Cars that still look good more than 10 years on...

thatkindofgirl

I have to say that Rover is as bland looking as the Audi in question (see page 2 I believe).

I don't think any honour should go to the cars that looked the most boring to begin with and therefore cannot possibly be offensive looking now.

I'm suprised it got to page three before somebody mentionned the mini!


sweet

Kermitt

Original Audi Quattro from late 80's angular.. but class
Vw Corrado - as stated- one of the best looking cars of its kind.. VR6 was a beast. Great spec too. Revs till 8000.. how many modern sporties do that!!

Eoin

thatkindofgirl wrote:

I'm suprised it got to page three before somebody mentionned the mini!

Excellent point - I'm ashamed of myself for not thinking of the mini. Was it 1959 it came out?

commited

The Mini was what I thought of first!

Yup - came out in 59 and only changed slightly throughout the years.

prospect

If we are including supercars:
AC Cobra
Lambo Muria


And of course, the MX5.......

blastman

Would agree with the Corrado, always liked them and actually sat in a brand new one in the Manchester Motor Show circa 1990

At the same time I sat in a brand new CRX and have loved them ever since, too. Not dissimilar to the Corrado in looks, and still one of the best-looking arses of any car, IMO

IrishRover

Squirrel wrote:

Webmonkey wrote:

Rover 400 series

I was thinking that, but only the 5 door version, a guy across the road had one, grand for 8 years, than in the garage every week, nice car.

The 5 door or 3 door is the 200 (hatch) and the 4 door is the 400 (saloon).
There's also an estate which has 5 doors and that's a 400 too.
There was also a 2 door coupe and that's a 200 as well.

Gratuitous pic of the coupe:



Always looks good to me

Webmonkey

IrishRover wrote:

The 5 door or 3 door is the 200 (hatch) and the 4 door is the 400 (saloon).
There's also an estate which has 5 doors and that's a 400 too.
There was also a 2 door coupe and that's a 200 as well.

Gratuitous pic of the coupe:



Always looks good to me

There is a 5 door (hatch) Rover 400

IrishRover

Unless it's a 400 estate, then it's a 200 if it's got 5 doors.

Actually, are you talking about the post March '96 Rover 400?
If so, yeah I think there may be a hatch version of that - but that's not yet 10 years old.

Webmonkey

Yeah i'm talking 96 onwards, roughly 10 years old

unkel

lomb wrote:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/sl/
has to be the SL, ive thought about it... can pick one up for less than a new vw polo now.

It's very dated looking imho and I don't mean classic Mercedes, just old. More 80s than 90s even



Not one of the many fine Mercedes cars that have made it or will make it to classic status

milltown

I'd disagree with ya there Unkel. I remember when the SL and the 850i came out (I think within a year of each other) having a discussion with a mate. We came to the conclusion that the angular design of the 850 would date a lot quicker than the SL. I still think this holds true.

Agree with the Corrado, and the Integrale still makes me do a little sex wee when I see one. I'll never forget the noise of one at full chat when it overtook me on the way to Wexford years ago.

rancheros

was anyone watching the programme on sky one tonight with the best TV cars

think top three

1. General Lee
2. Kitt (knightrider)
3. starskys and hutches

Think either 1 or 3 here will never look out of place

unkel

milltown wrote:

I'd disagree with ya there Unkel. I remember when the SL and the 850i came out (I think within a year of each other) having a discussion with a mate. We came to the conclusion that the angular design of the 850 would date a lot quicker than the SL. I still think this holds true

Angular? Might have been a case of mistaken identity





Now which one is looking older?

milltown

Nope, no mistake. Take a look around each one and I think there's a lot more to the design of the Merc. The BMW is just a wedge IMO.

unkel

Do you really think the Mercedes looks less angular in those pictures?

lomb

unkel wrote:

It's very dated looking imho and I don't mean classic Mercedes, just old. More 80s than 90s even



Not one of the many fine Mercedes cars that have made it or will make it to classic status

i think shes a beut, i suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder drive that especially with the roof down and ul feel like a rock star on cocaine. unkel, remember how powerful the 500 is, awesome thrust....

ibanez

Not quite ten yet but the Ford Ka still looks amazing.Sierra was a great looking car in its day as well.

Webmonkey

Oh man i hate the look of the ford ka

Webmonkey

Oh man i hate the look of the ford ka

ubu

Webmonkey wrote:

Oh man i hate the look of the ford ka

You hate it so much you had to say it twice!

and no, it didnt look good when it came out and it still doesnt look good, one of the most stupid annoying looking cars around.

Webmonkey

Whoops, knew something was wierd with boards when I was posting that

peasant

Not a really great car ...but i thought the looks were fabulous and still are ...

the ....



OPEL ....




Calibra !

easily the best looking "ordinary" car of the early nineties

ibanez

Ka is an amazing looking car for a nine year old design.Far before crap like VW Polo or Nissan Micra.

ZENER

The 1988 - 1991 3rd Gen Honda Prelude . . . sweeeeet !

Gaze upon her beauty !!

'nuff said !

ZEN

unkel

ZENER wrote:

The 1988 - 1991 3rd Gen Honda Prelude . . . sweeeeet !

My father-in-law had one from new. He loved it. I hated (being a passenger in) it. It felt like being inside a vehicle built of sardine tins

He p/ex'd it for a brand new Rover 620TI 10 years ago. A nice car by all means but unfortunately they (fill in your preferred scum, IRA, professional thieves or what not) tried to steal it to use as a high speed get-away car so often that he decided the stress wasn't worth it

Years later I was tempted to buy one. Driving it again I experienced that, despite of the turbo, one needs to rev the sh!te out of it to get any kind of performance. This was my defining experience. I obviously needed something with torque. Bought my first BMW V8 shortly after and have never looked back

IrishRover

I certainly wouldn't turn my nose up at one Zener, but for me the definitive Prelude is the gen 4:



Very similar side profile to the Rover Tomcat incidentally.

Webmonkey

unkel wrote:

My father-in-law had one from new. He loved it. I hated (being a passenger in) it. It felt like being inside a vehicle built of sardine tins

He p/ex'd it for a brand new Rover 620TI 10 years ago. A nice car by all means but unfortunately they (fill in your preferred scum, IRA, professional thieves or what not) tried to steal it to use as a high speed get-away car so often that he decided the stress wasn't worth it

Years later I was tempted to buy one. Driving it again I experienced that, despite of the turbo, one needs to rev the sh!te out of it to get any kind of performance. This was my defining experience. I obviously needed something with torque. Bought my first BMW V8 shortly after and have never looked back

Have you driven the Rover 400 from 96-99. I have a 98 one and its torque is unreal. I dont know but it is a very nippy car in the low gears, very responsive, i don't know if this is to do with the twin cam, but you can always alter the ECU to inject more fuel at a time

unkel

Webmonkey wrote:

Have you driven the Rover 400 from 96-99. I have a 98 one and its torque is unreal. I dont know but it is a very nippy car in the low gears

Yep, a '99 416. You noticed right. It's pretty nippy compared to other 1.6 liter small family cars as it reaches above average torque (145NM) at very low revs (3000rpm) for a n/a small petrol engine

E.g. a '99 Ford Focus 1.6 (a much more modern car by all means) has the same torque but doesn't reach it until 4000rpm

And a '99 Honda Civic 1.6 VTI delivers a hefty 160BHP but doesn't reach it's peak torque of only 153NM until an annoying 7000RPM. This car doesn't do anything unless you keep the revs all the way up all the time

Webmonkey

I love over taking with it