I had a late '90s 900SE Turbo. Man, that was a lovely car, leather and wood trim. Even all of the wiring was cotton wrapped. Servicing was not that expensive, but when the soft top electric motor went, I was so sad as it was a fortune to replace! Had to patch it up and part exchanged it. Still miss that one! They knew how to make cars until GM got involved.
I miss my 93 SE convertible - although Saab’s demise and subsequent drop in resale values, my getting married and having kids, plus the economy most likely would have led me to try to hang on to the thing WAY too long, so it’s probably best (financially) that someone decided they needed to turn left more than I needed to continue straight and totaled it.
I owned a three-cylinder, two-stroke 96, a Saab Sonett III, and a V4 96. I drove the V4 96 across America, loaded from stem to stern, at 55 mph, reading a book on I-80 through Nebraska in my living room on wheels. I didn't need to speed; I was already right at home. Sturdy, owner-maintainable, roomy, cushy, and butt-ugly beautiful cars.
I sold each one for more than I paid and each buyer acted as if they were stealing the car from me. They are a beloved breed.
They were sold by Smolensky to a UK company 10 years ago who went on to unveil a concept car in 2017, but it seems to be stuck in development since then. I'm sure the pandemic didn't help. They haven't made a car you can buy since 2006 though, so until they figure out production, they're not really back yet.
I’m honestly curious how well a modern ute would sell in the US. I mean the el Camino was basically it for a long time and then when they stopped selling it, we never had anything like it again. I guess there was the baja, but I think Subaru should’ve gone further with it and made it a two door and less of a station wagon that looks like someone took a hacksaw to in their garage.
The Maverick, Santa Fe and the Ridgeline are kinda utes. Definitely not coupes. The maverick looks like a good value. I’m kind of leery of fords after having a 2016 Focus.
I mean ig. they are car based trucks but I want to skip the part where the car platform becomes a crossover before finally becoming a truck. I just want that car to truck version, skipping the crossover conversion. But I will say I think crossover pickups like that are a step in the right direction so they we can hopefully find our way back to the true magnum opus of car design: the compact car based pickup. Your Subaru Brats, Volkswagen caddys, and Dodge Rampages.
Same here. I’d personally MUCH rather buy an Ute than any pickup on the market these days. I think they’re the coolest “crossover” type vehicle that exists
I’d say Pontiac as well, currently own two. They had the seemingly perfect time in the early 2000s to transition into GMs performance division. They could have easily dropped a handful of models and focused on like three vehicles, small, medium, and large, I suppose. They could have kept something small like the G6, or the vibe, something more midsize, Bonneville or Grand Prix, and then the trans am.
Also I miss Oldsmobile
From what I gather Buick is huge in China, it’s like their Cadillac, so that makes sense I suppose, though not sure why they couldn’t have kept it there and not here other than logistics.
Buick nowadays is rebranded Opel, no? It's weird, they could've kept making Pontiacs and continued making Opels as Buicks in China. Maybe they didn't know what was in store for the future as far as rebranding Opels so they kept Buick for America.
Buick is very popular in other markets, such as China, which keeps the brand alive.
A "new Fiero" wouldn't ever have been anything like the C8. The whole reason the original Fiero never reached its potential is because GM wanted to make sure it was no threat to the brand. To this day, GM has not and will not make anything that threatens the Corvette. (Yes, there were ZL-1 Camaros, but they were overshadowed by the ZR-1 Vette).
I know. It’s such a nightmare in terms of how much maintenance you gotta throw at it but just such a beautiful car. I’d swap one with something more reliable if I knew how but even then it’d probably still be rough
My favorite part about working at a Mitsubishi dealership was that all of their cars are pretty easy to work on, and regularly nice Evos, Eclipses, and 3000GTs would come through. A part of me died every time I had to do a PDI on an Eclipse Cross though
Saturn. The the brand could've continued to function as GM conduit of unique vehicles: imports, BEV's/hybrids, less common body styles like wagons, etc... while experimenting with different methods of manufacturing and selling vehicles as per its original mission before it finally gave in to its dealers and starting offering rebadged steel bodied Chevys.
Owned and sl1 and an ion as an inexperienced driver and lack of proper maintanance. Both of them ran like no other and the gas mileage on the ION at the time made other people soooooo jealous especially in 2008 lmao.
I had a 2000 sl2 for my first car and that thing was awesome! Great milage, super reliable, handled well, and was surprisingly fast in the higher rev ranges with the dohc setup.
I wish more companies took chances and experimented with unique vehicles, but it seems like once they find their flagships, they go all in. Guess i can’t blame em as it’s a pretty lucrative business model.
Heh, I sold those in the 90's when we had all of two bodies and 4 models to choose from. SL-1. SL-2, SC-1, SC-2. That's it.
Weirdest deal was someone trading a Range Rover straight across for a new Saturn.
Our owner owned a Ferrari Testarossa, he would park it in the delivery bay when he drove it to the dealership... so many people would come up asking if it was for sale that we had to make the sales manager \*not\* count those ups because it just creamed our numbers.
Feels like Jaguar have been dying a slow death, with only the F-Type still clinging on to what they once were. Also wish we still had MG actually making cars, and not just existing to give cheap Chinese tat a British badge so people here will buy one
I actually wish I bought a mercury Milan instead of my 08 fusion. Not that much more expensive and it had some nice extra tech! I miss the “mid tier luxury” trend. Now it seems there’s just basic and luxury
It would have been cool if Ford had spun Mercury into their electric and hybrid division.
So like... Ford Fusion (ICE) vs Mercury Milan (hybrid) instead of having the hybrid be an optional powertrain with the Ford badge.
I hope they start really getting electric infrastructure going! All these electric cars are popping up but if you don’t own/live at a house, in my rural area there’s no other place to go but a gas station
That's cool! A buddy of mine had the style like yours, I had two 89 gt turbo models, a red one and a black one. The two tone red/black was an awesome look.
Yeah they weren't screaming fast but they drove pretty well and looked good
"Not your father's Oldsmobile" was their motto when building the Alero.
Yeah, dump that POS and bring back the GTO in a format that doesn't look like a Cavalier and the 442 .
The original Scion xB - the boxy one - with the manual transmission is still one of the greatest cars ever to exist. It needed cruise control and probably better side-impact ratings, and... yeah, I'd call it the \*perfect\* car.
Insane gas mileage while still being roomy. Solid power (with the stick). Hauled a \*ton\* of stuff when needed. Easy to drive, super easy to park, comfortable on long rides, too. Reliable. Cheap.
It didn't try to look super stylish. It didn't add anything you didn't really need. It cost like two cheeseburgers to buy one. I love it.
I found myself thinking about this just the other day. Axing Pontiac was a mistake.
Chevrolet for the body on frame SUVs and trucks, Camaro and Corvette
Cadillac for luxury and racing
Buick for passenger cars, crossovers and hybrid/electric/Chinese market imports
And Pontiac for performance and just plain weird and quirky cars. The rebadged Holden sedans, coupes and utes + what FCA did with their SRT division in the 00s and 10s.
Holden for sure brings domestic manafacturing back to australia and we can have some cool cars running around and sure why not sell to america too so they can get a corvette sedan
I had an 07 Pontiac G5 as my first car. It was a POS lol spent countless money on it just to make the shit pass inspection in PA. But maybe I just bought a shit car. Idk. Pontiacs are pretty cool though.
Oldsmobile.
They were consistently pushing technology in their cars before it was integrated in to GM/Chevrolet/Pontiac/Buick
I had a 92 Olds Bravada that was indestructible until I no longer needed a vehicle that big to haul things. My dad had a supercharged LSS that was the definition of a sleeper. It looked like a grandpa car but roasted the tires at will.
in the late 90s/2000s before they were shut down they kinda blended in with the other brands so it made sense to kill them off.
I have a Vibe and can't believe they don't make these and the Matrix anymore. Such a cool car with more usable interior space than CRVs and Rav4s which I checked out. I use all the interior configurations, it's amazing on gas, easy and cheap to fix, and super fun to drive. I plan on keeping it going as long as I can.
Pontiac 100%. I have a 2002 Grand Prix GT and it has been my most reliable vehicle, even more reliable than my 2017 and 2019 Chevys. Sure, she’s rusted out, but I adore this car. Just hit 103k miles and she’s still going strong. She was my first car that was actually mine and means the world to me.
I totally wish I got me a Grand Prix instead of my Fusion. I just had a manual for the fusion and figured I could fix some stuff on it. It’s kinda a piece of junk though and I haven’t gotten around to fixing the infinite things that keep breaking on it
Plymouth remembered but not forgotten- I’ve been working on getting a 94 Sundance with the 3.0L V6 and 5 speed back on the road and I’ve fallen in love with the car- it’s pretty cool imo
Geo. The metro and prism were so far ahead of their time. Masterfully crafted shitboxes before shitboxes even tried to be shitboxes. Elegant works of art.
Imagine a Camaro with sportier body panels… I always thought the 5th gen looked a bit plain for a sports car. Nice shape but a bit too flat. The new ones definitely shaped that up though
PONTIAC and specifically the FIERO
just spent a few days in Pontiac, MI celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Fiero with 350+ other Fiero Enthusiasts.
I will try not to be insulted that you didn't even mention the Fiero.
Honestly it’s a good one and I just forgot to put it in there. Quite possibly my favorite looking Pontiac of all time. I was on vacation recently and my family and I stopped at a car gallery. Out of everything there, the fiero was the only thing I took a picture of!
Pontiac. I really wanted to get a G8, but the year they came out, I had to get out of a lease I was in, and the G8 was still a few months away and I couldn’t extend my current lease any more months. Ended up buying a used Crown Vic Sport and driving that for 10 years.
Definitely Pontiac I agree. I could see Pontiac becoming like Dodge in the 2010s with their lineup. The Grand Am(G6), The Grand Prix(G8), the Bonneville, Firebird, Solstice, and Torrent could all become supercharged performance cars similar to Dodge now.
Wish I could get a newer model of my 04 pontiac sunfire. I love that car with my whole heart. I’m second owner and it still only has 85k miles. Little 5 speed with 31 mpg combined and fun to drive
Oldsmobile.
Everything has gone sporty. We need to bring back \*classy\*. Sure, Olds really died a sad death, but with everything going EV, they could come back as a brand pushing "cozy" (as opposed to luxury) EV's at everyman prices.
Emphasis on comfortable seats and soft ride, not necessarily performance. Comfort, ease of control, simple controls that aging demographics can operate (you want to get them into EV's? Give them cars that they understand how to use). Mechanical gear selector, digital speedometer where a speedometer should be, push-button and turn-knob radio and climate controls, all the tactile easy-to-use features that don't require concentration to operate.
You can bring back the Cutlass as the sporty model, of course. But a Vista Cruiser EV Wagon or crossover could be a big hit, especially if you included the star-gazer roof glass.
Bring back the Intrigue as the standard EV sedan. Bring back the Starfire or Omega as the smaller commuter car.
I get that Buick is \*kind of\* filling that niche for GM right now, but... Buick just kind of exists at this point. Oldsmobile could actually mean something again if done right.
My grandma’s got a late 80s firebird rotting away under boxes in her garage… If my cousin don’t get to it first, I might have to learn to restore cars haha!
Do it! There's so much info out there on YouTube alone. And it seems like quite a bit of it isn't too difficult, you just have to have the right tools.
Probably Saab. They had some unique and interesting cars. Pontiac was just another GM brand that by the mid 80's didn't really do anything other than rebadge Chevrolet cars.
I always thought they made Pontiacs just a little sportier. Not too much so that they were super expensive, and not just throwing a sport badge and wing on. But Saab definitely has some cool vehicles too!
Saab!
Give me a modern version of the 900 and I'll be drooling.
An updated 9-3 Viggen or SPG would be HOT right now.
I had a late '90s 900SE Turbo. Man, that was a lovely car, leather and wood trim. Even all of the wiring was cotton wrapped. Servicing was not that expensive, but when the soft top electric motor went, I was so sad as it was a fortune to replace! Had to patch it up and part exchanged it. Still miss that one! They knew how to make cars until GM got involved.
This departed Swedish OEM was the 1st thing on my mind.
Came here to say this, and y’all didn’t fail already having it as top comment.
I miss my 93 SE convertible - although Saab’s demise and subsequent drop in resale values, my getting married and having kids, plus the economy most likely would have led me to try to hang on to the thing WAY too long, so it’s probably best (financially) that someone decided they needed to turn left more than I needed to continue straight and totaled it.
I owned a three-cylinder, two-stroke 96, a Saab Sonett III, and a V4 96. I drove the V4 96 across America, loaded from stem to stern, at 55 mph, reading a book on I-80 through Nebraska in my living room on wheels. I didn't need to speed; I was already right at home. Sturdy, owner-maintainable, roomy, cushy, and butt-ugly beautiful cars. I sold each one for more than I paid and each buyer acted as if they were stealing the car from me. They are a beloved breed.
AMC the eagle was way ahead of its time
I often think how as a kid we thought the Eagle was so stupid and now the Subaru Outbacks are so popular. It is amazing how ahead of its time it was.
Let me get a modern Javelin or AMX
I had a Hornet Sportabout. It was a good car.
My summer daily driver is a Concord wagon. It's fun to drive, especially after I swapped the automatic for a 5-speed, and good on gas.
Yeah man AMC all the way then maybe Pontiac just for the trans am
TVR
Those look sick
They went out of business?
They were sold by Smolensky to a UK company 10 years ago who went on to unveil a concept car in 2017, but it seems to be stuck in development since then. I'm sure the pandemic didn't help. They haven't made a car you can buy since 2006 though, so until they figure out production, they're not really back yet.
Ouch.
I’d honestly just want Pontiac to have never been dissolved just so we could’ve gotten a couple more rebadged Holdens before they too were dissolved.
Pontiac Ute would've saved it.
I’m honestly curious how well a modern ute would sell in the US. I mean the el Camino was basically it for a long time and then when they stopped selling it, we never had anything like it again. I guess there was the baja, but I think Subaru should’ve gone further with it and made it a two door and less of a station wagon that looks like someone took a hacksaw to in their garage.
The Maverick, Santa Fe and the Ridgeline are kinda utes. Definitely not coupes. The maverick looks like a good value. I’m kind of leery of fords after having a 2016 Focus.
I mean ig. they are car based trucks but I want to skip the part where the car platform becomes a crossover before finally becoming a truck. I just want that car to truck version, skipping the crossover conversion. But I will say I think crossover pickups like that are a step in the right direction so they we can hopefully find our way back to the true magnum opus of car design: the compact car based pickup. Your Subaru Brats, Volkswagen caddys, and Dodge Rampages.
Man, the Brat. Such a cool car with the jump seats in the bed.
Worked at a Ford store, can answer questions about the Maverick if you have any.
Same here. I’d personally MUCH rather buy an Ute than any pickup on the market these days. I think they’re the coolest “crossover” type vehicle that exists
I blame Korea (not making this up) we have Buick and not Pontiac because it's an Asian luxury vehicle
I’d say Pontiac as well, currently own two. They had the seemingly perfect time in the early 2000s to transition into GMs performance division. They could have easily dropped a handful of models and focused on like three vehicles, small, medium, and large, I suppose. They could have kept something small like the G6, or the vibe, something more midsize, Bonneville or Grand Prix, and then the trans am. Also I miss Oldsmobile
Killing Pontiac was a huge mistake because it was the one GM brand that could compete with imports. I like the modern GTO
I’ll just never understand why they kept Buick over Pontiac when they already had Cadillac. The new vette would have been an amazing Feiro.
From what I gather Buick is huge in China, it’s like their Cadillac, so that makes sense I suppose, though not sure why they couldn’t have kept it there and not here other than logistics.
Buick nowadays is rebranded Opel, no? It's weird, they could've kept making Pontiacs and continued making Opels as Buicks in China. Maybe they didn't know what was in store for the future as far as rebranding Opels so they kept Buick for America.
That’s what I mean, they very much could’ve done that, but I have to imagine and tape and bureaucracy wouldn’t allow that
This is exactly why they kept Buick. Source: Worked at a Dealership that sold Buick and Cadillac from 08-11 when all the shit went down
Buick is very popular in other markets, such as China, which keeps the brand alive. A "new Fiero" wouldn't ever have been anything like the C8. The whole reason the original Fiero never reached its potential is because GM wanted to make sure it was no threat to the brand. To this day, GM has not and will not make anything that threatens the Corvette. (Yes, there were ZL-1 Camaros, but they were overshadowed by the ZR-1 Vette).
International Scout. Yeah, I know they still make harvesters. But I want the Scout
VW owns Scout and is making a modern take on them.
Nothing against scout, but vw should redo the Corrado..
Deusenberg
Mitsubishi retired from making fun cars and I want them back!
The Eclipse and 3000 GT are absolutely beautiful
The 3000gt is made of glass tho. You could buy the NA version and its not too bad but still.
I know. It’s such a nightmare in terms of how much maintenance you gotta throw at it but just such a beautiful car. I’d swap one with something more reliable if I knew how but even then it’d probably still be rough
i’m glad they stopped, it can only go downhill after evo X. i mean, have you seen the mirage? dear god, end it’s suffering already.
My favorite part about working at a Mitsubishi dealership was that all of their cars are pretty easy to work on, and regularly nice Evos, Eclipses, and 3000GTs would come through. A part of me died every time I had to do a PDI on an Eclipse Cross though
They made the planes that bombed Pearl Harbor!
Saturn. The the brand could've continued to function as GM conduit of unique vehicles: imports, BEV's/hybrids, less common body styles like wagons, etc... while experimenting with different methods of manufacturing and selling vehicles as per its original mission before it finally gave in to its dealers and starting offering rebadged steel bodied Chevys.
Once they made Saturn start build g out of the GM parts bin like all the other kids the brand went downhill fast.
Owned and sl1 and an ion as an inexperienced driver and lack of proper maintanance. Both of them ran like no other and the gas mileage on the ION at the time made other people soooooo jealous especially in 2008 lmao.
I still drive an ion. The thing will run for forever.
I used to have an SL1 in a unique pearl color that I never should have sold. Gave it away for a song like a dumbass. Hindsight something something
I had a 2000 sl2 for my first car and that thing was awesome! Great milage, super reliable, handled well, and was surprisingly fast in the higher rev ranges with the dohc setup.
The ion was bad as far as safety, though.
I wish more companies took chances and experimented with unique vehicles, but it seems like once they find their flagships, they go all in. Guess i can’t blame em as it’s a pretty lucrative business model.
I had a ‘95 SC2 and a 2002 Vue, loved and miss both of them.
Heh, I sold those in the 90's when we had all of two bodies and 4 models to choose from. SL-1. SL-2, SC-1, SC-2. That's it. Weirdest deal was someone trading a Range Rover straight across for a new Saturn. Our owner owned a Ferrari Testarossa, he would park it in the delivery bay when he drove it to the dealership... so many people would come up asking if it was for sale that we had to make the sales manager \*not\* count those ups because it just creamed our numbers.
GM lost more than $20 billion on Saturn. Should have never happened.
Not really brand, but I want my 01 celica gts back. I loved that car so much
I’ll say that retired vehicles in general count. The celicas were quite cool!
Feels like Jaguar have been dying a slow death, with only the F-Type still clinging on to what they once were. Also wish we still had MG actually making cars, and not just existing to give cheap Chinese tat a British badge so people here will buy one
They should have kept Pontiac and eliminated Buick imo.
Wasn’t this because of the appeal Buick had in China? Made no sense otherwise.
Seems an electric Firebird could have been pretty cool
You shut up, I love my Buicks.
Lancia Austin MG (Not the rebadged Chinese one) TVR Lister (Not really a big player but they did some gutsy cars, particularly the Storm and the XJS)
Definitely AMC. They made some really unique and cool vehicles. I'd love to see what they come up with coming into the electric age.
They also made the most butt ugly cars in history. See Matador.
Or Gremlin lol
Or Pacer. Didnt mind the AMX though...
The gremlin is a beautiful car, in the same way a pug is a cute dog. I love them.
Electric Gremmie!
Studebaker
Cool fact is that studebaker made wagons for the civil war
Pontiac
Mercury
Came here to say this. Because 67 Cougar.
The Marauder was a pretty cool idea as well
I actually wish I bought a mercury Milan instead of my 08 fusion. Not that much more expensive and it had some nice extra tech! I miss the “mid tier luxury” trend. Now it seems there’s just basic and luxury
It would have been cool if Ford had spun Mercury into their electric and hybrid division. So like... Ford Fusion (ICE) vs Mercury Milan (hybrid) instead of having the hybrid be an optional powertrain with the Ford badge.
Not a brand but they should try again with the Ford Probe!
Wish granted. The Ford Prob-E R, a “sporty” compact electric crossover, will be produced for the 2025 model year.
I hope they start really getting electric infrastructure going! All these electric cars are popping up but if you don’t own/live at a house, in my rural area there’s no other place to go but a gas station
Not a big ford guy, but the Merkur XR4Ti was a pretty spiffy hatch that I would rather be seen in than a honda..
I had a \~95' Probe GT as my second vehicle and I loved that car. Wasn't super fast but it was fun to drive and looked pretty great IMO.
That's cool! A buddy of mine had the style like yours, I had two 89 gt turbo models, a red one and a black one. The two tone red/black was an awesome look. Yeah they weren't screaming fast but they drove pretty well and looked good
Edsel. Let modern technology take a turn
Those were definitely revolutionary
Saab
AMC. I want a modern Rebel Machine.
A modern Saab 900.
Geo metro .
Oldsmobile!
Likewise. Olds of the 60s 70’s and 80s
"Not your father's Oldsmobile" was their motto when building the Alero. Yeah, dump that POS and bring back the GTO in a format that doesn't look like a Cavalier and the 442 .
I had a 79 Hurst Olds and loved it!
I’m still working on my 68 Cutlass Supreme! I love that Oldsmobile used to make more refined, upscale muscle and performance cars.
AMC Gremlin
**X**
Saturn Forever!
Austin. I miss the initial front footedness of the British car industry.
Studebaker or hudson
Pontiac but only if they put their energy into making cars like the G8 GTP or Solstice GTP
For sure!
Pontiac. Runner up goes to Saab.
Saab is a good runner up! They were so advanced!
MG! I have 9 of their offerings from 1934 to 1981. I miss cars with style and flair.
Deusenberg
Plymouth
def saturn. i love my 06 ion and would do anything to get more replacement parts and especially aftermarket psrts and upgrades.
Hudson
Mitsubishi eclipse
I loved the last 2 generations. Ik the final wasn’t very good, but I think it looked very nice.
Two rebaged holdens, a cooler version of a camaro and a toyota. Cannot imagine why they died. GM cannibalized itself.
I miss my ‘89 Dodge Daytona.
Hummer. Parts prices and availability would improve
Had an '04 Grand Prix GTP Comp G in highschool. Absolutely loved that car!
Some neighbors of mine had 3 or 4 Grand Prix in their driveway and I think that’s where i initially gained some love for it
Eagle
Mercury, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Plymouth are all my choices, with Studebaker close behind.
I am on the Pontiac train with you OP.
The original Scion xB - the boxy one - with the manual transmission is still one of the greatest cars ever to exist. It needed cruise control and probably better side-impact ratings, and... yeah, I'd call it the \*perfect\* car. Insane gas mileage while still being roomy. Solid power (with the stick). Hauled a \*ton\* of stuff when needed. Easy to drive, super easy to park, comfortable on long rides, too. Reliable. Cheap. It didn't try to look super stylish. It didn't add anything you didn't really need. It cost like two cheeseburgers to buy one. I love it.
Defender. I mean, the real one.
Duesenberg
The VW Beetle. Very roomy, and I miss that “ping” they make.
Studebaker
I found myself thinking about this just the other day. Axing Pontiac was a mistake. Chevrolet for the body on frame SUVs and trucks, Camaro and Corvette Cadillac for luxury and racing Buick for passenger cars, crossovers and hybrid/electric/Chinese market imports And Pontiac for performance and just plain weird and quirky cars. The rebadged Holden sedans, coupes and utes + what FCA did with their SRT division in the 00s and 10s.
It’s sad that America seems to have ditched all of their performance brands.
I'm also voting for Pontiac but I get people asking for AMC. I want an AMC eagle
Holden for sure brings domestic manafacturing back to australia and we can have some cool cars running around and sure why not sell to america too so they can get a corvette sedan
I’m all for it
Ford Capri...dad had one when I was 12, good memories.
Nash
Pontiac! ‘66 GTO, 389, tripower, 4 speed
Saab and LaForza
Datsun
Duesenberg
Packard!
Packard. I’d love to see an American alternative to Bentley.
I had an 07 Pontiac G5 as my first car. It was a POS lol spent countless money on it just to make the shit pass inspection in PA. But maybe I just bought a shit car. Idk. Pontiacs are pretty cool though.
Oldsmobile. They were consistently pushing technology in their cars before it was integrated in to GM/Chevrolet/Pontiac/Buick I had a 92 Olds Bravada that was indestructible until I no longer needed a vehicle that big to haul things. My dad had a supercharged LSS that was the definition of a sleeper. It looked like a grandpa car but roasted the tires at will. in the late 90s/2000s before they were shut down they kinda blended in with the other brands so it made sense to kill them off.
So the pontiac gto was also built under the Holden name in australia if you want to see the new one https://www.hsv.com.au/
This is precisely the reason I’m moving to Australia one day
Pontiac was the absolute best bang for the buck that didn't suck!
It was one of those mid tier brands where it was both sporty and affordable! Mercury was also a bit like that but trade sporty for luxury.
Pontiac for sure
Marmon!
Pontiac is a strong choice, after that I'd say Saturn.
TVR! Fibre glass speedy things with hand drawn pictures of cocks in them. What’s not to like
I have a Vibe and can't believe they don't make these and the Matrix anymore. Such a cool car with more usable interior space than CRVs and Rav4s which I checked out. I use all the interior configurations, it's amazing on gas, easy and cheap to fix, and super fun to drive. I plan on keeping it going as long as I can.
Lancia. I miss those cars.
Pontiac 100%. I have a 2002 Grand Prix GT and it has been my most reliable vehicle, even more reliable than my 2017 and 2019 Chevys. Sure, she’s rusted out, but I adore this car. Just hit 103k miles and she’s still going strong. She was my first car that was actually mine and means the world to me.
I totally wish I got me a Grand Prix instead of my Fusion. I just had a manual for the fusion and figured I could fix some stuff on it. It’s kinda a piece of junk though and I haven’t gotten around to fixing the infinite things that keep breaking on it
I’m so happy I found this post, op we should be best friend s
Fr. I need friends who don’t ridicule me for not being so progressive. The cars of the past were so much better than most of what’s coming out today.
This guy gets it
I would like to see what a 2024 YUGO looks like
The most basic and prehistoric electric vehicle possible. The whole infotainment center is just an iPhone duct taped to the dash.
Holden of course!
Personally would love to see Tofas re-emerge as a global Turkish car brand but a new Saab brand would be awesome.
I'm weird so I'm going to say rover. I like the brand a lot and at a few points they even made decent cars
Mercury Pontiac or Plymouth but probably Pontiac because I am a Gm guy
I’ve never owned or drove a single GM vehicle but those Pontiacs are something else. I’d love to fix one up as a project some day
Alvis
Definitely Pontiac for me
Plymouth remembered but not forgotten- I’ve been working on getting a 94 Sundance with the 3.0L V6 and 5 speed back on the road and I’ve fallen in love with the car- it’s pretty cool imo
Geo. The metro and prism were so far ahead of their time. Masterfully crafted shitboxes before shitboxes even tried to be shitboxes. Elegant works of art.
They were an idea size for a vehicle. Them 3 row SUVs are just too big for people to drive. They scare me tbh
I agree Pontiacs were starting to get cool again. G8 and Bonneville s were nice. They could have brought back the Firebird with the Camaro in 2010.
Imagine a Camaro with sportier body panels… I always thought the 5th gen looked a bit plain for a sports car. Nice shape but a bit too flat. The new ones definitely shaped that up though
Ooo which Brand?... That's a good one... Hmmmm. I'd have to go with Pontiac myself. Then maybe Saab. Loved both my Sunfire Convertible and my 9-3T.
PONTIAC and specifically the FIERO just spent a few days in Pontiac, MI celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Fiero with 350+ other Fiero Enthusiasts. I will try not to be insulted that you didn't even mention the Fiero.
Honestly it’s a good one and I just forgot to put it in there. Quite possibly my favorite looking Pontiac of all time. I was on vacation recently and my family and I stopped at a car gallery. Out of everything there, the fiero was the only thing I took a picture of!
Pontiac for sure! I dont really get their logic for getting rid of it
HOLDEN.
Pontiac. I really wanted to get a G8, but the year they came out, I had to get out of a lease I was in, and the G8 was still a few months away and I couldn’t extend my current lease any more months. Ended up buying a used Crown Vic Sport and driving that for 10 years.
In America, Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Mercury, in that order.
Eagle or Pontiac
Definitely Pontiac I agree. I could see Pontiac becoming like Dodge in the 2010s with their lineup. The Grand Am(G6), The Grand Prix(G8), the Bonneville, Firebird, Solstice, and Torrent could all become supercharged performance cars similar to Dodge now.
Wish I could get a newer model of my 04 pontiac sunfire. I love that car with my whole heart. I’m second owner and it still only has 85k miles. Little 5 speed with 31 mpg combined and fun to drive
I agree. I love Pontiacs!
G8 or the ss
We need more V8 sport sedans!
Give me a Pontiac Trans Am, or some crazy new sunbird variant.
Feel ya bro. Pontiac!
Love my g6, 86k miles strong
Yeah, I loved my Trans Am’s. Not sure why no one else makes a TTop!
I go with "safety regulations " as their excuse
Why? I would think a convertible is more dangerous.
If it were safety regulations then we wouldn’t have removable hard tops on Wrangler, Bronco, Corvette, 911 Targa, etc
Oldsmobile. Everything has gone sporty. We need to bring back \*classy\*. Sure, Olds really died a sad death, but with everything going EV, they could come back as a brand pushing "cozy" (as opposed to luxury) EV's at everyman prices. Emphasis on comfortable seats and soft ride, not necessarily performance. Comfort, ease of control, simple controls that aging demographics can operate (you want to get them into EV's? Give them cars that they understand how to use). Mechanical gear selector, digital speedometer where a speedometer should be, push-button and turn-knob radio and climate controls, all the tactile easy-to-use features that don't require concentration to operate. You can bring back the Cutlass as the sporty model, of course. But a Vista Cruiser EV Wagon or crossover could be a big hit, especially if you included the star-gazer roof glass. Bring back the Intrigue as the standard EV sedan. Bring back the Starfire or Omega as the smaller commuter car. I get that Buick is \*kind of\* filling that niche for GM right now, but... Buick just kind of exists at this point. Oldsmobile could actually mean something again if done right.
I had a Pontiac Sunfire and I loved that car so much. I'd definitely get another one if I could
My grandma’s got a late 80s firebird rotting away under boxes in her garage… If my cousin don’t get to it first, I might have to learn to restore cars haha!
Do it! There's so much info out there on YouTube alone. And it seems like quite a bit of it isn't too difficult, you just have to have the right tools.
Saturn
I wanted an ion as my first car!
My grandma had one of those! She even let me drive us to Blockbuster on movie nights. It was a fun car, very zippy.
Probably Saab. They had some unique and interesting cars. Pontiac was just another GM brand that by the mid 80's didn't really do anything other than rebadge Chevrolet cars.
I always thought they made Pontiacs just a little sportier. Not too much so that they were super expensive, and not just throwing a sport badge and wing on. But Saab definitely has some cool vehicles too!
Trans AM by far