Cars from the 00s

[FlynnFlynn]

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.

[FlynnFlynn]

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.