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1990s Cars Drivers Are Desperate To Forget

Cameron Eittreim June 8, 2021

6: Pontiac Grand Am

In the mid-’90s, the Grand Am was a bit of an oddball, incorporating a shrunken design and a lack of power. The car didn’t seem much bigger than a Chevy Cavalier at the time, yet it was was competing with the Camry. The usual Pontiac treatments were evident on this car from the oversized body cladding to the boy racer image.

The Grand Am from this generation sold quite well and thus there are a lot of them still on the road. But drivers are tired of seeing them and it’s time for this generation of the Grand Am to say bye. Pontiac has since died off and the Grand Am is an example of what to do wrong with a storied car brand.

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5: Land Rover Discovery II

In the 1990s, Land Rover was at an impasse and had to decide if it would compete with the rising SUV tide or keep the same design. The company decided to compete with the other SUVs on the market at the time, and thus the Discovery II was rushed to market. The problem was that this SUV was notoriously unreliable and suffered from a ton of expensive fixes and recalls.

Land Rover buyers quickly figured this out and by the turn of the millennium, the Discovery II was flooding used car lots. There is still an enthusiast community behind it, but for the most part, it is is a no-go. Its unreliable design and expensive repairs just make this Land Rover a pain to live with. If you enjoy off-roading, other models are much more reliable and easier to work on than the Discovery II.

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4: Honda Passport

The Passport has the unique distinction of being one of the few Honda models that isn’t a Honda model. Honda needed an SUV to compete in the boom period during the ’90s. The company turned to Isuzu to rebadge the Rodeo SUV instead. The Rodeo wasn’t a bad SUV, but it wasn’t a Honda and buyers weren’t convinced.

One of the main reasons drivers buy a Honda is for the reliability, and the Passport just didn’t cut the mustard. Still, Honda sold the Passport for quite some time with minimal changes. Although the final generation of the SUV seemed to become more refined, enthusiasts are ready to see this thing vacate the road once and for all.

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3: Ford Thunderbird LX

The ’90s Thunderbird was just lost as the design was dated and the fanbase had left. The car had gone from being unique to just another relic of a bygone era. Ford stopped innovating with this car and SUVs had taken over. So, it was time to pull the plug on the Thunderbird. Ford even replaced the car in the NASCAR circuit with the Taurus after many successful years.

The final year for the Thunderbird was 1996 and the car was about as unimpressive as you could get. The V8 was cut from the lineup and all you got to choose from was a standard V6 engine. Not what most Thunderbird enthusiasts were looking for and the car died a quiet and obscure death.

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2: Ford Mustang

The 1990s Ford Mustangs were some of the worst, both in terms of quality and performance.
GM was outpacing the Mustang 3-to-1 with the Camaro, and part of this was due to the Camaro’s standard Corvette motor. Not only was the Mustang from this era underpowered but it was also ugly to boot. True, you had the Cobra, but how many ordinary drivers were going to get one of those?

Ford had to improvise the Mustang was redesigned later in the decade, but the first couple of years was rough. The car just couldn’t compete with what the market had to offer, and Ford knew it. We’re not sure what the company was thinking with this generation of the Mustang but it was the wrong move.

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1: Ford Probe

The funny thing about the Probe was that it was supposed to be a replacement for the Ford Mustang. But after doing market research on the car, Ford could see that buyers weren’t going for it and it was sold alongside the Mustang. We’re not sure what Ford was thinking with the naming of this car but that’s one reason people want to forget it. On top of that, the bland styling just didn’t stand out like you’d expect a sports car to.

The Probe was unimaginative and the car didn’t bring anything particularly unique to the table. There was a 24V version of the car that got high marks in the performance community, but this car was discontinued shortly after the release. From then on, the Probe trudged on as the also-ran partner of the Mustang until being discontinued.

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1990s Cars Drivers Are Desperate To Forget

6: Pontiac Grand Am

5: Land Rover Discovery II

4: Honda Passport

3: Ford Thunderbird LX

2: Ford Mustang

1: Ford Probe

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