There are very few automotive makes that didn’t, at some point in time, build a full range of cars that I really admire. Maybe that time is now, but often, it isn’t.
No, many years have passed since the time when, at least for me, these brands possessed lineups with exciting products that all fit a common theme. For today’s Ask, I’d like you to pick a car maker and let me know what you think was their best era ever.
Thomas Hundal’s recent rather lukewarm review of a new Mazda had me remembering a time when I thought that the brand couldn’t miss: the late eighties and early nineties. The hits wouldn’t stop! How about a four-wheel-drive turbocharged rally hot hatch, the 1988-89 323GTX?
Their 1993 MX-6 sport coupe looked great as the classy Flat Rock, Michigan-built Ford Probe twin that it was:
How about the funny little MX-3 hatch with the tiny high-revving V6?
Even Mazda’s failed attempt to hit the luxury market with the 1992 929 was flat-out gorgeous:
To combat the boring Camry of the time, they gave us the 1988 626 five-speed turbo hatch sedan that hit sixty as fast as some V8 cars:
Let’s not forget RX-7s, including the vaunted 1992 FD:
Damn, Mazda’s minivan game was strong with the MPV that could be had with 4WD and a center locking differential.
It even featured in a Wu-Tang song and video, possibly the only mention/appearance in a rap video of a mom-van ever.
Are those some cool cars or what? I haven’t even mentioned the new-for-1990 Miata. Stop it, Mazda! I can only get so excited! Man, I wish the brand would come back in force like this.
There are other years that were great for different brands. I’d buy almost any 1990 Mercedes-Benz product when The Best Or Nothing was really true. Speaking of Benz, laugh all you want, but the Chrysler lineup from the dreaded Daimler years featured some great-looking and nice-driving cars, even if the quality was questionable at best. At least they had actual cars back then. Crossfire not shown below.
Enough from me: what do you think some of the best model years were for any particular car brand?
Top graphic image: Mazda
Autopian Asks Challenge (Impossible): What car brands seemingly had it all together in the mid to late 1970’s?
Saturn at debut before left to rot on the vine by GM. Sedan, wagon, and coupe all riding on the same platform, competing with the budget imports and delivering really good value while not being stripped-spec (most of the time). I’d say the S-series was still strong at the turn of the millennium, and the same platform – upgraded with infotainment bells and whistles – could still compete today against non-hybrid compacts. They got a shot in the arm in the early 2000s with an Opel import, an early-market CUV, and the Ion (which I liked in coupe form) but by the time the second Bush administration rolled around it was clear that it was just a test bed for ideas by GM. Anything they did well ended up being a Chevy the next year meaning it couldn’t gain reputation, and anything they didn’t do well dragged the rep back down.
Audi had the best interior and exterior design and some rad cars from about 1998 until about 2018. The reliability may not have been top notch, but the design, fit & finish, and powertrains were awesome. AWD, high revving NA V8’s, supercharged V6’s, turbo 4’s. 5 cylinders. V10’s. A TDI V12. They had it all, some with a stick. It was all downhill once the B8.5 generation bowed out. The reliability has gone up, but the overall quality and design has taken a nosedive. Gone are the understated, clean designs and beautifully crafted interiors, replaced by screens and piano black.
“Could Seemingly”? Nah, that 1988 Mazda lineup just plain had it. Good choice on the Chrysler lineup too. Dodge/Shelby 1985-7 years also had ‘it’, between ES minivans, Shelbyized Omni, Charger, and Lancers, and IROC-Z Daytonas.
The entirety of the Chrysler Corporation for 1997. We just don’t talk about quality or reliability.
The MPV was a thing in Hip Hop in the mid 90’s. Biggie raps about it, too. If I spent some time googling I could probably find a dozen others.
How has no one brought up Honda in 1999?!
NSX
First gen CRV
the Odyssey
Both the S2000 and Insight made their debut
Civic SI, Civic Type R, Integra Type R, Accord Type R
Prelude
The golden age of Honda
Early 90s Mitsubishi had the most fantastic line up. 3000GT
Eclipse
Galant
Lancer
Lancer Evolution
Mirage
Diamante
Sigma
Montero
Pajero
Expo
Expo LRV
Mighty Max
Early-90s Mazda is a great pick. I’d throw the 2000s Subaru in there, though the Tribeca sort of ruins that run. Late 60s GM was also banging on all cylinders, regardless of brand.
’67 to ’72 or so British sports cars. Triumph or Austin Healey mostly.
Was thinking along the same lines for peak MG and Lotus years.
Obvious answer is obvious – Porsche in the 80s. Air-cooled 911, 930 turbo, 944, 928. And, if the 930 wasn’t enough insanity for you, the 959.
I owned an ’88 323GTX, and it was one of the most fun cars I ever had. Sadly, a cam lobe broke, so I had it temporarily fixed and then sold it.
AWD! Turbo whine and lag!! That dual rear spoiler!!! I love you apocalypse pony!
The headline hurts my brain to read.
Geo was definitely an interesting time.
I had to replace the had with have in my brain to make it work.
Geo and Saturn.
Honest, simple, relatively inexpensive cars and small SUVs.
Don’t sleep on the B2000 pickups. Mine was an ’86, single-cab stick. Two bucket seats, a center console, and almost nothing else. That thing ran forever, got incredible gas mileage, hauled whatever I asked of it, and was the last thing anyone wanted to steal in downtown Baltimore City. The perfect college/post-college vehicle for a guy with an art degree making money as a contractor fresh out of school.
I drove one in high school when working as an asphalt sealer/painter. Beat on that truck. Gave it to my sister after high school; it was a 91 or 92 B2600 and it finally died due to leaky fuel injectors around 300,000 miles around 2015.
No AC, no creature comforts (it may not even have had air bags). Perfect utility truck.
Working on it was always kinda wild; that was the era of Mitsubishi/Ford/Mazda alliance, so it had a fair bit of parts from all of the above in there, but was generally reliable.