Hooniverse Asks- What Was the Best Super Car of the Nineties?
The ’90s gave us Seinfeld, the Simpsons and some stunningly stupendous super cars. Yesterday you gave us your votes for the best super car of the aughts, and the past decade provided so many alternatives that it almost seemed everyone had a unique choice. The Clinton era gave us fewer cars worthy of a teen’s bedroom wall, but some of those were legendary.
McLaren’s first road car arrived in the nineties, and it stole the World’s fastest production car title from another remarkable machine, the Jaguar XJ-220. When introduced, both of those guided missiles were extremely expensive, and each was built in numbers that make Fabergé eggs seem common. Even more rare are the Cizeta Moroder V16T and Isdera Commendatore 112i, the total production numbers of both being fewer than the number of digits on the average enthusiast.
The nineties also gave us the Ferrari F50, Lamborghini Diablo, and the first aborted attempt at a Bugatti revival, the EB110. That’s some heady competitors, and represents cars that are transitioning from producing performance through traditional, brute force means, to cars that use electronics in both their design and execution, making them the automotive equivalents of the fly-by-wire Stealth Fighters. Using that nascent technology made 200 mph the new standard measure, and allowed even the wildest of super cars to be driven at less than full tap without embarrassment.
So, if these truly are super cars in transition, sort of the teenagers of the autobahn-burner set, which one has raced to capture your heart, and hence is the one you think is the best?
Image sources: [supercars.dk, englishsabla.com]
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Yep, McLaren F1. NO CONTEST!!
It has to be the McLaren F1.
I will put in an honorary vote for the handful of road-going CLK-GTR's, as well as the Ferrari F50, which is my personal favorite from that time period.
And 911 GT1s
<img src="http://www.ssip.net/upload/porsche-911-gt1-back-2_74.jpg"/>
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Schuppan_962CR.jpg" width = 500>
And the various road-going versions of the 962.
The '90s had plenty to choose from. You had the NSX, the original Zonda with a debut in 1999, as well as the ones mentioned above and a few lesser known monsters like the Spectre R42.
I'm going with the Lister Storm. Only 4 were built, and only 3 survive. Built in 1993 to homologate for Le Mans racing, the Storm used a bored and stroked Jaguar V12 that put out almost 550 hp and 580 torques. It could sprint to 60 in just a tick over 4 seconds, not too shabby for the early '90s. Oh, and it had 4 seats.
Excellent choice! The Lister was amazing for the time. The 90's were great for posters in my bedroom of super cars. And bikini-clad chicks.
The '90s also had Friends. Mmmmmm…Jenifer Aniston.
McLaren F1.
But a sentimental favourite is the Nissan R390 GT1. Twin-turbo V8, 641Hp, 0-60 in 3.3 seconds, 220mph.
<img src="http://www.supercarworld.com/images/fullpics/074.jpg" width=500>
A bit of a Gran Turismo favourite of mine, though the short-tail R390 is prettier.
I think it and the Yamaha you posted led me to visit Japan eleven times.
That's ten more times than me. I envy you. I could really use an Asahi in the New York Bar at the Park Hyatt right now.
Possibly the best decade for super cars? I sez indeeds.
My favorite: NSX
<img src="http://www.furyxx.0catch.com/images/nsx_equip_06.jpg">
Although Viper is way, way up there.
Definitely the best decade for supercars. I'm with you there.
I gotta go with the NSX, too. Not the most over-the-top outrageous, but that's part of its appeal. Had a customer at the bike shop who drove one regularly. He said it was as refined and easy to own as any other Honda car. Remarkable.
And what a pretty picture you found!
This is always gonna be it for me. And if you think this isn't a supercar, you haven't driven one.
<img src="http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/zr1-rear-fullsize11-8-02.jpg">
So did Seinfeld.
<img src="http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt237/jskitter/hooniverse/NSX.jpg" width="500">
With a hat tip to the McLaren F1, my nomination goes to the NSX. Even by the mid-nineties, its performance had dropped well below my traditional supercar benchmark, the 911 Turbo. But when introduced, the production car pecking order was F40, Lotus Carlton, everything else. And the NSX could run with everything else. Respected names like 964 or Esprit Turbo, Countach, forgotten Biturbo derived Maserati Shamals, anything from Aston Martin for a laugh; even the later twin-supercharged Vantage could be kept honest. More significantly, it frightened the Testarossa, and punished the 348 until it decided to be an upstanding F355.
The NSX was quickly eclipsed by the introduction of many high-end supercars, the EB110, Diablo, and XJ220, and left behind at the end of the decade by rapid development at every major performance house. But without the NSX, the McLaren F1 would be a markedly different car, as would every Ferrari. Because back when 300 horse and 170mph was a line in the sand, the Honda was the car to beat.
My 60-something neighbor, a lifelong wrench turner, has an early NSX. He bought it thinking it would be fun to "tinker with". He's been somewhat disappointed to learn that it's every bit as reliable as an Accord. That, and the passenger-car like driving dynamics were what made the NSX revolutionary in the realm of supercars and, as you point out, forever changed the nature of supercar competition.
NSX gets my vote too. If you had asked me back in that decade, I would likely have chosen something else. Looking back now at the NSX, that's the one for sure. I consider the design to be pretty timeless and, like Alff says, it is reliable. That should count for a lot of points when compared to some of the more temperamental offerings.
It also helps that it is not so outrageously expensive to pick one up these days when compared to many of the other cars I covet. Granted, no matter how many times you multiply the extra money I have to spend on one, you still come up with zero, but it is a less outrageous dream.
At first glance, the McLaren. Just to be different, I'll take the CLK-GTR, in ultra-rare AMG form.
My favourite Might-Have-Been of the 90s, the Yamaha OX99-11.
<img src="http://www.supercarstats.com/cars/yamaha/ox99-11/1.jpg" width=600>
Shame it was cancelled and only three prototypes were built.
However, my real answer is XJ220. I never really got a hard on for the F1. The Jag, though, was a 217mph rolling sculpture.
I wonder how many times we'll have to look at that Vette before people figure out not to link to NetCarShow.com
Sorry. The Aston shows up for me. I'll delete the post.
Of course, then the funny part is your scab of a delete posts sits there.
Not a big deal, either way.
The Vanquish didn't arrive until 2001, so it was a worthy answer yesterday. As a matter of fact, it was my answer to yesterday's Hooniverse Asks, although I didn't actually post a response.
Math > me.
How about a DB7?
<img src="http://pictures.autotrader.ie/imgser-ie/servlet/media?id=10398903&width=400&height=300&defaultImageUrl%20%3Ca%20href=">
Ford Indigo, with its 3L V12? I remember being overwhelmed by its awesomeness when I saw it in Motor Trend.
<img src="http://www.diseno-art.com/images/ford_indigo.jpg"> http://www.diseno-art.com/encyclopedia/concept_ca…
No? Ok.
Hard to beat the McLaren for completely changing our expectations of supercar performance. Most 90s supercars were evolutions of 80s supercars (which were really evolutions of 70s supercars). Either that, or thinly disguised race cars. The McLaren was truly unique and new.
Wow, you really hit on a few greats in the main body of the post, and I can't in good conscience give any answer other than the XJ220.
<img src="http://blog.cochesalaventa.com/wp-content/uploads/fotos/EBay-B_squeda-del-d_a-Jaguar-XJ220-en-LeMans-Blue.jpg">
http://blog.cochesalaventa.com/wp-content/uploads…
Are answers limited to the year of introduction? If so, the W8 will have to wait until tomorrow.
<img src="http://www.transportspecs.com/images/decades/vector_w8.jpg">
<a href="http://www.transportspecs.com/images/decades/vector_w8.jpg” target=”_blank”>http://www.transportspecs.com/images/decades/vector_w8.jpg
For myself and my impressionable friends of the same age, the mythical Vector AWX/3 was all I needed in my life. The few photos I had were dimly-lit, porn-shoot specials but they struck me with such drama and mystique that I was totally spellbound.
<img src="http://www.tuningfever.fr/pics-med-13307-247661-vector-awx-3-1992.jpg" width=600>
The trivial fact that the car was terrible / didn't exist was irrelevant.
I think someone's going to have a hard time beating the McLaren in any rational sense, but the Viper means more to me.
The Viper was a ridiculous, outlandish indulgence from the resurgent Chrysler Corp. It reminded us that America was still capable of swinging the big hammer. One could make a decent argument that today's Vette is as good as it is because of the Viper.
At the completely opposite end of the spectrum, I'm becoming more and more smitten with the NSX…but that's only because they're coming down to a price range where I could feasibly consider buying one. They've proven to be very un-supercar-like in their maintenance requirements, which is a big plus.
I liked the Viper. Partly because it was so brutishly American. Our national mantra of "there's no replacement for displacement" led Chrysler to build a car that could kill the driver and a passenger just because of a twitchy foot. Sure, they managed to finally put a suspension under it that could handle that immense torque and power, but even then it still would rather kill you than slow down.
I am trying to think of what was on my wall back then…..but all I keep thinking of is Victoria Silvstedt.
So, McLaren it is.
How about the Sard MC8-R? It was developed for endurance racing by Toyota's advanced R&D subsidiary and consisted of a stretched, reskinned 2nd generation MR2 shell with a twin-turbo Lexus V8 mounted longitudinally in back. Apparently only one street version was made, and its current whereabouts are unknown.
<img src="http://www.bespokeventures.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/mc8.jpg" width="640" height="480">
I think I hear a dog barking. Rrrruf
<img src="http://www.hyts.hu/autok/ruf/ctr2-1997/ruf_ctr2-1997_r3.jpg" width="700">
No question, Ferrari F355. Looks gorgeous, and sounds like a finely tuned chorus of hell hounds
[youtube _xRqzo5lVS0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xRqzo5lVS0 youtube]
Oops, I just made a mess in my pants.
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