Have an interesting question for all you car folks here. What happened to the car culture of the 90's?
For some context, when I was growing up and getting into cars, car culture was really different to what we have these days. For most people I know, their first car was a beater that would manage to get them to uni on a good day, but tough luck if it was too cold. When we managed to get a bit more money, we'd be looking at something like the Supra or maybe the MX-5, that was a super cool chic car. There would always be some kid who got his hands on a Lancer (maybe RalliArt) and tried to convince everyone it was an EVO.
I still remember the halo cars were the RX-7, Integra Type R, 300ZX, WRX STi, EVO. I dreamed of an R32 Skyline when I was first getting into the car scene. Remember at uni, there would be car clubs, we'd go to car meets, spend the weekend in the garage fixing our cars, looking at ads of new cars for the next big project…etc. It really seemed like cars were a big deal back then. People actually loved what they drove and it wasn't just a status symbol.
I recently went back to uni to give a presentation and I had a walk through the carpark to see what students were driving these days. No cool cars anymore. No old cars anymore. Seems like everyone drives a Corolla, Mazda 3, bunch of people drive SUVs (never got the appeal of SUVs). The cool kids now drive Golfs, if you're a bit cooler, maybe a BMW or Merc. Seems like the car culture of the 90's is dead and cars have just become a fashion accessory. It's all about the brands and cool features, not about how nice it drives or how much time and effort you put in to make it work.
Seem to see some of the same culture on here when people are looking for car recommendations. People care about things like fuel consumption (never really saw anyone care about that back then), safety features, whether the interior looks "modern", rather than how quick the cars are or how it handles on those windy mountain roads in the wet.
Am I just being nostalgic or have people's tastes about what cool cars are really changed that much? When did all this happen?!
A $40,000 hot hatch goes faster than these things now. Without the panels rattling off.
Speed limits, increased enforcement, increased penalties.
Old Japanese imports are a dime a dozen, and they don't cost much more than that either. When the entry cost is that low, it attracts a certain crowd. Not everyone wants to be a part of that crowd or even mentioned in association.
Great cars still exist but the relative cost always moves up as the boundaries are pushed. Think 911 GT3RS. That's the new price of entry.