As quickly as I conjured up today’s Autopian Ask, I already had my answer (which is only my answer, and needn’t be yours): the third-generation Ford Taurus as seen above, in all its ovoid jellybeaned glory. I was thinking more of the sedan than the wagon, but the wagon had a better pic, but anyway – it’s the Taurus for me.
… which is kind of an odd choice if you think about it, because as The Bishop noted, “[The] oval Taurus was too much of an outlier. It didn’t start a trend, and even Ford knew they fucked up right away.” That’s very true: I can’t think of anything that looks quite as soft and cornerless as the Taurus and Sable, but they were kind of the ultimate expression of the 90s trend toward softer shapes and a clear break from the crisp folds of the eighties. It didn’t start a trend, but it sure finished one. At least that’s what my zero-research, as-I-remember-it take is telling me.
Also worth noting: the third-gen Taurus didn’t arrive until 1996, well into the 90s. Before I went looking for pics, I thought it arrived around 1993 or so, but no! Ford was still on the second-gen, which wasn’t very (to my eye) 90s at all; just a handsome car really, neatly tucked and tailored compared to the plumper originals birthed in 1986. I think the Bishop is correct about the ovalized third-gen starting no trends, but I do think the success of the then-futuristic 1986 design did a lot to move mainstream car design to toward the rounder shapes that really took hold in the 90s.
Some other opinions from the team:
Your turn:
What Is The Most 1990s Car?
Top graphic image: Ford
The Geo Tracker/Asuna-Pontiac Sunrunner/Chevy Tracker. Specifically the 2-door removable top ones.
3rd-gen, rounded-shape Chrysler Minivans. Minivan was at its peak and so was Chrysler. The SUV hadn’t had its day yet, even if the Explorer was there.
This is the right answer. Minivans in general are the car of the 90s.
I’m with the Bishop on this, gotta be the Neon.
4th gen Chevy Camaro in red or 5th gen Honda Civic hatch in green.
Good call on that Camaro. When it burst on the scene, it seemed primed to totally obliterate the old Camero stereotype. And it did, for a little while anyway.
Shame it was so poorly made because it was an insane bargain.
I considered one in the early 00s exactly b/c of that. I ended up going with a Mustang b/c while the Camaro had better performance hands down, if you cared about anything else at all, the Mustang was the better option.
And that is why the Mustang outsold the Camaro 2:1.
Typical stupid shit that GM would do back then. An extra $1000 worth of refinement in the interior and overall quality improvement would have probably doubled their sales.
I would say the YJ Wrangler. The first one to use the Wrangler name and a 1993 Hunter Green Sahara YJ was my dream car when I first started driving. I also think it gets bonus points for being used in so many movies from the 1990s – Jurrasic Park, Clueless, etc.
CB4
1994 Dodge Ram pickup is peak 90’s.
Beat you to it…
I worked as a Service manager at a CPD dealership then. I remember when that truck came out the designer said…50% of the people love it and if 50% of those people would buy one we would triple our truck sales….
First gen Tacoma. When you think of peak Toyota reliability, you think of that era truck (and most Americans would say Tacoma instead of “Pickup” or “Hilux”.
Not only was it peak Toyota truck, but add in the fact that it was offered in fun 90’s Skittle colors with peak 90’s graphics (Paradise Blue Metallic, Cobalt Blue Pearl, Mystic Purple, Surfside Green…) helps my case here!
I think of the Ford Ranger splash as peak 90’s, RAV4 and X-90 honorable mentions
Mercedes may have hit it, the Explorer may be the single most important ’90s vehicle.
Gen 2 Dodge Ram.
Minivans.
Does it matter which one? No.
I feel like any 2 dr. convertible SUVs (Geos, RAV, Isuzu/Passport, Suzuki), teal as a car color, or 2 dr. sporty coupes that don’t exist anymore (Achieva, Geo Storm, Probe, SVX, Beretta, T-bird, Cutlass, etc.).
Don’t forget the 80s Mopar holdovers Dodge Daytona and Plymouth Duster/Sundance…
Guess I was trying to stick with the 90’s theme those were some good ones in the 80’s.
MItsubishi Eclipse, especially the second generation.
Word.
I’m so glad I wasn’t the only one! Can’t explain why but that was the first car that popped in my head.
Possibly because they were seemingly everywhere.
I keep wondering about this. They were everywhere…and now they are nowhere!
1996 Chrysler Vans, by 2000, the Caravan on its own had the same Canadian market share that all of Stellantis does today. They were *everywhere*, and most of them were either the very 90’s hunter green or burgundy.
Hi!
https://test.api.dodgegarage.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/JudeOgene001.jpg
Citroën XM — the last pointy nose car allowed before the anti-knee break rules came in, along with the deforming bonnet (hood) rules.
Citroën managed to stay weird into the mid 2000 IMO before turning into the French Hyundai.
GM’s N-Body Grand Am’s seemed to be pretty well represented. They were pretty close to the other N’s, Buick Skylark, Oldsmobile Achieva, Chevrolet Beretta, Chevrolet Corsica. so they kind of had an extended presence as a result.
Geo rebadged imports with Teal and purple colors were also very 90’s, Though the quieter version of the Prizm which was just a corolla underneath was a huge 90’s seller in it’s own right. The E100 and E110 looked close enough at the mid decade switch over, but just got better options.
Nice call on the N-Body cars. Between the GM practice of building well beyond demand and dealership discounts those things were EVERYWHERE.
Have to agree with The Bishop about the Neon. Great 90s design, affordable, plentiful.
Keeping with the company, the Plymouth Prowler for design, but a more mass-produced car should win.
Geo Storm. GM finally trying to get its act together by doing collabs with good car companies? Check. People actually buying sporty but practical coupes? Check. Available in searing yellow or high 90s teal? Check and mate.
Anything from GM with the 3.8 engine, if supercharged much better.
Isn’t that basically their entire mid and full size lineup?
The tan/gold Toyota Camry. (beige metallic??)
Absolutely everywhere
And still is, they’re basically street furniture at this point
Automotive camouflage, what to drive when you want to go unseen.
Did they paint them any other color?
Chrysler/Dodge “cab forward” LH platform cars?
Oh man yes, solid answer
With those really plush seats and, soft, ruched leather door cards
Not popular enough to win but I remember them fondly.
They sold over 1.2 million of just the first generation LH cars from 1993-1997, of which over 645,000 were just the Dodge Intrepid.
Stellantis would do absolutely terrible, dark things to have even close to those sales figures today
Dude, if its the 90’s it has to be an SUV. My suggestions? Escalade, Mercedes ML, RX300, Explorer or RAV4. I mean, you take a look at the seats of the 1st gen RAV4 and tell me that isn’t peak 90’s. I dare you. In My neighborhood is was definitely the Grand Cherokee too.
All those!
Miata – It’s a car that you can still see sometimes on the road in good condition.
XV10 Toyota Camry
Suzuki X-90. Bonus points for teal.
To me, it’s right up there with the first gen RAV4 2 door as a reminder of a time when SUVs could be thought of as “fun.”
Isuzu made plenty of SUV’s in the 90’s as well, the Amigo might even be a really good fit for a very 90’s unit, but much like the X90, one of my favorites was a short lived but still pretty radical thing called the VehiCROSS. I would still take one of those even though they are not the easiest to live with even when they were new.
Vehicross was also going to be my answer.
A buddy of mine had a smurf-blue Amigo. We had some great road trips in that thing. That whole genre of wacky CUV’s like the X-90 and VehiCROSS where the manufacturers were still trying to play around with this new form factor is peak 90s to me.
I think Geo Tracker (also in teal) was a far more represented version of this platform. But yes this is where my brain goes for sure when I think “90s cars”.