What Model Year is That? You Might be Surprised
Cars with timeless design—they look good for a longer time and save you money!
Blame the economy, or better engineering. The fact is, more and more people are looking to save money by holding onto their vehicles for a longer period of time. Thankfully, this doesn’t mean you have to drive around in the automotive equivalent of a beehive hairdo or bell-bottom jeans just to save a buck.
Some cars are simply graced with timeless good looks. Put one in your garage, and you might start getting calls from Hollywood celebs seeking the latest anti-aging advice. Sound engineering and clever styling are not mutually exclusive, no matter your budget.
There are plenty of choices out there for car buyers not afraid of long-term commitment. Here are our top picks for cars guaranteed to grow old gracefully.
Porsche Boxster
The Porsche Boxster is one of the best handling cars on the road today, period. A Boxster is so fun to drive we’d probably forgive Porsche had the company decided to clothe the car in a refrigerator box. Luckily, the stylists and engineers in Stuttgart, Germany, added plenty of exterior excitement to match the driving thrills. On sale since late 1996, the Boxster, like all Porsches, has received a steady stream of styling and mechanical updates.
From behind the wheel, the performance difference between a 1997 model year Boxster (with 201-hp 2.5-liter flat-6 engine) and the latest 2010 Boxster S (with 310-hp 3.4-liter engine) is pretty obvious. Each year something new is added and refined, though this mid-engine roadster’s smooth and sophisticated shape remains virtually unchanged.
Ford Mustang
In 1964 the Ford Mustang inspired the term “pony car,” an entire breed of high-performance sports coupes with a budget price and good performance. With the exception of a few fallow years in the 1970s, the Mustang has remained at the cutting edge of the pony car market in both looks and performance.
Completely revamped for the 2005 model year, and freshened for 2010, the latest Mustang is arguably the best-looking pony car ever. For approximately $30,000, the 2010 Mustang GT offers a growling V-8 engine and enough attitude to make Russell Crowe think twice before picking a fight. For 2011, the Mustang is available with a 305-horsepower V-6 engine capable of 31 mpg on the highway (when equipped with the 6-speed automatic transmission).
Volkswagen GTI
The Volkswagen GTI first appeared in 1976, though it took until 1983 before it reached U.S. shores. Since then, this zippy Teutonic hatchback has earned a loyal cadre of fans. And like many other cleverly designed and intelligently engineered cars on this list, the VW GTI helped define an entirely new vehicle segment: the “hot hatch,” a boxy economy car with the razor-sharp handling and rapid acceleration of a sports car.
The 2010 VW GTI has grown in size and horsepower—although the familiar shoebox silhouette remains the same. A 200-horsepower turbocharged 4-cylinder scoots this Veedub from 0 to 60 mph in only 6.1 seconds. The combination of wild performance wrapped in a looking hatchback design makes the VW GTI the Clark Kent of the car world.
Mini Cooper
The original Mini Cooper was primarily designed to be a low-cost car with as much interior room squeezed into as small a shape as possible. As British as a bowler hat, but with the international appeal of The Beatles, the original 1959 Mini Cooper was a pint-sized rock star of the minicar world. No wonder John Lennon and Ringo Starr both owned Minis.
Bought by BMW and totally revamped for 2001, the modern Mini Cooper is a stylistic tribute to the original. Larger, faster, and loaded with luxury features, a top-of-the-line Mini Cooper can cost more than $28,000. Go easy on the options, or stick with the 118-bhp base model and you’ll have an urban runabout that’s as much fun to drive as it is to look at.
Mazda MX-5 Miata
The Mazda MX-5 Miata has been the best kept secret in the car world for more than 20 years. Mazda updated the traditional formula of an inexpensive rear-wheel-drive lightweight 2-seat roadster with the original Miata back in 1989. It was a bold move, and the dependability of the car, along with its ease of maintenance, ensured that the Miata would be popular with a large number of buyers.
Cynics sometimes deride the Miata as being too cutesy. Those in the know simply laugh, click the incredibly precise 6-speed manual down a gear, and punch the gas pedal. The Miata isn’t perfect. If you’re tall, you might not fit. And luggage room isn’t the best, the 2010 Miata MX-5 offering a scant 5.3 cubic feet of trunk space. But in terms of classic roadster manners and timeless looks, the MX-5 Miata is a steal.
Jeep Wrangler
One word pretty much says it all: Jeep. To this day, the Jeep name is used to reference both the brand (now part of the Fiat-Chrysler alliance), along with just about any rugged 4-wheel-drive vehicle. The most iconic Jeep of all time is the Wrangler, a truck whose history can be traced back to World War II. Designed out of necessity, the original Jeep is the automotive icon of utilitarian design.
Refined over more than 60 years, the Wrangler remains the closest descendant of the mud-plugging original. Jeep now has a history of building luxury-based SUVs, like the Grand Cherokee. Yet it’s the boxy no-frills Wrangler (from its trademarked 7-slot front grill to its infamously complex soft top) that remains the heart and soul of the brand.
Toyota Prius
Close your eyes and imagine what a hybrid looks like. We’re guessing the potato-shaped Toyota Prius springs to mind. Toyota’s fuel-sipping eco-champion isn’t traditionally sexy. In fact, the Prius sedan that arrived on U.S. soil back in 2001 was one of the homeliest cars in a generation. It took the stream-lined second-generation model, which went on sale in 2004, to set the stylistic mold for this green-thinking sedan.
The 2010 model year Prius continues the theme of using smart aerodynamics to improve fuel economy. Less wind resistance means better mileage, and the 2010 Prius boasts a fantastic 0.25 coefficient of drag. A gasoline-electric hybrid powertrain offers a realistic 50 mpg average during everyday driving. Innovative and eco-conscious, the Toyota Prius (and hybrids of all shapes and sizes) will be around for a very long time.
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