The Forgotten Cars Thread

[MedigoFlame]

Not sure if it's really old enough to be forgotten. But I almost never hear or see any Subaru Crosstrek Hybrids around.

 

[ToyGTone]

Lucky.

We still got the 4 door version of them tho.

Not sure if it's really old enough to be forgotten. But I almost never hear or see any Subaru Crosstrek Hybrids around.

I don't think I ever heard of a Subaru Hybrid before.

----
Replaying Midnight Club 3 Remix reminded me of the Toyota Zelas/Scion tC.

 

[ToyGTone]

Rover Streetwise

 

[RandomCarGuy17]

I honestly forgot that Jaguar made a XF S Sport Wagon, let alone sold one in the US. I remembered because I got to sit in one of these at the Washington DC Auto show.

 

[MedigoFlame]

I honestly forgot that Jaguar made a XF S Sport Wagon, let alone sold one in the US. I remembered because I got to sit in one of these at the Washington DC Auto show.

I feel like these were just released recently. Though, I suppose they haven't really been marketing them hard in the US?

Edit: This may just be where I live, but I have not seen any late model 2nd generation Lexus IS F-Sports around. The later years when they did the facelift, right before the 3rd generation.

 

[Turbo]

1994-1996 Renault Safrane Biturbo







Having AWD, a 3.0L twin-turbocharged V6 making 258hp, and being able to achieve speeds of 150mph, this was a very advanced sports sedan for the era. Only 800 were made in two years.​

 

[-Fred-]

I honestly forgot that Jaguar made a XF S Sport Wagon, let alone sold one in the US. I remembered because I got to sit in one of these at the Washington DC Auto show.

They even made an RS version that I've seen precisely one of. At the autoshow.

 

[Dennisch]

Only 800 were made in two years.

They took a French car, gave it an engine tuned to niceness by Germans, and then did hardly anything to the rest of the car to cope with the German power. The transmission gave up if you floored it, if the clutch didn't smoke itself to bits first. The brakes weren't made for the speeds it was capable of, and the electronics, they could have been the posterchild for the French failure of the 90's.

But still, it was a nice idea.

 

[Turbo]

They took a French car, gave it an engine tuned to niceness by Germans, and then did hardly anything to the rest of the car to cope with the German power. The transmission gave up if you floored it, if the clutch didn't smoke itself to bits first. The brakes weren't made for the speeds it was capable of, and the electronics, they could have been the posterchild for the French failure of the 90's.

But still, it was a nice idea.

I had a feeling it had to have some flaws if it's this far down into obscurity. In fact, I just finished reading a review of the car saying that it can't compete with the German saloons at the time, like the E34 535i or Merc 400E.

 

[Dennisch]

I had a feeling it had to have some flaws if it's this far down into obscurity. In fact, I just finished reading a review of the car saying that it can't compete with the German saloons at the time, like the E34 535i or Merc 400E.

That's because if you spend a reasonable amount of money to cruise around in comfort, like an old fart with money, you'd buy an automatic. And this one doesn't have one.

 

[Turbo]

1985-1991 Subaru XT





This was the forgotten, obscure predecessor to the SVX. It could have a turbocharged boxer six-cylinder, AWD, and do 0-60 in just over 8 seconds. With a drag coefficient of 0.29, it was one of the most aerodynamic sports cars of it's time.

The interior was just as quirky as the exterior. The dashboard of the XT was designed to resemble an airplane's cockpit, and the center of the steering wheel resembles a handgun.

​

 

[VXR]

I really miss the 80s Japanese trend of writing the car’s key details along the side.

The GT86 should have left the factory sporting ‘2000 Flat Four’ on it.

 

[dylpro]

After seeing (what is assumed) to be the DeTomaso Pantera today in the GTS silhouettes, reminded me of this little oddball.

Qvale Mangusta

To be honest, I don't know all that much about them but it was originally a project involving De Tomaso. Less than 300 were built in Italy and they were all equipped with the 4.6 Ford V8. Here's the wiki page for it if you want more info than I can be bothered to provide

 

[7up747]

Hyundai S coupe

 

[Turbo]

1994-2001 Maserati Quattroporte







From 1994 to 2001, the Maserati flagship sedan was basically a reworked Maserati Biturbo. It was also by far the most compact Quattroporte, measuring only 179 inches, 29 inches shorter than the current Quattroporte. Based on appearance, it looked like a more premium version of a Lancia Kappa. It was initially powered by a twin-turbocharged 2.0L V6 making 283hp, and in 1998, not long after the Ferrari takeover of Maserati, a sporty Evolution trim was offered, which received a 3.2L V8 making 331hp. This Quattroporte also featured a six-speed manual transmission as an option. Only 2,400 Quattroportes were made win it's entire production run, due to it's hefty price of nearly $80,000 (65,000 euros), and poor ride quality.

Fun fact: "Quattroporte" is Italian for "four doors". The name could not suit this car any better.


​

 

[dylpro]

1994-2001 Maserati Quattroporte
From 1994 to 2001, the Maserati flagship sedan was basically a reworked Maserati Biturbo. It was also by far the most compact Quattroporte, measuring only 179 inches, 29 inches shorter than the current Quattroporte. Based on appearance, it looked like a more premium version of a Lancia Kappa. It was initially powered by a twin-turbocharged 2.0L V6 making 283hp, and in 1998, not long after the Ferrari takeover of Maserati, a sporty Evolution trim was offered, which received a 3.2L V8 making 331hp. This Quattroporte also featured a six-speed manual transmission as an option. Only 2,400 Quattroportes were made win it's entire production run, due to it's hefty price of nearly $80,000 (65,000 euros), and poor ride quality.

Fun fact: "Quattroporte" is Italian for "four doors". The name could not suit this car any better.
​

​

So I'm blanking on whether it was from the Grand Tour or from late Top Gear but whichever had the guys all in different cheap Maseratis where Clarkson says every car was a Biturbo

Until then I really had no idea how much Maserati used that platform and left it relatively untouched for each of them

 

[Turbo]

​

So I'm blanking on whether it was from the Grand Tour or from late Top Gear but whichever had the guys all in different cheap Maseratis where Clarkson says every car was a Biturbo

Until then I really had no idea how much Maserati used that platform and left it relatively untouched for each of them

Ironically, I watched an old Top Gear episode from 1996 yesterday featuring this Quattroporte, making me remember it. He didn't call it a Biturbo, which was odd considering the Quattroporte is based of that car.

Maserati hung onto that platform as long as it could. By the mid-90s, before the Ferrari intervention, Maserati literally had no money to spend and no modern resources. The Biturbo platform in which this Quattroporte uses dates all the way back to 1981.

 

[ToyGTone]

Daihatsu Sirion

Apart from the Midget or Copen, i forgot that they still sell these Daihatsu's.

 

[TexRex]

Was having dinner with some friends and the topic of discussion turned to non-American cars with American engines (I brought up De Tomaso, spurred by discussion on GTP).

The usual suspects were mentioned--Sunbeam Tiger, De Tomaso of course, Jensen CV8 and Interceptor, Iso (Rivolta, Grifo, Fidia and Lele) and Monteverdi.

An unidentified French example was also mentioned, which prompted "Facel Vega" in response; but that was shot down because "it has a woman's name."

That was the clincher for me...

The Monica 560, produced in small numbers from the early- to mid-'70s and powered by a Chrysler 340 (5.6 liters) V8.

And wouldn't you know it...a Monteverdi High Speed 375/4 appears in the side shot.

 

[SPhilli911]

Ya’ll might be familiar with the Porsche 959 Paris-Dakar rally car, the fascinating “Porsche 4x4” that placed 1st and 2nd in the rally in 1986. Arguably the most famous Porsche rally car even though it was the last one built by the factory. Imagine if they continued competing in rally… seeing a modern rally prepped 4x4 911 in WRC or Dakar today is a pretty interesting thought. That’s all very fascinating from a company known for road cars and Le Mans victories!

But did you know about the Porsche 953, the predecessor to the 959? The 953 was essentially a prototype (no road cars were ever made) to develop the four-wheel drive system for the 959. In fact, a 953 won the Paris-Dakar overall in 1984, 2 years before the 959 would do the same! Why did it go pretty much un-noticed? Maybe people just thought it was a SC RS (another rally Porsche that went ignored) with a lift kit. But even still, a lifted 911 was able to win the Paris-Dakar! Maybe the wild looking 959 was able to capture attention more?

Here is one of the 953s, a 6th position overall in the 1984 Paris-Dakar car, driven by Jacky Ickx (who placed 2nd in the 959 in 1986). What’s fascinating about this car is that it is the one and only privately owned Porsche 953 or 959 in the world.

Interesting Petrolicious article here about this car.

 

[RandomCarGuy17]

I got reminded this week that the VW Golf Cabrio exists.

 

[The Vanishing Boy]

-> Cabrio's has been around since Mk.1 up until the Mk.6 (except the Mk.2 & Mk.5).

-> And this is the rarest and the best generation Cabrio:

The Mark 6 Cabriolet

-> You can even get a (even rarer & forgotten) GTI & R version!

^ Unfortunately, the GolfeR version got the Scirocco-treatment, FWD & DSG only.

-> Too bad, the majority of the world only got the Eos...

 

[VXR]

The Mark 3 looks pretty good, until it got facelifted into a Mark 4, which made it look like an uneasy bed fellow.

 

[homeforsummer]

The R's problem was price too - in the UK it was nearly £40k, which made it more than a Porsche Boxster. One of the most ludicrously-priced cars in recent memory.

I don't object to hatchbacks-turned-cabrios as much as I used to - they're pleasant enough if all you want to do is waft around with the roof down and little else. I'm not sure I'd have ever bought the Golf over the equivalent though. Peugeot's cabrios (205 and 306) were always quite pretty and drove better than the equivalent Golfs from what I can gather, and I liked Renault's attempts too (the 19 and Megane cabrios, both engineered by Karmann).

 

[TexRex]

I liked Renault's attempts too (the 19 and Megane cabrios, both engineered by Karmann).

I think the 19 looks tacky with the decklid significantly higher than the beltline...Megane's much better.

 

[ToyGTone]

Alfa Romeo 145

 

[The Vanishing Boy]

-> I love vehicles that have functional rear passenger windows.

 

[Turbo]

The 145/146 looked pretty good with the Sport styling package:

 

[VXR]

The face-lift looked better, but the earliest boxer powered cars are more technically interesting.

 

[Dennisch]

All gone and forgotten.