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10 damn near perfect cars!
There are some 1 billion cars on the planet, and when you get right down to it, they’re all essentially the same — a box on wheels propelled, more often than not, by an internal combustion engine. Get past the marketing and one’s as good as another.
There are a couple of sound designs that would last for ages. No car is perfect, but here are 10 that are damn close.
Ferrari 250 GTO, 1962-1964
It’s a perfect mix of performance, handling and styling. The best sports car ever. Period.
Volkswagen Type 1, aka Beetle, 1938-2002
Simplicity and reliability defined — it’s essentially unchanged from when the first one rolled off an assembly line in Germany 1938 until the last one rolled off an assembly line in Mexico in 2002. It was more than a car. It was an icon, and VW sold 21.5 million of them.
Runner up: Toyota Corolla. Yes, Toyota has sold more than 35 million of them, making it the most successful car ever. But the Bug is cooler.
Jeep CJ series, 1944-1986
From the beaches of Normandy to the rocks of Rubicon, is there anywhere the venerable Jeep can’t go? It isn’t perfect, but it doesn’t have to be.
Runner up: Toyota FJ. A CJ by another name. Yes, it’s a bigger seller and you’ll find them all over the world. But the CJ was first.
Mercedes-Benz W114/W115 and W123 series, 1968-1985
Mercedes built the 200 and 300 models of this era about five times stronger than necessary. They were luxurious enough to carry presidents, kings and dictators yet tough enough for taxi duty in Mogadishu. Two doors, four doors, wagon, name your flavor and fuel — gas or diesel. The diesels seem particularly indestructible, and they get bonus points for being easily converted to veggie oil.
Runner up: Volvo 2/ 7/ 9 series. The Volvo is to gasoline cars as Mercedes is to diesel cars.
Toyota Hilux / pickup, 1968-present
The Hilux, known as the Tacoma here in the States 1995, might be the most recognizable vehicle in the world. You’ll find them everywhere, doing everything and taking monumental levels of abuse. If the guys at Top Gear can’t kill one, nothing can.
Runner-up: Ford F-Series. Another one we expect to take heat for. Ford pretty much invented the pickup in 1925 and the F150 has been the best-selling truck in America since the Carter Administration. But the Hilux is known and driven the world over.
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution series, 1992-present
Ah, the Evo. Mitsubishi’s pared-down flyweight is a rough and nasty little beast that doesn’t necessarily want to be your friend. It started life as an old-school homologation special offered to the masses so Mitsubishi could go racing. One gearhead we know put it best when he said of the earlier generations, “It feels both slapped together and slightly unhinged, as if constantly surprised by the notion that it’s a real car.”
Runner up: Nissan Skyline GT-R series. A tough call, but we gave the Evo the nod. We expect serious flames for this. We’ve got our Nomex on
Honda Accord, 1975-present
It’s got all the personality of a doorknob, but it will run practically forever with only a passing thought of maintenance. It is bland but consistent, like Starbucks coffee. It is ultimate expression of the automobile as an appliance.
Runner up: Toyota Camry. The Camry is Toyota’s Accord. Or maybe the Accord is Honda’s Camry. Whatever.
Ford Mustang, 1964-present
Ford’s answer to the small, nimble, sexy cars so popular in Europe during the ’50s created the pony car craze in America. The original was so beautifully styled that we can forgive Ford for the Mustang II. Then, as now, the car came in a flavor for everyone, be it a convertible with a small six-cylinder or a fastback with a tarmac-tearing V8. Bonus points for turning Carroll Shelby loose to give us the GT350 and GT500.
Runner up: BMW 2002. The car that pretty much created the sports sedan genre and cemented BMW’s reputation for sporty saloons.
General Motors EV1, 1996-1999, and Toyota RAV4 EV, 1997-2003 (tie)
This one was tough, and in the end we couldn’t settle on one or the other so we’re calling it a dead heat. The EV1 was a work of art, a technological marvel that remains a benchmark for EVs. The RAV4 was equally impressive and had the added benefit of four doors and decent cargo space. Everyone who drove these cars raved about them, and the fact there are still a a few hundred RAV4 EVs on the road speaks to their engineering and quality. We’ll leave the debate over the death of these cars to you.