Beautiful car

Not that you were asking, but you know what car I always thought was beautifully balanced and very aesthetically pleasing? A bit of an unsung hero, really… The Toyota MR2 of the mid- to late-1990s:

I have no idea how they performed, but I see them on the street once in a while, and I am continually struck by how good they look.

What (non-super car) would you nominate?

A friend had an import Turbo one of those Saxonrider, had fiddled with it rather a lot 330bhp reliably & sorted brakes and suspension too, they’re pretty quick.

True story – I very nearly crashed a colleagues MR2 (of that generation) within 5 minutes of being allowed to drive it. Greasy car park, young idiot with no concept of how to drive a RWD mid engined car. I’ve never liked them since

Hot hatch!

Emphatically “non super” but as far as modern cars go I always thought the second generation Saab 9-3 looked spot on. No matter what angle you looked at it from it was just “right”. Maybe not the most distinctive motor out there, maybe all it’s proportions and features were so, erm, just so that it ended up lacking that bit of character but it worked for me (IANAD). *EDIT* Ended up a bit more nose heavy in the 2008(?) facelift, still a good looking motor but lost some of that perfect sense of proportion.

Also an MR2:

I’ve always loved these

No love for the original one?

What (non-super car) would you nominate?

Although the above are indeed nice to look at…

What (non-super car) would you nominate?

Not hard really, is it?

Edit – 22 seconds too late!

Does this count as a supercar? Always blown away by how cool they still look on the rare ocassions I see one.

Mine aren’t super cars.

They’re 60 years too old to fall into that category and not very fast 🙂

I very nearly bought one of those in about 2000, a quite old import one, for about £2k.

My picks of ‘normal but nice’ cars:

risible in France because it’s called the Toyota Merde

Always wanted one of these when was a teenager!

I loved my MK2 MR2, they still are a great looking car IMHO.

There’s a guy around the corner from me has an 8 series, bought brand new as a Sunday car, with IIRC 25k on it. It is immaculate and still looks fantastic.

I can’t say Alfa Romeo Giulia GT as I am biased having owned three,

So it has to be:

Fiat Arbarth 1000 coupe

https://i.wheelsage.org/pictures/a/abarth/fiat/1000_gt_bialbero/fiat_abarth_1000_gt_bialbero_18.jpg

(Sorry image linky no work on my tablet for some reason)

Drove a Alfa Spider in Italy, brilliant fun (well except the throttle sticking open as I approached a zebra crossing with people on it 😯 )

I always preferred the MK1 MR2. Smaller.

From jimw’s post, above:

I had an Mk2 MR2, it was shite, but that was the fault of the previous owners, not the car – fundamentally they’re fantastic.

Really underrated in the UK, for years they were considered “hairdressers cars” like the MX-5, real men drove Hot Hatches, but really they’re much better as long as you don’t need to carry much.

Like a hot hatch they’re cheap to buy, £2k used to get you an amazing condition UK car, like most hot hatches of the era they’ve got a 2.0 16v engine so no more thirsty, the later ones had 176bhp from memory and are pretty quick, but when it comes to driving they’re light years ahead, and I don’t mean throwing it around roundabouts at 90 like some dickhead – but the seating position, the feel of it, etc, no fwd family hatchback can compete with that, yes they can do some clever things with them now to make them very fast etc, but you can’t get the same feeling as a rwd mid-engined little car.

Like I said at the start of my rose tinted opus, I had one for a very short time, it had been badly abused, crashed badly repaired and in the end I cut my losses and sold it “spares or repairs” nowadays I don’t have the room for one and if I did it wouldn’t have the room I need in it, but maybe when the kids are a bit older I buy one again, it’s not like dropping £20k on some leaky old classic, it’s cheap fun.

MK3’s are good too, if even less practical.

I had an import Turbo version (GTS model) that had been fettled with and had over 300 BHP it was extremely fast and fun but had lowered go-kart suspension, rattled like there was no tomorrow and was lethal in the wet.

Always had a soft spot for a E30 325i convertible for some reason. And I really don’t like convertibles as a rule, but I’d still like one of these now:

Thanks saxonrider

I had a Mk2 MR2 Turbo for 3 years and loved it!

Reasonably quick, and as mentioned above the feeling of driving a nicely balanced mid-engined car is always a bit special compared to even the fastest of hot hatches.

Add in Japanese reliability, the ability to carry 2 bikes on the roof and pop up headlights and it really was a great little car.

Still miss it.

Mini Marcos

That’s not a scale model, it’s a sports car based on a fiberglass monocoque and mini subframes.

In keeping with the Toyota theme.. I owned one of these, my second company car. Put 45k on it in the first year and had to go back to the MD and tell him why I’d stuck 20k of that as private mileage.. He then offered me his Supra but that was pig ugly so I opted for another Celica GT4.. In white again… It was damn quick BTW

What’s that white car you posted a pic of Molgrips? I like it and I have no idea what it is (which makes it even cooler).

I always thought the Peugeot 306 GTI-6 looked very pretty.

No stupid embellishments, ridiculous spoilers or over the top styling cues – it was just the right shape to start with.

What’s that white car you posted a pic of Molgrips?

I’m going to guess that he used a picture of a recent Audi A5 coupe.

A5 coupe and jag of some kind XF I think

Yep.

Although Google didn’t throw up pics of A5s as nice as I’d been seeing in real life, so either it’s car photographers being weird or they’ve changed it recently.

Classic lines and gorgeous colour. Loving the discrete wheels and subdued sports car looks too.

I have a soft spot for a couple of Jap classics…
The Celica – Slightly modded, but maybe not as much as this.

240z Rotson/RatRod/Roadkill look

These two are on my short list along with Mk1 Escort Estate and a Volvo Amazon. My friends will hate me when I call in my favours. 😆

*narrows eyes* – Can’t tell if sarcastic or not – regarding the yellow estate that is…

Yep.

Although Google didn’t throw up pics of A5s as nice as I’d been seeing in real life, so either it’s car photographers being weird or they’ve changed it recently.

D’oh! I really should’ve guessed it was an Audi this being STW 😉

I’m not a fan of A5’s, and think the A7 is a proper dogs dinner..

A controversial choice maybe, but I like it.

…. a modern interpretation of a retro classic. Unmistkable for anything else unlike many nondescript euro / jap cars.