I still like the Mazda Protege5 and the first gen Ford Focus. Although they were late 90's designs, they got better in the early 00's - both of them got a facelift in 2001. Cars back then had smaller grilles and most of them didn't feature stretched headlights. Am I the only one who liked cars back then more?
http://files.conceptcarz.com/img/Ford/ford_focus_rs_04.jpg

What's to miss?  The cars from the early 2000s don't look too different from the cars of today ???

To me all cars made after 2000 have a similar look, maybe the ones from the past 5 years are a bit more extreme in that look but I think all 00s cars and even some mid/late 90s cars look pretty contemporary.

I really don't. Today's cars look better tbh.

With that said, I'm sure the technology in early 00s cars was a lot less sophisticated than the cars of the early 10s.

Early 2000's cars looked MUCH different than today. It's a major and noticeable difference. Heck even cars from the mid-00's looked different than today. Car's today are much more boxy and big and back in the early 2000's they were slim and sleek. I miss cars from then as well, they definitely had a much more simple yet unique look while most cars look the same on the road today.

This is a car from the early 00's

http://www.1stautos.info/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/2001-Car-Picture-BMW-740iL.jpg

This is a car from today

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cm/popularmechanics/images/WE/cars-worth-waiting-for-01-0512-lgn.jpg

Am I the only one who liked cars back then more?
http://files.conceptcarz.com/img/Ford/ford_focus_rs_04.jpg

Now that is one HOT and attractive car!  8)

Early 2000's cars looked MUCH different than today. It's a major and noticeable difference. Heck even cars from the mid-00's looked different than today. Car's today are much more boxy and big and back in the early 2000's they were slim and sleek. I miss cars from then as well, they definitely had a much more simple yet unique look while most cars look the same on the road today.

This is a car from the early 00's

http://www.1stautos.info/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/2001-Car-Picture-BMW-740iL.jpg

This is a car from today

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cm/popularmechanics/images/WE/cars-worth-waiting-for-01-0512-lgn.jpg


Sure, it's easy to make that point when you take the best-looking car you can find from the early 2000's and compare it to the ugliest car you can find from today.

I could just as easily make that point the other way around:

This is a car from the early 2000s:

http://files.conceptcarz.com/img/Pontiac/pontiac-Aztek_2004_manu-hr-01-1024.jpg


This is a car from today

http://media.caranddriver.com/images/11q4/424744/2012-bmw-640i-coupe-photo-426816-s-1280x782.jpg


Perhaps it would have been more fair to compare the two BMW's.

The transition to round as opposed to boxy wasn't an overnight thing, it actually started with some mid 1980s models and was more or less complete by the mid 2000s.

And of course, how modern a car is has a lot more to do with how round it is.

Sure, it's easy to make that point when you take the best-looking car you can find from the early 2000's and compare it to the ugliest car you can find from today.


Yeah, plus, the BMW on the picture does not really represent early 00s' car design. It's actually a holdover model range from the late 90s which was discontinued already in 2001. That's the successor (built from 02-08):

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a6/2006-2008_BMW_7-Series.jpg/420px-2006-2008_BMW_7-Series.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_E65/E66/E67/E68

Now, the differences are not that big anymore...

The transition to round as opposed to boxy wasn't an overnight thing, it actually started with some mid 1980s models and was more or less complete by the mid 2000s.

And of course, how modern a car is has a lot more to do with how round it is.


Very true. It's easy to look back fondly at older cars (in your case the 1980's, in mine the 1960's) and think they were so much better back then but they're not. We can agree or disagree on the aesthetics of modern cars but the simple truth is that today's cars are far and away the best they've ever been in terms of quality and reliability. Back in the 1960's and 70's you were lucky to get 100,000 miles out of a car before they started falling apart, while now you can expect to get almost twice that out of a car so long as you properly maintain it and don't abuse it too much.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a6/2006-2008_BMW_7-Series.jpg/420px-2006-2008_BMW_7-Series.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_E65/E66/E67/E68

Now, the differences are not that big anymore...

Actually this car still looks pretty different and dated than the ones today. I seem to notice a difference but it's not as big of a difference from early 90's to early 00's though.

Actually this car still looks pretty different and dated than the ones today. I seem to notice a difference but it's not as big of a difference from early 90's to early 00's though.


That's the current successor (built since 2008):

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/2010_BMW_750i_--_03-14-2010.jpg/420px-2010_BMW_750i_--_03-14-2010.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_F01

That's the current successor (built since 2008):

I guess it depends on the model then.  :P

I guess it depends on the model then.  :P


Of course it depends on the model. That's more or less the current version of the BMW you have posted in the first place.

Well here's a better example with the same model as Honda is my favorite brand.

Honda Civic 2001

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/2001-2003_Honda_Civic_sedan.jpg

Honda Civic 2013

http://image.motortrend.com/f/roadtests/sedans/1211_2013_honda_civic_quick_drive/41247602+w623+h388+cr1+ar0/2013-Honda-Civic-front-right-view.jpg

Now they look noticeably different

I prefer the 2013. The 2001er looks pretty cheap.

I don't really like the look of 21st century cars. They just seem to clash in a bad way juxtaposed against the environment. I'm sure as far as their technical capabilities though they are vastly superior to anything made prior to 2000.

I prefer the 2013. The 2001er looks pretty cheap.

I like the clean, simple look of the 2001 car.

I like the clean, simple look of the 2001 car.


The current one looks more high quality.

With that said, I'm sure the technology in early 00s cars was a lot less sophisticated than the cars of the early 10s.


You ain't lying! My parents got a new Toyota Corolla back in the early 00's and that thing had a freaking cassette player in it!

Just to be able to listen to a CD in the car we had to hook the player up to one of these stupid adapter things that never seemed to work right. ::)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41HBTrcvPLL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

You ain't lying! My parents got a new Toyota Corolla back in the early 00's and that thing had a freaking cassette player in it!

Just to be able to listen to a CD in the car we had to hook the player up to one of these stupid adapter things that never seemed to work right. ::)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41HBTrcvPLL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Now even listening to a CD in a car is old fashioned and people just want an IPod/MP3 Adapter.  ;D

I definitely miss the Escalade. Their so Early 2000s, its ridiculous. Haha The PT Cruisers were also nice to see every now and then.

I don't really like the look of 21st century cars. They just seem to clash in a bad way juxtaposed against the environment. I'm sure as far as their technical capabilities though they are vastly superior to anything made prior to 2000.


I'm not a huge expert on cars, but why is 2000 constantly used as a cutoff date for everything? I'm pretty sure cars in 2000 were not much different from 1999.

Now even listening to a CD in a car is old fashioned and people just want an IPod/MP3 Adapter.  ;D


It's pretty dumb that people choose convenience over quality nowadays. Luckily my car is 20 years old (it originally belonged to my mom's friend), so I still have the option of playing CDs.  ;)

Now even listening to a CD in a car is old fashioned and people just want an IPod/MP3 Adapter.  ;D

Wow I wrote this back in 2013 and now even IPod/MP3 Adapters are old fashion. People just want Bluetooth support now. I bet in 3 more years there will be something new again lol.

Wow, my thread has arrived! Actually it looks like it arrived 3 and a half years ago but better late than never! When I am not nostalgiaising about the 2000s I can be found browsing various car forums all over the internet. To some, cars are just a white good, but to others, there is nothing like the thrill of an open road and revving the engine to the red line!

I am in Europe so slightly different to the American market but someone said earlier that cars since about 2005 have looked similar and I have to agree with them!

2005 Ford Focus
http://media.caranddriver.com/images/05q1/267354/european-ford-focus-photo-5331-s-429x262.jpg
2016 Ford Focus
http://www.2016fordfuturecars2017.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/2016-Ford-Focus-hatchback-front.jpg

The 2005 looks like just a more basic one of the 2016 to me. They still have the same overall bulbous look to them.


The last sleek cars were made around 2001 after which the new crash regulations came in which happened in Europe but the rest of the world was forced to follow.

I am a fan of 90s car designs since they were the ones I lusted after as a child, but I am also finding myself warming to early 2000s cars, the ones made just before the new crash regs came in. Since the mid 2000s cars seem to have been made more robustly compared to the cars of the 1990s which I will say in their favour.

Wow, my thread has arrived! Actually it looks like it arrived 3 and a half years ago but better late than never! When I am not nostalgiaising about the 2000s I can be found browsing various car forums all over the internet. To some, cars are just a white good, but to others, there is nothing like the thrill of an open road and revving the engine to the red line!

I am in Europe so slightly different to the American market but someone said earlier that cars since about 2005 have looked similar and I have to agree with them!

2005 Ford Focus
http://media.caranddriver.com/images/05q1/267354/european-ford-focus-photo-5331-s-429x262.jpg
2016 Ford Focus
http://www.2016fordfuturecars2017.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/2016-Ford-Focus-hatchback-front.jpg

The 2004 looks like just a more basic one of the 2016 to me. They still have the same overall bulbous look to them.


The last sleek cars were made around 2001 after which the new crash regulations came in which happened in Europe but the rest of the world was forced to follow.

I am a fan of 90s car designs since they were the ones I lusted after as a child, but I am also finding myself warming to early 2000s cars, the ones made just before the new crash regs came in. Since the mid 2000s cars seem to have been made more robustly compared to the cars of the 1990s which I will say in their favour.
The Ford Focus, once called the "Ford Asbo" by Jeremy Clarkson.

I'd say the interior designs have changed more considerably compared to the exterior since the early '00s. Technologically, IMO a car from 2002 is far closer to that from 1988 than it is a 2016, as most back then didn't have electronic instrumentation, fewer safety features, and on some cars, no CD player. That said, early 2000's cars aren't something I really miss since they aren't old enough yet to be considered "historic" like those from the early '90s (and in a few jurisdictions, mid-'90s) and earlier are, and I still don't get those "I miss those days" feel since there are still a good number of cars from that era regularly on the road and will be for at least a few more years. Still, there could be nostalgia due to the teenagehood/first car/high school factor that many people my age had at the time, even though the first car I ever drove was my late grandmother's 1993 Mercury Grand Marquis, which at the time though didn't seem too dated since the 1992 model was a noticeable change to the 1991s which had the same design since 1979. I do recall that non-American cars were superior to their domestic counterparts at the time due to their superior reliability, and the Crossover SUV trend was brand new at the time.

The Ford Focus, once called the "Ford Asbo" by Jeremy Clarkson.


They've definitely changed that image, from the second generation onwards I would say.

They've definitely changed that image, from the second generation onwards I would say.
It seems there are many more on the street.

Hondas look ugly from 2007 onwards (e.g. Honda Civic and CR-V). Most of the cars I see where I live started looking ugly by the early or mid 2010s.

Hondas look ugly from 2007 onwards (e.g. Honda Civic and CR-V). Most of the cars I see where I live started looking ugly by the early or mid 2010s.
Well I actually prefer the late 00's/early 2010's CR-V to the 2002-2006 and the current model. Civic-Not a fan of the current one. I did like the 2006-2010 Civic Coupe.

I still like the Mazda Protege5 and the first gen Ford Focus. Although they were late 90's designs, they got better in the early 00's - both of them got a facelift in 2001. Cars back then had smaller grilles and most of them didn't feature stretched headlights. Am I the only one who liked cars back then more?
http://files.conceptcarz.com/img/Ford/ford_focus_rs_04.jpg
I was a big Protege 5 fan back in the day and I still am.

Early 2000s cars look the same to me, other than hummers. I don't see many Hummers on the road anymore.

2000s cars were dope

2000s cars were dope


They really were.
Early 2000s cars look the same to me, other than hummers. I don't see many Hummers on the road anymore.


Hummers are 90s, dude.

They really were.
Hummers are 90s, dude.


Hummers kind of are both late 90s and early/mid 2000s  the H2

I loved the late 90's and early 2000's car models. Those were the best. The Toyota Corollas and Camrys at the time. The Ford F-Series and the Rangers during that time frame. The Chevy Corvettes, Camaros, and Silverados. The Nissan Altimas and Maximas. The Honda Civics, Preludes, and Accords. The Jeep Cherokees and Grand Cherokees. The Volkswagen New Beetles (RIP 2019 for Beetle A5  :\'( ). The Saturns. The Mecurys. The Pontiacs. I can go on and on.

When I think of cars from that era I think Pontiac Sunfire.