The '90s—what some people would consider one of the most important cultural decades of the century. The '90s were also a very important decade for cars. The '90s, more definitively than any of the years before them, marked the end of what's known as the malaise era: the dark age of the motor industry. This era saw cars that were sad, were lifeless, had no power, had no styling, and had no soul all due to stringent emissions regulations combined with a lack of technology to overcome them. Between the '70s and '80s, cars saw very dark times, with the vast majority of all vehicles not being worth their weight in pennies. By the time the '90s rolled around, we began to see things taking a turn for the positive with the introduction of some pretty exciting advances—car companies taking risks, getting inventive, and producing some spectacular cars.
Technology had finally started to catch up with the strict environmental regulations put upon the motor industry. But there was still evidence of the malaise era, with companies producing cars with that old, lifeless mentality, creating true vehicular atrocities and monsters. Some of the cars that came out of the '90s are the worst the world has seen, or the strangest, or just the most empty, lifeless boxes imaginable. At the end of the day, the '90s marked a new era for the motor industry, a true renaissance. So, let's take a look at 10 legendary cars from the '90s and 10 that should never be remembered.
20 Legendary: Nissan 300ZX
The 1990 Nissan 300ZX is our first example of one of the best cars to come out of the '90s. Twin-turbocharged, this beast could take you to sixty in five seconds, with a beautiful 300-horsepower engine.
The 300ZX was truly revolutionary when it came out, one of the first cars digitally designed using CAD, which made it very slippery in the air, with almost no drag.
Apart from its technical side, this car has such an unknown charm about it; it has such a spark that isn't quite quantifiable, truly a driver's car. And it's many people's absolute dream car.
19 Legendary: Ferrari F50
The Ferrari F50 is a classic car if there ever was one. Unlike any Ferrari before it, the 1996 F50 is truly one of the legends to come out of the '90s. The engine is an Italian masterpiece, a 4.7 L naturally aspirated V12 developed from one of Ferrari's Formula One cars. It puts out 513 horsepower, and this engine is paired with a six-speed manual gearbox, which sounds like heaven to a lot of people. With a blistering 0-60 mph time of 3.8 seconds, this is one of the best supercars to come out of the '90s.
18 Legendary: Nissan Skyline
This 1993 Nissan Skyline is a true icon of the '90s legends. This was a car born in the '90s for the '90s.
This car had a number of models, but the top-of-the-line model, the GT-R, came with a 2.6 L inline 6, which sent an impressive 276 horsepower through a five-speed manual transmission, through the tires, and onto the road.
This car is envied by many as a true collector car, a classic, timeless, invaluable vehicle. The GT-R especially was a true legend to come from the '90s.
17 Legendary: Mazda RX-7
No list of legends to come from the '90s would be complete without the Mazda RX-7. One of the best cars to come out of this era, the front-engine, rear-drive sports car is heralded by many as the best car ever made and by others as their true dream car—with good reason, too.
Car And Driver magazine named this car in its Ten Best list a total of five times during its production.
The third-generation RX-7 came equipped with a 1.3-liter Twin Turbo that put down 276 horsepower. This car is a tuner's dream and a '90s legend.
16 Legendary: Dodge Viper
There isn't really a sports car legend from the '90s that's more famous than the original Dodge Viper. A true amalgam of crazy ideas, innovation, and passion created this V10 monster. Its engine had design help from Lamborghini itself. But it had no exterior door handles, no air conditioning, and a soft top with vinyl windows opened by zippers—let's say it wasn't exactly refined. The engine produced a whopping 400 horsepower and 465 ft-lbs of torque. This car was truly insane and aptly named. Since its debut, it's become more refined over the years, but this original Viper is widely sought after—a classic, a legend.
15 Legendary: Toyota Supra
The Toyota Supra is a legend that's still well and thriving to this day. Many people have a Supra, and I'm sure many more wish they could have one. It's an absolutely awesome car and extra popular amongst tuners. This car could come equipped with some seriously insane numbers: a turbocharged 3-liter inline-6 with 326 horses and a 0-60 time of just 4.6 seconds. All of that power was harnessed by a six-speed manual gearbox. This car fits the bill for a true classic, and it has the muscle to outperform much of the competition back in '93 and even today.
14 Legendary: Jaguar XJ220
The XJ200 is genuinely a fascinating, one-of-a-kind car. It's unique, unlike any cars before it, and even after it, there hasn't been anything quite like it. This car is, for some, a bit of a disappointment, and that's due to the hype built up around it. Jaguar promised a Jaguar V12 to be stuffed into that slim body, but instead, consumers got a turbocharged V6. That may sound like a huge downgrade, but this car was still preposterously fast and performed incredibly. This was the fastest production car at the time, and it reached a top speed of 212 mph. Talk about legendary.
13 Legendary: Acura NSX
This may take one of the top spots for the most legendary car of the '90s. It truly redefined everything that a car could and should be. It was new territory, in a lot of ways, for consumers and manufacturers alike. NS-X actually stands for "New," "Sportscar," and "X," the unknown variable of a math equation. It was the very first production car to have an entirely aluminum body. It had a 3-liter V6 engine available with a five-speed manual transmission. This car is a legend, an amazing collector's car from the '90s.
12 Legendary: McLaren F1
The McLaren F1 is an exotic supercar legend from the '90s—a true pioneer defining what exactly 'exotic supercar' meant and what it could be and, as a result, set the bar for many of the supercars we see built today. Yet, it was still quite unique, with a centered driver's seat, providing visibility and control and two passenger seats behind it.
This car was light, even by today's standards, and took the spot for fastest production car, replacing the Jaguar XJ220, which we featured at #14. This car is so legendary, people agree that it's one of the greatest cars the world has ever seen.
11 Legendary: Bugatti EB110
People tend to forget that Bugatti used to be a luxury car brand in a similar market as Rolls-Royce back in the day—way back, as in the '30s and '40s. When you say "Bugatti," most people think of a Veyron or, in recent times, the Chiron. But at the hand of one man, Romano Artioli, Bugatti had a resurrection from its ancient roots in the '90s, and the EB110 was born. A car designed by former engineers from Lamborghini, this car is a masterpiece, almost forgotten by history. But it's the most legendary of legends from the '90s for that exact reason.
10 Forget It: Land Rover Discovery Series II
The Land Rover Discovery is still a modern name in the car industry. You can buy a brand-new one with the same name if you'd like. But when they were first being produced, they quickly developed a bad reputation.
They were incredibly unreliable.
It seemed that everything on these cars broke down almost before you could even use it. Because of the endless breakdowns, they soon developed a pretty bad reputation for it and were deemed the most unreliable SUVs ever. These days, they've addressed those issues and are quite reliable. Just avoid buying one from the '90s.
9 Forget It: Chevrolet Cavalier
The Chevrolet Cavalier truly is a dismal, useless car. It was weak, soulless, no fun to drive, cheap, and really had absolutely nothing notable about it. Even just going off of looks, it's terrible, with no style and an interior that was truly abysmal. The gearbox was terrible and lifeless, and the engine had no pep or grunt. This car really had nothing going for it. Yet, it sold by the thousands, one of GM's most popular cars. That's because it was cheap, easy, and heavily marketed. It truly is a worthless car, a waste of space at best.
8 Forget It: Fiat Multipla
To this day, I doubt that there's been an uglier car design. I really don't know what the teams of designers at Fiat were thinking. How can this car look good to anyone? It's got at least six headlights and at least six turn signals. The car is segmented in half, with a strange, bubble-shaped top on it. It makes no sense. It wasn't the most practical car either, with many other, more attractive models being overall of better value anyway. Seems like this ugly hunk of metal is better off left in the sands of time.
7 Forget It: Suzuki X-90
The Suzuki X-90 really is a terrible car, with horrible styling and impracticality to boot. It was made as a compact SUV, in the likes of the Jeep Wrangler, though I doubt anyone would try to compare the two. You could get it in either rear-wheel drive or four-wheel drive, though I doubt it made any difference as to how terrible the car was. Styling made no sense; where corners should be there were curves. Curves, curves everywhere. And a spoiler to boot. Why does an SUV need a spoiler? Why not two more seats instead?
6 Forget It: Pontiac Grand Am
This is one of quite a few models of cars produced throughout the decade of the '90s and even on into the next millennium. That really summed up what a budget car was like. Manufacturers cut every corner possible in production, with a 'cheap off the lot' end result that appealed to the masses. But they had plastic paneling, severe rust issues, terrible interiors, and a huge lack of anything remotely similar to the word 'quality.' The Pontiac Grand Am, throughout all of its generations, was truly terrible. Let's all try to forget this one existed.
5 Forget It: Geo Metro Convertible
There's just something about this car that reminds me of a ketchup packet but way boxier. The styling on this car is really just the worst, and the fact that it's a convertible makes it so much worse.
It's just so plain and boring.
That's what makes it so hard to look at. This is the kind of car you'd never want to be seen driving, yet since it's a convertible, being seen driving it should've been the whole point. No one in his right mind would want to be seen driving one of these, probably one of the most embarrassing events to happen in the '90s.
4 Forget It: Ford Taurus
The Ford Taurus got quite the redesign as the '90s rolled in, with this generation's models getting completely overhauled. Instead of boxy, Ford went the complete opposite direction, adding curves upon curves upon curves. There's not a straight line on this car, and that's why it's so ugly. They even made a model that had two round ovals for headlights, instead of one. And there's nothing remarkable about the engine, a true cheap hunk of metal with four wheels for the masses to eat up. Forget it.
3 Forget It: Plymouth Voyager
The Plymouth Voyager is a bit of a dark spot on the era of the '90s as are all the cars at this point in the list. It had a huge front end that wasn't aerodynamic and wasn't visually appealing, and the rest isn't much better, a virtual box of practicality. It was dismal and unappealing, yet it filled a niche in the market; many families used these across the nation, despite their ugly styling. You'll still see these driving today, but they're rust buckets, filled with trash, falling apart, and horribly taken care of. It seems so normal, you might even think that's just how they came.
2 Forget It: Subaru Alcyone SVX
The Alcyone is actually a pretty neat car. It was Subaru's take on a sports car, the company no doubt aiming to be in with big leagues like the NSX or the Skyline. But it didn't quite make it there, due to some of its rather 'inventive' features, like windows within the windows. It's funky, goofy, and... well... cool, actually, especially these days as a forgotten retro car. The biggest thing that makes this Subaru a total "forget" is its absolutely poor transmission. This car came equipped, as the only option, with a four-speed automatic. It was truly terrible and deserves to be forgotten.
1 Forget It: Mercedes-Benz A-Class
The first generations of the Mercedes-Benz A-Class were, as you can see, very strangely shaped compact hatchback cars. They were poorly underpowered, vying for economy first. The biggest reason these cars belong in the dumpster of the past is primarily due to the fact that they all had to be recalled after failing an elk test. The car, when tested for safety in avoiding unexpected road obstacles, had a terrible tendency to roll. After the recall and suspension of manufacturing, they were able to redesign the car and start over, although the damage had already been done.
Sources: autoevolution.com, autoinfo.com