'Wheels Car of the Year'. Where are they now? (1990-1999)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 มิ.ย. 2024
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We're taking a trip down memory lane, to look back at the 1990's winner of the world-renowned 'Wheels Car of the Year', to see which ones were worth picks and which are best confined to the history books.
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As a 52yr old Australian, I really loved this episode, thank you for your outstanding work gentlemen...👍
My family had a magna when i was growing up. It was a base '93 model. It spent its whole life with us. I was in it as a whining 5 year old, a grunting L plater, and a pretty reckless P plater. This thing saw it all. And i think out of all the cars i drove (with the exception of the honda legend) it was the most comfortable and reliable. It even survived a drunk mate slamming it into reverse whilst i was travelling at 50kpm! In its last few years it started to suffer little problems (alternator failed once) but it was nearly at 500 000 km when i gave it to a mate to compete in a destruction derby for its glorious valhalla demise 😂
A lot of my teen years was in the family 94 Magna. Comfy, solid car from what I remember.
I'm probably thankful my parents TR auto only put out 93kW. I had that thing screaming everywhere as a P plater
Back in the day, when a Falcon or Magan booked in for some work I used to rub my hands together as they always need lots of work.
Definitely VR Commodore even more so over VT, i like VT but extra weight the VR was more efficient car. I been fortunate as i own n still have my 5.0lt V8 ute n V6 Berlina that did 800kms on tank of fuel. Magna was ok car but AU should have won 98 sas it stood test of time n game changer ute version.
LS400 would have to be car of the decade
Some might say the century
Maybe ever. 🙂
Mine still running perfectly with 550k km original engine and transmission 👌
NSX
@@kingmarz3635 definitely some strong arguments for the NSX, apart from being a fantastic car it also had a significant impact on the entire supercar market forcing substantial improvements from the established players. But Honda now is a shadow of its former self so the NSX wasn’t able to lift the brand long term. The Lexus brand is built off the LS400, if that vehicle failed Lexus would have failed, but it didn’t, it was a spectacular success. That’s why I lean towards the LS400 but can certainly understand others favouring the NSX.
Wet Wet Wet's song Love is all around was for the movie: Four Weddings and a Funeral
The Magna was built like an absolute tank with how many hand me down Magna's P platers got and the amount of punishment they took to still keep trucking.
Watching this while sitting in my 430,000km Magna chuckling at the 1996 COTY comments 😂
Haha, excellent!
My 2004 Ralliart had 300,000ks & was still going strong, & my 2006 VRX had 260,000ks & never missed a beat. Amazing cars.
Now have a 2005 Swift as a daily & a 2019 Outlander as a family wagon. Kids 😅
Haha same, have a vt commodore with the original ecotec motor on 450,000km, never had timing chains done either and still going 😂
Motoring box enters the chat 😂
@@MrLurchsThings Man what a time he had with that respray, lol.
Magna was a great car. It was super popular here in Japan as an executive car and it helped Mitsubishi Motors come out of the slump following the bubble burst of the 90s.
Liquid hot Magma......😂
@@RusteeUte😂 Damn autocorrect.
Excellent video boys. I’m in Scotland and our UK cars of the year (from the major publication) were -
1990: Rover 214
1991: Rover Metro
1992: VW Golf
1993: Ford Mondeo
1994: Peugeot 306
1995: VW Polo
1996: Peugeot 406
1997: Renault Megane Scenic
1998: Land Rover Freelander
1999: Rover 75
So in the year when you lads were crowning the Honda NSX 😍 we were awarding a Metro 1.1 😭
Boy that’s a sad list 😅
That is very funny 😄
That's abhorrent!
How much were Rover paying that publication? 😂
jesus christ do you pommies ever care about reliability and ownership experience hahahahha every car on that list is beyond demonic to your bank account and mental health
That list is disgusting
We had the 06 Odyssey Vti-L with the K series. Sold it a couple of years back with 405,000km. The bloke who bought it is still getting around in it, runs like a dream.
Everything still works, sunroof doesn't leak etc. Exceptionally well made car.
Ya looking to buy one now, iv four kids under 5! But are they any fun at all to drive??
@@padraigfallon1234 it handled better than my 98 Magna...
I've gone to a Kia Carnival to accommodate the kids. The 3rd row seats aren't great for permanent use in that shape Odyssey. In the Carnival however they're fine. At 190 odd cm and over 100kg, I fit there fine.
Yeah , I’m a Magna guy , had 7 of them all epic , including an AWD Verada.
For family duties the best was the Sportswagon, looked ok and the 5 speed tippy at the time was class leading, and the 165 KW 3.5 was awesome
"Billy Ray Cyrus: If you haven't heard of him... don't go hearing of him!" Should be on a shirt 🤣🤣
Oh man, Jim’s : “Give your Mum a call” gave me the first solid laugh out loud of the week. Hahahahaha
This generation of Magna is the new p plate weapon in the south west, fast and reliable and heaps around…
Cheap to buy, repair and maintain, early 2000’s there were no less than 3 in my friend group, great cars.!
A few of them are v8 munchers as well 😉
Owned a Ford Telstar TX5 Ghia V6 manual. Cracking car imo. Super comfy interior, racked up about 200000kms in 6 years and never missed a beat. Wish I'd never sold it
I had one as well, with that silky smooth Yamaha designed V6. Compared to what else was on the market for the price they were and good cars. As you say comfortable and very quiet.
Was never going to get any positive recognition given the extreme anti Ford bias on this channel. He even tried to say that the Commodore was all Aussie, when we are all aware it simply wasn’t.
My sister had the 626 V6 for a while. It got me loving Mazda's again, it wasn't short on KM's and went well. Did find it a bit soft handling wise. It was a pity she wrote it off, shunting some poor unsuspecting soul.
Agree! My grandmother had a Telstar TX5 V6 in Grey. Was an ex detective's car. What a great car. I owned the equivalent 626 V6. Also good car
@@Wedgetail96 Funny you should say that, but Jim has a very pronounced anti Ford bias. Last week he stated that every Ford Ranger 3.2 has had an engine replacement, yet a quick crawl through that web sites show this is not true.
If you’re looking for sporty dynamic handling in a Magna/Verada you’re doing it wrong. They were smooth, comfortable, reliable, plenty quick enough with that V6, and just ate distance like nothing else. A weekend dash from Sydney to Melbourne wasn’t out of the question in one of these, and you arrived not beaten up by the drive.
Set up right they actually handle remarkably well.
The Improved production race series has some very competitive Magna’s up against some fast v8 and turbo competitors
Yep Australian cars really were good highway cars
Drove from the Central Coast NSW to the Gold Coast on one tank of 91 ULP; I clearly remember 779km on the trip computer. Got well past Coolangatta; I think it was Tugun before refilling. That was in 2007 and she has 600K on her now; but she could probably happily do it again.
@@billymasonpi nice, that’s decent economy for a big old 6
@@thomasclayton169definitely
The 2.6 inline six used in the export VR Commodore was an Opel CIH engine, which by 1994 was a pretty dated engine and had largely been replaced in European Opels by a V6 by then.
Love is all around by Wet Wet Wet was in Four Weddings and a Funeral
The biggest COTY award would have to be European Car of the Year, which was won almost exclusively by French cars and Fiats/Alfas in the 90s
That first generation Odyssey ran the 2.2 F series engine which it shared with the Accord at the time, which was also an excellent car. The first Odyssey to run the K series was in 2004 when Honda released the sleek and sexifed Odyssey you pictured
I occasionally see a Honda NSX getting around in Sydney. It way too low has an obnoxious exhaust and looks like it’s been used as a daily driver for all its life.
It looks so good.
We owned a 1996 Telstar Tx5 V6 from 1999 to 2007. I'm sorry to say that I disagree with your assessment. Ours was totally reliable and comfortable. That little V6 sounded unreal when given a good thrashing.
Sorry, my mistake. Ours was a 1993 model not 96 as stated above.
The Mitsubishi Magna's were tanks!!! my old 98 model had 330,000+kms on it, original engine and transmission. Can't believe it kept going
Epic episode fellas... bringing back memories, not only from cars, but songs n movies
.. God danm... so much nostalgia
I have the wheels magazine when the NSX and Pulsar tied for car of the year and it was absolutely the SSS N14 that got the approval not the economy puss box.
My grandmother bought the 1985 Ford Telstar TX5 turbo brand new, she still owns it and now I am the driver, I’ve owned a number of great sports cars and that Telstar is an absolute ripper. I love that car.
Sometimes the journo’s get it wrong…the early 90’s v6 Telstar was an amazing car silky smooth engine fun to drive…I’d rather drive that than 90% of the garbage on the rd today.
I have the NZ version of the 1985 Telstar I won't ever sell mine great, great car
Magna were great cars.
My son's N14 has 291,000km and is his daily. Great car even today. Everything works,
Ah the memories - thanks again Adam & Jim for your armchair travellers incredibly relaxed and enjoyable conversations - I sold my GC8 ten years ago for a deposit to buy a house but I also had a ‘97 automatic Subaru Forester for 18 years with original transmission until the camshaft seized at 425000 kms - one of the best Subarus I’ve ever owned and not one blown head gasket with this model - the only critique I can add was the typical paint peeling of these ‘97-‘02 models with white duco only.
So the NSX is you're favorite car? Bloody spot on Adam. I'll always keep my fingers crossed one day you'll get to review one.
I remember not so long ago. Many Oz NSX owners with low mileage NSXs, couldn't give them away, no-one wanted them, Ferrari had that market in Oz...going for around $60,000.
....now
@Mexxx65 yeah, these days people who have an NSX will probably hang on to it. It's one of those rare cars, if you've got a really nice one name your price.
@@scottcarter2362 ...but....only with the beginning of the internet (in Oz around 1995, well home internet over your phone) And "we" saw many US NSX owners starting asking silly money for them, and UK NSX owners following the trend. And generally the internet highlighting and pushing their exclusivity and rarity. And yes, youtube videos such as this one from our ReDriven boys, unfortunately. They were an average performing "Sports car" at best, with below par performance...but yes with supercar looks.I mean interior wise an NSX was near identical to a top spec Integra or Prelude!!!! ...but no matter people today willy pay ludicrous prices, to join the "Ayrton Senna NSX club"....
@Mexxx65 I've driven one NSX, a 1992 manual. And it was incredible. Whatever the power figures are on paper, it doesn't matter. Wringing every last Rev out of that engine,and changing gears through the best clutch and shifter I've ever used. We have a 2004 Holden Calais V8 in our family. And I'd trade it for an NSX in a heartbeat.
@Mexxx65 the 3Ltr nsx did the 1/4 mile in mid 13's and the 3.2 did it in 13 flat. At the time the hsv vs gts was the fastest domestic car amd they were doing it in the low 14's. So no the "average" Ford or Holden v8 family sedan wouldn't have it for dinner
90s cars were the best in being high efficiency, low to no product obsolescence, open source repair info, non to low proprietary tools and no big brother ecu/internet monitoring.
My grandma had a TJ Magna for about 13 years and was bought brand new around 2001-2002 (hers was a V6 Si which is actually quite rare), never had a single problem! I'd say the TE is worthy for sure! Only thing I wish they were RWD.
TL VRX for me
My best mate’s mum had a TJ Advance wagon brand new with the 3.5 V6. Went off its nut and had a decent standard stereo system to boot. The TE was best as a four cylinder manual. I worked at a Mitsubishi dealer in 2004 and the V6s used to cost $1000 just to change the rear bank spark plugs (Mitsubishi servicing schedule mandated platinum plugs for the rear bank so they could be changed half as often as the front bank at 80,000km instead of 40,000km). While the four is a bit slower, it also uses less fuel and is more reliable than the V6, although the V6 in Mitsubishi guise’s main issue is head gaskets and oil consumption - there are much more brutal and expensive issues for the same motor in Hyundai/Kia guise.
Hows the paint? I bet it faded faster than milli vanilla!
Those back spark plugs were a pain. You had to remove the intake manifold just to get to them.
Plugs are a pain in all 6Gs but its a reminder to redo the valve cover gaskets at the same time!
Fun walk down memory lane … would have been nice to show the runners up for each year too.
Wheels was pretty much just a Holden sales brochure back then. The only Ford COTY for the 90’s was the rebadged Mazda’s.
And the snub of the EF in '94 was definitely bias
LOL at all you guys bragging about about how many hundreds of Km's your car has achieved . Rookie numbers compared to AU Falcon taxi's .
Would love to have my '99 Forte wagon back. Sadly traded it for an '06 Escape V6 in 2008.
Buy one and roll your own!!!!
Ah, the good old days when Wheels magazine were terrified of "the Euros" showing up the local icons. Criminal that the e39 528i / 530i never won ECOTY in that era. That really was a superb car and much better than the Commodore, Falcon etc of the same generation.
They were better but triple the cost.
6G72 is not in the Pajero Evo guys. PajEvo has the 6G74 MIVEC (3.5L)
I think you'll find it was the 348 as the benchmark for the NSX Adam. The 360 didn't even come out until 1999 😉
I haven't reached the end of the video yet, this may be edited lol.
Apologies for that, any mention of an NSX and my brain turns to mush. - AK
My dad had a 1997 VT Commodore GTS with the 5.7 V8. Awesome to drive, however, it pretty much spent half its life not working, and the other half at the mechanics, sometimes both.
How are the 626 and Telstar bad cars? Mazda was producing cars of a quality they wouldn't repeat until the late 2010s and the Telstar was pretty much the same car. They are still around, they just didn't sell as many examples as some other COTYs.
I wonder if they got their wires crossed and were thinking of the Mondeo that came along a bit later.
they're great cars go forever. the Mazda square(86x86mm) I4 FE, F8, FE3 DOHC - was a great engine way ahead of the Mitsubishi 4g63 of the time. FE3 built to be turbo'ed - can handle 500hp straight out of the factory. I have owned close to 10 of them classic cars
1996 - when Jim says “that song” and groans - knew immediately it was Macarena! Totally agree - absolute ear torture!😂
GTiR sucked at rally because it was a lead tipped arrow due to its piss-poor weight distribution - WAY too much weight fore of the front axle meant it plow under steered like a dog on Mr Sheen’d Lino.
Ive owned a 96 and 00 magna, my mum has an 03 commodore and i currently own an AU falcon. The magnas are better than the commodore or falcon in comfort by a huge margin. Also weighed a lot less for the magnas i had.
We had the V6 Ford Telstar, it came with stuffed valve stem seals after very few K's and slowly fell apart. It could go round corners really well though, that double wishbone suspension was next generation for the time.
I owned a Ford Telstar Radisich a few years back. I think it's the most collectable version across Australia NZ. I can kind of see it
-spacious, rides well, handled a lot better than other large cars (Falcon Commodore etc), v6 isn't really fast but its not super slow either. Very smooth, fuel economy okay. Steers great and independent suspension front and back worked great for our roads.
Biggest issue with the Telstar was higher servicing costs - some reliability issues and the biggest thing is they got so cheap for so long so they all turned to shit u
LS400 would have to be the pick of the list - and I'm going to disagree with you guys about the VT. It might be iconic but it was also a floppy bodied bag of shit with horrible steering, 1970s Opel IRS that had terrible lift off oversteer and munched tyres, and the Ecojet was pretty bloody awful too.
Magna was dull but suited its target market really well and the third generation was pretty reliable if serviced...
That generation of Telstar and 626 I always quite liked but not a COTY.
The NB and AU were robbed, but then again despite being better than the cars they replaced they were also less attractive.
One thing that stands out to me is that this was obviously before VAG started purchasing COTY. Not a putrid Golf, Audi or Skoda in sight.
VT wasn't perfect, but compared to the VR that had won.. I mean c'mon . Not a fan of the engine, but there are ppl that would argue it should still be in cars today, so has its appeal to some I guess.. it wasn't terrible in 1997 , pretty awful by 2004 though when it was finally ditched
What a shame significantly updated cars were not allowed in COTY otherwise the EB2 Falcon would have walked away with it.
Sadly the EB2 didn’t look much different to EA and EB1 but probably had far more improvements than the VR had over the VP.
Bought a new Honda Odyssey in 1996. Utterly trouble free and raised our family in it.
Still so good - drives like a car yet carries 7 if needed or carries a bookcase from IKEA flat pack 2 metres long.
So reliable and good to drive we still have it low kms as our second car.
This was Honda top of their game.
I bought a 2000 TH Exec ex SA Govt with 40000k on it for family duties. It was the last year where you could have one without a drivers airbag, but the 3.0 was standard. It did 195kmh flatout that one time i took it to mexico ;)
I think the "where are they now" component of the video was very insightful, as there have been plenty of cars and other consumer goods that were all the rage when they first came out but have aged terribly both in form and function; particularly with the Mercedes brand, as highlighted at the end. I own a 1983 Mercedes 380SEC coupe with 260K km on it and it's still running reliably and looking good for its age (obviously it had the heads & front end done at around the 200K mark as is typical for these W126 platform vehicles). It's no babied, low mileage show-car either and has been well used by its several previous owners but it has good bones and was made at a time (now long, long gone unfortunately) where Mercedes put quality of design, materials and manufacture ahead of profits and hyped-up tech features with poor longevity [as they do today].
My first car was a Nissan Pulsar SSS. Lasted 19 years before I crashed it. I'm a movie+song buff too and remembered every song for each movie mentioned. Fun vid guys !
The Magna wasn’t a bad car at the time. You can’t seriously say that a commodore or falcon was better dynamically? Commodores had suspension calibrated all wrong with springs and dampers mismatched. The Magna was quiet, handled ok and the V6 went ok.
I agree. Next to the VS Commodore, the EF Falcon and that god ugly Camry, the Magna looked like it came from another era.
Then the VT came the following year and blew it all into the water.
The VS was a better car dynamically, but the Magna was more reliable in four cylinder form. EF was best in the outback though.
Nissan maxima with the v6? From memory that v6 went like a cut snake. Car was comfortable too
@@mr5000i ex Mrs Bushy had one. Most unreliable, uncomfortable piece of shit I ever sat in until we got her second gen Focus. Even my old high mileage BA Ute was more comfortable, especially on a long trip.
Handled OK compared to what, a potato?
Would be the Opel 2.6 Straight six in Malaysian VRs
They also sold them with Family II fours in NZ.
@@ayrproductions There's a Royale on tardme right now
@ayrproductions and Starfire fours in VKs!
Ford Telstar TX5 Ghia 2.2Inj - 300,000kms with same engine and 5spd box. Great car . Fully met it's design brief IMHO.
What a terrible selection of cars this iconic magazine chose. I bought the 1999 'Motor' magazine car of the year - the Integra Type R, which pitted it agsinst the WRX and he VRX Magna. I bought the Type R with full body kit, and today - 330,000Kms later - I'm still driving it. I've never touched the motor, and I still rev it to 9,000rpm regularly.
Fella's the reason why the GTI-R's were no good in rallying was because of their silly intercooler location that was pretty much over the exhaust. Not to mention its size was too small. It was constantly down on power because of the Group A regulations. The Subaru was top mounted but it ran cooler due to the boxer design (required less cooling) and it being larger.
My friends used to call it the "interwarmer"😂
Thanks for answering, I was thinking it was probably going to be something to do with gearbox issues
Love the idea of the vid but gotta disagree on the1993 626. That thing but Mazda back on the map and led to the Mazda 6 which dominated the market for over a decade. It was super nice and great value!
Great video and great idea - can't wait to see the next editions (though you should have started with COTYs for the '80s - that would be epic). I've owned maybe 25 cars since I got my licence in 1986, and sad to say I haven't owned a single '90s COTY. Closest I got maybe was the '99 AU Forte wagon in metallic green I bought in 2000 - it was fantastic, would love to have it back. Main reason we got it (traded the wife's 91 Pulsar Vector - another emerging classic...) was that it was the only car available that would fit a kiddie seat, baby capsule and a full grown human on the back seat. Any backpacker circling Oz who picks a LiteAce or Forester over one of these is crazy. More living space in the back than a Sydney hotel suite. And you can just about fix 'em with a spoon.
Gtir was known to be front heavy, the intercooler would get damaged in rally racing and something else. I had a high performance imports mag from 2001 about two gtir's upgraded for rally and one for track.
My dad had the W220 S class (U.S Spec 500) in period and it was constantly having issues.
I remember the final time it broke down, he came to pick me up after a violin recital. He went to unlock it and noticed that the air suspension had collapsed. Despite it being at 9100 miles, He didn't even try to sort it. He traded it in for an ML 55 AMG and never looked back.
First car was a 94 Mazda 626 bought from the first owner in 2018 was a cracking car and I definitely see 626s driving around in Sydney about as many as a sss pulsar. Not often but you do see them.
Hey you just got a shout out on Throttle House’s latest video test driving the latest Alfa Giulia QV.
Yes! We just got told. How good 💪
10:06 Thought they would’ve tied the VR with the Toyota Lexcen lol
Great video idea! Love it. I grew up taking everything Wheels magazine had to say as gospel, and spouting opinions on my aunties’ new car purchases accordingly 😂
Wheels COTY always was the ultimate, but some very valid discussions here about some other contenders that have stood the test of time better… keen to see the next one!
7 days late. But when my family migrated to Aus, My dad bought a Blue 91 Magna Wagon (under 100Ks). It had that 2.4L engine. That car stayed in the family till the end of my P plate years. It got up to 400K on the clock. My dad used it for work, which he had to travel to regional areas of WA. It took us on family vacations, carried everyone, camped in it for some nights. When I got the keys, I pretty much put too the ground (Teen years). Basically tried to use it as race car xD. Fuel Gauge stopped working at some point, So to figure out how much we used, we calculated the size of the tank to how much it used per trip. At the time Fuel prices was easy to gauge. $10 of Fuel would give us about 10-12 Ltrs. That would roughly give us about 90-110 Kms. I killed it by running it to the ground to a point that we got a Wreaker to pick it up from our house. o7 Served us well till the end. It never gave any major issues before i took over. Mainly my dad was a mechanic before we migrated over.,
SL500 is so beautiful and bulletproof. faulty convertible tops and faulty power seat that will push you into the steering wheel doesn’t matter.
Agree
I've had a few tr and ts magnas over the years. The v6 manuals were an awesome sleeper and fun to drive!
This is a great idea for a video series, well done whoever came up with it.
I had a 98 Magna. Pretty base model. 3.0lt 6cyl, manual, wind up windows.
It was actually pretty quick for what it was, didn't handle all that well though.
The fun fact, because it was a base model with only a tape player, it also had a 3.5mm audio input jack. So you had phone or ipod connectivity to play music lol.
The manual’s hammer
As time goes by analogue cars like these Ave their charms compared to the overly complex cars of today.
Yep, had one, over 300,000k and still looked new inside, went well, no rust. Had an issue with distributer that made it misfire occasionally once fixed, good all round comfy family car.
My Ford Falcon 1994 GHIA Is an excellent car. 2 owner car. Still going strong 201,000 kilometres. Booster shit itself had to get recon. 400.00 bucks. Parts are getting hard to get.🌹💕
90s & 00s Subaru Outbacks are in so many TV shows and movies.
Homeland is a classic example.
Fun fact. I could play that on drums in 91 and can still play it now. Plus I personally love how you say whether drum kits will fit in the boot. I'd actually like to see you guys buy an old kit and use that as your load test.. this channel is quickly becoming my favourite car channel.
I might be swapping from a little 20” kit back to a 22” soon, that way it will be a more realistic test!
Hmm...makes me sad how far cars have fallen since then. _Wt? I had a '92 2.5L 626 5spd & it rocked._
Now Wheels COTY is a 3t electric Kia Carnival [whatever], costing $150k & not even a car.
My achy breaky heart is broken.
Yep. As well as last year a ranger ute.
Mazda6's are still amazing cars.
Yer my Telstar TX5 was amazing, the base series 1s were lame but the series two with the 2.5 V6 with after market wheels was great
Tx5 was a great car, over 250,000k only issue was computer fault on auto speed sensor, great condition inside after all those years and use, hatch style with a real size boot was best. Sold it as wanted to upgrade to a car with airbags for safety. Replaced with a 2019 Mazda 6 hatch, absolutely brilliant car, trip computer was a bit basic and hard to use, but otherwise great. Just too low for aging knees. OK, these guys present well and have a good style, most enjoyable entertainment and loads of good info, but please justify/explain comments like 'just shit'.
briliant work lads - memory lane stroll, used to collect these mags; 4 weddings and a funeral
More of this guys! Really enjoyed this. Also.. How did the VS not win a Car Of The Year! What a great commodore!
Fun fact: Although the VN & VP ran the V6s they were designed for the Nissan RB series engines. The VR Commodore was the first car actually designed for the Buick V6 lump.
Holden were paying for the engines JPY value in USD, but the Australian government floated the AUD. The engine’s cost blew out by a factor of four, so they had to find a cheap unleaded compliant engine quickly.
I had a 03 3rd Gen rx liberty. 240000km great car to own and drive. Loved it heaps of character
Even as an American this is likely to be enjoyable. The equivalent here would be going back decades and doing the motor trend car of the year. They pick some true turkeys
Stepmum bought a third gen Liberty wagon brand new in 1999. Only issue was the usual EJ20 head gasket. Sold it to me with 270,000km on it in 2015 after my beloved XG Falcon Ute got written off. Only issues I had with it was a set of plugs and leads when I first got it which also took out the knock sensor to the point it would randomly chuck up the check engine light and put the car into low power mode once it warmed up and just before I sold it after four years of ownership the rear main seal. I replaced the plugs and leads pretty quickly but let the knock sensor go for three years before replacing it, which brought it back to normal. I sold it with the rear main seal leak and no other real issues four years later with 355,000km on it. Definitely a worthy winner, but maybe not as worthy as the AU would’ve been. The 997 though - not worthy at all if you know anything about Porches.
Wheels. Holdens PR department - telling us all about how an Opel was Australia's Own. I've had a VK, VL, VR, VS, VT - the VLs Nissan engines were great, the VR was exciting at the time... & the VT tried to kill me at about 140 kph with the lift-off oversteer from hell that made a Porsche Turbo feel like a sensible choice. Didn't bother with Holden sedans after the VT + bought a 5.7 VU which was more fun & less batshit crazy.
"All for Love" by Bryan Adams was in the soundtrack The Three Musketeers.
Totally agree on W200 being a flogging nightmare surpassed only by "Zwei Zwei Zwei" (W222) which somehow managed to get even worse
The Mazda 323 you show from 1991 is not an Australian version. In 1991 it was the Astina with pop up headlights and 5 door only. There was also a 4 door sedan that looked a bit like a baby Benz. This version of the 323 in SP form was a contender for the award in 1989. The 626 from 1983 was the best car in it's class and a very good car overall. I'd love to see the 80's COTYS. The decade started and finished with wins for Mazda.
I had a 3 door 323. Solid but boring.
@@donotwantahandle1111 What year? In Australia the 3 door was only available in rear wheel drive and I'm pretty sure only in the first series of front wheel drive (released at the end of '80).
Great episode boys, so many memories. Could you add more information about the alternative options for car of year for the year being reviewed.
My dad’s friend drive a magna for Canon, gosh I was jealous how beautiful and practical it was!
I agree with most of your comments, however I think the Magna was a pretty good car: it was very smooth, the 3.5 was quite a good performer too. Good boot size and reasonable servicing cost. The AU Falcon not getting car if the year is a dark point in Australian motoring history.
Aladan was an excellent movie. Classic sound track that is still around today.
I love my Telstar!
VR/VS commodores that went to SE Asia had an Opel/Vauxhaul 2.6 Litre CIH engine.
The movie for Gangsta's Paradise is Dangerous Minds.
The Engine in the Honda Odyssey was the 2.2 F22B ... from memory.
The Liberty is more relatable and practical than the 911. Plus the turbo version is not far behind in street performance. A clear winner in price, insurance, reliability, depreciation, repairs et al.
This was a good one. We need the next decade now.
My mum had a VR commodore, bought brand new. Car leaked oil from the first day, and every day until a kangaroo put it out of its misery around 15 years later.
I had a 2.0 N14 , not a SSS but same engine and gearbox - what a missile! Great in a straight line but not so great around corners. A couple of hundred thousand on it when I sold it and it never broke down.i would have another one tomorrow.
Enjoyed this episode
Fun fact; look up the Subaru timing belt part in many other countries, and it was done 160k km/ 100k miles... Nfi why we had to do ours 1/3 more often...
Show the magna some love! They pumped out some great looking models, even all-wheel drive and supercharged versions! I reckon they still look great, shame they stopped making them.
Subaru Gen 2 Liberty's mostly used the EJ22 (exclude late models and outback) - bulletproof, no major head gasket issues. Lots of leaks but no head gasket issues unless overheated. Gen 3 used the EJ25 as standard with those crappy black coated head gaskets - those were guaranteed to have head gasket issues regardless of maintenance at around 150k kms but could be ignored for years with SOHC engines seeping externally (DOHC models - gen 2 outback, gen 2 2.5L models etc were different - typical internal head gasket leaks). Turbo models also did not really suffer head gasket issues.
The EJ208 twin turbos don't have that much HG issues
@@skippylegrandgourou2069 Yup EJ20 and EJ22 engines didnt really have the issues just the NA EJ25, even turbo EJ25 models did not have issues thanks to a better designed MLS head gasket.
Pro tip - use the genuine Subaru EJ25 TURBO head gaskets when doing EJ25 NA head gaskets - same fit, permanent fix.
The EJ22 was really reliable. My parents had a 95 wagon that had done high km’s when they got it, and they did a few km’s in it too. Just the usual cam cover leaks is all that went wrong with it. They’ve always had Subarus without a problem, right from the original XT turbo, until the newest generation forester.
Decent cars, I’ve had 5 myself.
Had a 92 626 wagon in 2008ish. That was a great car.
LS400 with the right fitment and ride height is one of the sexiest cars ever. Love my GS300 but those 400’s are sexy.
I bought my Grandma’s 1985 Toyota Corolla CSX. Best little car. Velour seats, aircon as extra, auto transmission, super bright headlights. Belts in the transmission started to slip around 230,000 kms. Got them tightened and when it started again around 260,000 I traded it on a 1999 V6 Toyota Camry.
The Smegma totally forgettable while the Odyssey - thanks to that ad - was at least different, but I would kill for an NSX.. Awesome video.
I had one of those 626s, a JDM one with the roaring KL-ZE engine. They had *the Worst* Automatics in them, there is like 6+ solenoids in em and they all die constantly. Ended up Manual swapping it.
Love the video!!!
I wrecked the LS400 / Celsoir for a living for a while, and they were built better than anything I've seen.
The interior wood was real, the tech was reliable, the power was spot on, the shape was no BS, I can't fault it.
Honda NSX... Still want one.
Also, my old man had a Telstar and I remember at a very young age saying why do the Mazda's look like the ford?? 😂
4 Weddings and a funeral? for Wet Wet Wet song?
Yes! You’re right
It was also featured in Love Actually, though the lyrics were rewritten somewhat to make it a bit more christmassy.....
The fact that the NB MX-5 was overlooked for Wheels car of the year is unforgivable. The only decade they’ve missed out. Having owned my NB since new in 2003, I’m still salty.
1989 Mazda MX-5 (NA)
1998 Subaru Liberty (**Travesty**)
2005 Mazda MX-5 (NC)
2016 Mazda MX-5 (ND)
2025 ?????? ?????
I had a friend who had a Ford Telstar TX5 Ghia. It was a great car at the time.
Thanks for the video as always guys! Adam! Just out of interest, can I ask who your favorite drummers are?