RDQ 19 July 2023

Late 80s and 90s when cars were still reasonably light and fun, but some semblance of safety, reliability and technology had made its presence known.

Peugeot 205, Renault Clio, Lotus Carlton, Land Rover Discovery, E30, E36, E34, E39 etc, etc.

Volvo 850 T-5 is another memorable one for me.

I’m broadly with Pete on this, 2010 to 2018. I’m excluding 2019/2020 as that’s when OPF/GPF really took the edge off the way a car sounds.

Agree with the affordability point, it’s when people could afford something much more interesting than the previous decade and the performance / efficiency of cars was really rather good.   It’s a bit dull, but safety was much improved without going full ‘Nanny’ as we’re getting to now.

It probably helps that’s it’s the period where we owned 3 of the top 5 cars I’ve loved the most.

90’s for me.

You could get a great hot hatch for buttons and super car performance was available in a family saloon.
The average hatchback was capable of staying with a super car on a country road.
Great turbo engines and greater NA engines were for sale in cars that were reliable for the first time.

And the car magazines peaked and started off the forum that lead to this one!

Well after consideration I’m going for 1968-1978. First and foremost the cars introduced in this period retained style considerations over safety and pre-73 offered the US market some fabulous gas guzzling monsters. During this time cars like the Camaro, the BMW E9, 928, Lotus Esprit, Ford Capri, RS2000, SD1 and many others (from the mad Countach to the market shattering VW Golf) that filled my thoughts and dreams were introduced to an unsuspecting world. 

In engineering terms, there was also the introduction of the 5 cylinder Audi engine that powered the Quattro that led to a Group B rallying period without which the world would have been a duller place and, for the safety conscious, ABS arrived (or stopped us arriving too soon!). Whilst fuel injection was introduced before this period, L-Jetronic came along in 1974 and is pretty much the basis for most electronic fuel injection systems.

Industry wise, the constant updating and improvement of models, equipment and technology by French, German, Japanese and the American-owned European manufacturers spelled the beginning of the end for a British motoring industry that gave the market what it thought it could just about get away with on the basis of patriotism. The year after my selected period Honda and BL made a pact that led to the demise of the wholly-British mass produced car industry. That the A- series engine remained in production for 49 years when Nissan had rapidly developed several improved engines after licensing the design is testament to the contempt the industry had for its customers.

Yes the cars were shittier back then and I wouldn’t have any exotica from this period but there was / is something about the cars of this era that ties the romance of the aesthetics of the previous decade to the engineering and safety improvements of the subsequent one.

Very difficult to call, but I think perhaps 2000-2010 or thereabouts, for me.

At their best, cars of this era would still combine the benefits of things like ABS, decent headlights, aircon/climate control and decent safety protection, coupled with enough analogue elements to make them enjoyable, such as proper steering feel, better noise, manual gearboxes and a decent ride on sensible tyres. And also the cars tended to be a bit smaller and narrower than the models that replaced them.

That said, some of today's cars are very impressive but in general terms I think they are less feelsome and less fun to drive at all speeds. I think I probably had more fun driving my 987 Cayman compared to my current 718 Cayman, although the current car is much better in many other ways. Likewise, the GR Yaris is very capable and actually loads of fun, but in an ideal world I'd welcome a bit more feel.

I think I agree that late 90s early 00s were the peak period. That period bought us the E39 and you'd be very hard pressed to find a better looking saloon car in the history of the car in terms of just how right it looks. The only issue is that cars from the 90s especially have such rubbish interiors. The dashboard plastics on most cars from this era are like something from a kids toy but without the colour. So maybe it's a combo of 90s/00s exteriors with 2010s interiors which I feel were at their peak before all the buttons were replaced with touchscreens. The mk7 Golf in this instance was an ergonomic masterpiece whereas the mk8 is an utter disaster for usability with haptic controls taking over.