Cars from the 00s

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Discussion

FlynnFlynn

Original Poster:

11 posts

106 months

Monday 25th May 2015
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I have a real fascination with the 00s (or noughties if you prefer) and being a petrol head one of the main things that will be significant to me is obviously the cars from that era. The 00s to me seemed so recent yet are already showing signs of aging. They were my teenage years, the last of which being 2009, when I finally got on the road when I bought my beloved 306.

I fondly remember following the World Rally Championship and the BTCC from that era and thinking how modern the cars looked and wondering how they would appear a decade on.

Well now it is a decade on from 2005 and I honestly don't think the cars themselves look much dated at all. For instance, this is a 2005 ford focus:




Doesn't look too old does it? Compare that to a Ford Escort from 1997, less than a decade before:



A world of difference, wouldn't you say?

We all remember the awful Renault Laguna with the keyless start:



But what, if anything do you notice about the difference between cars then and now? I seem to remember that all of the tech and stuff was exploding into mainstream affordable guys like e handbrakes, the aforementioned keyless start with the card, satnav screens, phone connectivity, etc.

ChrisR99

452 posts

110 months

Monday 25th May 2015
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I think the MK2 Focus has dated more than the MK1 is replaced. The MK1 is a very stylish car IMO! Also cars like the 306 and 406 have aged well too.

I too love cars from the 90s and early 00s.

Liquid Tuna

1,398 posts

155 months

Monday 25th May 2015
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My favourite cars are from the 90s really, but it's amazing to think that most cars bought even at the end of the "noughties" will now be out of warranty, with at least 60/70k on them, etc.

Fattyfat

3,301 posts

195 months

Monday 25th May 2015
quotequote all
Liquid Tuna said:
My favourite cars are from the 90s really, but it's amazing to think that most cars bought even at the end of the "noughties" will now be out of warranty, with at least 60/70k on them, etc.
Amazing to think that something like the E90 3 series is out of production a few years already

billzeebub

3,862 posts

198 months

Monday 25th May 2015
quotequote all
late 80s, 90s & early 00s for me. The sweet-spot for premium sportscar engineering without too much frivilous tech & EU nanny meddling. I cant abide most dull current cars with turbo/diesel engines and copious size/weight, bongs for everything and gadgets I neither need nor want. I think the only current cars I would look at would be from Lotus or Caterham..I would really like a LandRover Defender but know Im running out of time on that as a brand new purchase

Axionknight

8,505 posts

134 months

Monday 25th May 2015
quotequote all
A workmate and I bought a diesel Laguna estate of that vintage to use as a shared works car when we were doing a 180 mile a day round trip for our commute - great car, comfy, roomy and a frugal, decent diesel engine and it cost us peanuts to run.

I know they had their gremlins but they weren't awful, IMO.

FlynnFlynn

Original Poster:

11 posts

106 months

Monday 25th May 2015
quotequote all
I totally agree, it is great to find like minded people. I often feel like the late 90s-early 00s were the pinnacle of car design, after that things went too exaggerated. As early as 2001 the current look was beginning to take shape, with complete saturation by 2005 I would say. You can see this effect in the Subaru Impreza, there was the bugeye and then shortly after the hawkeye which looked markedly more chunky.

Vaud

50,289 posts

154 months

Thursday 28th May 2015
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Agreed on Focus, very tidy, timeless design and a good car.

ging84

8,828 posts

145 months

Thursday 28th May 2015
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You have made a completely unreasonable comparison
that 1997 escort was released in 1990
that 2005 focus was in production will 2010
Essentially you could have bought those cars new 8 years or 20 years apart, and an escort is an extreme example, it was a model in production since the 60s, the focus was all new in the mid 90s.

How about you compare a 1998 e46 bmw to a 2005 e90 the difference is much less dramatic





HustleRussell

24,602 posts

159 months

Friday 29th May 2015
quotequote all
billzeebub said:
late 80s, 90s & early 00s for me. The sweet-spot for premium sportscar automotive engineering without too much frivilous tech & EU nanny meddling. I cant abide most dull current cars with turbo/diesel engines and copious size/weight, bongs for everything and gadgets I neither need nor want.
yes

I struggle with this sometimes, a couple of weeks ago I hired a car from enterprise and was given a Hyundai i30 which I quicky realised was, objectively speaking, better in pretty much every way than my E34 BMW.

This made me a bit sad and confused. I wondered if I did want 50mpg, buttons on the steering wheel and xenon headlamps after all. Of course when I gave it back 11 days later the honeymoon period was well and truly over and I remembered what I loved about my old BMW and generally cars of it's period.

Explaining that fact to people who 'don't get it', though, is pretty much impossible.

bennyboysvuk

3,491 posts

247 months

Friday 29th May 2015
quotequote all
HustleRussell said:
billzeebub said:
late 80s, 90s & early 00s for me. The sweet-spot for premium sportscar automotive engineering without too much frivilous tech & EU nanny meddling. I cant abide most dull current cars with turbo/diesel engines and copious size/weight, bongs for everything and gadgets I neither need nor want.
yes

I struggle with this sometimes, a couple of weeks ago I hired a car from enterprise and was given a Hyundai i30 which I quicky realised was, objectively speaking, better in pretty much every way than my E34 BMW.

This made me a bit sad and confused. I wondered if I did want 50mpg, buttons on the steering wheel and xenon headlamps after all. Of course when I gave it back 11 days later the honeymoon period was well and truly over and I remembered what I loved about my old BMW and generally cars of it's period.

Explaining that fact to people who 'don't get it', though, is pretty much impossible.
You couldn't be more right. Nowadays, cars have got bigger, faster, quieter and more mundane too. Turbos mean you don't have to work for speed and sound deadening means you don't know you're doing the speed anyway. There's not much in it for someone who appreciates more feedback, a little bit of NVH and a decent engine and exhaust sound. Back in the late 80s and 90s you could get in a car and not have a load of different driving modes either, which meant you didn't have to consider how you felt or the road conditions or anything else, you just drove the car.

Lowtimer

4,286 posts

167 months

Friday 29th May 2015
quotequote all
billzeebub said:
late 80s, 90s & early 00s for me. The sweet-spot for premium sportscar engineering without too much frivilous tech & EU nanny meddling.
Yep. Premium saloon engineering as well as sports car. 1990, 1993 and 2000 build years for mine. Though the 1990 is basically an evolution of a 1976 car, so a bit more retro in feel.