The New York Times Wheels blog has a post up today about how the Porsche Cayenne might be the car of the decade. Author Christian Edstrom argues that the fugly off-roader dumped buckets of duckets into Porsche's coffers, saving the independent automaker from takeover. Moreover, ignoring CAFE-type reasons and sordid family history, Edstrom perpetuates the party line: Porsche bought VW to maintain a steady flow of parts for their SUV cash cow. Nice theory, but car of the decade? I don't think so. To my mind, the car of the Oughts (Naughts?) is the Subaru WRX. Hear me out. The WRX is the democratization of performance. For just $25k, the Subie could run with Porsches (and on certain roads, outrun them) and haul the kids. Moreover, everyone paid attention. Sure, M and AMG predate the Rex, but those are rich people toys. Nowadays? EVO, Redline, GXP, Volkswagen's R, MazdaSpeed, SS, SRT not only exist, but are more than just superfluous badging (typically meaning AWD, turbocharging or sometimes both) thanks to the Rex. Besides, as much as I like the (turbocharged) Cayenne, I just ain't buying it. Even if I could. You?
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Maybe the “pistonhead” car of the decade Johnny.
The “regular” “car” of the decade in America is probably an SUV. I suggest the Ford Explorer or the Toyota RAV-4.
Worldwide, it’s tough to beat the Corolla. The Corolla was the democritization of reliability only previously seen in old Mercs.
I give the WRX a close second behind the Prius. It’s a watershed car, and (like it or not) it points to the future.
Without a doubt, the Prius. It’s a genuine game changer that is transforming the business and the way in which consumers perceive their cars. Not that I want one for myself, but its effect on the business is almost as transformational as the VW Beetle or the Model T. In twenty years, all of us will have a hybrid.
Yea I third the Prius. Every future hybrid/green car owes its existence to the success of the Prius.
The WRX is a good pick, but you could get one (or the Evolution) in 1992 if you lived in Japan, so it’s not quite a car of the 2000s.
I also think there will be a lot more Prius-inspired hybrids in the future than the number of listed sport-compacts the WRX spurred into creation.
Yeah as much as people are gonna complain, the Prius is the only game changing car here.
Explorer is the same American boat car from the 70s only lifted.
WRX was not the first sport compact.
Best what?
Enthusiast car?
Family car?
Most representative?
Best selling?
“Best” is such a subjective word that to imply that one vehicle is “best” makes no sense.
Prius, no doubt. It marks a technological milestone, the rise of the green movement,and represents Toyota’s move up to #1 globally.
Cayenne? Puh-lease. It’s been an insult to Porschephiles since it’s launch, and it’s intangible for 97% of the population. Despite lining the coffers of a prestigious name, it’s a blip in the market.
I hate to admit (and agree) that the Prius is the likely candidate, but under the caveat that while it is a game changer, it is definitely not the end game.
The Prius would be, but the car has been on sale since 1997 in Japan. Its current form is just an evolution.
I think the car of the decade is the Chrysler 300C. The significance of that car for the domestics and the auto-industry in general cannot be understated. It captured the car buying public’s attention, and it proved that an American sedan can find a market in foreign countries.
I like the WRX, but the Prius gets the nod.
Someone help me get this out of my head.
The Prius. Radical new drivetrain + wide [enough] acceptance as a mainstream vehicle + quantum leap in fuel economy.
Yeah, it’s not an enthusiasts’ driving machine but 99.8743% of driving has little or nothing to do with “enthusiasm.”
The Model T wasn’t much of a sports car, either, come to think of it.
The phrase “Car of the decade” certainly hints at a car that had the biggest impact on auto-industry(regardless of which aspect it excelled at), and nothing (I mean NOTHING) even comes close to the Prius in that field.
It pains me to admit that a Prius is all every driver NEEDS and then some. Its innocence as far as environmental effects are concerned is FOR REAL, not just a slogan. As a whole package, the Prius could lack a lot more than it already does and still be a true winner.
I ain’t no Toyota fan(yawwwn), and I certainly don’t find driving a Prius a pleasure, but I dream about the day when instead of cell-phone holding, coffee-sipping, make-up fixing soccer moms driving gigantic tanks(aka SUVs) I see them driving small hybrid vehicles with both hands on the wheel.
By a wide margin, the Bugatti Veyron. Sure, the Prius means more as far as “what we’ll be driving” but why does that even matter? It’s an inevitability.
But, the fastest, most powerful, most ridiculous, most expensive production car in history, representing a supply for an absolutely absurd, insane demand, came out this decade. There are going to be hundreds of models like the Prius in our lifetime, but there hasn’t ever, and possibly will never, be a car like the Veyron ever again. Nothing represents cheap oil, excess, wealth, and brute-force engineering as well as the Veyron, other than the concept of the internal combustion engine itself.
The Prius has had the biggest impact on the auto industry by far. But let’s not forget that it’s mileage is not really better than a regular 4 cylinder combustion engine on a light aerodynamic car.
“but why does that even matter?”
I would argue that the Veyron doesn’t matter. It’s unattainable and its purpose lies solely in ultra high performance, a concept that is only relevant to power hungry enthusiasts.
I have to go with the Prius, as well. Joshvar makes a good case for the Veyron, but I don’t think it has the same impact.
I think the WRX more properly belongs to the 90’s. The WRX was first introduced in 1992, after all, and it became a cult object in Europe well before the end of the decade — its reputation was already well established. (By contrast, the Mk I Prius didn’t have anything like the impact of the current version, even if the current version’s technology is an evolution of the same systems.)
Here’s an interesting counterpoint: what was the car of the last decade? My leading contenders would be the Lexus LS400, the Miata/MX-5, the first A-class Mercedes, and the Audi TT (which would probably be the winner from a strict design point of view).
Argentla,
Good question, although you may be stealing some of JL’s thunder.
The way I think about the question is: if a movie is made 50 years from now about the 90’s, what car will the actors be driving that truly symbolizes that decade. For me, the symbol of the 90’s is the Explorer, at least in the US.
Prius, and the plural is Priuses.
I totally agree, the Prius. It was (as someone has already said) a game changer for 2 reasons:
1. It forced companies to adopt an environmental policy and create “greener” cars (i.e Ethanol, cleaner diesels, biofuels etc)
2. It was a marketing success. Ask any lay person to think of a “green” car and more often than not, they say “Toyota Prius”. No-one ever remembers the Honda Civic hybrid, do they….?
Donal Fagan:
You are late to that game. (But welcome, of course.)
Hummer H2. It’s the car everybody loved to hate.
Prius.
“I would argue that the Veyron doesn’t matter. It’s unattainable and its purpose lies solely in ultra high performance, a concept that is only relevant to power hungry enthusiasts.”
The Prius had a very weak first generation effort, and contemporary efforts by Honda in the Insight and Civic Hybrid. The Prius’ second generation sales success is the only thing that sets it apart from the other hybrids, really. The batteries used were a solved problem, the packaging isn’t innovative, its efficiency (outside of the motor) isn’t anything new, and electric motors are simple compared to any modern combustion engine, so really the control and integration of the gas/electric interaction is the only part of the car that is something that really sets it apart from the crowd technologically. It was inevitable, it was easy, and it was well-executed, but I don’t think it’s as big of a deal as it’s made out to be. Good car, sells well, has some interesting features, but really, a right-sized car that gets good mileage? Blah, I like cars because I can drive them. And I like the driving part of that equation, as an enthusiast of automobiles. I’d drive a Prius if I hated driving. It gets my blood pumping about as quickly as continental drift. I want to buy one about as eagerly as I want to catch syphilis.
The Veyron, while I will probably never see one being driven on a road, much less drive one, and even further removed, own one, was a pain in the ass and served absolutely no purpose. It destroyed performance metrics in a category that more often than not inches along and doesn’t have a destructive force applied to it. There’s no money in it, they didn’t need to do it, and they would have had to bring back the dead to get repeat customers. But they did it anyway. It is epic by all measures to the point of being practically mythical, and a car with that status should be the Car of the Decade to anyone who likes cars. Sniping at “power hungry enthusiasts” on this site is akin to issuing the same statement at the [insert political group] National Convention.
If you think the “Car of the Decade” should be the Prius, that’s a safe, logical choice, and I can’t argue with it on those grounds. Like I said, there will likely be hundreds of Prius-like cars to choose from in our lifetime. If you want to be uninterested in power, there was stiff competition from Honda, which has a car (produced, leased, and operating) that runs on FREAKIN’ HYDROGEN NON-COMBUSTION. There’s something that’s a statement, a technomarvel, and offsets its blahness by doing something new and exciting.
I’d say last decade would have to be either some of the Japanese luxury cars (Q45, LS400, Legend), the Miata, or maybe a volume car like the Camry, which is when it seemed to go from “reliable appliance” to “reliable appliance that people want.”
The Prius Choice would have be the Explorer :)
Joshvar:
There is zero doubt in my mind that the Honda Clarity will be the car of the next decade.
I got a chance to drive it both down PCH and whip it around Malibu Canyon. Completely impressed. Behaves like your accord, but gets 68 mpg and squirts water out the tailpipe.
Fuel cells are going to surprise a lot of people. Almost as much as $4.00 a gallon gas.
“Sniping at “power hungry enthusiasts” on this site is akin to issuing the same statement at the [insert political group] National Convention.”
I’m not criticizing, I’m saying that those kinds of people aren’t the only ones who use or even enjoy cars, so the “car of the decade” should be something that has relevance to the average person’s life.
Jonny, how the hell do you get these gigs?
The automobile of the decade during the 1990’s was probably the Ford Explorer. It was at the absolute forefront of the SUV craze and lead to a paradigm shift in what was then the family vehicle.
The Prius would be my top choice as well. But for honorable mention I would pick the Mini. At a time when big virtually tuling the roost, the Mini was really the first small hardtop in a long time that truly broke the mold.
From the advertising of the vehicle, where two Minis were placed on top of a Ford Expedition and driven around town. To the overall design which is fun, efficient, very original and practical. The Mini is quite arguably the most atypical and successful car of this decade.
The Mini Cooper also showed for the first time that a European manufacturer can indeed compete well in a lower-end market that had been dominated by the Japanese. Civic Si’s, Celicas, RSX’s, all pretty much offered the classic Japanese approach to this price segment. The Mini Cooper was a VERY European approach that proved to be far more successful than any of those established competitors.
In my mind the Prius is first, and the Mini Cooper is second.
I would say it has to be the last gen Nissan Altima. When it came out with 240hp (at a time when a 330i BMW had 225 horses) for the 2002 model year, it completely changed the game with regards to horsepower and set off a chain of events that have culminated in 380hp Hyundais and Camrys that can do 0-60 in 5.something seconds.
Back in 1999 would anybody have guessed Hyundai would ever produce a 380hp car? Could people envision a mass-market $40,000 Mustang with 500hp? That was supercar territory just a few years ago. The 240hp Altima absolutely changed the game.
BMW couldn’t have a 225hp 330i with a 240hp Alitma out there. So now we have a 335i with 300 horses. But then where does that leave the M3? So the M3 now gets a V8 with 400+ horses. And if the M3 has a V8, now the M5 and M6 need V10s. And since a lowly BMW has a V10, an AMG CL or S class can’t just have a V12, they need twin turbocharged V12s
I’m sure not all of these events were precipitated by the arrival of a 240hp Altima, but I can assure you that car manufacturers across the board wouldn’t have felt so compelled to join in the hp war if it weren’t for a basic family car throwing down the gauntlet
Veyron. Good one. Most people don’t even know it exists, to most of those who do, it is just another excessive exotic. Besides the McLaren F1 held the top speed record for 10 years, the Veyron for 2 years (It has already lost it). I am much more impressed by the F1 than I am by the Veyron. If I had a spare Million+ to drop on an exotic, I would be looking for an F1, not a Veyron. Though neither deserve car of the decade type honors.
Clearly the Prius is that car, there isn’t even anything that is a close second. I think you would be hard pressed to find a car was as synonymous with a decade than the Prius is with this one (unless you get into Model T territory). It started from obscurity at the beginning (Selling aprox 5000 units in 2000) to a high volume (150000+ in 2007) game changer today. It also is in the perfect storm of efficiency enhancing technology and energy crunch.
Though not my kind of thing (I like to row my own gears), respect where due. Prius is clearly the car of the decade and I hear the owners are very happy with them as well.
prius.
it has such a green halo that people look beyond the fact that it is really ugly.
Unfortunately, I also have to vote for the Prius. If not that, then the Corolla. Being the best selling car in the world has to count for something, no?
Well, the xB could have been the car of the decade if they hadn’t gone and ruined it in the second generation.
Is the Prius really the game changer everyone is saying, or will we look back ten years from now and find that it’s a footnote, and that some gas saving variant of straight internal combustion has superceded the hybrid? Or will the fuel cell suddenly drop in price? In that case, maybe the Clarity. Or perhaps the Corolla might be considered the car of this decade, for reasons cited above. Or maybe the Ford Focus
No!!! Just kidding about the Focus! Just because Dennis Kucinich drives one doesn’t meant it merits car of the decade!
Actually, Joshvar has an excellent point about the Veyron. The ’00s are like the ’20s all over again, and the party’s about to end, aided and abetted by all that excess, and the Veyron, a car that uses a tank of gas in 12 minutes at top speed, is such a perfect symbol of our time.
Prius. The first two letters are PR.
But Steven Lang is correct with regard to the Mini. It’s success has also encouraged BMW to offer a parallel effort in the 1 Series, and has forced Audi and Mercedes to rethink small. (Mr. Lang already demonstrated how the Japanese “got served”).
Without being first off the mark, BMW absolutely nailed the marque, shaming the aluminum A2 and the A Class Merc. There will be rematches, and imitators worldwide. Suzuki Swift for example.
It also ensures BMW’s relevance for another decade in spite of wonky design choices and ill advised techno-crap. Am I alone in thinking a “bangle” should be one order of magnitude worse than a bungle? As in: “Wow that wood chipper really bangled my leg!”.
I am going to offer the Smart-turd-car an honorable mention for acknowledging that personal transportation spends a majority of its lifetime parked. It is efficient, safe, and wait for it, best appreciated in a parked position. Looking forward to a new Isetta! Even mit flame surfacing und funky butt.
The Prius wins the title easily. Only an ardent hater would say otherwise. The Mini would be a distant second.
We perhaps could pick all of Bangle’s BMWs as the designs of the decade but the cars themselves are nothing special.
Actually the Focus isn’t a bad choice, especially in Europe
I think the nod would have to go to the Prius as well. I’m willing to bet that in 15 years, when we all look at the cars we’re driving, it’ll be evident that the Prius is the granddaddy.
However, from a pistonhead perspective, WRX wins hands down. Subaru started it and ran like crazy for something like 5 years, and now the MS3 is King of the Hill. I for one appreciate that even little old broke-ass me can afford a car that can embarrass all them fancy cars I drooled over in the 80’s and 90’s, and I can choose from a wide selection.
prius by a mile
mini next
I may be biased here but I say e39 M5. The jack of all trades super car in a sedan design. If you could only have one car in your garage to live with on a daily basis this would be it.
How about the latest version of the Honda Civic? Reliability, economy, and a bold new design that looks better and better with time. A less obvious choice than the Prius, to be sure….
I like the Civic except for that damn shallow windshield and the solar collector dashboard.
The Prius wins the title easily. Only an ardent hater would say otherwise.
Hater? Car lover certainly, but not Prius hater :) I wouldn’t discourage anyone from purchasing one, and would, in fact, push people toward it. My blood turns to a glacier at the thought of it being something that anyone who loves cars would nominate as CAR of the Decade. I think the Prius is a good, not great car, and its ace in the hole is great gas mileage (compared to offerings in the USA…Japan and Eurozone don’t have the same disparity). Also, I think a similarly-performing gas engine (with corresponding weight loss) could be come close in city mileage and VERY close in highway mileage. From a marketing perspective, the Prius surely took a gigaton dump on the paradigm. I think in that light, it’s one of the best in the history of the automobile. But that doesn’t make it a great car. I think of it this way…if gas was still $1.50/gal as in 2000, would you still be saying the same thing? Judging a car by how politically correct, well-marketed, or well-timed it is doesn’t do any justice to the car. As other posters noted, the MINI, WRX, Altima…those also did things to change segments and send ripples through the industry (FWD with how many torques? Small premium cars the USA?), and were great cars. Neither the price of gas, nor a Global Warming Seminar sold in movie theaters, nor any number of them driven by celebrities, nor any advertisements pushing greenness would have changed that.
And sure, the Veyron’s record was broken in 2 years…but that’s somewhat missing the WHOLE REST OF THE PICTURE. (And 2mph? From manufacturer one step up from kit cars?). While I like the F1 better, and the F40 even more, the Bugatti isn’t a race car for the street. It redefined what the pinnacle of the automobile is in every aspect, and by its sheer existence, we now know what can be done. Many highly respected journalists (and one Gordon Murray) have said it’s in a completely different league than everything else they’ve driven. I have a hard time doubting them, even considering that includes the Carrera GT and Enzo as its contemporaries, which are, by all accounts, absolutely wonderful cars. I don’t particularly even like the car, but I am in absolute awe of it, and it stands as a testament to what is possible when you decide on some arbitrary specifications THEN engineer the car around it. Shitty gas mileage? They can’t sell all 300? Only 2 seats? Loses to Miatas at autocross (Veyron, meet 99% of all production cars)? Oh well, at least it does *everything* else better.
Call me a hater, but I just don’t feel that the Prius is terribly special. There have been plenty of other fuel-efficient cars over time, the Prius is just the latest and greatest, and people are buying them. I think that’s a very good thing, but I just don’t get the sort of love affair that so many people have with this car. If it was a “cake and eat it too” proposition, I’d get it.
How about the latest version of the Honda Civic? Reliability, economy, and a bold new design that looks better and better with time. A less obvious choice than the Prius, to be sure….
As an 8th gen Civic owner, I love the car to pieces, and it’s the best Accord that Honda’s ever built. My tanks of 36-38mpg in the Texas summer with the AC on aren’t quite Prius material, but I’ll take that modest-but-useful 140HP, and the only battery that can ever possibly fail in it is $30, all winter long. But, I think even from Honda, the next-gen Fit is a better car, along with the other ones. Fabulous car though, and will miss it when I get my Fit (if a Fit Si with the R18 is in the future, that will dull the pain greatly).
Pontiac Azteck. What better symbolizes the complete creative, financial and engineering collapse of one of the world’s largest companies.
I would second the Mini. It has drawn the benchmark in brand marketing. The personalisation model is one that every manufacturer is clamouring to emulate. Moreover it actually qualifies since it was actually released in 2001 unlike the Prius which is 11 years old or the WRX which is even older and is in something of a nadir of it life cycle nowadays (although I did have a drive in a brand new STi yesterday which was rather nice!)
It has to be the Prius, has anyone mentioned that yet?
Honda went with future flash. A two seater space machine that was funky enough to look pretty cool, but no good for anyone with kids. I really wanted an insight, but I got a miata instead. (might as well have some fun right?)
Toyota played safe and went for a goofy mint green sedan, and a star was born. Sure it was the 2nd generation that really kicked up in sales, but would the results have been different if gas had hit $3 a few years earlier?
Now that I have a wife and kid, we see a Prius in our future (that is unless Mazda comes here with the 2). Sure Honda has the civic, but dear Lord, those wheels, cover my eyes. Plus the more usable hatchback on the Prius makes it a more usable option.
If this were Extreme Exotic of the Decade, the Veyron would have a lock.
If this were enthusiast car of the Decade, it would get some votes, but still might not win.
But for plain old car of the decade, it is not even a blip on the radar.
The Prius is not a car I would buy, but it is by far the car that has had the biggest impact on the automotive industry in the decade. If there were no Prius, hybrids might have disappeared by now with just the Insight to carry the idea. It also has had the largest impact on the public, the Prius is solidly in the publics mind as THE green car.
It also shot from nothing to 150 000+ annual sales this decade for an entirely new and novel model.
In the 1980’s I would say the car of the decade was the Dodge Caravan. Another novel design that changed the game and spawned a host of imitators.
The Prius is the minivan of the 2000’s. It doesn’t have to be great, you don’t have to like it, but it has been hugely successful and impacted both the general public and the automotive industry massively.
BTW I am a fan of the new Honda Fit and it is on my list of potential next cars(~2010), but I am quite disappointed that it actually gets less highway mileage than the Civic.
The Prius, without a doubt. It will influence drivetrain engineering for the next decade, especially with stricter CAFE requirements on the horizon.
One hopes, however, that it won’t influence styling to the same degree…
Toyota Prius
Pontiac Aztek
Ford Explorer
Hummer H2
The Prius’ dramatic change in engineering, coupled with an efficient design and astounding marketplace success, make it the easy overall winner. It was exactly the right vehicle for the right time and fits in perfectly with past winners: ‘Shoebox’ Chevy from the fifties, Ford Mustang from the sixties, Honda Civic from the seventies, Chrysler minivan from the eighties, RAV4 from the nineties.
The Aztec was extraordinary in how completely it missed the boat in the market and immediately became an abysmal failure for GM, rivaled only by Ford’s Edsel.
The Explorer and Hummer H2 are noteworthy mainly because they exemplify how badly managed the domestic auto industry is and could very likely be the catalysts for the domestics’ ultimate downfall.
Neither the WRX nor Cayenne can hold a candle to any of the above as far as general impact (positive or negative). Hybrid, crossover, and the death of the SUV will be the auto industry buzzwords remembered from this decade.
I agree with the Toyota Prius as the car of the decade. When all the automakers were focusing on was the bottom line and making a gigantic tank filled with many electric whatsits and selling it to soccer moms, The Prius focused on greenery, and now, the companies that made the glacier melting, environment destroying SUVS earlier in the decade are now trying to emulate Toyota’s green image.
For the 90s, it would have to be the Ford Explorer. For the 80s, however, I would have to say the Ford Taurus. Since Ford has reduced the Taurus to nothing but a low key fleet special throughout this decade to have another excuse to shove SUVs down our throats, we have all forgotten that the original 1986 Taurus was a radical, futuristic, and innovative car that changed the way all cars look, feel, and drive. The way all cars in the 90s were aerodynamically styled in the 90s would have not happened if it weren’t for the Taurus. And on top of that, it fought the Japanese back from Fords gates, saved the company, and lead to a design and engineering renaissance for the American auto industry that set it up for a decade of prosperity in the 90s. In fact, cars wouldn’t be nearly the way they are today if it weren’t for the Taurus. And of course, it became omni-present on the roads and spawned a number of imitators.
The Prius for obvious reasons.
But I’m very sympathetic to the argument for the Altima. The fact that family haulers, from Japan anyway, are roomy, fuel-efficient, and go like stink, in a straight line anyway, is a tremendous achievement. 250+ hp family cars! Thank you Nissan.
While a strong case can be made for the original, revolutionary, eighties’ Ford Taurus, there are a few factors which give the Chrysler minivan the nod in that decade. For one thing, the Taurus did not create an entirely new market segment like Chrysler’s minivan. The other is that over the same lifespan, sales of the Chrysler minivan are nearly double of what the Taurus achieved (11 million for the minivan versus the Taurus’ 6.7 million).
Likewise, the nineties’ Ford Explorer just wasn’t as great a game-changer as the RAV4. The similiarly executed 1983 Jeep Cherokee XJ compact SUV predated the first Ford Explorer by seven years. Likewise, the Toyota 4Runner was arguably a better vehicle, as well, and might have been more successful than the Explorer except for Toyota’s then limited production capacity in the US. Ford was simply able to pump out a lot more Explorers for the US market than Toyota could with 4Runners.
OTOH, the 1994 (introduced to the US in 1996) ‘cute ute’ RAV4, was a whole new ball game, with a brand-new FWD platform derived from the Corolla, quite unlike anything anyone had tried or seen before.
Additionally, I’m not sure the sixties’ Mustang quite measures up to the VW Beetle as the car of that particular decade.
Honestly, though, my personal choice for the sixties is the bullet-proof Plymouth Valiant/Dodge Dart 4-door sedan with the slant-six engine and Torqueflight automatic. It was as stodgy and reliable as an anvil and was the bread-and-butter vehicle that kept Chrysler going, allowing the always financially strapped company to splurge engineering funds on R&D for other, less profit-oriented (but now legendary) racing projects like the Hemi and NASCAR aerodynamics.
Everyone remembers the 426 Hemi and 1969 Dodge Daytona, but no one remembers that they were made possible by the constant strong sales of the lowly (but reliable) Plymouth Valiant. It’s no coincidence that Chrysler really began tanking when the A-body was replaced by the loathsome Aspen/Volaré twins.
If we’re talking about the US here, I’d absolutely agree that it’s the Chrysler minivan for the eighties and the Ford Explorer for the nineties. Both had profound impacts on the market and consumer tastes. The Taurus was a turnaround vehicle for Ford, but it was not particularly revolutionary for the consumer.
If you want to back further to the seventies, I’d be inclined to share the prize with the Datsun 510, Datsun 240Z, Toyota Corolla and the Honda Accord, all of which bolstered the credibility of small Japanese cars in the eyes of mainstream American consumers and gave them the toehold to erode the dominance of the Big 3. The US car market hasn’t been the same since.
My vote goes to the Bentley Continental GT. It showed how well globalization can work when all the pieces function harmoniously. And it is drop-dead gorgeous. There are probably more of them, per capita, where I live (Palm Springs, CA) and I still stare whenever I see one.
red stick
At least one person agrees with me about the Altima. Thank you!
The Prius might deserve “PR campaign of the year.” But it’s not really that great of a car. There have been cars that have achieved similar mileage with or without the use of hybrid technology. The real genius of that car was making it weird/distinctive looking so their owners can announce to the world that they’re being green
I don’t think the seventies’ Datsuns or Honda Accord cut it for sharing the limelight with the original Honda Civic. It’s worth noting that the initial 1976 Honda Accord had enough of a rusting problem (although later fixed) for Consumer Reports to rank it as ‘Not Recommended’ as a used car.
The Corolla wasn’t particularly noteworthy, either. Road & Track called the 1975 model “large, heavy, and expensive” in comparison to the Civic and 510. It’s also worth noting that the Corolla was RWD until switching to more efficient FWD in 1983.
The 510, although nicer than the Corolla, wasn’t nearly as forward thinking as the Civic, which was just the right vehicle at just the right time. It was quite original when it debuted in 1973 and a marked improvement from Honda’s first US cars – the diminutive N/Z600 series which seemed more like toys than real cars. It is truly astounding how Honda was able to hit a home run a mere three years after entering the US market.
The Corolla wasn’t particularly noteworthy, either. Road & Track called the 1975 model “large, heavy, and expensive” in comparison to the Civic and 510. It’s also worth noting that the Corolla was RWD until switching to more efficient FWD in 1983.
You sure? My ’77 weighed less than 2,000 lbs, was tiny–about Yaris size–and cheap.
My point about the 70’s era 510, Z, Accord and Corolla is that they put these companies on the map with US customers. Before that, all three were tiny niche companies that offered cars that were of little interest to American consumers. Without those cars, they would have never become what they are today.
The Chrysler minivans were pretty crap, too, but they had a huge influence on the US car market.
I should have probably also mentioned the BMW 3-series, which helped to create the German sports sedan standard that would help to kill off Lincoln and severely wound Cadillac. Like the Japanese, they helped to move the common standard away from size, softness and cylinders as being the most compelling selling points to American consumers.
The 3 series would be the car of several decades.
I too, was going to say the Prius, however….
Buick61 :
The Prius would be, but the car has been on sale since 1997 in Japan. Its current form is just an evolution.
And he’s right! I should have thought of that myself.
So in light of that accurate statement, I have to say that there is NO POSSIBLE answer to the question. No other car has been a “game changer,” a “paradigm shifter.”
So I propose that we close the voting now and we all just go home.
(just kidding!)
Unless one could make the case that the Prius is SUCH a HUGE game-changer, that it is STILL a viable force, and that the paradigm continues to shift, as the tectonic plates continue to move, even millenia after they began to move.
It appears you are just trying to be pedantic to disqualify the obvious winner.
But if you insist on being pedantic, the NHW10 was a Japan only model out before 2000 that was based on the Vitz.
The NHW11 and NHW20 are the only models that ever made it to the rest of the world and they were out after 2000.
Really it is the all new, purpose built, NHW20 with the bigger engine, bigger motor, better economy, bigger hatchback body that stormed the market. Every car contest I have ever seen always give a another go around when there is a completely new model.
So it still stands. The Prius is it. For the excessively pedantic, it is the NHW20 model.
A few thoughts…
The 4Runner was a very underpowered vehicle, and expensive to boot. During most of the 1990’s the most successful ‘import’ SUV was the Isuzu Rodeo.
Even that wasn’t nearly as good or influential as the Explorer.
The RAV4 was not really that much of a breakthrough at all. A good vehicle, but definitely not a game changer. The vehicle was heavy and underpowered (especially compared with the Cherokee), the 2 door model was hideous, and it had enough body cladding to give Pontiac a run for the money. As much as I endorse Toyotas of that era as great used cars, the RAV4 and 4Runner were not exceptional or ‘game changing’ vehicles.
For North America my picks would be…
2000’s : First Prize: Toyota Prius
Honorable Mention: Mini Cooper
1990’s : First Prize: Ford Explorer
Honorable Mention: Toyota Camry
1980’s : First Prize: Chrysler Minivans
Honorable Mention: Mazda Miata
1970’s : First Prize: The Flying Chicken Firebird
Second Place: Mercedes W116’s
This line-up was not endorsed by anyone other than those manufacturers and multi-national conglomerates that offered to ‘assist’ me with my fine wine collection. Oh, and thanks Mr. Shoemaker.
As much as I absolutely detest any and every CUV (I can honestly not understand why anybody would buy one-especially the 5 seat versions), the Rav-4 (along with the Lexus RX300 a few years later) did start an entire genre that (mystifyingly) remains extremely popular to this day
David Holzman: “You sure? My ‘77 weighed less than 2,000 lbs, was tiny–about Yaris size–and cheap.”From Wikipedia:“Road & Track was critical of the 1975 Corolla, calling it “large and heavy” and “expensive” compared to the Honda Civic and Datsun B210. They also criticized the “relatively crude rear suspension”, lack of interior space, and poor fuel economy when compared to the VW Rabbit. The base model cost US$ 2711 in 1975, but only the $2989 “deluxe” model had features comparable to the contemporary pack.”
Rudiger,
Wikipedia is definitely fallible. Remember, anyone can contribute, and not everyone knows what they are talking about. And unless less than 2,000 lbs is “large and heavy,” they’ve got it wrong on this one. Do a google image search on ’75, ’77, or ’79 corolla, and you’ll see it’s a minuscule car. The steering was incredibly light, lighter than a lot of power steering, but there was no power for this car.
I do think the Civic of that era may have been significantly smaller than the Corolla. In the late ’80s I had a tenant who had a Civic, I don’t know what year, and in fact, I just did a google image search on ’75 Civic, and got a car that looked like his. But we’re talking “very small” and “even smaller than very small.”
The guy who sold me my Corolla (one of the now former Iraq weapons inspectors, but that’s another story) told me it had gotten 50mpg on the road until his brother borrowed it and towed a trailer (the engine was a 1.2 liter.) I got close to 40mpg on the road, going around 60.
@thetopdog:
A lot of people want to sit at SUV height, but in some thing that’s not big, and that is reasonably economical. Hence, I believe, the popularity of the CRV and the RAV4. I think women in particular tend ot like them.
we have all forgotten that the original 1986 Taurus was a radical, futuristic, and innovative car that changed the way all cars look, feel, and drive.
It certainly was all that to American eyes, and I think those original Tauruses are one of the few cars of the ’80s that’s likely to be shown at places like Hershey 10-20 years from now. but check out this old French Panhard
http://www.autohistories.com/panhard-levassor/Panhard_24CT-f.jpg
At the time the Taurus came out, I had a friend who was a woman from our Mother Country, who said of the Taurus that she thought “it looks like a French car.” (She didn’t know one car from the other.)
David Holzman
Seeing that I can’t understand 90% of the things women do, CUVs are in good company ;)
It doesn’t really matter much how accurate either Wikipedia and/or Road & Track might be on the seventies’ Corolla. The point is, the Honda Civic lays a much stronger claim to being the car of that decade.
Likewise, all those touting the virtues of vehicles built by BMW (such as the 3-series or MINI) as legitimate contenders for cars of any decade would seem to in the very same camp as the writers who try to say that the Cayenne or WRX are vehicles of this decade.
The very first response by Samir Syed said it best: “Maybe the pistonhead car of the decade, Johnny”. For the majority of the motoring public that have vastly different priorities and needs, other vehicles (like the Prius) are superior. In fact, I know of people that traded 993 Porsches and 3-series BMWs in on Priuses. I suspect they outnumber those that traded a Prius in on a 3-series or Porsche by a large margin.
Okay, in all seriousness, the Mercedes W116’s were by far the best cars of the 1970’s.
Consider…
These were the only vehicles made at that time which could last over 20 years given normal driving and routine maintenance. In an automotive world filled with vehicles that were rolling examples of planned obsolescence (even the Japanese models), the Mercedes W116 had a look and build quality that would truly endure over the decades.
You also have to take into account that these vehicles were virtually the only ones that could provide serious horsepower at a time where it was nascent. The 350SE that was in my driveway has over 200 horsepower and is still as easy to drive as most of today’s full-sized sedans. The W116’s were also among the first models in the world to offer ABS, and the diesel models are still among the most coveted in North America. Then we also have the 6.9L that was given fame in the Cannonball Run, but was also possibly the only vehicle of the 1970’s that could be sent to the track and NOT experience dangerous levels of brake fade and chronic overheating.
From my perspective, the Mercedes W116’s were truly engineered like no other car in the world at that time. The Japanese models had yet to really hit their prime with most American car buyers, and most European and American vehicles were simply not very good overall (Porsche and BMW 2002 excepted). I think from a design, engineering and consumer’s perspective, the W116 platform was probably the best representation of what folks aspired to have and truly wanted. In fact no other platform at that time could offer so many qualities to their customers (power, safety, fuel economy, luxury, sport, utility, etc.) as the W116’s.
That’s my vote…
I think it’s a tie between the 3rd generation Camry 1992 to 1996 and the 4th generation Accord 1990 to 1993. Those cars made Toyota and Honda what they are today. They were outstanding vehicles that totally changed the car market. They were large comfortable conservatively styled and ultra reliable. .They captured the American car buying public by being simply the best family sedans you could buy. Detroit lost their former customers permanently when Toyota and Honda introduced those two knock out models.
Actually Sherman the Ford Taurus was a best seller during that time period…
I will say that the AXOD transmissions in the Taurus enabled Honda and Toyota to capitalize on the reliability issue. The 1992-1996 Camry in particular transformed the Camry into a premium car in the eyes of consumer. Once they decontented it in 1997, they were perfectly poised to make it an annual best seller.
we have all forgotten that the original 1986 Taurus was a radical, futuristic, and innovative car that changed the way all cars look, feel, and drive.
I always though it looked like an Audi 5000.
Steven, both the Camary and the Accord suffered from decontenting after the model years I mentioned. I dispised what what both Honda had Toyota had done to the 5th generation Accord in 94 and the 4th generation Camry in 97. I still haven’t figured out how Ford could have screwed up a successful model like the Tauraus. They certainly for many years had a top notch competitive car. Although now that I think about it Ford, Toyota and Honda in my opinion all screwed up a good car from the early 90s and made a lesser car in the following model, its just that Toyota and Honda update their lines more frequently and were able to correct their decontented abominations (my opinion) more quickly than Ford before permanant damage was done to their reputation.
definetely the fantastic Chrysler PT Cruiser. What a car.
I think the car of the decade is without a doubt the E46 M3. That car single handedly changed car design (for the worse). Now nearly every car made gets some form of fender mounted side vent.
I would definitely agree with that. Something I’ve been battering in my mind is whether the LS400 may be a better choice given how it transformed the luxury segment. Technically it’s a 1989 model (like the Miata and 300Z), and I still believe the Camry and Explorer had a far greater impact on the North American market.
If you were looking at this nomination from a design perspective you would also have to consider the 1996 – 2000 Chrysler minivans as well. Brock Yates did a fantastic job chronicling that vehicle in the book ‘Critical Path’ and I still think it’s one of the best values in the market today.
I’m just waiting for the ‘enthusiast’ car of the decade thread. An awful lot of grist for that mill.
Here are a couple of worthy candidates:
Lotus Elise and Ferrari Enzo.
The Elise’s bonded aluminum technology is spreading around the industry and the car itself is the basis for the Tesla roadster – itself a candidate should it actually pan out.
The Enzo is the closest thing to a street legal F1 car that exists today. The Veyron may have more power but the Enzo is a technological tour de force and I’m not usually a big fan of the prancing horse.
guyingognito,
Fender gills predate the E46, there’s nothing new under the automotive styling sun, but you may be right in terms of it being patient zero on the current epidemic. I’m trying to remember if the Ford Super Duty trucks had them before the E46. They’ve spread to the Ford Focus and Jaguar tacked them on to the flanks of the XJ, just because the XK and XF have them.
Steven,
I agree with your selections, except that I think you forgot the Cutlass. Olds was selling almost a million copies a year there in the early 80’s. That’s got to be worth an honorable mention, no?
Hmmm… I thought the million copies a year was for the Oldsmobile line, and I thought that was one year.
I do like those cars (my wife had one when we first dated). But compared with the Taurus, Chrysler Minivans, and the Miata, it was not really much of a transformational vehicle. It was the last RWD mainstream sedan that GM made with any lasting level of success. I will say it probably represents GM’s best work in the midsized market vis-a-vis their competitors over the past 30 years.
It is a good car that deserves a mention. But I just don’t see how it transformed the industry.
Steven Lang,
The Mercedes W116 was a fantastic car, but, in my opinion, the Car of the Decade should symbolize, for good or bad, where the automotive industry was headed. It should also be a vehicle that, by the mere mention of its name, recalls that era. It should be influential in design (again, either good or bad), but does not necessarily have to be mechanically advanced.
The Mercedes W116 of the 1970s was good…too good to symbolize that era. It stands out precisely because it went against the grain of what was happening in most of the automotive world at that time.
In my opinion, the Car of the Decade for the 1970s was…the 1975-79 Chrysler Cordoba.
Now, don’t laugh!
It symbolizes everything that was wrong with the 1970s. Originally meant to be a Plymouth, the Cordoba was re-badged as a Chrysler at the last minute to capitalize on that marque’s greater prestige. That netted sales in the short term, but destroyed whatever prestige remained in the Chrysler nameplate. Unfortunately, Chrysler Corporation wasn’t the only domestic auto maker playing this game, as over the next decade Oldsmobile, Buick and even Cadillac and Lincoln would be degraded with cheaper models based on platforms shared with less-prestigious nameplates, as management chased short-term sales results over long-term growth.
This was when the Germans cornered the real prestige market (i.e., those vehicles sold to the truly rich, not middle-class Americans looking for ersatz symbols of the good life).
The car itself was mechanically bland, and sold primarily on the basis of “style,” which consisted of a landau vinyl roof, opera windows, upright grille, cheesy badges made to look like Spanish coins and that infamous leather interior – in other words, features that added nothing to the car’s function or even ultimate value, and were worth less than appearances indicated.
When those features were stripped away, buyers were left with a mundane two-door coupe based on the Mopar intermediate platform that dated back to the early 1960s. All of this was hawked by Ricardo Montalban in endless commercials, which are today remembered as much as the car itself.
Lots of sizzle, but very little steak. Which pretty much sums up what Detroit served us as the 1970s wore on – with a few exceptions, such as the downsized GM and Ford big cars of 1977 and 1979, respectively, and Ford’s Fox-based cars.
While the Chrysler Cordoba is a good choice for the seventies (if you’re going to go the route of choosing the vehicle which exemplifies what was wrong with that decade), there’s a much better choice: the Chevy Vega. GM’s first ‘corporate’ car laid the template for short-term profits and everything that followed from Detroit for decades until enough market share had been lost to the Japanese that domestic manufacturers finally had to make an attempt (feeble and late as it might be) to make some serious changes in how they designed and sold vehicles. To this day, the Vega business model still reverberates throughout Detroit.
No, although the Cordoba is a fine example of what was wrong with Detroit in the seventies, the Vega had it beaten to the market by four years, was exponentially worse, was produced for far longer in its original form, and spawned other variations off the same, hoary platform that lasted until the end of the decade (the Monza deviants).
I know of a first-hand example when a friend ordered a new ’77 Monza. It was constantly in the shop from the day he got it. He finally traded it in on a new Celica and he’s never bought another domestic vehicle since.
Bytor (to ZoomZoom, I think):
It appears you are just trying to be pedantic to disqualify the obvious winner.
Oooh, pedantic, I like that. I think I’ll just be pedantic to everybody this week!
So it still stands. The Prius is it. For the excessively pedantic, it is the NHW20 model.
I drive a Prius. If I lost this one, I’d buy another one. That should tell you how I feel about it. Anyway, I would love to vote for it.
But it IS older than a decade already, so it may be disqualified on that basis. I think we need a referee on this one! Calling Mr. Farago!
I think we need a referee on this one!
Not sure if I can ref, but I’ll just butt in.
I ticked the Prius on my virtual ballot because of the time period during which it impacted the marketplace and began to influence the cars that we are likely to drive in the future. That occurred during this decade, and involves the second generation of the car.
The year that it was first invented or launched, or the fact that the first generation was not a sales success, really doesn’t matter if you base it on the yardstick that I have chosen. The focus here is on the time period that it had a broader outcome to the automotive industry, not when the engineers first began the R&D.
The previous generation V8 BMW M5. Required riding. 2000 to 2003 in the USA. 14 mpg on a good day. 10 when you’re pissed off and taking it out on the car. Sounds a helluva lot better than the new M3… burbling from idle to full redline shout.
The Prius? Come on! Is this TTAC or Condemner Retorts? The Prius is not a car for enthusiast drivers… it’s an appliance to assuage lefty-liberal guilt. And I think those who voted for it are massaging their guilty egos for not buying one. One can only hope they have worthy sins… like harbouring gas-swilling orgasmatron 6.0 LS2 GTO’s in their garages… to atone for.
Got to be the EV1 for a couple of reasons.
1. Gm made this when there was no solid reason to go this direction. CA mandated ZEV? Don’t sell in CA! Done.
2. Never really was SOLD, just leased then returned and destroyed.
3. When has there been a dedicated following, such as they are , to another single vehicle?
Very Grateful Dead like.
4. It hit on a viable solution for where were at right now, waaay before we knew we were going to be here.
EV1 for which decade? It was in production from 1996 to 1999. Production ended before this decade began. IMO they should have just used the EV1 body for the Volt. Already super aerodynamic and had normal size windows to see out.
Zoom, Zoom: there are no hard and fast rules to this. But the 2004 Prius is the one with all the success and it is an entirely new model. I don’t see how you can disqualify it for being too old.
Who says that the car of the Decade must not have had a nameplate that was in use before. It an entirely new model designed from the ground up to be a hybrid, the first for Toyota. The japan only pre-2000 hybrid was essentially a Vitz with a different drive train.
If they EV1 nameplate was kept and a new Lithium powered EV1 with 200mile range was introduced in 2003, and it stormed the market, would you disqualify it?
Bottom line the 2004 Prius is an all new car, that stormed the market and changed an industry. The reuse of a nameplate doesn’t change that.
Please, the word is ducat. You don’t need to spoonfeed the rhyme to us. :)