For those of you scoring along at home, you may have read my column in the previous issue where I extolled the virtues of sports and sporty cars from the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was an era that gave us timeless icons like the Miata and never-to-be-seen again gems like the CRX and MR2. Ahh, those were the days.
But before we start giving each other high fives in a blissed-out, nostalgia-fueled haze, let’s come back down to reality a little bit. Yes, the cars of my late youth and early adulthood were cool, and memorable, but they’re also 30 years old. Everything, everything seems better when viewed through the soft lens of nostalgia, and these cars are no different.
Yes, my 1991 Toyota MR2 Turbo is quick, and with some work it can be a truly excellent-handling car, but a new, bone-stock Mazda Miata will pretty much destroy it.
Old cars are cool, and in some cases we’ll never see anything like them again, but don’t let that distract us from the fact that cars today are almost universally amazing. In fact, they’re so universally amazing that we’ve become bored with things that would have blown our minds in the not-too-distant past.
Imagine, for a second, time-traveling back to your high school parking lot in 1986 with a 300-horsepower 2020 Toyota Camry and busting off a few 5-and-a-half-second zero-to-60 passes to the delight of the huddled masses. Those two nerds who knew about the AMG Hammer would build a statue of you on the spot.
This realization was driven home for me earlier this evening as I was loading this week’s test car–a new Hyundai Veloster N–onto our trailer for transport to the Florida International Rally & Motorsports Park for track testing tomorrow. My pre-track inspection was the same as it always is with our press loaners: Check the tires, check the oil, check the brake fluid.
In truth, press cars only travel to the track by trailer out of courtesy to the manufacturers—and because we usually have a lot of video and test gear to haul over as well, so it’s just easier to keep that stuff in the truck. But these cars that show up from our media fleet service are basically track-ready. Heck, we even took a Prius to The FIRM recently, and it wasn’t the slowest car there.
Sure, some folks will say that “cars today have no soul.” But have you driven a Veloster N? Have you driven a Civic Type R? Have you driven an 86, or BRZ, or M4, or Camaro 1LE, or MX-5, or GTI, or, or, or…?
“Cars are getting heavier,” others will gripe. “Surely you must admit this is bad for reasons too numerous to detail in this brief complaint.”
Okay, yeah, maybe they are. But at the same time, they’re getting safer and faster around race tracks. I’d also point out that the Camaro lost a couple hundred pounds from the fifth generation to the sixth, so the creep of mass is clearly not inevitable as cars incorporate lighter materials and more high-tech construction.
Quality is also improving across the board. Newer vehicles are staying on the road longer and with less maintenance than ever. Heck, I bet you’ve even owned a car or two that you bought new in the last decade that was still running the same spark plugs when you sold it. Can you say the same about your E30?
Look, I’m sure I’ll get the inevitable terse email about this column, so this is where I say that I’m not going to be parting with my MR2 or regretting selling my ’90 CRX any time soon. But I’d also be remiss if I didn’t point out what a golden age of performance we’re living in. To single-mindedly pine for the “good old days” is to ignore that the 650-horsepower Camaro ZL1 is the least powerful of the current crop of top-model pony cars in the U.S. That’s mental.
I also realize that many of today’s top-line and even middle-of-the-road sporty cars are priced at a premium many of us can’t reasonably afford. A Civic Type R at north of $40K is a lot of scratch, I’ll admit. But today’s new cars won’t be new forever, and cars are lasting longer and longer with every generation. Thirty years from now, nostalgia for today is going to be sweeter than ever.