We all love cars here. For many of us, that results in knowing a lot of cars — and thus being the person that has to recognize the Uber as it comes to pick you up, because no one else knows what a gray 2018 CR-V looks like. But if you could make everyone else know a car, what would you choose? That’s the question we put before you all on Monday, we asked for the cars you wish more people knew about. Here’s what you said.
I’ve had a number of gas pump and parking lot conversations asking what kind of car I drive.
I honestly don’t blame them considering how few were made/sold, but it’s more just a shame. (It is kind of fun driving a rolling Buick meme though).
The TourX is a genuinely pretty little wagon, and it looks good with a roof box. This should be all it takes to make a car popular.
Ford C-Max. It’s so unknown that when I make deliveries and people ask what kind of car I’m in I tell them it’s a grey hatchback and if I tell them what kind of car it is they won’t know. When I happen to deliver to someone that owns one they get all excited.
For some reason, I’ve never thought of the C-Max as a hatchback. A crossover, I could see, but I’ve always mentally counted it as a van.
Nobody seems to know about either of my cars, but I’ll start with the one closer to the story above.
I have a 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee with a 3.0 diesel. One time at the pump, the attendant shut off flow and called me an idiot for putting diesel in a gas car. I showed them the green fuel cap and the words diesel on the back and they were shocked; Jeep made relatively few of these from the years 2007-09 so it makes sense that before you could order a diesel Ram 1500 or Jeep people wouldn’t know.
My second car is a 2016 Volvo V60 Polestar, in Rebel Blue. Everyone either assumes it’s a Subaru or they spot it from 3 blocks away and chase me down to high five (this actually happened twice). Only a handful of these wagons ever made it to the states so it’s totally reasonable that nobody knows why my factory stock Volvo station wagon has exhaust cutouts
As someone who’s had to help people who filled their tanks with diesel, I understand the guy who cut off the pump. I wouldn’t have known they made a diesel Grand Cherokee either, honestly.
Mazda 5
It’s a mini-minivan based on the Mazda 3, it was in production for almost 10 years.
But, every time I go to Autozone or NAPA, it’s the same drill:
ME: Hello, I need ‘X’ for a 2009 Mazda 5
Possibly High Clerk Behind The Counter: Uh.... is that a Mazda MX5?
ME: No, that’s the Miata. I have the Mazda 5, the little minivan (points at the car outside)
PHCBTC: Oh, okay, here it is, Mazda CX5
ME: No, MAZ-DA-FIVE (feels vein in left temple starting to throb)
Looking online isn’t much better, plug in ‘Mazda5' and even Google will give results for the CX5 and MX5 instead.
Even searching for images of the Mazda5 gets you CX5s and MX5s. I feel your pain, friend.
This might be a bit better known than some, but I’ve had to explain what an early 80's Mercury Capri is a number of times. I paid $200 for an ‘80 RS when I was 15, and rebuilt the Ford 200 straight-6 in it. IMHO, better looking than the Mustang it was sister to.
Hot take: The Capri may actually look better than the contemporary Mustang. The headlights give it a kind of Grand National vibe that I’m very into.
for me its the BAC Mono. Such a beautiful design and it looks like its pulled straight from the future or right out of an Anime
They call it the BAC Mono because your blood alcohol content has to be below one to drive it. Also, every other car. Actually, if your BAC is an even one, you should go to the hospital right now immediately.
Volkswagen Arteon
Look at all that luxury. Downright resplendent. It’s too bad the Arteon hit the U.S. after sedans started dying out, and did so wearing a Volkswagen badge rather than a more luxurious marquee.
When most people think of the first mass-produced bespoke EV, they think Tesla, which is a fair assumption to be sure. That designation, however, goes to the General Motors EV1, which I bet at least 10,000 people have never heard of. Let’s pour one out, then crush the beer can like GM crushed the EV1 and our dreams, for this pioneer they considered to be a player in a niche and unprofitable segment (oops...see Tesla above).
Driving an EV1 is genuinely a bucket list experience for me. I want to know what they were like.
Cadillac Vs(to include Blackwings). Yea, for us car guys, we’ve known that for the last 20 years, Cadillac has made fast and great handling sport sedans/coupes/wagons. But to the rest of the population, they’re just old people cars. Cadillac Vs and Blackwings are the physical embodiment of the term ‘sleeper car’.
Recently, Jalopnik’s own Rory Carroll asked me if I’d ever driven a current Blackwing. I told him I hadn’t, and he was appalled — bordering on aghast. Apparently that’s a personal failing that I need to work on.
Not enough people know about the mad glory of a Ford RS200
What if someone knows about the RS200, but their opinions on it are dead wrong? Asking for a friend.
The Vector W8. They only made 22, so not knowing about it isn’t too much of a stretch. It’s a practical exercise in weirdness. A 6.0 liter V8 mated to the three speed automatic from the previous generation Oldsmobile Toronado. Carbon fiber and kevlar body, before that was the hotness. It’s like a cross between American muscle and an Italian mid engine super car.
Is the Vector W8the most cyberpunk car design to ever see the streets? I’d bet that, if you precariously zip-tied an oil cooler to the front, it would be.
I see your Atom and raise you a Nomad:
If the roadgoing nature of the Atom is just too limiting for you, Ariel has you covered.
I see your Nomad and raise you the Local Motors Rally Fighter.
I still remember reading about the Rally Fighter in Popular Science back in the day, and being absolutely enthralled. I still want to drive one. I still want to own one.
Polestar 2. I drove one of these little EV beasts just last week and was blown away.
With big power (476 HP / 502 lb. ft.) and crisp styling that makes a Tesla 3 look like a slightly melted turd, it got me wondering why they don’t get more attention and sales?
Sure, range of 260 miles is a bit low for the price point of $66K. But still, this is one extremely well executed EV that virtually no one knows about.
Sure, the range isn’t perfect, but that’s the price you pay for all this style. I say it’s worth it for the headlights alone.
I’m married to a woman that isn’t super interested in cars. There are Manufacturers she doesn’t know about. She’ll call me up and say “I just saw a car that looked interesting. It had an emblem with 3 points, what was it?”
Then I have to figure out if she saw a Mercedes or a Mitsubishi, or something completely random and saw the dealer’s sticker.
She’s getting better, but it showed me that there are TONS of people like that.
Hobbies are at their most fun when you get to share them with others. Especially if those others are people you really care about. The more folks know about cars, the more chances we get to share this hobby with the rest of the world, the better.