QOTD: Stunning Nineties Sports Car Design From Asia?
We return to our Nineties sports car design discussion this week. Previously, we covered America and Europe; this week we end on the continent which arguably provided the broadest variety of excellent car design in the decade — Asia.
The triumvirate of rules this week is the same as in weeks prior:
- All selections must be model years 1990 to 1999.
- Picks must be from a Japanese manufacturer, even if sourced from an import.
- Any body style is eligible as long as it’s sporty.
For my selection today, I’ll leave the more obvious answers alone and go for a design with which I have first-hand experience:
It’s the second-generation Lexus GS. The Grand Sedan debuted its sophomore album for the 1998 model year. Sleeker and more aggressive styling done in-house at Lexus replaced the Giugiaro-designed first generation. Like before, GS shared its platform with the Toyota Crown. Wheelbase was up, overall length was down, and inline-six and V8 engines were available as in the first generation. There was also a twin-turbo inline-six for Supra Sedan Action, but those were confined to the Japanese domestic market.
In 2001, a visual refresh front and rear meant tail lamp lenses which no longer faded to pink in the sun. Coinciding with the update, the GS 400 received the new 4.3-liter V8, becoming the 430.
That’s when I bought in — used, naturally. From 2010 through the fourth quarter of 2013, the GS was my daily driver in good weather (in bad weather I drove a ’97 Impreza L wagon). In silver over grey, it had standard everything and pixelated DVD-based navigation. It was an excellent car; I sold it to a man from Michigan at 109,000 miles. He bought it without driving it, loaded it on a trailer, and took it to the land of heavy salt (Ann Arbor).
The GS lived on in second-gen format through 2005, by which time it desperately needed replacement. But it still looks good today, and a clean one that’s been maintained will still catch the eye. These cars came in interesting colors too, like bronze and mist green. A design classic, it’s only let down by slightly chunky door handles.
Let’s hear your Asian selections for sporty Nineties designs.
[Images: Mazda, Lexus]
Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.
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1. Lexus SC300/400 or the Nissan 300ZX The Lexus still looks amazing, not at all dated (I think the Supra hasn't aged as well). The 300ZX is the most 90's looking car built...It is the decade on wheels yet to this day it isn't dated.
I think my favorite was the Subaru SVX. But the Toyota Sera was kinda intriguing.