These Are the Cars You Forgot Existed

There’s a tone of malaise era cars that could make this list, but i present to you the Chevy Corsica.

A perfectly bland, rental fleet small sedan with an underwhelming engine and transmission that sort of got the job done most of the time. Chevy probably made tons of these in rental spec white. I was on a job in Columbus Ohio, walked out of my hotel room, there were at least eight of these in the parking lot. Took me three tries to find the one that was my rental.

I demand to know where all of the Corsicas went. When I was a child, they were all over the place; now I’m realizing I haven’t seen one in years. I’d say that’s too bad, but really, who cares?

Submitted by: GTB

Mazda MX6, cool little coupe that didn’t sell very well and I don’t think I’ve seen one in person in a decade.

The Ford-Mazda years were so weird. Bring it back, along with front wheel drive sports cars that nobody will ever buy.

Submitted by: PDM33

Plymouth Sundance and its platform mate the Dodge Shadow.

I figured these had all returned to the earth from which they sprang, but i saw a fairly nice example driving through NE Atlanta a few weeks ago.

K Car platform supremacy forever! But yeah, these are all gone. It’s a rare treat to see one in any sort of drivable condition.

Submitted by: Earthbound Misfit I

My namesake the Mazda Millenia: an upscale midsize luxury sedan that competed against Mazda’s other midsize sedan all because Mazda’s planned luxury brand died on the vine.

And somehow despite Jalopnik writing 4 articles about it in the last 4 years, I’ve only ever met one person IRL who knew what it was without explanation, and no one who knew that Mazda built a 2.3L supercharged Miller-cycle V6 just for this car.

My next door neighbor had one of these when I was growing up! I always thought it was a boring nothing car. Little did I know about the magical engine it had under the hood.

Submitted by: OnceInAMillenia

Mercedes Metris... and this is from someone who had TWO Sprinters in their fleet.

Saw one of these fleet-spec-ed on the road this morning parked illegally. I was like “huh, they did make those...I think they still do but the Merc parking technique is still the same”. But dang, that unpainted bumper makes it look like all the other mid 2000s fourth hand Mercs with excessive, under-repaired body damage

This is a vehicle designed for the one purpose of airport taxi companies being able to say they have a fleet of Mercedes-Benzes. Technically it’s correct, but who gives a shit?

Submitted by: FutureDoc

The Ford Taurus X, a car so betwitx and between that it was nowhere.

I choose to remember this SUV crossover thing for the model that came before it: the Ford Freestyle. Never forget.

Submitted by: burner’down

Chrysler Aspen Hybrid should be the answer for everyone — I believe fewer than 100 were made. It was Chrysler’s first ever production hybrid, but it (and the Durango hybrid platform mate) were only in production for 2 months before the plant was shut down as part of the financial crisis in 2009.

The Aspen really could have been something. Too bad Chrysler in the late aughts biffed it so badly. Now we have its spiritual successor, the Jeep Grand Wagoneer.

Submitted by: neverspeakawordagain

Yesterday I re-learned that the Dodge Dakota existed (it was mentioned in a random Doug Demuro video that played through while I was cleaning out my garage):

One day, when I’m in charge of everything, I will bring back the Dakota Convertible. All vehicles should have convertible options. It’s the best way to drive, and you cannot change my mind about it.

Submitted by: dbeach84

Acura Vigor with a 5 cylinder engine, certainly an oddity from Honda/ Acura

TIL this existed at all.

Submitted by: MCryder

I’ll bet you forgot that Pontiac made a GTO in 1974. I did until I saw this one last year.

Pontiac moved the GTO from the mid-sized Lemans platform to the compact Ventura in 1974, which was a Chevy Nova with different grille and taillights.

Look how they massacred by boy!

Submitted by: The Old Man from Scene 24

I always forget the Suzuki Kizashi exists, until I encounter one in the wild. It’s always a case of a “that’s a nice looking car, what is it?” then I see the badge or something and “Oh right, it’s a Kizashi!”

Honestly, how dare you? In this household, the Kizashi is loved and respected as the cute little sporty sedan it was. Take it back right now, and never forget about the Kizashi again!

Submitted by: Forkish

This weirdo generation of Ram that ran from ‘06 to ‘08. Spent my whole life thinking “wow, the Dakota is big for a 1/4 ton” every time I saw one. Come to find out it was technically a facelift of the third gen?! It looks like a GTA knockoff version of itself.

Pal, these guys are still all over the place? Sure, they are slowly rusting away and returning to the earth, but they are out there.

Submitted by: Mosko

Most of the Plymouth, Oldsmobile and Mercury lines in the late 90s. They were badge engineered to be the “middle” between volume and luxury versions of the same vehicles. Upmarket, but cautiously not too exciting as to eat away at the upper brands. The sedans were the worst.

For example, the plymouth Breeze. Definitely different from the dodge stratus and chrysler cirrus, in some way. Not elegant like the Cirrus, but simply different from the dodge. Bonus points for being dark purple.

And the Mercury Mystique...Somehow a more boring version of the contour/mondeo.

GM took the Malibu and decided to make it fancy with an Olds badge:

How dare you say you’ve forgotten about of the the greatest vehicles of all time (1998 Plymouth Grand Voyager)? It’s the first car I ever drove, and will hold a special place in my heart forever because of that.

Also, the Dodge Stratus gave us one of the greatest SNL bits of all time. As for everything else you talk about, yeah who cares.

Submitted by: Rockchops

2005 Chevrolet Malibu MAXX: simply because it’s entirely too interesting looking to have come from the big bowtie (IIRC it was really a rebadged Opal)

Every time I happen upon a Malibu MAXX I get a bit excited. I really wish automakers would make vehicles as dumb as this one more often. Alas, maybe one day.

Submitted by: OnceInAMillenia

Now this is an interesting conundrum because I see these being driven fairly often, I like the car, but the zed 4 is over shadowed by the Supra at this point and I forget it even exists until I see one and even then I’m like “oh yea that’s BMW’s thing”. And then gets overshadowed some more whenever I see the much more expensive and powerful SL63.

WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME!?

Submitted by: darthspartan117

In looking for an image, it turns out it is still made (by someone; I can’t always tell which was the original badge) around the world.

I rode in one at a Ducks Unlimited outdoor festival about 20 years ago. The only thing that was cool was that the salesman didn’t care if I flogged it around the man-made berms of the dirt track. I think the XL-7 was there, too?

Who knew the dang thing was still getting made?

Ah, the other Toyota Rav4. I remember when these things were absolutely everywhere. Now, they’re not even good enough for most buy here, pay here lots.

Submitted by: Krymdog

I forgot the Porsche 968 existed until I saw one on FB Marketplace a few weeks ago.

I had a poster of the 924 on my wall as a kid, and the 944 was the darling of the enthusiast magazines back in the 80s but the 968 is the homely sister everyone ignores

It’s cool. This isn’t really a car worth remembering.

Submitted by: The Old Man From Scene 24

Hey, remember the Torrent? It was Pontiac’s attempt to do a 180 from its design-by-committee approach to the Aztek, and is also as abour memorable as the Aztek is regrettable.

The world would be a better place if the Aztek was still around. However, nothing would be different if the Torrent was, because it is so forgettable and boring.

Submitted by: disadvantage