What do you believe is the car of the decade?

But the Z06 isn't really a car for the masses. What masses can afford a $65k car? Used, sure- you're still looking at a $20-40k car that doesn't have any use except motorsports and turning rubber into smoke and getting you in trouble with young ladies (remove Convoy, OH reference).

My personal lean, if it weren't obvious, is toward something that is useful on many levels. That Forester, with the rear seats folded flat will make the liaison with the aforementioned Ohians, a little more comfortable too. At 1/3 the price.

Yes the Z06 is a great car but I always hear about it being as fast as Porsche, Ferrari, etc. and for a lot less money. I have always thought that the Vette was being subsidized by the SUVs. If it was sold for a real profit like Porsche has to, then it would not be such a bargin anymore. Someone even mentioned on this board (I think) that the Pontiac Solstice was being sold at a loss so GM could say they beat the Miata and their car was even cheaper.

Then again, I could be totally wrong and GM has been just that good all of these years.

Audi R10 TDi /thread

(what? it's a car...)

Brust wrote: getting you laid by (18+ year old, of course) high school girls in Convoy, OH.

They gotta lotta 19yr old girls in High School out in them parts? I think thats just what they tell you so you will buy smokes and booze.

That had little taste, sorry. I'll amend that to college girls in Alabama.

BMW Z8. Compare it to everything else since, styling wise, and it will show you just what an evil and destructive person Chris Bangle really is.

pres589 wrote: BMW Z8. Compare it to everything else since, styling wise, and it will show you just what an evil and destructive person Chris Bangle really is.

Chris Bangle designed the Z8

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

Big engine, small car, shrug, that goes back to the pony cars of the 60's again old news

Say what? Name me one pony car that can corner like the CTS V and pull in a straight line. This is not just another pony car remake like the mustang and Challengers etc.

I know that Wikipedia isn't the only answer but,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Bangle

Z8 isn't listed as his work, it's a Henrik Fisker design project. Bangle may have been involved; the Z8 was heavily influenced by the Z07 show car, which was a Fisker project.

I'm not certain which car is THE car of the decade, but I know which one disappointed me the most.

2nd gen Neon, launched in 2000. Bloated for no good reason.. No more 2 door coupe. No more DOHC.

Obviously the SRT4 was an exception that came later, but it was too late: the pooch was screwed.

And now Chrysler is giving it to us again.

Damn.

This has been a really awesome decade for cars pretty much start to finish. Sure, I can think of plenty of bad ones, but there are so many good ones, it's kind of incredible. We're to the point where even cars that wouldn't warrant a mention have some pretty cool features. Case in point, the VW Eos has a power retracting hard top available with a sunroof. It's not going to win anyone's top of the decade list, but that's still kind of impressive.

I could see a strong case for the WRX, the MINI, and the Cadillac XLR (as a turning point for the Caddy brand). The Lotus Elise/Exige are impressive, but came into existence 15+ years ago, so are off the list to me.

Mazda3 makes cut for consideration this decade because it's to right now what the Civic was 10 years ago. It's the most exciting appliance car out there. In its most base form, it's a cheapish commuter for someone who doesn't care about cars at all. As the Mazdaspeed3 it is a serious contender for the hot hatch title in America which has been pretty much owned by the GTI for a few decades now.

The Prius should probably get it because it's a great example of mass adoption of innovation. As a car, it's a bit "meh" but as a concept, it's pretty cool, and there are some significantly more interesting applications of the technology on the horizon.

My vote would be WRX for sports car of the decade (for the US.) Maybe it's confirmation bias but I think it (followed by the STI and Evo) seemed to revitalize/diversify grass roots racing interest. Autocrosses, rallycrosses, TSD, hillclimbs, and aftermarket tuning that wasn't just for Hondas. One car could be reasonably competitive at any of them.

I remember standing in the grid for a hillclimb and an old timer remarked that ten years prior he'd never thought Subarus would ever turn out in great numbers like they had, almost 1/4 of the entries. Sure there were Audis and Galant VR4s before it but they faded quickly (only 3000 VR4s) or got bloated (Audi.)

2000 to 2010 Miatas? OK, OK, I'll think of something else.

Ford GT--Ford designs a weapon to attack Ferrari (again) and succeeds. Sure, it didn't quite outperform the Enzo, but at a fraction of the cost, it gave you 99% of the Enzo's performance and it looked better than, in my opinion, any Ferrari ever made (and Ferrari has made some stunning cars).

Ford Mustang (2005 +)--Yes. I actually agree with whoever brought that car up. It revitalized Ford and it was their first step into vehicles with high-quality finishes and tight tolerances (um, remember the 1999 to 2004 Mustang door panels? They wiggled around and never really fit together.)

BMW 3 Series--The benchmark lives on. Beautiful engines, beautiful bodies (on some of them--why the hell are there now so many taillight designs on what is essentially the same body?), and performance that most luxury car makers don't even bother to address.

BMW 135--A little less weight, a little less price, and what I think is the coolest-looking BMW currently made. Next to the Z3 M Roadster, this may be my favorite BMW of all time. (And turbos!)

Corvette C6--I saw a Ferrari at a car show at around the time that the C6 was JUST about to come out. I thought it WAS the C6 when I saw it across the room (it had similar headlights). I was disappointed when I found out that it was, in fact, a Ferrari. I got to drive one once too--absolutely amazing.

Sky / Solstice (specifically Red Line / GXP)--Unfortunately, it doesn't look like this made GM any money directly, but the platform got our attention and hopefully it was able to draw some attention to the other models sitting around in the showrooms. Porsche Boxter beating performance with a $30,000 price tag? Sign me up (I just about bought one too!).

Ford Flex--For showing us that mini vans can be cool and that they don't have to be mini-vanny. Or is it a wagon? Who cares? It's the epitome of cool.

Oh, you said "CAR" of the decade.

Ford GT just for its sheer awesomeness. It was designed in a year-and-a-half, it captured all that it needed to from the GT-40, it was a world-beater, and it just looked so DAMN COOL!

Brust wrote: But the Z06 isn't really a car for the masses. What masses can afford a $65k car? Used, sure- you're still looking at a $20-40k car that doesn't have any use except motorsports and turning rubber into smoke and getting you laid by (18+ year old, of course) high school girls in Convoy, OH. My personal lean, if it weren't obvious, is toward something that is useful on many levels. That Forester, with the rear seats folded flat will make the liaison with the aforementioned Ohians, a little more comfortable too. At 1/3 the price.

Seeing as I am the only GRMer in Convoy, OH, I'm happily married and 46, I am not sure what you're getting at here. Especially as I didn't mention the Z06 at all.

Whilst I would rock a Z06 I am not chasing schoolgirls and haven't for 26 years.

Brust wrote: (bla, bla, bla) The NA forester has been PZEV for a few years now- not to E36M3 in your cheerios, but really I think it edges out the focus. It's a true "all rounder" to use a cricket term. (more bla bla bla

The Focus has been PZEV for most of the decade. I think the first cars were sold as a MY 2004 in 2003. It was one of the first non-special tech PZEV gas only vehicles on the market.

Then again, one year of Focus sales is more than the decade of PZEV Forester sales.

Of course, I really don't have to defend my choice of Eric Car of the Decade, where I, Eric (aka alfadriver), choose the criteria.

Had the 3.5l PZEV gone into production, it would have won the Eric Car of the Decade hands down. Not even close. And had the Ecoboost come out a lot earlier, it would have trumped them both for Eric Car of the Decade. But it is a leading front runner for the Eric Car of the 20teens. Although, I'm expecting some greatness around 2015-2016 on the Eric Contribution to society.

Man, I dig making my own criteria.

Eric

TJ wrote:

Hal wrote: The F-150 must be considered simply because of sales volume even though it never had any "breakthrough technology"

This is why I proposed the car of the decade is the SUV. They sold like hotcakes at first, were great for the gas companies, reached a nice big peak late in the decade, and then earned the disrespect of the green crowd, and ended the decade as a symbol of all that is wrong with US auto manufacturing.

I will narrow it down to the Black Cadillac Escalade. Anyone who is anyone has been seen in one. From a disgraced golf champ being chased by their club weilding wife, to a disgraced hedge fund manager being wisked away to prison. Musicians, mobsters, heads of state, and bubble headed starlets have all been seen in them, and they are now available in a tree hugging hybrid version.

confuZion3 wrote: Oh, you said "CAR" of the decade. Ford GT just for its sheer awesomeness. It was designed in a year-and-a-half, it captured all that it needed to from the GT-40, it was a world-beater, and it just looked so DAMN COOL!

Oh... right. Changing my answer...

doh...yeah Genesis coupe and GT40 too

ROTARY_X_7 wrote:

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

Big engine, small car, shrug, that goes back to the pony cars of the 60's again old news

Say what? Name me one pony car that can corner like the CTS V and pull in a straight line. This is not just another pony car remake like the mustang and Challengers etc.

But by the standards of the 60's the original pony cars did corner on rails, those rails were just a little soggier back then!

You aren't really from Convoy are you? Sorry about that- I wasn't referring to you in particular- just the Z06. I shall retract all references to Convoy!

As to the Focus vs Forester debate- I know you've got your bias toward the Focus- we all think our babies are the brightest, best looking kids in school, but the Focus never had the utility and sportiness combined (real sport-utility). I concede that the PZEV Focus was the first and longest running, but fact is the Forester is there too and does it with AWD, better interior room, more towing capacity.... and if you want to be a dirty speedster you can pick up the turbo and beat baby Porsches in the stoplight grand prix.

I read Genesis / ZR-1 etc and I can't help but think these car's haven't been around long enough to be significant in the context of the decade.

It's like all the hype over Avatar, which hasn't even opened yet and is already nominated for "movie of the year." It's going be open for what, two weeks in '09, and it's movie of the year?

If the car wasn't for sale in 2005, I have a hard time thinking about it defining the decade.

I have to agree that the Prius was the most significant as a whole, even thought I hate it. On sale for the whole decade, genuinely a product of the decade and different than predecessors.

For our crowd, it has to be the WRX. It's the car that single-handedly started the under '$30k sporty car' revolution segment and changed Subaru's image in the span of 2-3 model years. Before the WRX, Subaru was for lesbians and mail carriers only. They gave us a car that had a bunch of horsepower, a bunch of potential and bunch of utility, at an affordable price.

I think it is a safe bet that without the WRX, there would have been no Evo, Mazdaspeed 3, SRT4, Cobalt SS, etc. MINI had some momentum a 6-10 months before the WRX landed, but it may not have gained as much adoption without the renewed interest in the sporty car segment.

To sum it up, WRX was here for most of the decade and provided the fix for the greatest number of car enthusiasts.

TheFastandTheFURIOUS!!! ...I kid. hehehe.

As for an industry, Im going to have to agree with the WRX. It inspired the wave of FI vehicles we have today.

As for affordable and important sports cars. I see no better than the s2000. It is the anti-gtr. It came spartan, almost no electronics, relatively light, 50/50 FR layout, amazing technology and it tried to kill you. When every body was focusing on more electronics, bigger and safer... honda did the opposite. Ding ding ding we have a winner (much like the porsche 930 of the fuel crisis, entirely different animal, tried to kill you just as much...) Its like the RSR for the average man, and any car that tries to kill you I respect.

While this decade has been an amazing growth of sports cars (after all the cool JDM powerhouses started pulling out mid ninties) Im truly excited for the next decade... The genesis, toyobaru and slated 240sx all point towards that companies have not forgotten the average enthusiast and recognize the need for more than A to B cars.

I predict the winner if 2020 to be someone who makes such: A simple, light sub 2500lb front drive car. It will have a max displacement of 1.5l, be turbocharged, get 40mpg, tossable and light on its feet and most importantly dirt cheap. We are talking base econobox cheap. It will be the second coming of the original GTI.

I love the Ford GT answer and am changing my vote to this.

I am so biased but this kicks the living tar out of anything that GM makes on the track, off the track, and cheaper then a ZR-1 or GT to boot. Designed here, built here, and will tear a Ferrari or Lambo to pieces on the ring.