If Raphael were here, he’d ask: Many cars were made in the ‘90s. But what ‘90s car is the most ‘90s?
This time, I’m actually serious. In reading Tavarish’s awesomely ill-fated Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4 story on The Garage (our exciting new blog, tell your friends!) I wondered aloud if Mitsubishi’s hulking sports coupe was the vehicle that best embodies that era of cars. You have:
— A huge coupe, today a dying market
— From the class of overpowered Japanese performance cars that barely exists anymore
— From Mitsubishi, also a manufacturer that barely exists anymore
— With a big, turbocharged, gas-guzzling engine and lots of expensive tech
There’s no way the 3000GT VR4 could exist today, not from Mitsubishi. It’s a miracle the Nissan GT-R does, let alone the fact that it’s sold here. The 3000GT is so ‘90s it’s not even funny.
But Tavarish himself suggested there’s a more ‘90s car: his car’s cousin in a cowboy hat, the Dodge Stealth. He may be right. Include all the reasons above and add in Mitsu/Chrysler captive import status and you get, like, at least five or six times more ‘90s-ness. It’s also unfathomable to think Dodge would do this in 2015.
It’s a very ‘90s car. But is it the most ‘90s car? What has it beat?
Contact the author at patrick@jalopnik.com.