One thing that saddens me when I do my nightly readings of BMW i3 press materials is just how amazing the car was, and yet just how few people bought it. It’s depressing thinking about this masterpiece that designers and engineers dreamed up and executed, and to imagine all of them looking at the sales figures thinking they failed. Then I imagine the BMW i-team disbanding, and the company basically abandoning the concept. It ain’t right! But this is just one of many such stories.
Today on Autopian Asks, we want to hear from you about a car that you think struggled with sales, only to later be rediscovered by the masses as a legitimately cool car. The Pontiac Aztek I think falls into the camp; for far too many years it was derided as the “ugliest car of all time,” and yet nowadays people dig it. It’s a legitimately useful, comfortable, and soulful machine.
This question is a little different than the classic “tell us about some underrated cars,” because the cars I’m asking about are no longer underrated. People have come around to their glory for whatever reason. Maybe it’s simply that the cars are now much cheaper than they were new, and at the cheaper price, they just make for way more compelling motoring than they did when new. I think that’s true for the i3 and for our Nissan Murano Crosscabriolet:
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But there are plenty of reasons why a car might pull a Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” and reach its prime many years after its debut. Which ones come to your mind?
Last-generation GM B-body wagons (1991-1996 Buick Roadmaster / Chevy Caprice / Olds Custom Cruiser). Wagons weren’t cool during this minivan era, and they didn’t sell well (nor did smaller wagons from this time).
Today, conversely, a Corvette-powered longroof with fake woodgrain is quite desirable and quite expensive relative to other GM cars of this era.
Station wagons for the win!
I SAW A MURANO CROSSCABRIOLET IN TRAFFIC TODAY!
It was running! And driving! The top looked great!
“I think that’s true for the i3 and for our Nissan Murano Crosscabriolet:”
The i3 was overpriced and inferior compared to what Tesla was selling. And the Murano convertible was stupid when new and it’s still stupid today.
I would say today’s minivans are underrated by most people for their given needs.
People always seem to default to ‘suv/cuv/truck’ when a minivan would actually do what they need better… often at a lower purchase price.
And the the Honda Civic Wagon/Wagovan of the 1980s and early 1990s was a vastly underrated vehicle. I had a 1987 Wagovan… was a great vehicle. Very roomy and practical for the vehicle’s footprint.
And after I replaced the stock 1″ exhaust with a 2.5″ low restriction exhaust, the engine would rev to 7500rpm before running out of steam. Prior to that, it would run out of steam at around 6000rpm. And it had a great manual transmission/shifter.
It was a fun and practical car.
I had an ’84 Tercel 4×4 wagon and it was great. One of my favorites. The Honda Wagovan was almost certainly even better. Great aesthetics and probably better mechanicals. But the Tercel was unstoppable in the snow. Somehow, I once performed a perfect 360 on a plowed, but icy, road and ended up pointed and still going toward my intended destination. My 15-month-old son, in a car seat, giggled. I nearly needed a change of pants.
1st gen Cayenne.
Will join the 04-06 Pontiac GTO crowd and also it’s other rebadged Australian siblings.
Aside from that? Honda/Acura NSX, first time around. I lived through it, I will tell you it’s more loved now than it ever has been.
Fiero
The Ford Fiesta ST. In its time, it was widely lauded as an enthusiast’s bargain.
It’s only in retrospect that it becomes clear that it was the best combustion car ever built, the four door four seat Miata everyone always wanted. It was also road-trip ready and reliable.
First-generation Scion xB, natch. Still driving the one we bought in ’06.
Yep! My friend had one and it was so good around town and decent enough on the freeway.
I never drove a Nissan Cube, so I don’t know about it. I got a Kia Soul as a rental in Toronto when they first came out, and it was surprisingly fun. It was then that I thought “the Koreans have figured this out.” And other than the Kia Boyz/cheaping out on anti-theft stuff,” I still think they have got it going. And probably learned their lesson.
Volvo C30
Literally had a non-car person take a ride in mine and start googling where to buy one, only to realize it was discontinued 12 years ago.
Did we ever get those in the US? I googled and didn’t recognize the images. I loved the V40 wagon and long before that, the P1800ES shooting brake. I saw one of the latter at my local grocery store a couple of weeks ago. It was pristine and gorgeous. And definitely up there on my list with the Jaguar XKE as far as automotive art works go. I have no idea what they are like to drive. But I can only hope it’s as sublime as it is to look at.
I bought a used Saab 9000 Turbo, and while the performance wasn’t quite as extreme as I expected, it was a beautifully sculpted car.
Jag önskar er en riktigt glad nationaldag!
https://howtosayguide.com/how-to-say-happy-national-day-in-swedish/
Lol we absolutely did, but they didn’t sell super well. I bought my 2013 C30 Polestar in 2012 and still love it. Iirc when the C30 was for sale Volvo sold the same number of them per year as Honda sold the civic (what I traded in for it) in a single month
Ha! 2013 was in between my ’01 Jetta and my ’17 Accord that replaced it. But I went through a lot of pictures in the search for C30 images and I am still not sure I ever saw one IRL.
Anything good that GM has made.
Like the Vega?
Pontiac GTO, the new one, the G8 and the Chevy SS.
Nothing like incognito speed.
All of those are awesome cars. I wouldn’t mind getting a Chevy SS or G8 at all. I could totally see myself putting down 8K for a G8.
Own a 2005 GTO. Can confirm. Lots of folks really seem to like it where I bring it now.
The 2004-2006 Pontiac GTO. It may have been a rebadged Vauxhall/Holden Monaro, but it was still a great car!
you just beat me to it!
The Renault R6, a downsized R16 body on a larger R4 base (with the gear lever in the center of the dashboard)
An excellent little family car, completely underrated in France (unlike that crappy R14 that everyone currently idolizes)
https://www.carjager.com/blog/article/renault-6-la-voiture-de-giscard.html
The driver in the opening picture is a lot cuter than the car itself. Not an unusual marketing tactic. Merci!
You’re right! The R6 isn’t particularly pretty, but here in France, there’s been a hype for years to rehabilitate the R14. It was a pile of uninteresting crap at the time (apart from the interior space), and that hasn’t changed today.
https://newsdanciennes.com/la-renault-14-cest-quand-meme-plus-quune-poire/
I live in the US and have never driven or even been in a Renault. I put about 90,000 mile/145,000 kms on a used ’71 Peugeot 504 (the original owner picked it up in France and drove his family around Europe for a month before it was shipped to the West Coast!) and it was a very sad day when it got totaled and towed away from being hit from behind at a stoplight.
We rented a diesel 307 while on vacation in France and loved it. We wanted to smuggle one of those and a Citroen Picasso back home. Thanks for the links to those articles. Really interesting insights to cars (well, Renaults at least) of that era. It seems like the French were not terribly interested in quick 0-100 km/h times back then. It will be fun to re-explore those links to jump to stuff about Peugeots, since I was so fond of mine. I wish you well!
Indeed, the Peugeot 307 and the Picasso were very good cars, but unfortunately, like many French cars from the 2000s, they age poorly and are generally too expensive to maintain compared to their resale value.
(The most interesting version of the 307 with 7 adjustable seats: https://www.autonews.fr/photo/a,111,peugeot-307-sw,3.html )
Regarding the limited power of cars, here in France there is a tax called “fiscal horsepower” calculated from a host of incomprehensible parameters related in particular to the engine and gearbox. Basically, the more powerful the car, the higher the tax.
This tax must be paid when purchasing a new car and then with each change of ownership. Currently, the price of a “fiscal horsepower” varies between 45 and 60 euros depending on the place of residence (by department). This is why, for example, rental cars generally have the same department number (the one with the cheapest fiscal horsepower, often the Oise department number 60).
Between 1956 and 2005, there was also a tax sticker to pay each year to be allowed to drive based on the fiscal horsepower.
This is why there have been strange situations, such as cars being offered in versions with short or long gears. (for example, the Citroën Xantia 7CV or 9CV exactly the same, but the 7CV had a long gearbox ratio).
The Citroën 2CV was so named because of its taxable horsepower, but its evolution quickly moved it into the 3CV category.
A small car like the Twingo has 4CV, a mid-range Clio around 6CV depending on the version, family cars generally move up to 8CV …
A classic American V8 car generally has between 30 and 40CV.
I bought a Cadillac Seville a few years ago; the tax cost me more than the car!
Might sound weird, but I’m going Miata. Back in the early aughts, they were seen as girl cars and not taken seriously. I had a friend who had an NA and it was slower than my mom’s Oldsmobile so I thought it was a pathetic excuse for a sports car, and so did everyone else. Now I have one, and it is significantly slower than my wife’s minivan, but way more fun!
Not weird as all, they were worthless in the early to mid aughts. Paid 700 for my old 91 in 05 or 06, and it was invisible for a few years. They’ve always been appreciated by the type that got it, but at some point in the teens they got cool.
Well bought!
Well, the Miata is not dead yet. And a reason I never bought one, new or used, is that I sat in one at a car show, and my long-waisted torso didn’t fit in it with the top up.
I don’t know which minivan your wife drives, but the fact that a top-spec Camry or Accord (and probably some minivans) can do 0-60 faster than a lot of 60s and 70s and 80s Ferraris (and do it repeatedly for 200,000 miles) is mind blowing.
Ferrari 0-60 Times & Ferrari Quarter Mile Times | Ferrari LaFerrari, F12, 812, 488, F40, 458, Portofino & more 0 to 60 stats!
Good point. I misread that part. Yeah the Sienna is far faster than it ever needs to be, and ours is at 160k and I have never replaced a single thing other than consumables. We did replace the whole front suspension including control arms, but I feel like that makes sense for how old and high miles it is. But absolutely nothing in terms of starter, alternator or actual engine parts. It’s by far the most reliable car I’ve ever had, and also the one we have put the most miles on.
There’s one guy out in California driving up the price of BMW i3s, which weren’t super loved in their day.
The Ford Flex seems to have a rabid fan base.
Ford Flex is a great take. A legit 3-row wagon that does 100% of what so many people need, but “It’s not an SUV so I can’t drive it in the snow”
“There’s one guy out in California…” LMAO!
> But there are plenty of reasons why a car might pull a Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill”
Ok which one of you jokers snuck a pop culture references into one of David’s articles?
All of them,there really aren’t many new cars to choose from anymore but probably the Toyota Avalon.I know they are boring but they were comfortable and ultra reliable.
Here, here! My family has owned two 3rd gens, and the ride is so soft while also having reasonable grip. The super-smooth V6 has too much torque for an FWD car, but that gives it great highway passing abilities. My only complaint is that the front seats don’t go far enough back, leaving the front seats a little cramped while the back seats have tons of legroom to spare.
With sedans being so unpopular (and thus inexpensive), Avalons are bulletproof bargains perfect for first-time drivers.
Yes. very comfy and based on its mechanicals, darn near bullet proof. Along with the original Highlanders. Peak Toyota.
I have a ’17 Honda Accord, because I wanted something that felt a little more agile, but I could have gone with an Avalon. Now that I live in a condo with a pretty narrow garage door opening, that dimension might become a deciding factor.