I’m gonna go out and say the 1989-1993(4) 240SX. It’s a holy grail car, the King of the Old School Drifters and it sits on a pedestal thanks to NFS Underground, Forza, Grand Turismo, etc. It’s a great car, but only after a TON of work.

In the import tuning scene, it was already heavily-hyped by the time F&F hit the theaters. Guys used to drive around with laminated 1000+ hp dyno sheets because their Supras were tuned for big numbers and couldn’t turn a 13-second quarter mile because it was impossible to put the power to the pavement. 

Owned three Mk4s here. Can confirm the 1.8T GTI was an unreliable shitbox. A weirdly lovable one, but still a shitbox!

The GTI (excluding the original). MK3/4 is kind of the epitome of it. Yes, they are more fun than the standard golf, but they’re definitely compromise cars. They’re sorta fun, sorta good handling, useful, but not extremely good at any of those things. That’s partially the charm of it for a single car, but also…

Tesla Model 3. It has some weird halo effect despite being ugly and having a bargain basement interior... And that's before getting into the quality issues. It drives fine, it's fast, and electric... But since when does that get it a free pass when it also costs $50k?

Nice to see an engine in this that isn’t shared with a U-Haul truck.

If you were five years old in 1977 like I was, there’s only one answer - other than those that only exist in a galaxy far, far away.

I remember one of those at Texas A&M’s campus around 2002, down near the nuclear engineering dept.  Parked right next to a Viper GTS.  My friends were going ga-ga over the Viper and I was wigging out over the Audi haha.

There was a Coupe Quattro a long time ago in a dealer nearby. The car wasn’t in bad condition, but they were asking like 7 or 8 grand. Never got around buying it…

Fiat 500.

Nothing too exotic, hot hatches such as the Clio 172 and the likes. My mother had a supercharged Cooper S which I used to drive, so dream fulfilled, I guess.

C’mon now.

Speaking of vans from the futuristic past... Bring back the dust buster vans! I think Toyota will be proven genius for making the new Sienna hybrid only. GM should get in on that action.

BRING BACK THE ELEMENT, HONDA! You’ll sell dozens of them and I will gladly buy 1. Maybe 2 if my significant other can be convinced. Hell make it electric while you’re at it. It already had a flat floor so running it on a skateboard chassis makes all the sense.

My (now) wife’s all-trac camry had center diff lock.

I was randomly in Colorado visiting a friend. We decided to go snowboarding one day and I saw a red Montero in the parking lot spinning its tires in place. I meander over to see if I can help, it was a the guy that grew up across the alley from me that I played with for 15 years as a child and I hadn't seen him in…

It’s been an add on for a few brands (BMW and VAG products) but Infiniti EX35 had an option for a built in coat hanger on the back of the driver’s seat. Such a clever idea to keep your suit jacket or blazer wrinkle free

Mazda had another good one. 929's of a certain year had a solar powered fan that exhausted hot air out the moonroof when parked. If they had that today, and integrated to the sensors of rain-sensing wipers so the roof would close if it rained, that would be the shizzle. My 83 Civic had a dedicated lidded coin tray…

What about the smaller block chevy? The ole iron duke is one solid engine in all of my experiences with it. The Ford 2.3 Lima is a solid contender too.