The most successful 2000s retro car is the S197 mustang

Better than the cookie cutter car epidemic of the 2020's

Hmm ... Mustang, Challenger?? FJ Cruiser? New Beetle?? What about the one that is so retro it never stopped being retro: Wrangler.

I own a 2006 mustang, in my opinion it was the most well done "retro-futurist" design. It has so many callbacks to the original 60's 'stangs while still looking modern and not at all cartoony. The design really is timeless

You left out the retro Fiat 500, which, in Europe at least, has been a massive success.

Ford has nailed the retro future car. Multiple times with the mustang, the ford gt and the bronco

You forgot about the FJ Cruiser

S197 mustang, dodge challenger, Fj cruiser, Daihatsu Copen, toyota Origin...

I still like the Mustang from the mid-2000s, it was a beautiful return to its first decade of style. And tho' it hardly qualified as an affordable pony car, the Challenger was even truer to the original and its look was cool like the Gurney Cudas of the 1970 Trans-Am series. Still, the original era was prized for its affordability and simplicity and we need someone to give us that back.

I own a 2010 mustang which is still a gen 1 S197, and honestly the gen 1 S197s are the most beautiful mustangs ever imo. They absolutely nail that “classic from the future” vibe and styling that Ford and other manufactures were trying so hard to achieve.

I would say Chevy was playing catch-up with Ford and Dodge with the Camaro. There were many more retro inspired models you failed to mention such a shame too.

The thing that really let down the Prowler is that they used a solidified hot dog water as an engine instead of something that was loud, powerful, and interesting.

For Me, I gotta give credit to 3 major retro design cars of the 2000s: 3 - Jeep Wrangler: remains mostly unchanged since it's debut, like, i gotta give to the consistency. 2 - Volkswagen New Beetle/Mini Cooper: 2 classic 30s and 50s small sedan and compact cars that managed to capture the magic and visuals of the original designs and manage to sell extremely good. 1 - Ford Mustang: One of the greatest and most recognized retro styled cars of that era, you can't think or talk about such topic without touching on it. Honorable mentions: Fiat 500, Plymouth Prowler, Chrysler PT Cruiser, Chevy SSR (personal choice and Camaro, Ford Thunderbird, Chevy HHR, Ford GT, Dodge Challenger.

There was also the Chevrolet HHR, that one looked pretty good in hindsight

On the contrary, The Prowler was so successful it out lasted it's parent company Plymouth. And with the exception of it's first year. it beat company expectations each year, up until Mercedes killed it for their retro car....Crossfire.

This topic has been debated many times throughout the years, yet nobody mentions the Jeep? Park a 2024 Jeep Wrangler next to a 1941 CJ2A and you will recognize the resemblance immediately. It has looked similar literally every model from the Bantam prototype to CJ, YJ, TJ, JK, up to the JL. You can’t get much more ‘retro’ than 80+ years!

ford nailed the retro look with the 2005 - 2009 mustang, it is the perfect blend between classic and new. i have always loved the look of the car. i would put the camaro on there also but that was released in 2010.

I bought a brand new PT Cruiser from CarMax in 2004. Got it online from a spec listing and a couple of low-res photos. (Buying a car on the interweb? That's just crazy!) Drove 400 miles to the nearest CarMax lot at the time to pick it up. (also crazy lol) Great car. Had it until 2018.

I still really like the PT Cruiser for what it is. Can you imagine if a car company now were to come out with a cheap hatchback that looked like a little hot rod and have it be that successful? It’s sad that people hate them so much and get made fun of. Kind of a shame, the quality and reliability problems are rather overblown.

I miss the Subaru Baja. My favorite throw back, I know everyone hates them tho

PT cruiser was my first car, it actually was a pretty good car. They do tend to go through front tires fast, there's no room in the engine bay for maintenance (or airflow, they tend to run hot), they dont get great mileage unless you drive like a grandma, cooling system fragile like glass, electronics issues out the wazoo (like all chryslers i guess). Despite all that *if theyre maintained well* they can go a long time and are quite comfortable and drive well. Drivetrain was actually pretty solid (for an economy car), it was everything else that was skimped on that gave the cars a bad reputation.

Some of these cars, particularly the Chryslers had smaller than expected motors, people heard hot rod and they expected V8s, however they instead got V6s and 5 cylinders

There are a lot of things missing from this video. Retro designs turned out to be extremely successful for both European and Japanese car companies. It started in the 90's with premium versions of budget city cars like Nissan Micra based Figaro and sky rocketed in early 2000's. New London Taxi build as homage to original design from the 50's, multiple offroaders switching back to retro designs like FJ Cruiser or Jimny, Fiat 500, Barchetta, Jaguar and Rover cars from 90's and early 00's. Nissan 350Z can be arguably used as an example of retro design, as well as Aston Martin and Porsche returning to more classic lines for their flagship models. Even in US there was also mk5 Mustang, New Challenger, Hummer H1-H3 and Ford GT - undisputably retro cars and all huge successes, both sales and design-wise. And in Europe/Japan retro cars survived 2010's and are once again trendy in 20's. Just look at Honda E, SLS, Alpine A110, Fiat/Abarth 124, Renault's announced lineup of retro compact/city EV's. Niche world of boutique super/hypercars, coach build collectors and restomods have never been better with countless projects, trying to reimagine, modernise or pay hommage to iconic designs of the past.

Wow, and I thought the new beetle (1998) was the car that started the retro craze. Keep in mind the “concept one” debuted 1994. I was a teen/young adult during the 90’s-00’s and every single manufacturer had retro concepts in the 90’s. The new beetle was the first I can think of that was released. But what do I know!

2010 Camaro?? How about 2009 to present Dodge Challenger? Looks much more like the original Challenger than the modern Camaro looks like its ancestor, plus a better looking car just on its own merits.

So many other successful retro cars to speak of, and you pick the Camero? The Challenger or Mustang were more of a success than the Camero. Yet, I still feel you did a great job on this video, Bart. It’s just old-school debate between car-guys. No offense intended.

I remember as a kid when the Prowler was announced and i as a kid loved it. My family which mainly built pre-war hotrods hated its guts and existence and gave me so much hell for it. Definitely shoulda been V8/5spd tho

We are still living it... Apparently the late 60s early 70s.. Camaro, Mustang, Challenger and Bronco.. Nice looking... But try to imagine how Camaro Mustang would look without it's devotion to Vintage Styling...

With the boom of the Cybertruck, Hyundai 74 N, Hyundai Grandeur restomod, Mazda Icon Concept with its popup lights, and Lamborghini Countach, I can only hope the industry will give another crack at nostalgic retro-futurist cars I think the latter could really make it now

“S10 that couldn’t make a pass on the highway if the ac was on” hits hard lmao my first truck was a 94 s10 with the 2.2 and it was scary merging, especially when I had the audacity to hitch a trailer.

Have an 02 pt cruiser, love it. I personally like the look of the pt cruiser even though most don't. It has been shockingly reliable only needing new shifter bushings since new. Had the redone Mini Cooper as well, super fun car but was prone to carbon build up. The Chevy HHR was conceived as one of these retro designs, but all the ones I encounter were absolute trash.

Wait! The Plymouth Prowler inspired, PT Cruiser, Camaro, Challenger & New Charger EV, Chevy SSR, Ford Thunderbird, and the SN197 Mustang. It also was the catalyst for Fords Aluminum F150 and Dodge SRT division. And ran 14 flat in the quarter and 0-60 5.2 sec with a V6.

Have really enjoyed your content since the fledgling beginning of the bike channel. Congrats on the growth of the first channel, I'm sure this one will follow. It's good work, well delivered.

While the Chevy SSR was supposed to be like a retro 50s truck, it sorta gave me vibes of it being like a modern-day el camino yeah ik that sounds weird but yeah to me the SSR was like a 50s pickup truck mixed with a el camimo combined making what is the SSR. Tho the modern day el camino is really the holden ute

The Retro Craze of the 00s may not have yielded the best results, but the spirit was there. Thankfully, car designers learned that instead of making a new car with retro features and aesthetics, they should make retro cars with new features, materials, and creature comforts.

I have a 2006 R50 mini and my friends and family have said that the mini doesn't from the exterior doesn't look like a 23 year old design and with a more modern interior and mechanical components could be sold as a new car.

Theres also nissans early bunch with the pike cars. The weird citroen looking toyota, the fiat 500, rover 75, early 200s jaguar s type. The 911. Thr E wrangler sorta

How did you forget about the 2005 Mustang? Its retro design is what ruined the much later Camaro, and inspired Dodge to make their huge Challenger boat.

Ford didn't wait until the Bronco to learn the lesson, they immediately came back swinging with the GT and 5th gen Mustang that both were retro inspired. The Camaro was late to the retro muscle scene going into production in '10, whereas Ford dropped the Mustang in '05 and Dodge with the Challenger in '08.

PT Cruiser my beloved

You forgot the 2005 Ford Mustang and GT.

Um, the secret to the Camero's success was Michael Bay's Transformers. Megan Fox should have been paid commission for every car sale after that movie released.

There also was the dodge challenger

It’s strange to hear how rare some of these cars are. Even today, I see a few SSR running around. And they’re not the same ones either, as they’re different colors. The thunderbird I was just acknowledging how many I saw this week alone! I mean, sure, three of them were that iconic blue, so it might’ve been the same car, but each spotting was in a different town and during a different part of the day. PT Cruisers I still see from time to time, they just don’t stick out as much since they’re typically in some boring color. Not the bright vivid colors I used to see them in 20 years ago. Same for the HHR, which you failed to mention. They were pretty practical. And another one you failed to mention, which basically brought the Camaro out of retirement, the 2005 Mustang. I see tons of those all the time, maybe not as often as the Camaro, but that’s just because I really can’t tell a difference between years, other than different tail lights. I don’t think the charger or chalky would’ve been brought back had it not been for the 2005 mustang. 16 hour edit: lol, today I saw my fourth retrobird this week, again, different town, different day, but 3rd color. Also saw an HHR today as well, with moon wheels and pinstripping.

Never understood the hate towards the 2000s T-Bird. People who shit on it clearly never played Ford Racing 2/3 as a kid. It might have been overpriced and offered a bad value compared to rivals, but it's sure an awesome looking car.

One way I can see retro cars working is angling them as factory retro mods kinda like what Olympian motors is trying to do with their 01. It simply genuinely looks like it came from the 50s and it just meets modern comfort and efficiently standards.

The "new beetle" and the S197 Mustang are both succesful and aesthetically pleasing. Not to mention relatively reliable.

The retro inspired cars that are near unanimously considered "ugly" are the prettiest modern cars in my opinion. PT Cruiser always makes me smile to look at. If it wasn't notorious for being a gas guzzler and a car disguised as a truck, I would've loved to own one.

You can't forget the Transformers movie really hyping up the Camaro. Bumblebee literally went from the old body style Camaro to the new one in the movie. Looking back on it, it was insane marketing. My dad wanted a new Camaro because of the movie, it literally showed him "this is the new Camaro, you remember the old one, here's the new one"

Two days ago, I watched a video where a guy was at a Ford dealership and he said that the Broncos had been sitting on the lot for almost an entire year. He said no one's buying them because they're too expensive.

In a parallel universe, retro designed cars were hugely successful and it spawned all the top makers to come out with crazy cars that permeated the market well into the 2020s until people got tired of it. I’d like to visit that universe just to see what cars came out.

I had an 09 S197 Mustangs up until very recently, and I loved it. It looked so good even in 2023, and it looked way better with a few exterior mods like aftermarket Tail lights, Head lights, meaner and pointed side mirrors, lowering it and adding some wheels. I loved that car so much, My Uncle still has his and was the inspiration for me to get mine. Sadly unlike him, I wasnt able to hold on to it, my cars engine decided to exit stage left by burning through its oil in less than 3000 miles. I also have to admit that I like the Retro designs. Compared to what occupies lots now for the new car selection, they have personality.

Wife and I have owned quite a few Mini Coopers and Beetles. We just love them allot.

Chrysler 300C was a good example of a subtly retro-themed car. I always loved that and it still looks great even today

My mom owned a pt cruiser back in the day. It was honestly such a cool car. I thought it was ugly but I was also kind of excited when my mom brought it home cause I was always super curious about them. We had it for a while and it was super spacious with a lot of small quirky features.

Cool video! Also don't forget The Camaro had a major boost in marketing because of the Transformers franchise. I knew multiple people that bought that car in the "bumble bee" yellow and nicknamed it the same.

The SSR is the biggest failure in this segment. Agreed on the ugly. My family went to the chevy dealer in 06. I remember looking at that thing thinking whaaat? We left with an impala. It was a great car.

The s197 Mustang was a retro-revolution when it dropped But the 2009 Dodge Challenger, reset the entire retro throwback timeline💯

The new Chevelle looks dope my guy. There's also a whole class of retro muscle that did survive.

32 mins 2 coments and 128 views makes this vid criminaly Underated

S197 Mustangs, the new Challengers, 5th and 6th gen Camaros, the new Minis, PT Cruisers, and New Beetles were all very successful, and have sold tons of cars. You can't really say most "retro" design vehicles were failures... massive numbers of them did sell. Prowlers and other such vehicles don't have to sell big numbers to fulfill their purpose... they get people talking about the brand and into the dealers, where they may not have walked out with a Prowler, but with something a little more practical. It's called a halo effect. Yeah, I have one of these retro vehicles... the one I listed first in this post. Gorgeous car, and the Coyote engine is phenomenal.

The 4th Generation Suzuki Jimny is the true current retro car that stands on its own. It's body style Is very reminiscent of the 2nd Generation (also known as the Samurai in some markets), but with subtle design signatures that throw back to the 1st Gen and the 3rd Gen as well. Not only that, but unlike a lot of modern retro vehicles, it maintains the soul of the 2nd Gen. The Bronco, Toyota FJ Cruiser and new FJ and are styled after the Bronco and LandCruiser FJ40, but the 4th Gen Jimny embodies all the benefits and flaws of the 2nd Gen that make it what it is; Easy for a novice to maintain, simple to modify and upgrade, but with the reliability, instability and off-road performance of front and rear live axles. It even features 7" headlamps which are physically compatible (and on the cheaper models, electrically compatible with) are with classic 7" Sealed beams headlamps.

18:38 lol idk if you were joking or not, but that's not a revival of the 1970 chevelle. It's just a company based in Florida, I think? That converts camaros into firebirds and now will make a chevelle conversion from the camaro

The 5th gen camaro is timeless.

The retro market of the 2000s was made to appeal to the Baby Boomer market and their sense of nostalgia, especially since these may be their last cars.

Lc70 in Australia is something I wish we could get in the US. A literal classic Toyota made using the same factories and tooling, except with modern interior and dash.

Honestly I hated SSRs when they released back then but now I dig em. There’s a very clean SSR in my town, black. Dude has a nice exhaust system on it. Not too loud, just a nice tone. And the rest is stock. Perfect

Epidemic implies that retro future cars are undesirable. But when done well, I love em.

The Mini Hatch & Fiat 500 were brilliant examples. Even Renault has came back to retro modern designs with the new Renault 5, Renault 4, & Renault Twingo models

I recently met a man with a Thunderbird. He truly loved it, but admitted it wasn't much more than it's styling. I could tell he wished it was more.

i know its been said a million times in the comments but i cant believe a video about mid 2000's retro car design didnt mention the s197 mustang

Just for the narrators knowledge - The Seville of the 80's with the scrunched up rear end was called a "bustle back".

To me, the retro styled Jaguar XK8 is one of the best looking cars of all time.

It started in the mid 90's. The 1994 Mustang was the first of the "retro" styled vehicles. Also the 1994 Dodge ram was a "throwback" inspired design.

It takes f-ing 5 minutes before the real topic begins!

I definitely expected to see the Challenger in this video. It was reintroduced in the '00s as a retro muscle car, and then ran for _fifteen years_ without any major changes in the design. I'd consider that a _highly_ successful retro-styled car.

I can’t believe the 2005-2009 mustang wasn’t in this video. It probably sold better than the rest of these cars combined. Come on.

Fun fact: The PT cruiser was my first car when I was 18. Of course it was a hand-me-down from the parents because I didn't have any choice. Also it was the first car I accidently rolled over on the highway causing it to flip at least 6 times with me in it, and I had to crawl out of it while being upside down. The roof supports are way sturdier then they appear. It was basically all a roll cage. I always thought the car was ugly as sin, and I still do, but I didn't know it was also sporting that. So good job, Chrysler. A shame you couldn't survive as a company the following year.

The reason people don't like the PT is the rust, and mechanics, it's because that battery location.

My mom bought a Thunderbird brand new in 2002. Ford integrated the radio antenna into the windshield rather than the standard freestanding one you’d see at the time. I think Ford ended up putting two new windshield/antenna assemblies on the car before it worked consistently.

Was there at GM when the powers to be decided to abandon fleet sales for 'Niche' vehicles. The silence in the auditorium was deafening.

The Nissan Figaro is always forgotten. 😮‍💨

I think it's important to mention the 2005-14 Mustang family and the 2008-23 Dodge Challenger. Those are massively successful, HEAVILY retro styled vehicles. Also on a more minor note, the second generation Dodge Ram and Dakota are heavioy inspired by the pickup trucks of the 1950s.

There was also the Chevrolet HHR, 2005-2009 Ford Mustang, 2005-2006 Ford GT, 2008-2023 Dodge Challenger, 2011-2019 Fiat 500, 1997-2010 VW New Beetle, and 2012-2019 VW Beetle.

At least they tried looking different and paid homage to their previous iconic iterations... seriously grew up with these awesome cars in games and movies and on the roads. Id even go far as to say i miss seeing PT cruisers around!

I agree with most of what you stated, but I definitely do NOT consider the Thunderbird ugly! I bought one in 2004 and still have it. One of the major hindrances to success was the fact that dealers marked these up to such a huge degree. In some locations, the markup was almost equal to the MSRP! As much as I wanted to be an original owner of a 2 seat Thunderbird, I refused to pay that kind of money. I finally did find one at a reasonable price (actually below sticker) and bought it. I think it was marketed correctly, pretty much matching the original concept, i.e., not a hot rod, but personal luxury. As you stated, however, they rushed it to market to make use of their recent acquisition of Jaguar. As much as I hate to admit it, this has been one of the least reliable and most expensive to maintain vehicles I have ever owned. Jaguar was always known for incredible style, but certainly not robust vehicles. The T-Bird was pretty much a Jaguar disguised as a Ford. Actually the T-Bird, Lincoln LS and Jaguar (S?) Type were pretty much the same car. My Thunderbird has had so many issues that I now refer to it as Christine. I have owned previous Thunderbirds, that although less expensive, were of much better quality. In fact, I have a 1994 Thunderbird with the 4.6L V-8 that I bought new and still use, with over 500K miles on the clock. If they had used the "modular" V-8 in the retro Thunderbird and exercised some control over greedy dealers, the outcome of the retro Thunderbird project would have been far better, in my opinion. Again, I find it very attractive and it does garner quite a bit of attention, but the mechanicals are problematic.

You forgot the HHR. I was selling cars at a Chevy dealership and the sales point they gave us if we had a person bringing up the PT cruiser is "unlike the PT, the HHR is based on an actual classic car. The 49 suburban scaled down" I own one and kinda like it, as a great fuel efficient vehicle and other then a pain in the ass to get to them, its cheap to fix when needed.

I think the muscle cars like Camero, mustang and Challenger/ Chargers really captures the modern retro design that taken them so far since the late 2000s the others are definitely Mini, Beetles, G wagon, the new fairlady Z. These designs are going away alongside the engine culture behind it for electrics unfortunately. We might never capture that feeling anymore.

Ironically, the early 2000’s Mini has held up, but the 2020’s versions have the cartoonish look.

I would love it if Chevy did a new take on the El Camino.

They matched the slim and skinny suits of the 1960s fashion perfectly for example the 2005 mustang.

Leaving out the 2005 Mustang GT is criminal

One man’s opinion. Some of the most creative designs of the past 25 years. In a world of Mid Size SUVs. Be a Pt Cruiser

My parents (boomers) bought into this retro crazy a lot. They had a red (interior/exterior) PT Cruiser as well as two VW New Beetles, TDI, one auto, one manual. The PT Cruiser was actually pretty good but the four speed auto was not great for fuel economy. It was a decent, practical car though. The VWs were also pretty good cars. The head room in those was insane as well as the dashboard which my dad called " the desk" because it was massive and flat. Despite, the retro rehashing I think they were both pretty good cars. I used to think the Chevy SSR was ugly and undesirable but now I think they are actually pretty cool, especially the manual one.

Watched a Thunderbird SC go against a modded wrx back then, though the bird made a great show of it spinning the hell out of the tires the wrx was in another state before it moved.

I’d argue the Z8 is a 100% retro homage, rather then just retro touches on an otherwise modern car. When placed side by side with a 507, they are almost identical in both proportions and styling.

I think tailfins deserve a comeback. If Ford and GM revive the tailfins on a new Thunderbird and Cadillac I think the car market would go freaking insane for them. Imagine an affordable but true 50's/60's style car being made today with tailfins, round headlights, pastel colors, color matched interiors and lots of chrome... I think its time for a 50's and 60's revival. Were still in the space age, in fact were seeing more space tech booming today than we did in the 60s so its time for the car market to mimic that.

You should have talked about the Ford Mustang, and the Jeep. The retro-styled Mustang is quite a success. The jeep has retained most of its retro-styled appearance while remaining on par with today's technology.

Definitely get those homers car of the future with a lot of these.

My wife and I had a PT Cruiser back around 2001. Overall at the time it was a great car. It was a bit under-powered, but it was pretty versatile; small crossover SUVs had not yet taken over, so the idea of something that sat up higher without being a big truck was still pretty novel. However, I fear that the retro-craze is devolving into design stagnation. Car designs today look largely the same as they did twenty years ago, except for the front ends. I mourn the loss of sports coupes, as the pendulum has swung way too far in favor of taller vehicles. The absurd acceleration and performance of electric cars should have ushered in a new golden era of innovative performance cars, but instead enthusiasts are complaining about losing engine noise, and every new EV seems to be yet another SUV, or at best maybe a sports sedan. The retro craze is itself over 20 years old, and it is time to do something new for a change.