What are the "most" 1980s/1990s/2000s cars?

[white_goodman]

Some bias, as these were my formative years but I’m going to stick my neck out and say that the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s were the best 3 decades for cars. 1980s for lightweight and simplicity, 1990s for design and 2000s for being the best all-rounders to live with, without excessive tech and complexity. I don’t really feel that any car manufacturer (with the possible exception of Tesla) have really moved the game on for the better in the last 15 years and no specific cars really define the era since 2010 to me. So what in your opinion are the most significant cars from those decades in the UK whether that be through sheer popularity, cultural significance, because it was “the car to have” in its segment or it moved the game on significantly.

1980s

The UK mass market in the 1980s was all about Ford in my opinion. Not because they were the best but they were cheap/affordable, a true “blue collar”/”everyman” brand and if you wanted a mk2 Fiesta/mk3/4 Escort/Orion/Sierra, you could probably afford one within your budget.

Hot hatch: 205 GTi, mk2 Golf GTi and Renault 5 GT Turbo on merit but Fiesta XR2/Escort XR3i/Escort RS Turbo for popularity/cultural significance

Premium: E30 BMW 3-Series

Premium family: Volvo 200/Renault Espace

Sports car: Toyota MR2 mk1/Porsche 944/Ford Capri

High performance: Audi quattro/Sierra RS Cosworth

Luxury: Range Rover Classic/W126 S-Class depending on if you lived in the country or the city.

Supercar: Lamborghini Countach/Ferrari Testarossa/Ferrari F40/Lotus Esprit Turbo

1990s

The 1990s was Vauxhall’s decade in the UK mass market in my opinion, so Vauxhall Corsa B, mk3 Cavalier, Omega and Calibra. Perhaps the large family car baton went back to Ford post Cavalier but with the exception of the Mondeo, the 1990s seemed like a bit of a doldrum period for Ford. An honourable mention to the R8 Rover 200/400 and Peugeot 306 too, as I think these were the small family cars to have as the 90s Escort/Astra were a bit sub-par.

Hot hatch: the 1990s seemed like a bit of a barren period for hot hatches.

Premium: E36 BMW 3-Series/E39 5-Series

Premium family: Land Rover Discovery

Sports car: mk1 Mazda MX5/MGF/Lotus Elise/Porsche 911 (964/993)

High performance: Escort RS Cosworth/Lancia Delta Integrale Evo/Subaru Impreza Turbo

Luxury: W140 S-Class might have been peak quality/engineering but a little too brash for the times. Possibly “peak” big luxury car though with the D2 Audi A8, E38 7-Series, Lexus LS400 and X300/X308 Jaguar XJ.

Supercar: Lamborghini Diablo/Ferrari F355/McLaren F1

2000s

I think Ford took the UK mass market dominance back in the 2000s with the mk1 Focus and 2nd gen Mondeo but the mk6 Fiesta wasn’t particularly memorable and I think the 2nd gen Renault Clio and Peugeot 206 were more well loved. Volkswagen became a bigger player with the mk4/5 Golf too and of course the “new” MINI.

Hot hatch: MINI Cooper S/mk5 Golf GTI/mk2 Focus ST/EP3 Civic Type R

Premium: E46 BMW 3-Series/W211 Mercedes-Benz E-Class

SUV: Land Rover Discovery 3/L322 Range Rover/W168 M-Class/E53 BMW X5/Volvo XC90

Sports car: mk1 Audi TT/Nissan 350Z/Porsche 911 (997)/Audi R8/Aston Martin V8 Vantage

High performance: Subaru Impreza WRX/Mitsubishi Evo/Nissan GTR/E46 BMW M3/E39 BMW M5/Audi RS4 (B5/B7)/Audi RS6 (C5)/Porsche 911 GT3 (996/997)

Luxury: the big luxury saloon rather died a death in the 2000s with luxury SUVs being more popular but Aston Martin DB9/Bentley Continental GT I guess

Supercar: Lamborghini Gallardo/Porsche Carrera GT/Ferrari 458 (just)

So what cars in your opinion are the “most” 80s/90s/00s cars and best define those eras in UK culture?

Edited by white_goodman on Friday 6th December 00:21

Edited by white_goodman on Saturday 14th December 05:37

[otolith]

white_goodman said:

Hot hatch: the 1990s seemed like a bit of a barren period for hot hatches.

Peugeot 306 GTI-6?

[white_goodman]

otolith said:

white_goodman said:

Hot hatch: the 1990s seemed like a bit of a barren period for hot hatches.

Peugeot 306 GTI-6?

Good call. 106 GTi/Rallye and Saxo VTR/VTS too in fairness.

[and31]

otolith said:

white_goodman said:

Hot hatch: the 1990s seemed like a bit of a barren period for hot hatches.

Peugeot 306 GTI-6?

106 gti….

[Super Sonic]

otolith said:

white_goodman said:

Hot hatch: the 1990s seemed like a bit of a barren period for hot hatches.

Peugeot 306 GTI-6?

Civic type R

[white_goodman]

Super Sonic said:

otolith said:

white_goodman said:

Hot hatch: the 1990s seemed like a bit of a barren period for hot hatches.

Peugeot 306 GTI-6?

Civic type R

JDM? EP3 was post 2000?

[Bobupndown]

Peugeot was on a roll in the mid 80's to 90's. The fabulous XUD diesel engine had a lot to do with that success. I'd happily still drive a 405 turbo diesel if they were still available, I'm not sure cars have really got significantly better since.

[otolith]

white_goodman said:

Super Sonic said:

otolith said:

white_goodman said:

Hot hatch: the 1990s seemed like a bit of a barren period for hot hatches.

Peugeot 306 GTI-6?

Civic type R

JDM? EP3 was post 2000?

2001, yes.

[rodericb]

white_goodman said:

Super Sonic said:

otolith said:

white_goodman said:

Hot hatch: the 1990s seemed like a bit of a barren period for hot hatches.

Peugeot 306 GTI-6?

Civic type R

JDM? EP3 was post 2000?

Are you restricting this to cars officially sold in little England? There was a Civic Type R before the EP3 call the EK9 which came out in 1997.

[Mr Tidy]

white_goodman said:

otolith said:

white_goodman said:

Hot hatch: the 1990s seemed like a bit of a barren period for hot hatches.

Peugeot 306 GTI-6?

Good call. 106 GTi/Rallye and Saxo VTR/VTS too in fairness.

There was a Seat Leon Cupra with a 16V Golf engine too, and the Astra GSi with the red-top.

[white_goodman]

rodericb said:

Are you restricting this to cars officially sold in little England? There was a Civic Type R before the EP3 call the EK9 which came out in 1997.

Not specifically and the EK9 Type R is an awesome car but how many people have actually driven one? Not sure if I've ever seen one in the metal, so it doesn't really evoke the 1990s for me but maybe more of them made it to the UK than I thought. Integra Type R (DC2) maybe, that's one of my favourite 1990s cars that was officially sold in the UK.

[s m]

and31 said:

otolith said:

white_goodman said:

Hot hatch: the 1990s seemed like a bit of a barren period for hot hatches.

Peugeot 306 GTI-6?

106 gti….

Yep, also the extremely popular Citroen equivalent- the Saxo VTS

Plus the Tipo Sedicivalvole and the Nissan Sunny GTi

[AmyRichardson]

rodericb said:

Are you restricting this to cars officially sold in little England? There was a Civic Type R before the EP3 call the EK9 which came out in 1997.

It would be sensible to restrict the picture to a single place; the defining automotive icons of a decade change radically as you move around from one country to the next. A gen 7/8 F-150 might bring images of acid-wash denim and the whiff of hairspray to the nose a late-50s Texan, but it would mean nothing to most Europeans.

The concept falls apart if you cast the net too wide.

[Baldchap]

The Civic VTi was 90s.

Proton Satira GTI was better than most think.

[white_goodman]

Bobupndown said:

Peugeot was on a roll in the mid 80's to 90's. The fabulous XUD diesel engine had a lot to do with that success. I'd happily still drive a 405 turbo diesel if they were still available, I'm not sure cars have really got significantly better since.

You make a good point. Peugeot had a great run in the 80s/90s with the 205/405/306/406. My dad isn't much of a petrolhead but knew what he liked and really wanted a 405 GTDT Estate when they came out to replace our ageing 305 Estate. I seem to remember that Peugeots were a bit more expensive than Fords/Vauxhalls at the time, so we ended up with a rather disappointing Renault 21 instead. He did eventually get a 405 Estate in the end (albeit a non turbo GRD model) but it was a great car, as was the early 406 TD that my uncle owned later. PSA probably had the best diesel engine in the 90s with the XUD/XUDT, we had a Citroen Xsara later with the XUDT and it flew for something with 90bhp. The HDi-engined replacement wasn't as good and by then I think that VW's PD TDI engines had surpassed them.

Citroen and Renault were pretty big in the 90s in the UK too before the 2000s German "invasion". Probably "peak" repmobile too, Super Touring era in the BTCC and all the major players had some skin in the game and they were all pretty decent. It seemed like the non-premium manufacturers put less effort into their repmobiles in the 2000s because everyone wanted a 3-Series/C-Class/Audi A4 instead.

Peugeot 405/406 are still great-looking cars IMHO and IIRC the 405 was still in production in Iran until fairly recently. Despite the Cavalier/Mondeo being stronger sellers, the 405/406 and P10 Nissan Primera were probably my pick of the 90s repmobiles.

[Lefty]

otolith said:

white_goodman said:

Hot hatch: the 1990s seemed like a bit of a barren period for hot hatches.

Peugeot 306 GTI-6?

The 90’s was an era of great hot hatches

Clio 16v/williams
Saxo VTR/VTS
106 GTi / Rallye
205/309 GTi
306 GTi / Rallye
Polo g40
Uno turbo
Tipo 16v
Renault 19 16v
Citroen ZX Volcane
AX GTi
Daihatsu Charade GTTI
145 cloverleaf
Civic VTI
Proton Satria
Rover 216/220 gti
Rover 200 vi
Ibiza GTi (2nd gen, the first vag one)
Lancia Delta
Escort Cosworth
Sunny GTIR
Almera GTI
Corolla GTi 16

Even the mk3 golf maybe deserves a mention in vr6 guise?

When did the st170 focus launch? Arguably you could include a 1.6 focus as a really great handling hatch without being fast.



Some of these launched in the 80’s but were still available to buy in the 90’s

[Rob 131 Sport]

OP. Great post and I would agree with your choices. The significant thing for me now is the lack of choice in comparison with the 80’s.

Back then all manufacturers ran an executive car and often a Sports Coupe. Even BMW which has generally been my default choice of car for the last 30 years doesn’t have that much to inspire me.

[MC Bodge]

The most 2020s car:

The Nissan Qashqai.


Thank you very much
<takes a bow>

[j4r4lly]

Jaguar XK8 launched in 1996. After the long lived XJS it was a revelation and was very well received by press and public alike with long waiting lists.

They are still excellent cars today.

[MC Bodge]

j4r4lly said:

Jaguar XK8 launched in 1996. After the long lived XJS it was a revelation and was very well received by press and public alike with long waiting lists.

They are still excellent cars today.

I saw an XJS yesterday. They really were ugly, weren't they?