Here Are The Common Cars You've Never Seen Before

I have never seen a Chevy Lumina or its two-door Monte Carlo cousin. Even as a kid in the 90's, I don't recall seeing one. For some reason, I always felt like it was a midwestern car. Something you'd see running around some Indiana suburb or something. I doubt I was missing anything not seeing one. It's just that considering the generation pictured was made for six years and they sold over a million, not ever seeing one is strange.

We asked readers what common cars they've never seen before. These were their answers.

Welcome back to Answers of the Day, our daily Jalopnik feature where we take the best responses to the previous Question of the Day and shine them up to show off. It's by you and for you, Jalopnik readers. Enjoy!

I had no idea the Eagle Premier existed until my now wife opened the garage door to her grandmothers house to reveal a museum quality example right into my eyeballs. It was like a bolide of 80's mediocre.

Suggested by: fredzy

Before I worked at a Volvo dealership in the early 2010s I'd never seen an XC90. I can probably count on one hand the number of V8 Buick Lucernes I've seen. I've literally seen more Lamborghinis than V8 Lucernes. Or Pontiac Torrents, come to that.

Suggested by: Jonathan Russell (Facebook)

I'm going to go out on a limb to suggest that there are a lot of my American friends here that haven't seen an Acura EL in the flesh. Up here in Canada, if you worked in tech, you either drove a Saab, or an EL. I never got it... cars were already more expensive, why pay even more for a Civic with leather?

Heck, that's probably a list of it's own...

Asuna Sunrunner

Pontiac Wave

Chevrolet Epica, Orlando, and Optra

Nissan Micra

And I only recently learned that the Hyundai Pony was Canada only.

Suggested by: dolsh

Been meaning to post this for a bit, but I keep forgetting: Honda introduced the new Passport in late 2018. I have not seen a single one. This despite the fact Honda is a top selling manufacturer and SUVs are selling like crazy. Seen plenty of CR-Vs, HR-Vs, and some Pilots. But no Passports.

Suggested by: notbunnies

Saw a Suzuki Equator for the first time last week.

Suggested by: Tyrone Cobb

An FD RX7.

Of any kind.

I even live in a town known for its car culture, I regularly see skylines, silvias, Supras, and other weird imports like cefiros, alphards, and crowns, various other "cult classics", heck, even plenty of ~100 year old stuff in the wild

(an RR Phantom mk1 a few weeks ago, for example) .

as far as Mazdas, loads of RX8s still, even some FCs and FBs, one or two cosmos, plenty of RX2,3 and 4s.

but no FD.

I don't know how.

Suggested by: CaptainZoll

Not really as common now as in the 1990s and 2000s, but as a Toyota enthusiast (primarily AE86s) I somehow never realized the 87-88 FX16 GT-S (AE82) existed. Although they share the same 4age engine as the AE86, AE92, AW11 (and even the Chevy Nova Twin Cam), I guess I shrugged them off and blocked them from my mind as they are FWD and I'm into the RWD/drift life.

Got my hands on one as a "barn find" from a VW enthusiast who received this in some random trade and couldn't get it fixed for 10 years, and got it fired up and driving in one weekend.

Now I love it due to it being a rare sight these days although I know of at least 4 others in state that have the FX16 GT-S version. I now notice a ton of FX versions still on the road (4ac, carbureted, auto, drum rears).

Suggested by: Clayton Ashby

I can honestly say, I've never seen a Yugo in person. I've heard about them since I was a little kid, and up until about 15 years ago I didn't even realize they were ever available in the US.

Suggested by: MikeofLA

Chevy Vega.

Everyone I know over the age of 45 seems to have owned a Chevy Vega at some point in their life, yet, a quick Google Image search reveals a vehicle that I have no recollection of ever actually encountering IRL.

It's as if GM did some sort of Men In Black memory scrub.

Suggested by: Patrick O'Donnell

Dodge Journey. Been sold forever, can't recall ever having seen one.

Suggested by: Jerry Wiegert's Hair Helmet – Deceased

The Izuzu I-Series trucks (I-280,290,350, and 370). Rebadged versions of the Colorado. I only saw 1 while working at Carmax, never saw one ever again.

Suggested by: snesmith5150