The best decade for cars?

[Davil]

I watched this video today. He thinks the 90s was the best. It was certainly an amazing decade. He has some great points.

It got me thinking. And thinking. I think maybe 2000s or maybe 2010s. 2000s had just the right amount of tech but the cars were still analogue feeling. 2010s things got faster but you’d still get some noise and some connection though it was the beginning of the end of an era for man and machine, varying a lot between manufacturers.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ppVDeIXJO_E

[UPSROD]

1957-1967!

[chassis]

All decades have good examples. There is no best decade.

Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bentley and Rolls from all decades
Porsche from most decades
Mercedes from some decades
BMW from a few decades
All remaining brands have a model or two from a decade or two that are noteworthy

[B58-M340iX]

90s. The 90s were 10 years ago, right?

[eliphil]

I’m going to say 2010 thru today but it’s now going the wrong way with extinction of the M550 and many other great cars. Plus it’s hard to find a manual sports car, Porsche seems to be it, good for them

[eliphil]

I’m going to say 2010 thru today but it’s now going the wrong way with extinction of the M550 and many other great cars. Plus it’s hard to find a manual sports car, Porsche seems to be it, good for them

[BlkGS]

I'd say you can safely say 2000-2010 was the best. Big gains in power,.performance, and features. Some real classic drivers cars that were also totally daily drivable. Plus the automakers were going wild doing cool stuff

E60 M5, E92 M3, V12 Benzes, Audi S6 with a V10, the RS4, Ram SRT10, Jeep SRT8, Trailblazer SS, all the muscle cars, Evo, STI, 350Z, RX8, Terminator Cobras, WS6 Trans Am, Corvettes, Vipers... That's not even starting on all the much more attainable sporty compact cars.

Plus, all these cars prices were much better lined up with wages. I knew a pizza boy who had a brand new WRX. If you had a semi decent job (like a retail job), you could afford a cool car, and they made lots of cool stuff

[335i54n]

65-75 domestics, 1990s jdm, 2000s euros

[gblansten]

2020s

[Burrcold]

90's - early 2000's for sure!

[NikMN]

Late 90s early 2000s

[chassis]

Originally Posted by eliphil

I’m going to say 2010 thru today but it’s now going the wrong way with extinction of the M550 and many other great cars. Plus it’s hard to find a manual sports car, Porsche seems to be it, good for them

Mazda Miata, Nissan Z, BMW Z4 M40i offer manual transmissions today. I didn't search any further.

[E90convert]

I’d say like 2006-2016. E46, E9x, F8x. 996-991, C6/C7, ND Miata, a lot of really good cars. Kinda that age where electronics were getting useful, but not enough to take away from the driving engagement.

[chassis]

The first decade of the 2000s had some good cars.

M156 engined MBs and S85 engined BMWs were pretty cool, even though both of those engines have well known trouble spots.

German performance SUVs were coming into their own with 955/957 Cayenne Turbo S and W163/164 AMG ML55 and ML63.

The AMG R63 was an awesome family truckster, I wanted one when they were new because it fit my family's use case at the time.

[whofelt]

Anytime before Covid

[eliphil]

Originally Posted by chassis

Mazda Miata, Nissan Z, BMW Z4 M40i offer manual transmissions today. I didn't search any further.

Not a lot to choose from ……

[dreamingat30fps]

I don't know it depends on how you define best. I feel that when I started getting into cars around the 2000s the ONLY cars that appealed to me were the German cars. American and Japanese cars just had such horrible interiors and were just soo boring that I had no interest in them at all. I'm not sure when it happened, but I feel it was around the time when the big automakers got that bail out $$ and what not... maybe a few years after that I feel that all cars started getting better and I think they have continued getting better from a design, comfort and features perspective.

Now from a strictly driving pleasure perspective I would say like 2005-20015. My favorite car the Z4MR was a 2006, my C7 which I also liked a lot was a 2014, my camaro just missed it as it was a 2016 right when the redesign came out.

[RM7]

Originally Posted by chassis

All decades have good examples. There is no best decade.

Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bentley and Rolls from all decades
Porsche from most decades
Mercedes from some decades
BMW from a few decades
All remaining brands have a model or two from a decade or two that are noteworthy

Absolutely not. Many of those Lambos and Ferraris drive terribly, even compared to contemporary cars. Same with basically all of those. There are good streaks and bad streaks.

[FC4]

1990s, full stop. It's not even close.

[chassis]

Originally Posted by RM7

Absolutely not. Many of those Lambos and Ferraris drive terribly, even compared to contemporary cars. Same with basically all of those. There are good streaks and bad streaks.

Agree on good streaks and bad streaks for all brands, years and models. Do we agree the comparison is vs contemporaries and not a 1972 model vs a 2025 model?

Lambos for the ages:
60s 400GT
70s Muira
80s Countach
90s Diablo
00s Murcielago
10s Aventador
20s any of them

[Germanauto]

I agree with 2000s...good balance of analogue driving feel with tech. Plenty of sedans and sports cars on the market, at reasonable prices too.

Seems since the late 2010s everything has changed...big market shift to SUVs and heavy cars in general, sportier cars have ballooned a lot in cost, increasing insurance rates, electrification push killing off cars we love, etc.

[XutvJet]

1990s. Period. No debate.