The ’90s shifted gears.
Hard edges melted into curves. The sharp geometry of previous decades gave way to something softer, slicker, aerodynamic. Bulbous. But under the hood, the real revolution wasn’t visual. Fuel injection became the norm. Reliability skyrocketed. For the first time, cars didn’t just start; they stayed running.
Some became legends.
Most got forgotten.
That’s a shame. Some of these deserved better.
Mercedes-Benz 500E
Porsche did the heavy lifting.
From 1991 to 94, Mercedes took the humble W124 sedan and asked their rival to make it fast. Porsche said yes. They reworked the chassis. Stiffened the suspension. Swapped the drivetrain. Then they shoehorned in the 5.0-liter V8 from the SL. It pushed 322bhp.
The body got flared arches to match the power. Only 10,4279 units saw the light of day. A rare beast. In 2021, one sold for over £32k. Not much? Maybe. But compared to its sibling in history?
It lived in BMW’s shadow. Specifically, the M5. Unfairly, perhaps.
Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX
Small package. Big punch.
The Eclipse GSX arrived and immediately ate American muscle cars for breakfast. Four-wheel drive. Turbocharged four-cylinder. It wasn’t the base model. This was the range-topper. 195bhp felt like more. Sub-seven-second sprints to 60mph became the party trick.
It was a hit. An instant one.
But tastes changed. Mitsubishi pivoted away. Hybrids called. The Eclipse faded, leaving a vacuum that few ever filled quite the same way.
Porsche 968
You know the 911. You know the 928. The 968? You’ve likely forgotten it.
It shared the transverse front engine layout with the 944. That detail annoyed purists who wanted rear-engine glory. The 968 was the swan song of that layout. Yet it introduced VarioCam technology. 237bhp propelled it to 156mph.
Handling mattered more than straight-line speed here. It had it all—agility, luxury, speed.
It possessed every trait of a good Porsche. Just not in the place fans expected.
A missed connection, really.
Nissan Sunny GTI-R
Group A racing changed everything.
Nissan needed a weapon. The Mazda 323 was waiting to clobber the standard Sunny. So Nissan went drastic. The Sunny became the Pulsar in Japan. Or the Sunny GTI-R elsewhere.
A 2.0-liter turbo pumped out 220bhp. All-wheel drive delivered it. This wasn’t your average point-A-to-B commuter car anymore. Only 14,113 were made.
It found a cult following later. Early to mid-2000. But it slipped off the radar quickly. Why do we let that happen to cars with actual soul?
Dodge Neon R/T
R/T used to mean danger.
Back in the ’70s, the badge adorned Chargers and Challengers that breathed fire. The Neon tried to reclaim that spirit. Or so they thought.
It launched in 1998 with a 2.0-liter engine. Standard models got a 1.8. The R/T bumped horsepower to 150. An 18bhp gain over the norm. That was it.
Faster than a Golf GTi of that era. True. But sophisticated? Not really. The Ford Focus offered more maturity. The Neon R/T lacked it. It vanished. History swallowed it whole.
