1990s Last Exciting Time for Car Design

[Ecurie Ecosse]

I was just mulling over there how exciting the 1990s were in terms of car design.

It seemed that not a month went by without a manufacturer challenging its norms and bringing out something completely different.

I am not sure we will see such an exciting period again. Possibly through a combination of niche-model saturation, and safety requirements which limit styling parameters.

Or maybe it is just me looking back through rose tinted glasses as I was in my automotive youth in the 1990s.


Taking a few examples:

- Aston Martin DB7. Gorgeous, and the first "affordable" Aston.

- Audi - RS2 and TT. Both amazingly different on launch.

- BMW - Z1 and Z3. The Z1 is still cool, and the Z3 was a very different model for BMW at the time of launch. The E39 M5 caused me so much excitement on its launch too as it had 400bhp!!!

- Bentley - Continental R and Arnage. Both big steps away from the 1980s offerings.

- Ferrari F355 - best looking Ferrari for a long time. Beyond gorgeous.

- Ford Escort RS Cosworth. Amazing when you think how old it is, huge impact even now.

- Jaguar X300 XJ and XK8. X300 was so lush on launch (maybe I'm biased and the XK8 was a big step away from the XJ-S.

- Mercedes E class, CLK and SLK. Maybe rust buckets now, but the W210 looked very avant garde on launch. CLk was a cheaper and funkier coupe than one was used to from Mercedes and, of course, the SLK with THAT roof. Earlier in the decade there was the W140 600 SEL which just destroyed the competition.

- Nissan Skyline R34. Such presence - the new GTR is hardly lacking in that department.

- Porsche - Boxster. There was a real buzz around this when launched.

- Subaru Impreza / Mitsubishi Evos - again, such excitement around such accessible performance.

- Range Rover P38. Again, a big game changer after 25 years of the Classic.

[Eliser]

Your list is lacking both Lotus and TVR models, the Elise and Griffith are imho the best sportscars of the 90's, so is totally without merit

[iva cosworth]

Agree with most of that but i didn't like the R34.

I thought it a bit bland at least compared to the R32 which is my favorite of the earlier

Skylines.

[Ecurie Ecosse]

Eliser said:

Your list is lacking both Lotus and TVR models, the Elise and Griffith are imho the best sportscars of the 90's, so is totally without merit

You're right - the 90s TVRs and the Elise were really fresh and groundbreaking too.

Also the Alfa GTV and FIAT Coupe were just WOW! when released too. Ditto the Alfa 156 (where are the door handles!)

[Eliser]

But you are totally correct the 90's were a mega era - probably never to be repeated

[Wadeski]

Funny how fashions change...for years people have been deriding the "sucked lozenge" or "soapbox" design of 90s cars that made them all look alike. People blamed CAD for the death of individual styling.

80s boxy & colour schemes have trendy for a while - I guess its time we started appreciating the 90s again.

Certainly, the 90s were the time when auto makers finally realised how to make decent power within emissions limits. Its also, however, was when the weight gain started. Compare a hot hatch from 1990 and 2000 - hugely more power, but starting to get lardy...

[Scuderia2112]

I'd say with cars like the DS3 and RCZ, weather we like them or not they are still pushing the envelope.

[SVX]

I'd like to nominate the fast Volvos of that era too. The 850 and C70 were are complete change for the Volvo brand, and to my mind remain as very enduring designs.

Lancia also has a couple of peaches in that time, though we never got to see any of them post the launch of the Dedra.

Then there is my own expensive mistress - the Subaru SVX (and her contemporaries) we won't be seeing anything that innovative any time soon.

[Wattsie]

Yeah, nothing interesting around since 2000...

[Fire99]

Wattsie said:

Yeah, nothing interesting around since 2000...

Yep.

In order

1) Underpowered
2) Overdresses in tinsel
3) Overcomplicated.

[300bhp/ton]

Ecurie Ecosse said:

I was just mulling over there how exciting the 1990s were in terms of car design.

It seemed that not a month went by without a manufacturer challenging its norms and bringing out something completely different.

I see what you are saying, but I think you could pull back almost any decade and say the same thing. Be it changes from crossply to radial tyres, production methods, monoque chassis instead of ladder chassis, multivalve engines, fuel injection, turbo charging, moulded rubber or plastic body items.

Ecurie Ecosse said:

I am not sure we will see such an exciting period again. Possibly through a combination of niche-model saturation, and safety requirements which limit styling parameters.

Or maybe it is just me looking back through rose tinted glasses as I was in my automotive youth in the 1990s.

I suspect age and the cars you grew up with might well have a defining influence.

Ecurie Ecosse said:

Taking a few examples:

- Aston Martin DB7. Gorgeous, and the first "affordable" Aston.

The Aston is actually a Jaguar XJS in most respects. In fact the DB7 is actually a cancelled Jaguar model known as the XJ41 coupe (the code might give you more hints to it's origin as well), it was then moderately restyled and built as an Aston Martin at the ex Jaguar XJ220 plant in Bloxom

Ecurie Ecosse said:

- Audi - RS2 and TT. Both amazingly different on launch.

The TT was striking to look at, but it was nothing new to take a production family car and make a sporty coupe variant. Triumph did this with the Herald and GT6.

The RS2 I don't know a huge amount about, isn't it an Audi with a Porsche engine? Ok fast and amazing performance, but hardly ground breaking. The Yanks had been shoving race engines into saloon cars back in the 60's and the Lancia Thema 8:32 had a Ferrari engine in an otherwise normal car. I'm not wanting to take away from these cars, but I'm not seeing how they are anymore exciting than earlier or later cars?

Ecurie Ecosse said:

- BMW - Z1 and Z3. The Z1 is still cool, and the Z3 was a very different model for BMW at the time of launch. The E39 M5 caused me so much excitement on its launch too as it had 400bhp!!!

The Z1 was an 80's car really, not 90's. The Z3 might have been a new market for BMW I agree.

Ecurie Ecosse said:

- Bentley - Continental R and Arnage. Both big steps away from the 1980s offerings.

Were they? The Turbo R isn't hugely different from the Continental. The Arnage looked different but I wouldn't say it stepped away at all from the 80's offerings. Mild evolution rather than revelation.

Ecurie Ecosse said:

- Ferrari F355 - best looking Ferrari for a long time. Beyond gorgeous.

I know this was an often cited thing back in the day. However looking back I'm not sure I can agree. I went to a show a couple of weeks ago where an F355 was parked next to an F348. I was stunned that the F348 actually looked the better side by side.

Ecurie Ecosse said:

- Ford Escort RS Cosworth. Amazing when you think how old it is, huge impact even now.

Huge impact, but it was spawned from the 1980's Sierra.

Ecurie Ecosse said:

- Jaguar X300 XJ and XK8. X300 was so lush on launch (maybe I'm biased

If you look closely you'll see an x300 actually is a mild facelifted XJ40, take note of the roof line and doors. Jaguar were pretty clever, but the x300 isn't as new as it may look. Also looking back the XJ40 was arguably a bigger design change in it's day, and personally I think is probably the best looking of the entire XJ line up.

Ecurie Ecosse said:

and the XK8 was a big step away from the XJ-S.

I love the irony

Like the DB7 the XK8 was actually a lot of XJS under the skin. And really was more a case of evolution than a from the ground up new car. The XJS itself hailing from 1975 and the 'S' meaning Special development of the XJ platform hailing from 68. I love Jags and think the XK8 is superb, but don't let it's pretty face fool you.

Ecurie Ecosse said:

- Mercedes E class, CLK and SLK. Maybe rust buckets now, but the W210 looked very avant garde on launch. CLk was a cheaper and funkier coupe than one was used to from Mercedes and, of course, the SLK with THAT roof. Earlier in the decade there was the W140 600 SEL which just destroyed the competition.

I don't know a huge amount about these. Never personally saw any appeal in the CLK. The SLK I do admit was funky, but it was no drivers car, and as fancy as the roof might have appeared, electric folding rigid tops had actually been around since the 1960's.

Ecurie Ecosse said:

- Nissan Skyline R34. Such presence - the new GTR is hardly lacking in that department.

Was this not a development of the R33, itself a development of the R32?

Ecurie Ecosse said:

- Porsche - Boxster. There was a real buzz around this when launched.

- Subaru Impreza / Mitsubishi Evos - again, such excitement around such accessible performance.

- Range Rover P38. Again, a big game changer after 25 years of the Classic.

I agree I think these where all quite exciting, although the Boxster was there to fulfil the 944/968 market position and in some ways harks back to the earlier 914. And since then Porsche has broken true new ground with a high performance SUV and luxury sporting sedan. Maybe not the enthusiasts choice, but maybe slightly more exciting for taking a company into new territory.

The Impreza's and Evo's I think are probably the most exciting cars you've listed, as they helped pioneer an entire new market segment, certainly one that didn't exist previously in the UK at any rate.

The p38a was indeed a shift for LR, although much of what went into the p38a such as the air suspension and TCS had already been seen on the previous model. But yes this was exciting too, but I think LR have surpassed or at least equaled it with the likes of the Disco3 and RRS.

[300bhp/ton]

Ecurie Ecosse said:

You're right - the 90s TVRs and the Elise were really fresh and groundbreaking too.

Also the Alfa GTV and FIAT Coupe were just WOW! when released too. Ditto the Alfa 156 (where are the door handles!)

The Elise was ground breaking, but what ground did a Chim or Griff really break? Cerbera maybe. But the others aren't hugely different to the Wedge or S Series models.

[300bhp/ton]

SVX said:

Then there is my own expensive mistress - the Subaru SVX (and her contemporaries) we won't be seeing anything that innovative any time soon.

I like the SVX, but apart from funky styling, what was innovative about it?

[xRIEx]

Ecurie Ecosse said:

- Ferrari F355 - best looking Ferrari for a long time. Beyond gorgeous.

But it wasn't massively different from the 348, was it? Sure there are some slight styling differences, but it's the same overall shape.

[xRIEx]

Fire99 said:

Wattsie said:

Yeah, nothing interesting around since 2000...

Yep.

In order

1) Underpowered
2) Overdresses in tinsel
3) Overcomplicated.

Why is 1) underpowered?

And why would that have anything to do with its styling? (That question goes for the 'overcomplicated' 458 too.)

[kambites]

Personally, I think car styling has just got constantly worse since the 60s.

[V88Dicky]

Here's a press release from 1998;

http://www.monaro.4mg.com/vtmonaro.htm

I liked it so much, I bought one

[300bhp/ton]

kambites said:

Personally, I think car styling has just got constantly worse since the 60s.

I guess there might be a trend overall as this. But I suspect that the simple case is, it's not a free rein these days. In the 60's you'd design it to look right, how you wanted. Today money matters more, shared structures and lots of regs.

That said, I personally think there have been great looking cars from all eras.

[kambites]

300bhp/ton said:

kambites said:

Personally, I think car styling has just got constantly worse since the 60s.

I guess there might be a trend overall as this. But I suspect that the simple case is, it's not a free rein these days. In the 60's you'd design it to look right, how you wanted. Today money matters more, shared structures and lots of regs.

That said, I personally think there have been great looking cars from all eras.

Indeed, although I struggle to think of any really good looking (type approved) cars that started production after 2000 which aren't very similar to earlier designs. I think if I had to draw up a list of my top ten or even top twenty best looking cars, they'd all be 60s or earlier.

[cerb4.5lee]

xRIEx said:

Fire99 said:

Wattsie said:

Yeah, nothing interesting around since 2000...

Yep.

In order

1) Underpowered
2) Overdresses in tinsel
3) Overcomplicated.

Why is 1) underpowered?

When you consider a renaultsport Clio has similar power, i think you can safely say its underpowered for a sports coupe in this day & age.