What’s A Car You Hated That You’ve Come Around To?

Autopian Asks Car You Hated
ADVERTISEMENT

Taste is a funny thing, as it moves in cycles. After all, if you took someone from 2007, put them in a time machine and warped them to the present day, they might be alarmed to see that Nickelback is now ironically cool, people are wearing sweatsuits again, and IPAs are every-freaking-where. It’s the same thing with cars. Although it can be easy to poke fun at a car you don’t like, one day, you might wake up and realize you don’t detest the car you hated anymore.

I’ll give you an example. When the Bentley Flying Spur was fresh on the market, I wasn’t a fan. It looked like it had been at the bottom of a canal wearing cement shoes for a week, and it was substantially more expensive than the Volkswagen Phaeton on which it was based. It lacked the stiff upper lip of its Arnage big brother, instead trading on flash and arguably diluting the Bentley name. Now though, things are different.

Perhaps its because much uglier luxury sedans have since been made, or because depreciation hit the 2005 Flying Spur like a can of Twisted Tea, but I find myself mellowing to the old Flying Spur. It’s a big, fast, all-weather businessperson’s express, and it’s hard to hate on that overarching concept much. Plus, the Flying Spur line has outlasted that of the Arnage and Mulsanne, and it feels more traditional than say, the Bentayga.

Bentley Flying Spur

So, what’s a car you hated but have since come around to? It could be something that you once considered a shitbox, something you once considered a cash grab, or something else entirely. Regardless of differing circumstances, we’d love to hear your picks in the comments below.

(Photo credits: Bentley)

Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member.

Relatedbar

Got a hot tip? Send it to us here. Or check out the stories on our homepage.

About the Author

View All My Posts

199 thoughts on “What’s A Car You Hated That You’ve Come Around To?”

  1. The Pontiac Aztec. It’s certainly not an attractive vehicle and unfortunately a lot of the cool stuff got heavily GM’d between the concept and production…but I can see what they were going for and it’s pretty clear now that it was way, way ahead of its time. Leave it to GM to come up with something interesting then let it die a slow death due to their indifference…

    1. I have found I agree with most of your posts – and this is the one I came here to write. I admit my opinion has been influenced by Adrian’s article, but that may be just because it gave me a reason to think about that car again.

    2. Even the production model, though ugly, had a lot of fun lifestyle features like the built-in cooler and drop-down tailgate. It was actually one of the more interesting crossovers in its time.

    3. I remember reading something in maybe Car and Driver that Pontiac Azteks had one of the highest owner satisfaction rates in the industry. Maybe that was because the ones who could bring themselves to sign on the dotted line really, really liked the styling, but I’m thinking it was a harbinger of how well crossovers satisfy the needs and wants of ordinary buyers.

      1. Except for how crossovers do an extremely bad job of satisfying the wants and needs of ordinary buyers, and how the Aztek is just a minivan with 0 factors that make it a crossover.

        1. What has become clear is that ordinary buyers wanted something that didn’t look like a minivan, regardless of how much better a minivan might fill the “need” side of the equation. And although there are a lot of things one can say about how the Aztek looked – many of them not really suitable for a family website such as this one – it didn’t look that much like the minivans of the day. That was the job of its Buick Rendezvous sibling.

  2. When Ford first split the styling of the Super Duty F250 and up trucks from the 150s, I hated those first Super Duties. They were such a clear, but inferior, rip off of the 2nd gen Dodge Ram. Over time they’ve grown on me. I now just long for the days when a stock truck didn’t have the equivalent of one with a 6″ lift 20 years ago.

  3. Some of the European brands, like Alfa Romeo, Peugeot, and Citroen. I used to think some of their oddball designs were just plain ugly, but I’ve grown to appreciate their quirks and some of the risk taking they did with them. Given how bland so many of the cars we get stateside have become, a little risk taking in designs would be appreciated.

      1. I had heard about the DS from my dad, who grew up in Europe, but didn’t see one with my own eyes until the late 80s. I thought they were super cool, as they matched my dad’s description of a “spaceship car”. I still think they are neat.

  4. The minivan. I’ve talked about it before on here, but the short version is I hated it for the typical dumb reasons a guy might hate it. Now that I have one, I can’t sing it’s praises enough.

    1. Same here! I have found over the last six months my car searches have gravitated more towards minivans (2007-2015) and Tahoes/Suburbans (1999-2005). I am married with two little girls (5 and 2) now so weekend trips and normal day to day life transport has become more interesting to me then chasing down the next european money pit.

      For those who say, “YOU DON’T NEED AN SUV/MINIVAN A WAGON DOES JUST FINE” I use to be in that camp but somehow we have outgrown our Volvo V70 2.5T and supercharged Audi A6 Avant. Seems like the normal day to day junk we carry around has outgrown the interior space of both vehicles. Can’t say how or why but it just has with kids.

      1. Speaking as someone who has owned and loved minivans in the past when I really needed them and is utterly smitten with a Suburban now that it is precisely the vehicle I need…

        What it is that you actually need? If you need to get around town and/or road trip with a family, haul up to seven or eight passengers, and need to haul car seats/strollers/luggage, and may need to stow-and-go the seats to haul boxes, furniture, antiques, and the like, and want more reasonable fuel economy then the minivan is your ticket.

        If you legitimately need to haul seven or eight passengers plus gear, tow something substantial or you are truly an outdoors person and are going on awful dirt roads or worse and need real 4WD capability then a Suburban is your ticket. Going camping twice a year to a properly accessible place on a maintained dirt road does not apply; the minivan will make it just fine.

        Honestly, if I didn’t really and truly need that towing and 4WD capability and ground clearance I’d probably be in something like a Pacifica hybrid for my roadtripping car. But as it is just in this calendar year I’ve had to use the Suburban with all three tow hitch sizes for a wood chipper, log splitter, and dump trailer, respectively, navigate and tow off-road, remove the third row and pack it to the gills to help someone move, and stuff in 10 foot lengths of material from Lowe’s, etc. I love minivans but they simply can’t hack it for my current use cases.

        Anyway, it’s just a long winded way of saying truly think through your real needs and forget about image.

        1. Appreciate the tip! I don’t really need either nor care about image so for me it is more about what I would find interesting to experience.

          Being complete honest, I just want more rear legroom and be able to place things in the rear without feeling like playing a game of jenga!

      2. My mom got a V70 2.5T (with third row seat) brand new in 2001, when I was nine. She hated minivans, and didn’t like how most SUVs at the time drove like trucks. Staying on topic, I thought it was uncool as a teenager, although I did like that it was faster than the V6 mustangs everyone seemed to have in high school. I had my own car and the Volvo was eventually sold to a relative. But man, I miss that car now. Having driven ~100 cars since then, I still appreciate how nice it was to drive. When my 2012 CC died I considered a V70R, but eventually settled on a manual Sportwagen TDI. So I came full circle, from thinking wagons were uncool to owning one myself.

    2. I visited some friends I hadn’t seen in years, and they had a Honda Odyssey. From the outside, like you said, I hated it for typical dumb reasons. From the inside, it was a Honda Accord with a tall ceiling and captain’s chairs, or part-time giant cargo capacity. Ain’t nothing wrong with that.

    3. A two box vehicle with a low load floor is an excellent thing.

      However, I have very mixed feelings about minivans as they are traditionally made, mostly because a transverse V6 is the worst idea possibly ever conceived, and it only gets worse the larger, heavier, and harder working the vehicle is.

        1. And the Aerostar. Also first gen MPVs were RWD, and the Previa is its own thing. The standard configuration of two sliding doors and a transverse V6 has really only been standard since roughly 1998.

      2. The Hyundai imax is arguably just a small van… but they make a terrific people mover with a 4cyl diesel, manual and rwd… the lock on those is flat out ridiculous, they will comfortably seat a family of 8 and have silly amounts of boot space… unfortunately the rear seats are fixed so you can’t fold them down for more…. fortunately if you won’t need that seat all trip it is only 5 very accessible bolts

    1. It’s silly and with everything becoming a crossover now, I miss the days when companies would make something that’s a bit silly even if it’s not something I’d actually want.

      1. I just made myself sad when it occurred to me that it has been a very long time since I noticed a current model of car out on the road and thought to myself, “Man, nothing else on the road looks like one of those.” Nowadays everything on the road looks like one of each other.

  6. I’d like to think I’m generally not too harsh on vehicle aesthetics. Most fall on a scale from “tolerate” to “really like”.

    When I was really young I didn’t like the PT Cruiser, but now I’m pretty indifferent.
    Really, the only vehicle I will say I hate is the Nissan Cube, solely for the exterior rear appearance of pillar asymmetry. And that hasn’t changed.

    The example given seemed to focus on aesthetics, but the question’s wording would appear to extend to mechanical and any other aspect of a car, too. I certainly had a love/hate relationship with my old conversion Econoline, but, if you sent me the right listing, I’d be in another one today, just hoping it’s more reliable than the last. And I certainly don’t hate their look. (Admit it…the 2008 E-series facelift is sexy as hell in chrome. Not that it looked bad prior.)

      1. I had (and have) no doubt people like it, just as I count myself among Juke appreciators. But symmetry is definitely a strong personal preference, and the only other cars with anything close to that kind of asymmetry I can think of are certain Land Rovers, but even then, it seems less egregious since the asymmetry is in the hatch/door rather than involving the glass/pillars.

        1. Gross. I am so bored with the rules that all cars have to be symmetrical, I welcome any and all asymmetry with open arms. Other geometric oddities too.

          1. I welcome any and all asymmetry with open arms.

            I welcome asymmetrical cars with one open arm and an odd tilt of my head, but I don’t disagree.

          2. Same. My dream has long been to find and import a Mitsubishi Minica Lettuce – one door on one side, two doors on the other, but on a very normal (for a kei car) design so you’d be hard pressed to notice.

      2. I generally hate Nissans but drove the Cube a few times as a rental and rather liked it. The asymmetry doesn’t bother me a bit, in fact I think it’s unique in a sea of boredom.

        1. Me too. My cars are fairly small and, well, cars, so I’m used to snug cockpits; it made the Cube experience weird at first, but then I gradually came to enjoy that I was basically piloting an odd box around town.

          1. As someone who drove a full-size van for 7 years, I actually think I’d be okay driving a Cube…because then you’re looking at its (normal-looking) interior vs. the back of it.

  7. This is going to be controversial, but the Saab 900.
    Back when I was young, I thought they were dorky looking and the antithesis of the sleek, wedge shape I adored so much. I couldn’t stand ’em.

    Now, I love them. They’re quirky and beautiful. Though I never owned one, I miss Saab dearly.

    1. As a 30 year Saab 900 owner, I applaud your choice. I also can understand your initial reaction. I loved them from the get-go, but they were definitely not mainstream pretty when they were introduced.

    2. Well put. As a kid in the ’80s, I thought they were so ungainly compared with all the lithe coupes out at the time. My Dad nearly bought one, and I kept thinking “don’t you see those beautiful Jaguars?!”

  8. I wasn’t particularly against the Baja, but my dad was. It may have had more to do with his brother who had one. Now, both of us really like the Baja.

    I really disliked the 80s Mustangs. They felt more 80s than Mustang to me. I still wouldn’t seek one out, but I’ve come around on them quite a bit.

    And the Mach E. Not the interior or the door buttons, but the general shape. I wouldn’t buy one without them making major changes to the controls, but the look has grown on me.

    1. As a Mustang guy (yeah, I know…but don’t worry, we’re a minority here!), I actually like the Mach-E…as a vehicle. I really think Ford’s not having the confidence to give it its own name is what makes people immediately averse to it – I used to be for sure.

      If Ford had called it the Galaxie, or the Torino as The Bishop suggested, I think a lot more people would have liked it better right off. Funny how the small thing of name could do that.

      1. Yeah, I do think I would have been alright with the look from the get go with a non-Mustang name. I’ve exclusively just called it the Mach E, and I think that name is kind of goofy, but it helps.

        And there’s nothing wrong with being a Mustang guy. Idiots sliding them into people aside, it’s a vehicle with a lot available to make it your own and a lot of good choices over the several generations. And it makes a better everyday car than, say, a Camaro.

      2. I like it just fine as long as they don’t call it a Mustang.

        Not to mention, “Ford Futura” was RIGHT THERE, MAN. Come on, Ford, really now.

  9. The Bangle BMWs, especially the 3 series. Hated them when they first came out but as I see them on the road I do think they’ve aged well and still have a pretty modern appearance in a non-ugly way.

    1. Came here to recommend Bangle Bimmers as well. When the E60 debuted, I thought it was a Pontiac Grand…something, with the straked side cladding removed. Flash forward a few generations, and the design has aged surprisingly well: It still looks lithe and modern. While the move from a driver-oriented dash to a standard flat dash reflected a larger shift in BMW design- moving away from ultimate driving machine to luxury consumable, it still had buttons and good ergonomics.

      2. This is my choice. I hated the looks of the E60/E61 when it came out. I had a 520i loaner, iDrive was useless in those days, it felt like an old man’s car. Then my boss got a 530d manual and that drove beautifully, next M Sports came out and I thought hmmm they look quite good. Ended up with a 520d M Sport Touring which was brilliant, as lithe as my previous E91 320d and then a 535d SE Touring (couldn’t get active roll stabilisation in M Sport) which was too heavy up front but went like a train. When I see an M Sport E61 today I see a design that’s improved with age and is beautifully simple compared to the gilled and grilled monstrosities most marques give birth to today.

  10. Any large, front-drive platform. I hated them when I was younger, but then ended up owning a ’90 DeVille, a ’97 Intrepid, and an ’04 Sienna. Now I know how to handle them and it’s completely different.

      1. I still want a Dodge Dynasty, or even better, one of the fancy Chrysler versions. I haven’t seen one in any better than methhead conditions in twenty years at least.

  11. Nissan Murano Cross Cabriolet. I used to hate it because it’s a ridiculous abomination that shouldn’t exist. Now I love it because it’s a ridiculous abomination that shouldn’t exist.

  12. Honda Element. Turned 180 degrees on these after getting to drive one. Love the utility. Sadly, by the time I warmed up to them, they’d been out of production for seven years.

    1. Good choice. I liked ’em from the beginning for their sorta junior IMSA racer look, but I like them even more now as a reminder of the bygone sport coupe era, when it was possible to buy something that was fun, stylish, and reasonably practical, all in a single package.

      1. Believe it or not, one of the things that attracted me to my 1983 Celica GT notchback, bought used when I graduated high school in 1990, was trunk space. Coming out of a 1978 Camaro, the Celica’s trunk seemed cavernous. And that’s before we even talk about how much fun it was to sling around like a go-kart.

        1. Back then, there were a ton of everyday, practical types (e.g. not people like us here) who drove 2 door hatches and it worked fine. Just funny how Americans’ love of big stuff can overwhelm every other consideration.

          1. Well… I would gently suggest that many Americans are like myself, and can enjoy the virtues of both large and small cars. But Japanese cars really caught fire during a time in America when domestic automakers were pretty awful at making both large AND small cars. In 1982, my mom was shopping for a wagon to replace her 1979 Grand Marquis, and after shopping every American offering, she basically said “you’ve got to be kidding me” and bought a loaded Datsun (not Nissan yet) Maxima. It was the one time high mileage champion of my family – twelve years later, it was still going strong at over 240,000 miles, when she was rear-ended at a four-way stop sign by some asshole teenager.

            Having lived through “the malaise era” as a kid and a budding Autopian, I am not at all surprised that the term has lived on in the car enthusiast culture more strongly than anywhere else.

            1. I’m from the same time. My parents mostly bought American iron and Volvos (yeah, 240 wagons, so some proto-autopian street cred there).

              Nothing against big vehicles, just that it’s personally frustrating for me, given how markets and manufacturing work, that they’ve nearly crowded out the smaller stuff.

    1. I don’t like the priuses styling but my dad has a CT200h (better looking Lexus version of the Prius.) it’s not fast and it’s got a CVT but it can actually be pretty fun in roundabouts with sport mode on (tightened suspension.) it’s still no Golf GTI but I still like it

      1. I think they horse-whipped the design department recently. Priuses have always been ugly, and the last generation looked like something that’d been attacked with an ax, but the new Prius is actually pretty great looking. Saw one the other day in the wild and it looked really sharp.

          1. This has been detailed in multiple comment sections, but Prius’s “eCVT” are some clever planetary gear system. They are extremely reliable.

            I have a 2012 Prius v and I love it.

            1. I’m actually looking at a Prius V, because on paper it’s the perfect car. Now I just have to drive one and see if that ruins the whole notion.

              1. From personal experience…it’s pretty damn good. Roomy for all occupants; plenty of trunk space; compact spare; excellent fuel economy relative to its size.

                I’m fine with the sluggish acceleration in Pennsylvania but that may not be the case if you’re in certain parts of California or Texas, for example.

                Having said that, I’m fairly paranoid about some long-term reported maintenance issues from PriusChat and r/Prius. None have happened to me yet, but I’m only at 150,000 miles.

                Anecdotally, the big ones are: EGR clogs and leads to broken head gasket requiring new engine; brake accumulator failure is into four figures; and those are on top of if/when the hybrid battery needs to be replaced.
                None of those have happened to me, but if two of them happen at once or something, I might consider replacing rather than repairing.

                1. I live near a big metropolitan area with lots of stroads and huge highways in Texas. It actually does ok on the highways- I just floor it and it gets up to highway speed eventually.

                  1. That’s cool! I know some people on here have told me that 10-11 seconds 0-60 is “dangerously slow” on some California highways, so I was going based off that.

                2. Fair enough. I’m about to move to a remote location where the closest Lowe’s is nearly an hour away. The idea of a biggish, reliable, fuel efficient appliance has suddenly found a magic ring to it.

                  1. As of right now I still recommend them to people.

                    You might also want to consider if you regularly go over tall speed bumps, or driveways that meet the road at a steep angle–I actually got a 1.5″ lift from PriusOffroad to help with that. $350 for the kit and another ~$400 for a shop to install, no issues 18 months later. But a regular Prius would likely have the same issues as well.

                  1. Of course. Very encouraging and online there’s inevitably going to be a bias of over-reported problems vs. problem-free ones.
                    Just hoping mine falls in the former category.

      3. Wife and I seriously looked at the CT200 when it first came out. We liked the hatchback layout and interior but wanted more drivetrain options. Lexus missed a huge opportunity (and my purchase!) by not offering one of their NA V6’s and a non-CVT ‘box in this model. They had the 2.5l 6 from the IS, as well as the 3.5. A CT250/350 F-sport would have more successfully attracted younger buyers.

        2. I agree, a six cylinder CT200h would be great but the four cylinder does it’s job well enough and I feel like if this car had a performance prowess it would be cornering regardless of the engine.

    2. I used to think that with all the hybrid tech, they’d be unreliable as they aged. My best friend had an 08 that made it to 250k with mostly just basic maintenance. It was even oil starved a couple times and never missed a beat. It started having electrical problems towards the end, as the hybrid battery finally died. Even with a mostly dead battery, she was still averaging 37mpg. She sold it to a local shop that only works on Priuses, they said they’re gonna stick another battery (and catalytic converters) in it and put it back on the road. Color me impressed.

      1. PriusChat and r/Prius have plenty of people over 300k and even a handful above 400 or even 500.

        Hilariously, the odometer on the gen 2 (or at least early gen 2? Not 100% sure) stops at 299,999. Seems like a shortsighted move for a Toyota.

        Honestly surprised she sold it “just” for a bad hybrid battery. I’d heard that it only runs like $3-4,000 for an official Toyota replacement. (Me personally, I’m planning to check out Project Lithium if/when mine starts dying.)

        On the other hand, if it needed a CARB-compliant catalytic converter, and was gen 2…yeah, dump it. Those same forums are filled with sob stories about those being stolen.

        1. Hilariously, the odometer on the gen 2 (or at least early gen 2? Not 100% sure) stops at 299,999.

          Only on the early models. 04 and 05 I think. They fixed that on later gen 2s.

        2. Well, it was getting pretty rough, with failed clear coat all over and other things starting to fall apart, not related to the hybrid system. Between the cost of batteries and the catalytic converter it would have been a pretty good chunk of money to get it back on the road, and I don’t think she wanted to drop that money on something as rough as hers was. I’m not sure if she even had enough cash on hand to pay for what it needed. She took the cash she had and what the shop gave her for the Prius and financed a 2012 Beetle, a car she’s always wanted. She’d never picked out a car for herself (always hand me downs) and I think she was excited for the opportunity to get something that was truly “hers.” She takes such good care of that Beetle too!

          That shop was something else though, maybe you’ve heard of it if you’re in the Prius community. AutoBeYours in Scottsburg, Indiana. Had probably 30-50 Priuses parked in front of it, and they’re the owners of the Prius/Subaru Baja mashup that I’ve seen make the rounds online before. Super nice people there.

          1. That totally makes sense. I shouldn’t be imagining an “otherwise-immaculate” Prius at 250,000 miles anyway.

            I haven’t, but I’m also in Pennsylvania. I did get a hybrid specialist near Philly to pre-emptively clean my EGR last year.

  15. “or because depreciation hit the 2005 Flying Spur like a can of Twisted Tea…”

    Is this referencing the alcoholic content, or the viral video of the white guy who wouldn’t stop saying the n-word getting punched in the face with a can of Twisted? I loved that video.

    I have come around on 4th gen F bodies (Camaro/Firebird). When they were new they attracted douchebags like shit attracts flies. You know all the people today making the world around them worse with their Chargers and Challengers? Yeah, they took that torch from the F body cars. Now I appreciate them for what they really were: affordable performance. They democratized big power in cars during a time when it had become less attainable. The build quality was dubious the interiors were a phone in job even by 90s GM standards, but who cares? You were paying for the performance. Today they remain one of the best values on the market for something with legit sports car performance while being livable as a daily driver. I was wrong about them.

  16. Most recent Fiat 500 Abarth. Don’t get me wrong, the automatic base models are still atrocious garbage, but I went from treating the Abarth as the same as the abse, to genuinely wanting to pick one up because of their adorable rowdy tossable nature.

  17. In 2009, I bought a 1976 Celica GT Liftback. It was obnoxious yellow with lots of 1970’s pinstripiness all over it. It definitely needed work. I got a salvage title for it, had a stuck valve fixed, took care of some body damage, then used it as a daily driver for a couple of years before selling it. It was a lot of fun and really ahead of its time.

    That purchase would have really pissed off high school me. When I was more naïve, I that the first gen Celica was representative of everything wrong with Toyota – that the whole design was ripped off (mostly from the Mustang with a touch of Camaro) and that Toyota didn’t have the ability to come up with their own designs, instead just making weaker versions of perfectly good American cars.

    Young me totally missed the point of those Celicas. They were awesome. The idea of a scaled down muscle car is actually great – plus it had a 5-speed and it was pretty rare to see one that hadn’t rusted completely away. (Not that mine wasn’t rusty. It was.).

    So yeah, I came around on the Celica enough to drop my immature “American muscle is best” attitude and actually own one. I wish I had come around on that much sooner when I could have owned one in better condition for even less money.

    1. Yeah I love the scaled down muscle car aesthetic of the first gen Celica. I saw a photo one time of an owner who had a first gen Mustang Fastback and a first gen Celica in his driveway. He had done them the same way, and put some effort in to distracting the eye from the Camaro aspects of the Celica. It was mommy and baby muscle cars. It was freaking awesome.

    2. I have a friend who bought a 1971 Celica new. He crashed it and shell swapped it, several times. He is currently amidst the restoration of shell #4, and I love that little car.

  18. I used to think the miata was a stupid underpowered car for people that care more about fashion statements than driving. I then picked one up for $450 with a broken timing belt as a project. I’ve now owned 3 miatas…

  19. Pretty much all of the flame surface Bangle era BMWs. I was always fine with the E90s but I remembered really not liking the others at the time. Now I think they all look pretty good, even the E65 7 series which I feel was the most controversial of them all.

      1. This is exactly correct. I have found myself thinking back to that era quite a bit and appreciating the competence shown in the designs, even if I wasn’t crazy about them. After all, the Bangle butt was copied by almost all manufacturers after it came out. No one really copies BMW anymore, why would they?

        1. Oh yeah they weren’t BMW’s best, but it’s all relative.
          Why did they ever abandon the design language that served them so well up until the ’90’s?

          1. Agreed, that was their unpretentious stage, understated and well built/ thought out. And designs that aged very well. I yearn for new design leadership that understands this past

  20. As I’ve become older and more boring myself, I’ve gained much more of an appreciation for boring and competent cars.

    20 year old me would be shocked at the idea that late 30s me mostly drives a minivan and a crew cab pickup.

    Also, the WRX. I still don’t *really* get it, but I sort of get it now.

  21. 4th gen Ford Escape (2020 – 2023). At first, what a silly look; now, why it’s nearly a regular hatchback if I squint enough.

    I was hoping the refresh would essentially fully turn it into a hatchback, but sadly no, Ford decided to butch it back up again. Which I now hate.

  22. C4 Corvette. I hated them as a teen when they came out, didn’t like them in the 90s, didn’t care much one way or the other in the 2000s.sorta liked them in the 2010s, and think they’re a genuinely brilliant design now.

    1. I wouldn’t quite say I hated them-though also I had the benefit of being a teen in the late ’90s by which time the C4 had actually become decent but I couldn’t ever see myself driving one-but d they’ve really grown on me the last few years. If I saw a late production LT1 car or better yet a last year model with the LT4 for a good price I would be very tempted. Was just looking at a clean ’95 in Polo Green on facebook yesterday but it had an auto.

      1. I turned 16 in 1988. Then as now, I look at the C4 Corvette and the third generation Camaro and Firebird and think, “They’re okay… I GUESS…”

        I like the generation before or after all three of those cars much better. Maybe it’s a symptom of coming of age in the malaise era. The 80s were just the dumps for American performance and design overall, historically speaking. It was better before, and got better after.

        At the same time, that doesn’t mean I would turn up my nose at an OG ZR1 or Callaway Sledgehammer. A monster is still a monster.

        1. You’re preaching to the choir! I bought a ’88 Trans Am GTA after high school (’02) because it was all I could afford at my first job and it was fun for a while but even at that age it was just kind of meh-not hairy enough to be a true muscle car but not playful enough in handling to compete with european or japanese sports cars. The later LT1/LS1 cars combined a manual trans with an extra 50 hp and a less lazy engine making them way more fun-I tried to buy a ’96 Z28 to replace the trans am but the bank wouldn’t loan me the money and my dad refused to front me the cash to buy yet another car. For the same reason the only way I’d even consider buying a C4 Vette is if it was a late production LT1 car with a stick or ideally a last year LT4 car with 330 hp. Though either way you’re still stuck with an apallingly ugly interior that is so bad I’m not even sure it feels quaint or charming in a historical way. At least the C5 is just bland inside and by all accounts a way better car-and the LS1 is obviously better in every way than the engine it replaced.

    2. Funny. I went down the opposite road. My neighbor had one when I was in 2nd grade. I thought it was the coolest car ever. Of course, it was the only car in the neighborhood that wasn’t a box on wheels other than my other neighbor’s Saab, which I also thought was awesome.

      Kept liking them all the way up until the C5 came out and after that, the C4 has always looked incredibly dated to me.

  23. Pontiac Aztec. Yes truly ugly atrocious sales agrees with me but now it is old enough it has become a grandparent. Let’s face it most grandparents, not in the movies, are no longer attractive, instead let’s call them plain. You don’t expect cars to be beautiful after 20 years and the Aztec has become a beloved ugly older relative. Think here’s $20 pull my finger Uncle when you are a 10 year old boy. I would buy and drive one if it was cheap and reliable.

    1. Spoiler: weren’t terribly reliable when new. Although as I think about it, the big problem was with the heads up display. Avoid that and you might be OK.

      Knew a couple people who bought them because they were so cheap.

      One guy swore by the thing, said the utility was real even as he admitted it was an eyesore.

      1. That last paragraph/sentence is what I go for. Forget pretty it does it well and does it cheap is my desired vehicle.
        Also beautiful vehicle has to worry about getting ugly an ugly vehicle has no worries.
        Also I have seen no research that describes the Aztec as any more or less reliable than any other model at the time.

        1. Exactly. Even as somewhat of an automotive enthusiast, I only ever hear about Azteks’ appearance, not any actual functional problems with them.

          Which isn’t to say I’d guess it had none, but still. Not a ton of cars that come to my mind if you say “a car crucified based on looks alone”.

    2. I could see this-as a ’90s kid I didn’t really like the ’80s 911 as it seemed so dated and dorky-but now I’d love to be able to buy one-maybe because for a long while they’d stayed really cheap and I actually thought if I saved enough I’d be able to buy one up until a few years ago…now I’m shopping 2nd gen Caymans too lol

    1. Yes!! I used to think it was the dumbest thing on four wheels and now I want one. I also used to loathe the Cayenne. Not because of NoT a PoRsChE, but more on the basis of looks and the absolute tool bags driving them. In hindsight, it’s actually a pretty compelling vee-hicle.

      1. I still don’t understand how a Cayenne is compelling in the slightest. All the off-road ability of a CRV, and all the durability, reliability, and maintenance costs of a Piech VW. At least it can tow, but I wouldn’t engage in such a financially risky activity.

    2. Flex has always looked like the car my own dad would want to drive. I see the virtue, but it will always look like something he’d love (being that he’s had a long run of wagons, but currently has an SUV).

      On a similar vein: the Honda Element is one that I didn’t appreciate when I was younger but kick myself now for not getting one.

    3. When my parents got one in 2010, I had never seen one before. I liked it, but I also like full-size vans so my opinion doesn’t count.

      The Flex was a fairly reliable family hauler for about 8 years and 180,000 miles. These days, my dad’s 2014 Sienna does everything the Flex did, but better; namely, more space and better fuel economy.

Leave a Reply