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What do you love the look of despite it being impractical, uncomfortable, or high maintenance?
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this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2025
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Relatively old cars. I'm not talking about antiques. I just don't want a screen or an automatic transmission in my car. Right now I need to buy a car and frankly the only ones I want are a manual-transmission BMW or a late-90's pickup. Either one would be a rather impractical choice.
I used to own a 2008 BMW 328i with a manual transmission and sport suspension. It broke down, fixing it would have cost more than it was worth, but I think I should have just paid for the repairs because at least then I would have the same car I had been driving for 14 years rather than a car with the same problems of old age but no nostalgia value. (2018 was the last year than BMW made a manual 3-series, and also coincidentally the year that backup cameras and therefore computer screens became legally required in US cars.)
Edit: I accidentally wrote that I didn't want a manual transmission. Totally wrong!
Maybe I’m biased, but the late 90s were just about perfect for cars. If you could get your hands on something like a Ranger or S10, it would be extremely practical. Automatic transmission, air conditioning, great fuel economy, and extremely easy to maintain and repair. And if it’s made after ‘96, it would have a OBD2 port that any modern scanner could read codes from.
I actually owned a 1998 S10 before I got that BMW. It was the most basic trim, with a manual transmission, a regular cab, and hand-cranked windows. That truck was a lot of fun because of how poor the traction was. I could skid around corners at 25 mph and one time I did a burnout accidentally when trying to start moving up a steep hill after stopping for a crossing guard letting a bunch of little kids across the street. I would love to have an S10 again but mine had the brakes fail in 2011 (to be fair, I had bought it used with 200k miles on it) and I wasn't comfortable driving it after that. I can't imagine how many problems it would have after 14 more years.
It's too bad that there are exactly zero options for a truck like that these days. A truck would actually be very practical for me (I live alone so I don't need passenger space but I do move big stuff sometimes) but there are no fun models that aren't already old enough to drink.
You might be interested in the Slate, if that ever enters production. It’s electric but very basic, the size of a classic 1980s small pickup. No big fancy screens but they plan to offer a tablet mount for the dashboard in case you want to bring your own.
I definitely am interested in it, although I'm worried about buying a car from a new company's first production run. I haven't driven an electric car before but maybe it'll be fun.
Yeah, I’m not even confident most new electric brands I see will ever reach prototype stage, let alone become a successful business that can sustain operations. I really like the idea in this of a very basic vehicle, though, so I hope they succeed.
Both of those trucks get as good as their counterpart today or worse. Great mpg is a stretch if you compare to a Maverick - hybrid or not.
I'm not sure how common they are in the US. But check if you can get your hands on a fiat panda/punto/500. Anything but the very latest models have manual options with at most an lcd for the radio. And that's it. And outside of italy there shouldn't be all the problems that accompany a model of car being that common.
I don’t know how recent you’re considering recent, but the Fiat 500 only came to the US in December 2010 and was the first new Fiat sold in the US since the early 1980s. The last model year sold for the normal 500 was 2019, although the L and X are still sold according to Wikipedia (I think the X is sold rebadged as a Jeep, though).
Thing is. I have no clue how or if they reached america. I'm italian so i'm just going off of my experience with them. And how easily i found spare parts on the web for them. Not their availability in America.
While they were not sold in America, you could theoretically import a first gen model under the older than 25 years rule without too much trouble. Thanks to the internet getting parts wouldn't be too hard, though you'd want some form of backup transportation as you may have to wait a bit for them to arrive.
I would go even older, back to the 60s-70s. Some absolutely gorgeous cars, but the thought of actually driving one puts me off. Horribly inefficient, no modern safety features or comforts. It would be little more than an expensive driveway trophy, and that's just wasteful.
Man I have an old VW syncro from 1986, and a 93 Miata. I feel this pain so much. The only practical aspect is the fun, analog feel of driving them
You could even go into the 2000s for pickups without all the tech. I have an 07 Silverado Classic and its great as I get all the reliability, power, and better fuel economy out of the GM 5.3L while still having a truck that's super easy to work on. I also have a 76 K10 pickup but I'm preparing to sell it because it's essentially a bottomless pit of work and it'd still not be super reliable, powerful, or get okay mileage without a bunch of expensive mods. If you want something smaller the Ranger is still quite common, decent, and easy to obtain.