Never owned a brava or a bravo but did own a 5 year old marea. The car seemed to have all ameneties of the time, but all eerevof poor quality, and while was very comfortable (after replacing all 4 shock absorbers) but still it managed to arrange a bi weekly meeting with the mechanic, who was happier than me for the fact that i bought one. A year or so was enough for me for owning one....
More importantly, those cars were built to last. Durable engines, well conserved bodyshells and reliable electronics that weren't too complicated for an average garage to handle if something went wrong. A complete antithesis to what is made today. I still see lots of these cars were I live. About 50% of the road is 90s cars I would say.
To be fair, manufacturers are probably under pressure from governments to apply eco friendly technology that makes cars more complicated and less reliable. But all things considered one has to wonder if we are really saving the planet when the new technology fails and has to be replaced/discarded.
@@DrLoverLover plastic is widely used in cars today. The quality of plastics during 1990s were far better than today. Cars were cheap and lasted forever. The rivalry of Brands were immense.
Between 1998 and 2008 was the peak. Aluminium and E-coated steel, lightweight engines. The motor industry can still be innovative, but the government and their net zero crap has forced car manufacturers to give up on the ICE engine which is a shame as the technology was getting better all the time. Sure, not all of the out of the box thinking was well thought out (wet belt/rear mounted timing chains with super long oil service intervals) but by and large the engineering was and is still innovative. GDI or Gasoline Direct Injection is a great idea, however there has been side effects of carbon build up on inlet valves, so the engineers found a way to incorporate both port and direct fuel injection on newer engines. And since when as that ZF8 speed gearbox given anybody any trouble?
I owned a 1997 XM Exclusive V6 for 3 years. One of the most enjoyable cars I have owned to drive. For a heavy front driver it handled surprisingly well with the passive rear steering and of course the ride was sublime. The interior materials were beautiful. The V6 had a gorgeous nasal sound. But….. when I bought it, it was 5 years old with only 28,000km on the clock. From the first month the “niggles” started. First the radiator fans refused to work (electronic control board replaced), the cat converter started rattling and kept having issues, the in tank fuel pump failed twice (and I always used 98 octane unleaded, so not cheap fuel), accelerator cable snapped….. yes, my favourite car ever owned however also the most frustrating and costly to maintain….. still, don’t regret buying it (but will never ever buy European again)
I had a 2.0i 1993/200k km in 2013 as a hobby car, unfortunately the AC broke while on a holiday road trip, making it an economical total loss. Still regret I had to sell it then. Later I bought a (converted into) V6.24 later - that one was a total disaster, with never ending hydraulic leaks, got rid of it and never looked back. Now it's almost impossible to find a decent first gen and they are finally appreciating a bit.
We had an Audi 100, Peugeot 605, Citroën XM, Mercedes W124 300 TE and a BMW E34 535i. Some for only a short while..it was after a move and a job switch which allowed us to sample all those cars and some were long-term. And yes, the Citroen is comfortable and all...but the driving experience pales even compared to the Mercedes, but the BMW is so far above it they're basically not even in the same category. We had no problems in the short time we had the XM, but I'm sure it's pretty common knowledge how problematic those French cars are to own. In comparison those older BMWs are such high quality. At least when comparing to the Audi you get better comfort with the Citroën.
I owned a Focus between 2001 and 2005 and it was bloody brilliant. I only sold it because it was a 3-door and could not accommodate my newborn daughter.
I still remember going for a drive in my friend's dad's brand new '99 Focus - it was like nothing I'd ever seen. So modern and dynamic. You don't see many on the road nowadays from that first gen but I still smile when I see one.
Doesn't seem like it can be 25 years ago, but it is. I remember my first drive in one and thinking "every other hatchback on the market is in trouble now" - it looked futuristic, but not in a cheesy, tacky way that many current EVs do. And it drove like something from a different planet compared to most of the stodgy, turgid efforts from the 90's. It flattered the driver's driving skills when driven with zest, but was equally happy to be trickled around town. The engine even sounded nice with it's free-revving nature. It was comfortable for people of all sizes, even for long journeys. People really liked them and Ford deserved to have a huge hit on their hands with it. They rapidly became ubiquitous and they gained the kind of universality that designs like the Austin Mini, VW Beetle or Citroen 2CV had. Then they let committees set up to "improve" subsequent versions of it and they just became over-burdened with ideas, initiatives and lost that sharp edge. The last time I drove one was in about 2008 and all the magic and sparkle had been drained out of it in favour of "things you can put in a brochure" - as if that ever sold cars. The MKII focus was porky, stodgy and just plain dull by comparison. It was like meeting your madcap 90's mate who's now a chartered accountant who's ghastly, overbearing wife insists he "keeps it down" all the time.
My dad had a 1996 Escort in the late 90s to early 2000s and once got a Focus as a loaner while the Escort was having some work done at the dealership. I remember the difference between the two being like night and day in terms of comfort and quality.
I have to wonder if that wasn't intentional. The car's name was captioned correctly, and the tone of voice when the narrator said "Tornado" suggests he was having a bit of fun there.
In Poland those 90s cars are still half the traffic and cars of choice for people looking for something dependable. They're built to last and mostly easy to fix. I see the same cars returning to the same spots for over a decade, people clearly don't want to replace them for there is no better option for inexpensive and reliable transportation.
I regularly visit Gdansk and it doesn't seem like that now. Mainly BMWs etc. My in-laws almost new Dacia seems quite humble. p.s. I saw a car I would love to own in Poland: Toyota Corolla Cross. For some reason they don't sell it in the U.K.
@MrDuncl Gdańsk is posh and expensive. There are different cars by factories and block of flats, and different by city centers. Even more different in rural areas.
I owned 6 1990s cars of the year. Two of them are still my daily drivers, an XM, and our 3rd Alfa 156, picked up from Oxfordshire last week. The trick to owning an Alfa is to wait. The ones still for sale are the ones they built right. The rest went into the scrap yard. The XM... Well it's massively interestingthese days, it almost looks 80s still so it's in vogue again, and was so highly specced it's still got everything you need today. The surprise is how small it is outside for a big car inside. And how low it is, lambo-like.
Literally an amazing car the Focus MK1. Such a positive solid gear shift and sturdy dash. Drove excellent. The shape was so stylish and ahead. I’ve been trading cars 20 years Focus is brilliant as a MK1.
I can't comprehend that the 90s were so long ago now, but it's a revelation that people drove car sized cars as opposed to the immense things on the road nowadays
I notice that at the local 1970s built school they have had to remark ten parking spaces as eight. Fun fact. VW's smallest car the Up! has almost exactly the same footprint as the MK1 Golf.
Bought my first car in 2022 from an ex boss of mine, and it is an 2002 Ford focus SW I love it, so pratical fun to drive and surprisingly spacious on the inside given it's not the largest SW i've ever seen, would love to see a video on the model or maybe the focus line soon
@@dkitchin8259 naw. at the point of the c6, all the trademark citroen insanity - for better or for worse - was already gone. even at the time of the xantia it was just a slightly improved update of the XM.
Can I be the 499th person to say it's not the Oldsmobile Tornado, but Tor-on-ado. Otherwise this has been a fantastic series of podcasts. Very well done.
the Fiat Brava was a 5 door not a saloon that was the Marea launched 1 year later also as an estate the reason the Contour flopped is that it compeated with the Taurus/Mercury Sable
Its all down hill from here, i recon buying every 90s Ecoty winner and trying to get them to work would make a really interesting series of TH-cam videos or possibly even the basis for a channel
The 90s were the absolute pinnacle for building and design, shamefully lots of these brilliant cars have gone by the way of scrappage schemes but if you get a well looked after model of any of these cars you'll have a brilliant daily driver as long as you want it, i still have a 156 2.0TS, rare as hens teeth now, still a wonderful car to drive and own!!
I've driven the Ford Contour and even in its Americanized form, it was still a sporty, European-feeling car, but it didn't do well because it was too small to compete with other midsized cars like the Accord and Camry and too expensive to compete with compact cars like the Corolla and Civic. Plus, Ford's own Taurus was bigger and appealed more to American tastes, for around the same price.
I was impressed by the Mondeos I saw in France in 1995, so when I got home and was looking for a new car, I went to my Ford dealer to look at the Contour. I distinctly remember that the interior felt cheap, unpleasant, even. So I got an Accord.
My grandother had a similar reaction to the Contour, so bought a V6 Mercury Mystique instead. My brother and I drove it from AL to VA after her death and my sister drove it for several years until a deer totaled it.
I get the impression that in the U.S.A. cars are priced and speced against their size. The American equivalent of Mondeo man would probably be driving a 1996 twin cab F150. Interestingly the last, Fusion based Mondeo was a flop in the U.K.. Too big and buyers moved over to BMW 3 series which beat it in sales.
@@MrDuncl Oddly enough I bought a Fusion about ten years later, my first Ford ever. I liked it a lot, had a four cylinder engine that I got up to 115 without realizing it while driving through west Texas on I-10. I can't be trusted with more than four cylinders.
I can't tell you how much I enjoy your videos. I love history, and usually the military variety, but I also like cars. Your videos are almost therapeutic for me. I am 65 years old and your videos bring back many memories, even if they are usually more Eurocentric and I am in the United States. I didn't go through a bunch of cars, usually keeping mine a minimum of five years, sometimes longer, but I followed the development for many years. These days I am much less enthusiastic about them, even though the average car is way more reliable than the ones whose memory I hold so dear. My wife's '79 Scirocco, my '78 Fiesta, and my two 80s Mustangs were all great cars, linked to great memories, as were the various police cars I drove through the 1980s through the early 2010s. Thank you, sir, for the memories.
This Focus another example of a European COY winner that found success outside of Europe. In was widely praised in the US by publications as diverse as _Consumer Reports_ and _Car & Driver._ I bought the 2001 model and thought it had a very "Euro" flavor despite being built in Wayne, Michigan. Kept it for about 15 years, too -- it was a nice little car!
In my job during the late 90's I drove numerous hire cars and had quite a few Fiat Bravo/Brava's which were absolutely awful - very soft seats which didn't hold you in corners, bland styling and mediocre handling that was dangerously affected by crosswinds on motorways. The Mark 4 Astra was so much better in every respect, and even getting an Escort was a significant improvement over the Fiats. And then Ford did the Focus. My God, what an absolute revelation, it was leagues ahead of anything else in its class. Nothing else came close.
The Mégane Scénic sold in *HUGE* numbers because it was the perfect car for many people: small on the outside, but very roomy on the inside. the Scénic could have continued in production right till now but Renault phased it out in 2022 in favor of the Scenic E-Tech, a compact crossover EV.
I remember it being stated that Bravo was the 'male' (hence o) and a 3 door, as men preferred 3 doors (bigger doors, less practical for the rear seats) whilst the Brava was the 'female' (hence a) and a 5 door, as women prefer 5 doors (better for kids in the rear).
The Oldsmobile you mentioned was called the Toronado made from 1966-1992 it was the first mass produced American Front Wheel Drive car after the production of the Chord 810/812 ended in the late 1930s and it's 2 platform mates the Cadillac Eldorado and Buick Riviera eventually also transitioned to front wheel drive 1967 Model year for the Eldorado and 1978 model year for the Riviera Oldsmobile and to some extent Mercury/Dodge were entry level luxury Buick was mid level and Cadillac/Lincoln were your top tier luxury makers for ex Park Avenue was originally a trim on the 1960s Cadillac Deville and reused by Buick from 1991 to 2005 as the replacement of the Electra same as Aurora was a Cadillac show car in 1990 then Oldsmobile used it for a full size sedan from 1995-2003 replacing the 88 and 98 series which were Oldsmobiles longest running nameplates 53 years and 51 respectively 1940-42 and 46-96 for 98 and 1949-1999 for 88 series
90s definitely my hey day for cars. My best mates dad had an awesome xm. Another had the micra. So hard to choose between the Focus and Astra. The Focus 2.0 zetec was one of the best cars I've driven, but the Astra was so solid almost BMW like. Great video 👌🦖
The Renault Megane Scenic didn't invent the MPV, the first one was the Chrysler Voyager. The one that really made them popular was the Renault Espace. The Scenic was the first the compact MPV though.
Voyager was the first MPV sold in America. Renault Espace was the first one sold in Europe, based on a Matra concept from the late 70s. Both actually went on sale in 1984, but they never "compete" back then as each one aimed to a completely different market. Most of the 90s winners deserved the title though.
We got given a brand new Ford Modeo as a lease car very shortly after its launch. Did that make me "Mondeo Man" ? I actually preferred the Rover 216 it replaced which had a very nice light coloured interior. Sticking with hire cars I got a Fiat Brava once. At least hire car companies didn't have to deal with FIAT longetivity or lack of. Against my advice my girlfriend bought a Fiat Punto. At about 40000 miles the whole windscreen wiper mechanism, which clipped together like Lego disintegrated and wouldn't stay together. I found a company on eBay selling a version with metal joints rather than clip together cheap plastic. The telling thing was that their feedback showed they had sold hundreds of these in a short time.
"Having more fun in the back of the car than in the front" can mean many things, I guess. One meaning's connection to kids has more to do with future ones than present ones. 😀
The Focus was a very worthy winner - I’ve driven loads of them, both petrol and diesel - and they were all superb. In fact, in some respects they drove better than the Alfa 145 I owned at the time. However, for me the star of the 90s COTY winners was the Alfa 156 - I owned one, and it was by far the best car I have ever driven, owned or desired,
Owned a mark 1 focus. It was a fun drive. Just a fairly basic 1.6 model but it handled really well. I replaced it with a mark 2 and it quickly became apparent that some of the magic had been lost. More refined. Better all rounder but no longer as agile and fun. I ended up missing that mark 1 and had to find a fun alternative for the next car in the shape of an Alfa mito. But whilst the focus could do fun with acceptable comfort the mito could only do fun and quickly became tiresome with it's overly firm ride.
Really great series this, thanks. I was a pharma rep in 90's , consequently drove quite a few here .. I had a 156 2.0 twin spark, it felt like it had a character after other rep mobiles. That engine made a constantly changing wonderful sound going to 7k+ rpm. The car had constant things go wrong, but I still loved it. The madness of cars !?!
I think my brother's girlfriend at the time, this was around about 20 years ago, had a Fiat Brava ( mint green it was ). And I'm sure Fiat revived the Bravo many years later after the original cos I remember a work colleague had a 2010 model.
@@edwinreid8355 Yep. Fiat tried to 'do a Golf' and re-used the name in 2007-2014 (also re-used the Tipo name between 2015-2024, ironically reversing the order of the two original models).
I don’t have to watch this to know the answer. I owned 3 and the last one is still going strong. Once the early problems where worked out they became and still are quite dependable cars. I will however confess working on them is bad for your knuckles. 😁
I wonder why the ZX did not sell. The car in the Golf class was a great little model. My own favorite was the BX, I love it to death. Maybe the best of the French cars. A little futuristic design but still conservative and solid enough to be a sensible model.
I think you were wrong about the Fiat Brava/Bravo and what it replaced. It was just a 3 or 5 door and replaced the Tipo. A saloon followed later called a Marea.
XM was a tour de force. It was a wonder, cursed by the warped genius of Citroën. My wife had a diesel estate. A genetic mix of tank and magic carpet. Many of the other '90s ECOTY top three were forgettable boxes. The Scénic was extremely clever and deserved to win. Most of the rest were just humdrum and waiting for the scrapyard. 😮
The sheer sales numbers of these cars vs Australian designed and made Falcons, Commodores and magnas is insane. 3m cars in 9 years!? Holden would be lucky to sell 1m across the sedan, wagon, ute and lwb version's.
The Fiat 131 sold in NA as the Brava? I'm in the US and recall it being called the 131. At least it was in the late 70's. And not a bad-looking little care, either. Especially in wagon form.
I remember the Focus and how futuristic it looked compared to the Escort it replaced. It looked better than the next generation Focus and thanks to Colin McRae Rally 2.0 it was as cool as a Subaru Impreza that he drove in the first game. Unfortunately Fords from around 2000 always rust on the underside here in Sweden. I’ve not seen a single one that doesn’t get rust or has been repaired. That’s why I’ve avoided them. I almost got a Mondeo a few years ago but ended up getting an Opel Zafira that I’ve been happy with so far.
In the 1960's and 70's a new Fiat was a world-wide event. Since the Car Of The Year awards began..it just illustrates how far Fiat has fallen, many heads should roll.
seeing all these models I'm even more convinced that we've seen an interesting design shift since the 90s. If you compare a 60s car to a 90s one, there's a huge difference. The 60s version really looks and feels like an oldie. 70s and 80s cars are very outdated once you see them around the year 2000. But from the 90s on, designs like cars, clothes, furniture often stand the test of time and still look acceptable 3 decades later. It may have started with a lot of 80s music being rock solid for the next tens of years, but since the 90s changes have become far less abrupt than they used to be in the postwar half century. If it weren't for the emission restraints I wouldn't mind buying and driving a 90s model.
Aerodynamics ? Nobody would dream of making a car with the Cd of some 1970s one. On that subject the Opel . Vauxhall Calibra would be a great car to tell the story of.
Hyundai famously did an advert comparing the Sierra to a Jelly Mould. The new Kona does have physical climate controls so maybe they should make an advert about that.
The 1st Ford Focus, after some teething issues (rear brakes, fuel pump pickups) were very successful in the USA. My mom had 2 of them, the first lost in a rear end crash and replaced with another. Small outside, roomy inside, excellent handling, the USA versions had 2.0 L engines so pretty quick. Simple and reliable. The interior dash design was a big daring but worked well in real life. In the USA, we had the 3 door hatch, 4 door saloon and wagon (estate). Sadly the last USA generation (along with the Fiesta) was ruined by a terrible automatic transmission and shifts to CUV/SUV's. The Mondao, in the USA as the Contour (Mercury Mystique), Was a bit too small in the interior to be liked. It also was the platform for the Mercury/Ford Cougar of 1999-2002. They had decent handling and a SVT version with a small V-6 was available. \ The Renault Clio is still made and a good 5 door hatchback in full fuel and hybrid versions.
XM was a great car. Had the estate version until cheapskate electrics started to do random timings like unlocking the car in the middle of the night led to it having to go.
Interesting. I'm in the U.S. I had a 2016 automatic trans Focus. It's rightfully on the lemon list. Transmission went out during the pandemic. Ford said it wasnt under warranty & offered a reconditioned transmission of same faulty garbage. Junkyard. Never again. I'm going toyota or Honda
This set of videos is sooooo good! Thank you! This one in particular is dear to me as it is the decade I became a car owner (bought a brand-new Twingo in 1993!).
The brava wasn't a saloon, it was a 5 door hatch, the saloon came later as the marea.
Ave Marea.
One year I had the Marea Estate, effin amazin, split tailgate also.
@@jonntischnabel I noticed the red hatch in the pics, after the saloon & wondered. Ta!
Never owned a brava or a bravo but did own a 5 year old marea. The car seemed to have all ameneties of the time, but all eerevof poor quality, and while was very comfortable (after replacing all 4 shock absorbers) but still it managed to arrange a bi weekly meeting with the mechanic, who was happier than me for the fact that i bought one. A year or so was enough for me for owning one....
@@giladephrati7961My Brava has been basically great, excellent design but a lot less flair and character than the Tipo predecessor…
Car industry peaked in 1990s. The innovation was relevant
More importantly, those cars were built to last. Durable engines, well conserved bodyshells and reliable electronics that weren't too complicated for an average garage to handle if something went wrong. A complete antithesis to what is made today. I still see lots of these cars were I live. About 50% of the road is 90s cars I would say.
In 1990. The rest of the 90s where crap
To be fair, manufacturers are probably under pressure from governments to apply eco friendly technology that makes cars more complicated and less reliable. But all things considered one has to wonder if we are really saving the planet when the new technology fails and has to be replaced/discarded.
@@DrLoverLover plastic is widely used in cars today. The quality of plastics during 1990s were far better than today.
Cars were cheap and lasted forever. The rivalry of Brands were immense.
Between 1998 and 2008 was the peak. Aluminium and E-coated steel, lightweight engines.
The motor industry can still be innovative, but the government and their net zero crap has forced car manufacturers to give up on the ICE engine which is a shame as the technology was getting better all the time.
Sure, not all of the out of the box thinking was well thought out (wet belt/rear mounted timing chains with super long oil service intervals) but by and large the engineering was and is still innovative.
GDI or Gasoline Direct Injection is a great idea, however there has been side effects of carbon build up on inlet valves, so the engineers found a way to incorporate both port and direct fuel injection on newer engines.
And since when as that ZF8 speed gearbox given anybody any trouble?
Growing up in the 90’s, these cars were everywhere…drove a Micra lately, what a fun little car compared to nowadays bloated crossovers
There is still many nice small cars on the road like Hyundais, Kias and Suzukis.
Jonny Smith of Smith&Sniff swears by them as a first car. Great in kei car/March spec.
I owned a 1997 XM Exclusive V6 for 3 years. One of the most enjoyable cars I have owned to drive. For a heavy front driver it handled surprisingly well with the passive rear steering and of course the ride was sublime. The interior materials were beautiful. The V6 had a gorgeous nasal sound. But….. when I bought it, it was 5 years old with only 28,000km on the clock. From the first month the “niggles” started. First the radiator fans refused to work (electronic control board replaced), the cat converter started rattling and kept having issues, the in tank fuel pump failed twice (and I always used 98 octane unleaded, so not cheap fuel), accelerator cable snapped….. yes, my favourite car ever owned however also the most frustrating and costly to maintain….. still, don’t regret buying it (but will never ever buy European again)
3 years only cause then they become crappy like hell and break down. After 8 years they are broke or your bank acount.
I had a 2.0i 1993/200k km in 2013 as a hobby car, unfortunately the AC broke while on a holiday road trip, making it an economical total loss. Still regret I had to sell it then.
Later I bought a (converted into) V6.24 later - that one was a total disaster, with never ending hydraulic leaks, got rid of it and never looked back.
Now it's almost impossible to find a decent first gen and they are finally appreciating a bit.
We had an Audi 100, Peugeot 605, Citroën XM, Mercedes W124 300 TE and a BMW E34 535i. Some for only a short while..it was after a move and a job switch which allowed us to sample all those cars and some were long-term.
And yes, the Citroen is comfortable and all...but the driving experience pales even compared to the Mercedes, but the BMW is so far above it they're basically not even in the same category.
We had no problems in the short time we had the XM, but I'm sure it's pretty common knowledge how problematic those French cars are to own. In comparison those older BMWs are such high quality.
At least when comparing to the Audi you get better comfort with the Citroën.
I owned a Focus between 2001 and 2005 and it was bloody brilliant. I only sold it because it was a 3-door and could not accommodate my newborn daughter.
I still remember going for a drive in my friend's dad's brand new '99 Focus - it was like nothing I'd ever seen. So modern and dynamic. You don't see many on the road nowadays from that first gen but I still smile when I see one.
Doesn't seem like it can be 25 years ago, but it is. I remember my first drive in one and thinking "every other hatchback on the market is in trouble now" - it looked futuristic, but not in a cheesy, tacky way that many current EVs do. And it drove like something from a different planet compared to most of the stodgy, turgid efforts from the 90's. It flattered the driver's driving skills when driven with zest, but was equally happy to be trickled around town. The engine even sounded nice with it's free-revving nature. It was comfortable for people of all sizes, even for long journeys. People really liked them and Ford deserved to have a huge hit on their hands with it. They rapidly became ubiquitous and they gained the kind of universality that designs like the Austin Mini, VW Beetle or Citroen 2CV had.
Then they let committees set up to "improve" subsequent versions of it and they just became over-burdened with ideas, initiatives and lost that sharp edge. The last time I drove one was in about 2008 and all the magic and sparkle had been drained out of it in favour of "things you can put in a brochure" - as if that ever sold cars. The MKII focus was porky, stodgy and just plain dull by comparison. It was like meeting your madcap 90's mate who's now a chartered accountant who's ghastly, overbearing wife insists he "keeps it down" all the time.
My word, compared to the outgoing Escort, it was absolutely amazing.
My dad had a 1996 Escort in the late 90s to early 2000s and once got a Focus as a loaner while the Escort was having some work done at the dealership. I remember the difference between the two being like night and day in terms of comfort and quality.
Ford always knew how to make good handling small car. Our lowly first gen Figo is still a pleasure to drive after 13 years.
I have a 2000 Focus as my first car and I love it so much
One of the best series yet, excellent work, keep it up 👍
He could have shown the other contestants a bit more , to show which the winners competed against ..
Fun videos. Small note, it was the Oldsmobile Toronado, eight letters, not "tornado."
I have to wonder if that wasn't intentional. The car's name was captioned correctly, and the tone of voice when the narrator said "Tornado" suggests he was having a bit of fun there.
Big I’m surprised you condensed each episode to a decade you could off gone year to year on this love your stuff keep it up
In Poland those 90s cars are still half the traffic and cars of choice for people looking for something dependable. They're built to last and mostly easy to fix. I see the same cars returning to the same spots for over a decade, people clearly don't want to replace them for there is no better option for inexpensive and reliable transportation.
I regularly visit Gdansk and it doesn't seem like that now. Mainly BMWs etc. My in-laws almost new Dacia seems quite humble.
p.s. I saw a car I would love to own in Poland: Toyota Corolla Cross. For some reason they don't sell it in the U.K.
@MrDuncl Gdańsk is posh and expensive. There are different cars by factories and block of flats, and different by city centers. Even more different in rural areas.
I’m from Portugal and 26% of our car park is 20+ years old cars
I owned 6 1990s cars of the year. Two of them are still my daily drivers, an XM, and our 3rd Alfa 156, picked up from Oxfordshire last week. The trick to owning an Alfa is to wait. The ones still for sale are the ones they built right. The rest went into the scrap yard. The XM... Well it's massively interestingthese days, it almost looks 80s still so it's in vogue again, and was so highly specced it's still got everything you need today. The surprise is how small it is outside for a big car inside. And how low it is, lambo-like.
Literally an amazing car the Focus MK1. Such a positive solid gear shift and sturdy dash. Drove excellent. The shape was so stylish and ahead. I’ve been trading cars 20 years Focus is brilliant as a MK1.
Ahh yes. The fourth instalment of my Christmas / New Year holiday season fix has landed! 😃👌
the XM V6 was the car that made young me decide i really was a Citroen fanatic. It made my dad’s Saab 9000 feel like a very nice dinosaur.
Until Peugeot ruined Citroen by turning them into a cheap and bland brand. Especially nowadays.
XM was an amazing car.
It’s the Olds Tor oh nah do. Not the tornado.
An easy mistake to make if you've never heard of it
It's like hearing, "o-muh-GAH". Is that what the Brits call it? Not, "O-MAY-gah"?
@@Lucas-kp9wsOh MEE ga (!)
It was named for Zorro's horse. Well, at least Zorro's horse shares the name.
People miss the second letter “o”. Rhymes with desperado.
I have a 25 yr old focus now. And it drives very well. Very smooth. Engines seem bullet proof. And comfortable enough for a longish journey.
XM then and forever 🎉
I can't comprehend that the 90s were so long ago now, but it's a revelation that people drove car sized cars as opposed to the immense things on the road nowadays
I notice that at the local 1970s built school they have had to remark ten parking spaces as eight. Fun fact. VW's smallest car the Up! has almost exactly the same footprint as the MK1 Golf.
Designer Of The Year is easy. Every single year from 1955 to 2015 goes to Giorgetto Giugiaro.
Marcello Gandini
@@1258-EckhartChris Bangle
@@adzy166 Surprised me that after 30 years designing cars he took a job at Samsung never to be heard of again.
@@1258-Eckhart A legend.
Just catching up. Happy Christmas Andy & all. 🇦🇺 🎁
Bought my first car in 2022 from an ex boss of mine, and it is an 2002 Ford focus SW I love it, so pratical fun to drive and surprisingly spacious on the inside given it's not the largest SW i've ever seen, would love to see a video on the model or maybe the focus line soon
XM, the last citroen. Most amazing car I've ever driven, but also the only one that's tried to kill me.
Tha last Citroen?? Surely, .that's the C6.
@@dkitchin8259 naw. at the point of the c6, all the trademark citroen insanity - for better or for worse - was already gone. even at the time of the xantia it was just a slightly improved update of the XM.
The workbench on the background gives a strong technical flavour to the video. Where can I buy those ceramic coated wrenches?
Had an XM for the missus to drive, great car, comfortable, smooth and well equipped
Toronado, rather than tornado! Innovative transmission. Brava was a 5 door hatch. The saloon was the Marea.
Beat me to it
Ive loved this series! Thank you!
Loving this series. Would love more detail. I wonder if there are any "Car of the Year" that have not had a video about them?
Great series of videos. Thank you!
Can I be the 499th person to say it's not the Oldsmobile Tornado, but Tor-on-ado.
Otherwise this has been a fantastic series of podcasts. Very well done.
One day you have to do a Ford Focus story!!!🥺🥺🥺
You want him to focus on the Focus? I think he'll ford that river when the time is right.
the Fiat Brava was a 5 door not a saloon that was the Marea launched 1 year later also as an estate
the reason the Contour flopped is that it compeated with the Taurus/Mercury Sable
Its all down hill from here, i recon buying every 90s Ecoty winner and trying to get them to work would make a really interesting series of TH-cam videos or possibly even the basis for a channel
Interesting and cool!
Another great video!
BTW, the 1966 Oldsmobile you mention was the Toronado (pronounced tor oh nah doe) not the "Tornado."
The 90s were the absolute pinnacle for building and design, shamefully lots of these brilliant cars have gone by the way of scrappage schemes but if you get a well looked after model of any of these cars you'll have a brilliant daily driver as long as you want it, i still have a 156 2.0TS, rare as hens teeth now, still a wonderful car to drive and own!!
I've driven the Ford Contour and even in its Americanized form, it was still a sporty, European-feeling car, but it didn't do well because it was too small to compete with other midsized cars like the Accord and Camry and too expensive to compete with compact cars like the Corolla and Civic. Plus, Ford's own Taurus was bigger and appealed more to American tastes, for around the same price.
I was impressed by the Mondeos I saw in France in 1995, so when I got home and was looking for a new car, I went to my Ford dealer to look at the Contour. I distinctly remember that the interior felt cheap, unpleasant, even. So I got an Accord.
My grandother had a similar reaction to the Contour, so bought a V6 Mercury Mystique instead. My brother and I drove it from AL to VA after her death and my sister drove it for several years until a deer totaled it.
I get the impression that in the U.S.A. cars are priced and speced against their size. The American equivalent of Mondeo man would probably be driving a 1996 twin cab F150. Interestingly the last, Fusion based Mondeo was a flop in the U.K.. Too big and buyers moved over to BMW 3 series which beat it in sales.
@@MrDuncl Oddly enough I bought a Fusion about ten years later, my first Ford ever. I liked it a lot, had a four cylinder engine that I got up to 115 without realizing it while driving through west Texas on I-10. I can't be trusted with more than four cylinders.
Well, seems to be more sensible choice than 1980's winners.
We saw in Brazil your short TH-cam videos talked in portuguese.
I can't tell you how much I enjoy your videos. I love history, and usually the military variety, but I also like cars. Your videos are almost therapeutic for me. I am 65 years old and your videos bring back many memories, even if they are usually more Eurocentric and I am in the United States. I didn't go through a bunch of cars, usually keeping mine a minimum of five years, sometimes longer, but I followed the development for many years. These days I am much less enthusiastic about them, even though the average car is way more reliable than the ones whose memory I hold so dear. My wife's '79 Scirocco, my '78 Fiesta, and my two 80s Mustangs were all great cars, linked to great memories, as were the various police cars I drove through the 1980s through the early 2010s. Thank you, sir, for the memories.
This Focus another example of a European COY winner that found success outside of Europe. In was widely praised in the US by publications as diverse as _Consumer Reports_ and _Car & Driver._ I bought the 2001 model and thought it had a very "Euro" flavor despite being built in Wayne, Michigan. Kept it for about 15 years, too -- it was a nice little car!
In my job during the late 90's I drove numerous hire cars and had quite a few Fiat Bravo/Brava's which were absolutely awful - very soft seats which didn't hold you in corners, bland styling and mediocre handling that was dangerously affected by crosswinds on motorways. The Mark 4 Astra was so much better in every respect, and even getting an Escort was a significant improvement over the Fiats.
And then Ford did the Focus. My God, what an absolute revelation, it was leagues ahead of anything else in its class. Nothing else came close.
The Mégane Scénic sold in *HUGE* numbers because it was the perfect car for many people: small on the outside, but very roomy on the inside. the Scénic could have continued in production right till now but Renault phased it out in 2022 in favor of the Scenic E-Tech, a compact crossover EV.
I remember it being stated that Bravo was the 'male' (hence o) and a 3 door, as men preferred 3 doors (bigger doors, less practical for the rear seats) whilst the Brava was the 'female' (hence a) and a 5 door, as women prefer 5 doors (better for kids in the rear).
The Oldsmobile you mentioned was called the Toronado made from 1966-1992 it was the first mass produced American Front Wheel Drive car after the production of the Chord 810/812 ended in the late 1930s and it's 2 platform mates the Cadillac Eldorado and Buick Riviera eventually also transitioned to front wheel drive 1967 Model year for the Eldorado and 1978 model year for the Riviera Oldsmobile and to some extent Mercury/Dodge were entry level luxury Buick was mid level and Cadillac/Lincoln were your top tier luxury makers for ex Park Avenue was originally a trim on the 1960s Cadillac Deville and reused by Buick from 1991 to 2005 as the replacement of the Electra same as Aurora was a Cadillac show car in 1990 then Oldsmobile used it for a full size sedan from 1995-2003 replacing the 88 and 98 series which were Oldsmobiles longest running nameplates 53 years and 51 respectively 1940-42 and 46-96 for 98 and 1949-1999 for 88 series
90s definitely my hey day for cars. My best mates dad had an awesome xm. Another had the micra. So hard to choose between the Focus and Astra. The Focus 2.0 zetec was one of the best cars I've driven, but the Astra was so solid almost BMW like. Great video 👌🦖
I am the Johnny Walker. I only walk.
Its TorOnado not Tornado. It it was named after wind it would be a VW or Maserati rather than an Olds.
So the worst ever version of the VW GOLF was the only one that won car of year LOL how ironic.
The Renault Megane Scenic didn't invent the MPV, the first one was the Chrysler Voyager. The one that really made them popular was the Renault Espace. The Scenic was the first the compact MPV though.
😂 1980, the Matra P18...
Voyager was the first MPV sold in America. Renault Espace was the first one sold in Europe, based on a Matra concept from the late 70s. Both actually went on sale in 1984, but they never "compete" back then as each one aimed to a completely different market. Most of the 90s winners deserved the title though.
And once again the Trabant didnt make it💨
@3:33 David Threlfall aka Frank Gallagher from Shameless :)
We got given a brand new Ford Modeo as a lease car very shortly after its launch. Did that make me "Mondeo Man" ?
I actually preferred the Rover 216 it replaced which had a very nice light coloured interior.
Sticking with hire cars I got a Fiat Brava once. At least hire car companies didn't have to deal
with FIAT longetivity or lack of. Against my advice my girlfriend bought a Fiat Punto. At about 40000 miles
the whole windscreen wiper mechanism, which clipped together like Lego disintegrated and wouldn't stay together. I found a company on eBay selling a version with metal joints rather than clip together cheap plastic. The telling thing was that their feedback showed they had sold hundreds of these in a short time.
Excelente. Gracias. 😊
I didn’t realise Fiat sold so well. I suppose that’s why they could buy Ferrari?
Mind you, they did so in the late 1960s, when things were not going well for Ferrari at all (financially).
"Having more fun in the back of the car than in the front" can mean many things, I guess. One meaning's connection to kids has more to do with future ones than present ones. 😀
The Focus was a very worthy winner - I’ve driven loads of them, both petrol and diesel - and they were all superb. In fact, in some respects they drove better than the Alfa 145 I owned at the time. However, for me the star of the 90s COTY winners was the Alfa 156 - I owned one, and it was by far the best car I have ever driven, owned or desired,
Owned a mark 1 focus. It was a fun drive. Just a fairly basic 1.6 model but it handled really well. I replaced it with a mark 2 and it quickly became apparent that some of the magic had been lost. More refined. Better all rounder but no longer as agile and fun. I ended up missing that mark 1 and had to find a fun alternative for the next car in the shape of an Alfa mito. But whilst the focus could do fun with acceptable comfort the mito could only do fun and quickly became tiresome with it's overly firm ride.
whag baffled my mind was the "armrest" .. It was a padded area between the seats but so low you couldn't actually use it!
Is that Frank Gallagher of Shameless at 3:32?
Really great series this, thanks.
I was a pharma rep in 90's , consequently drove quite a few here ..
I had a 156 2.0 twin spark, it felt like it had a character after other rep mobiles. That engine made a constantly changing wonderful sound going to 7k+ rpm.
The car had constant things go wrong, but I still loved it. The madness of cars !?!
I drive one now, almost mint 156 wagon with a chipped 1.8 TS. Lovely rev indeed. 266k km and going strong
Brava was a hatchback, not saloon. The saloon version was called Marea.
Correct, Bravo was 3-door, Brava was 5-door.
I think my brother's girlfriend at the time, this was around about 20 years ago, had a Fiat Brava ( mint green it was ). And I'm sure Fiat revived the Bravo many years later after the original cos I remember a work colleague had a 2010 model.
@@edwinreid8355 Yep. Fiat tried to 'do a Golf' and re-used the name in 2007-2014 (also re-used the Tipo name between 2015-2024, ironically reversing the order of the two original models).
Wasn't is Oldsmobile To-ro-Naa-do?
It was. But it's okay
great series , cant wait for next episode . XM for me ,i had 2 ,armchair on wheels
I don’t have to watch this to know the answer. I owned 3 and the last one is still going strong. Once the early problems where worked out they became and still are quite dependable cars. I will however confess working on them is bad for your knuckles. 😁
PS. I was off course talking about the Citroën XM!
I wonder why the ZX did not sell. The car in the Golf class was a great little model. My own favorite was the BX, I love it to death. Maybe the best of the French cars. A little futuristic design but still conservative and solid enough to be a sensible model.
If it doesn't have hydropneumatic suspension you might as well buy a Peugeot.
35 years of Clio in 2025.
I think you were wrong about the Fiat Brava/Bravo and what it replaced. It was just a 3 or 5 door and replaced the Tipo. A saloon followed later called a Marea.
XM was a tour de force. It was a wonder, cursed by the warped genius of Citroën. My wife had a diesel estate. A genetic mix of tank and magic carpet.
Many of the other '90s ECOTY top three were forgettable boxes.
The Scénic was extremely clever and deserved to win.
Most of the rest were just humdrum and waiting for the scrapyard. 😮
I owned two of them, the Clio Mk 1 and the Alfa Romeo 156 🙂
The sheer sales numbers of these cars vs Australian designed and made Falcons, Commodores and magnas is insane. 3m cars in 9 years!? Holden would be lucky to sell 1m across the sedan, wagon, ute and lwb version's.
Oldsmobile did not sell a weather system.... haha
you need to pronounce 'ron' in there somewhere. [to-ron-ado]
The Ford Focus was the most significant car
of the 90s
Saw the thumbnail and clicked 😊
The Fiat 131 sold in NA as the Brava? I'm in the US and recall it being called the 131. At least it was in the late 70's. And not a bad-looking little care, either. Especially in wagon form.
I remember the Focus and how futuristic it looked compared to the Escort it replaced. It looked better than the next generation Focus and thanks to Colin McRae Rally 2.0 it was as cool as a Subaru Impreza that he drove in the first game. Unfortunately Fords from around 2000 always rust on the underside here in Sweden. I’ve not seen a single one that doesn’t get rust or has been repaired. That’s why I’ve avoided them. I almost got a Mondeo a few years ago but ended up getting an Opel Zafira that I’ve been happy with so far.
In the 1960's and 70's a new Fiat was a world-wide event.
Since the Car Of The Year awards began..it just illustrates how far Fiat has fallen, many heads should roll.
I had a Focus estate for quite a while, and I wish that I had never sold it.
I’m a bit surprised the Mazda MX-5 wasn’t the first non-European car to win European Car of the Year!
seeing all these models I'm even more convinced that we've seen an interesting design shift since the 90s. If you compare a 60s car to a 90s one, there's a huge difference. The 60s version really looks and feels like an oldie. 70s and 80s cars are very outdated once you see them around the year 2000. But from the 90s on, designs like cars, clothes, furniture often stand the test of time and still look acceptable 3 decades later. It may have started with a lot of 80s music being rock solid for the next tens of years, but since the 90s changes have become far less abrupt than they used to be in the postwar half century. If it weren't for the emission restraints I wouldn't mind buying and driving a 90s model.
Aerodynamics ? Nobody would dream of making a car with the Cd of some 1970s one. On that subject the Opel . Vauxhall Calibra would be a great car to tell the story of.
It is important to note, by the late 90's there were no really bad cars that won......
Ironically, the worst Golf, the Mark 3 one got the Car of the Year prize.
I know wonder why the fiat punto always looks like a new shape renault 5 to me. It was meant to be a renault, interesting.
from 90's jelly mould shapes to 2024 electric cars whose "Jelly like" operating systems expire due to time, not wear
Hyundai famously did an advert comparing the Sierra to a Jelly Mould. The new Kona does have physical climate controls so maybe they should make an advert about that.
@@MrDuncl i imply that current cars are going to be short lived due to phone n software access
Perfect. Enjoying this. You could have jumped from the 156 to the Focus by saying blah blah D-segment blah blah Mondeo blah blah Ford.
The 1st Ford Focus, after some teething issues (rear brakes, fuel pump pickups) were very successful in the USA. My mom had 2 of them, the first lost in a rear end crash and replaced with another. Small outside, roomy inside, excellent handling, the USA versions had 2.0 L engines so pretty quick. Simple and reliable. The interior dash design was a big daring but worked well in real life. In the USA, we had the 3 door hatch, 4 door saloon and wagon (estate). Sadly the last USA generation (along with the Fiesta) was ruined by a terrible automatic transmission and shifts to CUV/SUV's.
The Mondao, in the USA as the Contour (Mercury Mystique), Was a bit too small in the interior to be liked. It also was the platform for the Mercury/Ford Cougar of 1999-2002. They had decent handling and a SVT version with a small V-6 was available. \
The Renault Clio is still made and a good 5 door hatchback in full fuel and hybrid versions.
When car magazines are in car makers pockets you judge these awards with a pinch of salt.Theres been some strange cars that have won....
I liked the Toyota corollas from the 90s and Honda Civics.
My G Astra has been car of the year for me for the last 15 years!
I remember the Fiat Panda was also the winner one year of th 90s.
XM was a great car. Had the estate version until cheapskate electrics started to do random timings like unlocking the car in the middle of the night led to it having to go.
Ford Scorpio with those big phat leather seats is my car of the 90's
Interesting. I'm in the U.S. I had a 2016 automatic trans Focus. It's rightfully on the lemon list. Transmission went out during the pandemic. Ford said it wasnt under warranty & offered a reconditioned transmission of same faulty garbage. Junkyard. Never again. I'm going toyota or Honda
This set of videos is sooooo good! Thank you! This one in particular is dear to me as it is the decade I became a car owner (bought a brand-new Twingo in 1993!).
2:24 This reminds me how every single year Miss Universe contest has been won by an earthling.
Im singlehandedly trying my best to keep old stuff going.
If anyones a volvo 850 id be interested ❤
Oldsmobile what now?
Toronado.
06:00 there were MPV around in the 1980’s…
Renault Espace. However, I have seen a film of a crash test of one vs a much newer one. I reckon a Reliant Robin or Trabant would have done better.