So what decade or decades do you think was best for car manufacturers?

AMKC

For me I would say late 80s and the 90s were good years for them. Just look at the beginning of the 90s all the big companies and some small ones all had big saloons for sale. Renault had the Safrane, Peugeot the 605, Citroen the XM, Opel the Omega, Mazda the Xedos range, Nissan had the Mixima and Toyota had the Camry.

Any I missed?

colm_mcm

Honda Legend, Rover 800, Mitsubishi Galant, Ford Granada/Scorpio

Thing is, they weren’t really that big when you look at today’s cars

tom_k

Thinking back on this era, Saab 9000, Volvo 850 and Opel Senators worthy of mention too.

tom_k

And the Saabs close relatives, the Alfa 164 and Lancia Thema.

colm_mcm

Has to be said, that when pretty much all these cars were new, they were renowned for horrendous depreciation.

PsychoPete

90's Toyotas

ba_barabus

80s to 90s cars are great. Peak build quality and design advancement

CoBo55

colm_mcm wrote: »

Has to be said, that when pretty much all these cars were new, they were renowned for horrendous depreciation.

Horrendous reliability too...

Atlantic Dawn

LS400

jmreire

colm_mcm wrote: »

Has to be said, that when pretty much all these cars were new, they were renowned for horrendous depreciation.

And not to mention Rust , (which was one of the reasons for the massive depreciation.)........Saab and Volvo being the exception in rust protection, bur for nearly everything else...rust was a big problem.

tdf7187

colm_mcm wrote: »

Has to be said, that when pretty much all these cars were new, they were renowned for horrendous depreciation.

Yeah, the Camry being probably the only exception.

AMKC

ba_barabus wrote: »

80s to 90s cars are great. Peak build quality and design advancement

Unless it was a Mercedes of course.

AMKC

Had VW a bigger car than the Passat back then?

KevRossi

AMKC wrote: »

Had VW a bigger car than the Passat back then?

Nope. You got yourself an Audi 100/200 or an Audi V8.

ba_barabus

AMKC wrote: »

Had VW a bigger car than the Passat back then?

Yes, the VW Santana saloon. Neighbour had one, seemed very rare when current. Kinda like a Big Passat meets Audi 100.

BonnieSituation

ba_barabus wrote: »

Yes, the VW Santana saloon. Neighbour had one, seemed very rare when current. Kinda like a Big Passat meets Audi 100.

I thought the Santana nameplate was just used instead of Passat in some markets?

ratracer

It wouldn’t be the family wagons I’d of been thinking about in the 80’s/ 90’s, it would be, the era of the Audi Quattro, Escort Cosworth, BMW E30 series, Lancia Delta etc, real world sports cars and proven winners on the rally circuit.
We had a couple of Opel Omega’s in the family back then too, when I first started to drive, they were a beast of a car on the road.

KevRossi

ba_barabus wrote: »

Yes, the VW Santana saloon. Neighbour had one, seemed very rare when current. Kinda like a Big Passat meets Audi 100.

BonnieSituation wrote: »

I thought the Santana nameplate was just used instead of Passat in some markets?

Santana was a name used for the 4 door 'sedan' version in all markets in the early 80's, was dropped ìn mid-late 80's. Had a better interior and slightly different front and back and side panels to the hatchback and estate. Was the exact same car apart from that.

ba_barabus

KevRossi wrote: »

Santana was a name used for the 4 door 'sedan' version in all markets in the early 80's, was dropped ìn mid-late 80's. Had a better interior and slightly different front and back and side panels to the hatchback and estate. Was the exact same car apart from that.

It was the Passat CC of my very early youth

Wishbone Ash

AMKC wrote: »

.. Renault had the Safrane...

Renault 25?

Wibbs

I'd say the 90's in general was a peak in many ways. Compared to the previous generation we got cars that went and stopped reliably. On brakes alone try driving a 70's or earlier car and the brakes are disturbingly bad in most cases. The 90's also brought airbags and ABS and catalytic convertors to more and more cars. Cars were more reliable and yet still simple enough to fix. As noted before rust protection, or lack thereof was a problem. Cars were less complex and lighter and generally more efficient because of it. If we built 90's type cars today with the advancements in materials, but minus the compexity since we'd have cars that could last decades, but that's not going to happen as it would be economic suicide for manufacturers in our current economic model. EV's with their far fewer moving parts could last for decades too, but again that doesn't fit the model.

Idbatterim

Love the e39 bmw!

Henry Ford III

Today's cars are probably better in every measurable way. Performance, efficiency, comfort, handling, braking.....

Classic cars are still fantastic for the occasional blast though.

Vic_08

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Today's cars are probably better in every measurable way. Performance, efficiency, comfort, handling, braking.....

Durability, reliability and most importantly the ability to economically repair them haven't improved, In the case of the latter cars are getting increasingly problematic to keep on the road due to the cost and needless complexity of so many components.

Of course it's all a generalisation, a good late 90's car can easily beat a poor 2020 one in many areas and vice versa.

BonnieSituation

AMKC wrote: »

For me I would say late 80s and the 90s were good years for them. Just look at the beginning of the 90s all the big companies and some small ones all had big saloons for sale. Renault had the Safrane, Peugeot the 605, Citroen the XM, Opel the Omega, Mazda the Xedos range, Nissan had the Mixima and Toyota had the Camry.

Any I missed?

And then the small ones got too big and the big ones got dropped and then the small ones got bigger and the mid range got dropped.

See the Corolla killing the Avensis and then as a result the Camry becomes viable again.

I do miss big Frenchies on the road. Seeing a Vel Satis and an Avantime and even a 605 was a big deal on the road!

The new 508 has a serious road presence. Oddly enough the Golf-class cars getting bigger have left a weird gap in the ranges!

Henry Ford III

Vic_08 wrote: »

Durability, reliability and most importantly the ability to economically repair them haven't improved, In the case of the latter cars are getting increasingly problematic to keep on the road due to the cost and needless complexity of so many components.

Of course it's all a generalisation, a good late 90's car can easily beat a poor 2020 one in many areas and vice versa.

In a crash a modern car would offer a way higher degree of protection.

johnml

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Renault 25?

Safrane replaced the 25.
God they were so comfortable!!

whisky_galore

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Today's cars are probably better in every measurable way. Performance, efficiency, comfort, handling, braking.....

Built in obsolescence as standard.