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It's a pretty interesting list, with some equally interesting reasoning.

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1. 1992 Toyota Camry
2. 1991 Ford Explorer
3. 2001 Toyota Prius
4. 1984 Chrysler minivans
5. 1986 Hyundai Excel
6. 1986 Ford Taurus
7. 1990 Lexus LS400
8. 1990 Mazda Miata
9. 1986 Acura Legend
10. 1996 Toyota RAV4
11. 1994 Ford Mustang
12. 1991 Saturn SL
13. 1997 Ford F-150
14. 2003 Hummer H2
15. 2002 Mini Cooper
16. 1998 Lincoln Navigator
17. 1986 Yugo (GV)
18. 2001 Chrysler PT Cruiser
19. 2001 Pontiac Aztek
20. 2003 Cadillac CTS
21. 1986 Suzuki Samurai
22. (1994) GM Impact
23. 1998 Volkswagen New Beetle
24. 2005 Scion xB
25. 2002 BMW 7 Series

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Most of those vehicles are at least interesting if not good vehicles. But I don't think they all had "impact." The Aztek certainly didn't have any. Nothing changed because of it unless GM fired the styling guys. The Yugo had no impact. And really - did the 2002 7-series really impact anything?

That is a really boring list. I agree with the Miata, Prius, and the Mini Cooper for sure.

I think some of you would argue that the Model T wasn't important because it was "boring".

Cars for the masses have tremendous impact on society.

I think the Aztek did have impact. It was the first real crossover. Now you can find a ton of them.

Now you have the:
Acura MDX
Audi Q7
Buick Enclave
BMW X3
Caddy SRX
Chevy Equinox
Honda Element
Ford Edge
Mazda CX-7
Nissan Muraneo


The Aztek wasn't successful because it looked like Azz, but it spurred that whole new vehicle type.

Acura Legend?
Suzuki Samurai?

really?

the acura legend really was the first japanese luxury car...precursor to infiniti and lexus.

also the suzuki samurai was the first minitruck out there...i can see that addition. it might have been crappy, but it was different for the time.

I think they need to put the 1987 Mustang GT on there before the 1994 version. The 1987 saved the car, and was badass. the 1994 was fairly disappointing.

Also either the 1999 Porsche 911 and/or 1999 Porsche Boxster should be on there. That was the change to water cooled engines for Porsche that made production cheaper and brought the car forward a great deal. it also was the move that probably saved the company from being bought by someone as the were in serious trouble. I say those were more important than any Yugo or some of those other incredibly ****ty cars listed.

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did the 2002 7-series really impact anything?

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The 2002 7 series and subsequent 5 series turned the luxury car market on its head. You think Lexus makes their new radical LS design without the impact of the 7 series? That also marked the point at which BMW overtook Mercedes as the leading luxury car maker in the world. So I would say that it had an enormous impact. A lot of people did not like it, but they sold more of them in the first 3 years of existence than the other 7 series over its entire production life. It was revolutionary, and really took BMW to the top of the food chain. It also represented considerable risk for a small company like BMW. It it was a bust they would have been in some trouble.

>>The 1987 saved the car, and was badass.<<

I don't think it was THAT spectacular. I don't know about saving the car, but there wasn't a great difference in engine outputs from 1986 to 87. It was still the new (at the time) 5.0 multi-port injection in both. They may have bumped up HP by 10 or so, but it was the 86 engine that was a significant change from the '85 (which was changed from the '84). The body style changed in '87 for the GT version, but honestly, it wasn't a great change. I sold Fords at that point, and most of the Mustangs I sold were the LX versions with the 5.0 liter engines in them. I refused to sell the 2.3 4 cylinders!

what a ****ty list.

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1997 F-150: First stylish modern pickup... Created a blinding flash of the obvious for the rest: What if we design these things for people, not just cargo?

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Hmm, I would've figured the 1988 Chevys really were the first stylish modern pickup. And the new Rams in 1994 along with the complete interior redesign of the Chevy trucks in 1995 already had trucks well down the path of designing for people instead of cargo.

I don't understand listing both the '86 Acura Legend and the '90 Lexus LS400. Seems they should pick one or the other, and with Lexus being synonymous with quality today, I'd go with the LS400.

I think the PT Cruiser should be replaced with the Prowler. That really seemed to be the first "neo-retro" styled car that captured the imagination and led to PT Cruisers, SSRs, HHRs, Mustangs, T-Birds, and even Mini Coopers and new Beetles to some extent.

Those early Legends with the 2.7l motor were awesome.
Best car for the $ ever made in my mind.

No way I believe the Aztek inspired or caused Toyota to build the Highlander, Honda the Pilot, Lexus the ES, etc. The CUV would have happened anyway. Lots of reasons people wanted something the size of a Grand Cherokee but not built on a truck chassis.

BTW - the Samurai is the only vehicle I have ever seen upside down in the middle of a freeway. Mopac (Hwy 1) was stopped southbound many years ago because of a Samurai that flipped and was sitting squarely on its roof in the middle of the road.

I think both the Legend and the LS400 belong on that list. The Legend was the first Japanese luxury car, but Honda stayed at the "near premium" category while Toyota and Nissan entered the market with a car intended to compete squarely with the S-class at the time.

The fact that the Acura Legend is not at the top of the list makes it bogus. No vehicle (in the last 25 years) has impacted how the public and manufacturers as to what they think more than this car. Sure, the SUV trend had to start somewhere, but the super-luxury passenger car began with the Legend and has impacted the business most. IMO

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Lots of reasons people wanted something the size of a Grand Cherokee but not built on a truck chassis.

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Anybody else catch this?

I would've thought a Suburban would be on there somewhere. They were basically the same from 73-91, so it's hard to pinpoint a year model in the last 25 years that was revolutionary. They just gradually got more and more popular as family vehicles through the 80s. I think they're more responsible for the current SUV craze than the Explorer.

I wouldn't mind seeing one of the early 90s fuel misers on the list, a CRX-HF or a Geo Metro. Gotta go hybrid to get that kinda fuel economy these days.

yep, anyone who questions the impact of the Legend really needs to learn some automotive history before proving their ignorance.



i also wouldn't mind having the integra on there.

Yep the Acura brand was created ~4 years before Lexus and Infiniti, and paved the way for higher-end Japanese luxury cars.

Overall that list sucks.

The Mini Cooper, Chrysler PT Cruiser and Pontiac AzteK don't belong on that list.

The rest isn't bad. Out of order perhaps, but not bad. However, I would add the McLaren F1 to that list somewhere. That car set new standards for supercars.

In my opinion they blatantly excluded sports cars from that list. A lot of advances that are commonplace on passenger cars started with sports cars, but the Aztec and the Taurus had more impact? WTF I think the volume of sales was a huge component of this list.

I think volume of sales was not an overriding factor. The Aztek never sold more than 27,000 vehicles in one year. The Yugo? Not many sold and even fewer survived.

that list sucks.

Heres the most significant 13 vehicles of the past 25 years

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81-83 dmc delorean - its design intrigue and timlessness is only rivaled by stories of cokehead businessmen walking a fine line in fund raising and organized crime.

83 Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager - ugly, gutless, but very significant at the time. Minivans allowed the station wagon to go away forever.

82-87 Buick Grand National - Has a cooler car ever been made by a geekier company?

79 - 93 Mustang - hideous body style, unlimited power potential. Lightweight and nimble.

84 Jeep Cherokee - cheap rugged and utilitarian.

1988 Range Rover - Rover returns to North America, rappers and athletes everywhere want to be seen in an english tractor.

92-93 typhoon and cyclone - turboner material

93 grand cherokee - started the SUV war crashing through the glass at the Auto Show.

97 jeep wrangler - retains similiar drivetrain components and overall dimensions as the original cj7 but with a long overdue suspension upgrade that more than made up for the 87-95 models.

97 c5 Corvette - GM's almost 40 year record of lack of v8 drivetrain innovation finally stops with the long overdue ls1 engine.

05 mustang - restored faith in the American muscle car genre among many.



[This message has been edited by robertf03 (edited 6/27/2007 5:24p).]

Robert - much better list.

Huh? The list was supposed to be impact cars. The original list wasn't a good one. But Robert's has some strange choices.

81-83 dmc delorean - its design intrigue and timlessness is only rivaled by stories of cokehead businessmen walking a fine line in fund raising and organized crime.

- Memorable yes. Impact? No. No other cars were made with a stainless skin. John Delorean's legal problems didn't impact anyone in the auto industry except people he owned money to.

83 Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager - ugly, gutless, but very significant at the time. Minivans allowed the station wagon to go away forever.

- Agree completely.

82-87 Buick Grand National - Has a cooler car ever been made by a geekier company?

- I'm 48 and I had to look this up. It's ugly (all folded sheet metal) and was a meaningless car.

79 - 93 Mustang - hideous body style, unlimited power potential. Lightweight and nimble.

- Questionable. I don't think the Mustang belongs on this list twice.

84 Jeep Cherokee - cheap rugged and utilitarian.

1988 Range Rover - Rover returns to North America, rappers and athletes everywhere want to be seen in an english tractor.

- Not sure this had as much impact as the Navigator. Besides, most Range Rovers of this age were in the garage being repaired.

92-93 typhoon and cyclone - turboner material

- No way. A musclecar version of the Blazer?

93 grand cherokee - started the SUV war crashing through the glass at the Auto Show.

- The Ford Explorer had way more impact on the SUV market. The 1993 was a reaction by Jeep to reclaim some attention from Ford.

97 jeep wrangler - retains similiar drivetrain components and overall dimensions as the original cj7 but with a long overdue suspension upgrade that more than made up for the 87-95 models.

- The Wrangler is an important vehicle but I just don't see the 97 any bigger than earlier versions. It didn't change anything that Ford, GM, Toyota, etc. did.

97 c5 Corvette - GM's almost 40 year record of lack of v8 drivetrain innovation finally stops with the long overdue ls1 engine.

- Agree.

05 mustang - restored faith in the American muscle car genre among many.

- Agree.

maybe the delorean is a bit of a stretch, everything else I'll stand by

grand cherokee is way more significant than the explorer. Marketed towards a different demograph, ever see the movie breakdown? Thats how JGC's were thought of back in the day.

typhoon,cyclone,and buick grand national- if you don't know anything about the cars by now then you can't be convinced. they were so far ahead of their time, especially for domestics.

Jeep Wrangler- before 97 you didn't see a wrangler at every intersection, shortly after 97 you did. it created a market for cheap sporty off road vehicles. FJC and H3 are aimed right at the same targets.

range rover- If it wasn't reintroduced there would be no bmw x5, mercedes wouldn't have renamed the galeandawagon, and the grand wagoneer might still be in production.



I may want to add the nissan exterra to this list. I think they started the adventure lifestyle marketing that Hummer bases their existance on. They were able to sell rebodied pathfinders in "extreme" colors to a completely different demograph all because of an included first aid kit.





[This message has been edited by robertf03 (edited 6/27/2007 11:42p).]

You have the Grand National on that list but not the Miata?

correct, miata was just a japanese roadster. the british had been doing it forever, miata was just the only one in the market place for a long time.

Dont get me wrong, I like the miata and am actually looking into swapping a mazda 1.6 and transmission into a sunbeam alpine.

I see your point, maybe my age has something to do with it. To me, the Miata is the iconic roadster because it's the best (and sometimes only) option in my lifetime for a cheap, nimble, elemental sports car. I am only vaguely aware of MGs and the like, and their influence and stature in roadster history.

Maybe Mazda revolutionized the reliable roadster.

Oh and soon I'll be looking at swapping a Sunbeam crate engine/trans into a NA Miata. Go figure.

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Maybe Mazda revolutionized the reliable roadster.

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exactly...they brought back the concept of the british roadster (car is loosely based on the lotus elan of the 60's) and made it where it wasn't a total pos from a reliability standpoint.