FB and craves the swoopy, timeless FD and the FC just sits there going unnoticed. Which often makes them the best value of all of the RX-7s.
Those BBS meshies were factory only on the ‘verts. I bought a set in a junkyard years back, and I’m current running them on my daily, a 2006 Saabaru Aero. I think it might qualify as a cranberry sauce car. Best looking impreza of its generation, yet they often sell for half of what a comparable wrx wagon goes for.
Do you realize how rare the 06 Saaburu 9-2X Aero is? Absolute unicorn.
Indeed good sir. I hunted this unicorn for a couple years. I drove an ’05 non turbo for years while I lusted after an ’06 turbo. After I bought it, I ended up buying all the body panels from another one, so if anything happens I can get an impreza shell and build another one.
I think it would be fun to do a Smyth ute version, and stamp the old Saab airplane logo on the tailgate.
The 2nd gen Tiguan. I put 900 miles on one in 36 hours, crossed the border twice, sat in Toronto at rush hour, spent the morning with an angry 800lb gorilla of a customer, and still remember that trip fondly because of how great that VW was. It’s the only rental car that ever left me feeling actual longing.
Great looking cars. I don’t think theres a gen of the RX that I don’t like the look of.
Renault Laguna MK 2 GT: A Mégane RS engine in a beige car with a superb chassis.
Also available as an estate.
Another Cranberry sauce car is the final gen (3rd gen?) Rav4 V6. Just like cranberry sauce, it’s a sleeper. Heck, it was the fastest thing in Toyota’s lineup for those years, but was unassuming in all of it’s beige car glory.
Volvo C30 (USDM Spec). It’s genuinely a hot hatch that had to compete with the Mk5 GTI and early Mini Cooper S. Guess what? The C30’s are the reliable ones. They sound the best (especially when opened up). You could get it with a manual. They look really cool. It’s similar to a Mazdaspeed3 (same chassis) but way less blowupy. Comfiest car I’ve owned… 10/10 recommend.
Closest thing to a P1800 that Volvo ever made for sure.
Sexier tail lights tho…according to this guy:
https://www.theautopian.com/this-official-photoshoot-of-a-volvo-designer-and-his-beloved-taillight-is-proof-i-didnt-make-up-taillight-fetishism/
Toyota Matrix and Pontiac Vibe.
1st gen Scion xB? With a few simple mods, it did autocross, Tail of the Dragon, countless miles of daily duty and all while able to carry a clothes dryer & 3 suitcases.
I want to build a mint one someday. RS2.0 (yellow) manual with every TRD accessory. One can dream.
Would it be out of line to nominate the Merkur offerings? This covers both types of cranberry (sauce and jellied – XR4Ti and Scorpio, respectively).
To me, Merkurs are like one of those of simple European meals that Americans would actually really like if they’d just ignore any preconceived notions and try it.
Early 90s Nissan Sentra SE-R. It looked just like every other boring shitbox Sentra until you bit into it.
As I was just recently discussing with a friend, the 94-98 SN95 Mustang.
Not the legendary Fox that preceded it nor the attention grabbing retro-stangs that succeded it, it’s unfairly overlooked. And with the passing of time, its compact package and raw, analog feel is even more desirable, at least to me.
My friend just buttoned up the suspension on his vortech supercharged ’97(?). I have to admit I scoffed a little when I heard he bought it, but it looks good and is a riot to drive.
I’d say you could extend that out to the new edges (99-04) as well.
“a cranberry-sauce car feels like something a little more special. A car that is a little sweeter, a little tangier than a merely good, underloved car.
To me, a cranberry-sauce car is one that is shaped like the container it came in and nobody but that one weird uncle will drive.
And for that – Nissan NV (full size).
This guy cranberrys.
You’re thinking of the jellied cranberries. That stuff plops out of the can in the exact shape of the can. The sauced kind doesn’t hold the form like that.
That said, your NV selection is a good one.
Those vans were incredibly mis-advertised. They don’t make incredible commercial vans. You know what they do really well? Vanlife vans. Easy to work on, easy 4wd swap for offroad adventures, and decent parts availability (since it’s a Titan underneath).
Ford Flex. Boxy SUV way before its time, had an available twin turbo 6cyl, came in nice 2 tone combinations, and didn’t look half bad imo.
I’ll say any of the rotary coupes other than the FD, but especially the RX-8.
I have a friend that is obsessed with them (he’s on his 3rd, a 2011 R3).
It’s Renesis gets bagged on. But it’s comfy, handles amazing, and that engine screams all the way to redline with a wonderful sound. The suicide doors actually make it so 4 adults can both enter/exit easily and be comfortable.
I still don’t want one, but having driven them many times, they never fail to put a smile on my face.
2nd Gen. Mitsubishi Montero SR