Spice Girls. Power Rangers. Alcopops and luminous yellow trainers. Whichever way you square it, the 1990s was not exactly a decade to be remembered for its class and subtlety.
Think where 80s coupes are now!
Some 1990s fads, however, look rather better in the cold light of the modern day. Take the coupe, for example. Of course, coupes have existed before and since, but the 1990s really was a halcyon time for the two-door.
What's surprising is that it couldn't have been more different just a few years earlier. Throughout the 1980s, the dominance of the hot hatch meant coupes seemed old hat. But from 1988, when Volkswagen replaced the Scirocco with the blunt, squat Corrado, a change was in the air. Hot on the Corrado's heels came the Vauxhall Calibra; svelte, smart and considerably more desirable than a Vauxhall had any right to be. A trickle became a steady stream of coupes arriving in dealerships.
Another car for consideration...
Some which had always been kicking around at the back of the lot, like the Honda Prelude and Toyota Celica, were promoted to the showroom windows; others were parachuted in hastily from abroad - a little too hastily, in the case of the Ford Probe. Hyundai and Peugeot wowed the world with their efforts, and even Volvo got in on the act with the C70. While at the cheaper end of the market, Ford's Puma became an icon for its divine dynamics.
Then, almost as quickly as it had started, the fad was over. Nobody, then, wants a 1990s coupe these days. Yes, it's a little bit of a shame, but for the canny used car buyer, it's great news, because it means they can be picked up for a pittance. In celebration of the fact, we've picked five favourites to give our Market Watch treatment. All have stylish looks, all are going for a song, and most are surprisingly good fun to drive, too. Prepare to be tempted.
