A new year has arrived, and with it the “celebration” of eight months with The Truth About Cars. As is custom, I’m looking back over the most popular pieces of the last year for easy clicks on a hangover day.
2006 Citroën C6
Certainly validating my well-honed Francophile eBay search is the forbidden-fruit Citroën C6 I looked at in May. Our friends at Jalopnik were lucky enough to drive this very car. I’m jealous.
2000 Porsche Boxster
Our next most popular Crapwagon was a cheap early Boxster. I argued that cheap Porsches are perhaps the most expensive vehicle one could ever buy.
2002 Lexus IS300
Next comes the beige. Quick followup on my BMW-fanatic friend and our trip to buy a Lexus: We got halfway into the five-hour drive and the seller called. He couldn’t find the title. My friend bought another BMW.
2000 BMW M Coupe
Fourth on our countdown, but number one in my heart, is a clownshoe. I’ve made no secret of my love for MGs — the BGT hatch especially — and the BMW M Coupe is the steroid-addled spiritual successor to the heavenly MG Sebring racers. Someday…
2003 Volkswagen Passat W8 4Motion
In July, the Passat W8 4Motion wagon was remarkably popular, or at least quite popular to hate. Oh, for the days when driving a Volkswagen was socially acceptable.
2014 Dodge Challenger SRT8 Off-Road
A really odd Crapwagon graced our virtual pages for Black Friday, and plenty of you took time out of rioting in malls to click this off-roadish Challenger SRT8. Them Duke boys best be gettin’ a vinyl wrap for this Chally.
1992 Volkswagen Corrado SLC
VW was all over TTAC this year. A couple weeks ago, this Corrado caught my eye, and apparently that of many of our beloved readers. It costs too much for what it is, really, but car lust isn’t always rational.
2000 BMW 540i
Just a week ago brought us our last car in this rundown: a poor-man’s M5. Looks like I was high on the final selling price as $5600 looks rather palatable.
I want to thank the Best & Brightest for welcoming me to TTAC. I’ve slowly grown to understand what this place is, and I hope my writing has grown to meet your expectations. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to reach out.
Now excuse me while I chug another coffee.
Chris
I have enjoyed your series , keeps up the good work and thanks to you I looked st used gas yesterday very temting
+1 This series by Chris is great. I love the mix of quirky niche collectible with insane affordable performance vehicles. It is not just entertaining but he keeps adding to my list of considerations for my next toy.
I think this series works because:
1) It’s older cars, which is what we like here.
2) It’s usually rarer stuff that’s kinda obscure, which is the other thing we like.
3) Half the time it’s German, so it gives us a chance to vent and rag on all the awful costs of old German cars.
This; it also offers up a different and less depressing mixture of older cars than Murilee’s Junkyard Finds; which I also enjoy. In both cases, I enjoy reading reader’s recollections and comments on each along with my remembrances of when they were new.
I enjoy this column as well; it is bookended nicely by Alex’s new car reviews on one side and Murilee’s Junkyard Finds on the other; with Ronnie’s articles to spice up the dish. Thank you all for your great work; and Happy New Year everyone; looking forward to another year of great articles.
And this series gives you nice, clear pictures of some of the dumbest cars ever built like the clownshoe and the Maurauder.
What exactly is wrong with the M Coupe? It looks amazing, drives great, and has a bit of practicality to boot. It isn’t designed for everyone… but that is part of the charm. We’ll all be driving homogenous vehicles soon enough. I rather enjoy some spice.
Best guess is that any old M-series is going to be a moneypit. Too much hoonage and missed maintenance. The M-coupe may be the best of the lot.