According to our readers, these were the first “modern” cars – Jalopnik

It’s almost impossible to say what the first ‘modern’ car was. While it may sound like a question with an objective answer, that is anything but the case. There are so many different factors to consider when defining what “modern” means in an automotive context. Is it the driving characteristics? What about the technology? Maybe it’s the style. I can’t say for sure, but it brought me to the question I asked you last week.

I asked the Jalopnik audience what you thought the first truly modern car was, and you fine folks delivered it, and then some. Sure, there were some of the usual suspects there, but there were plenty of cars I never would have thought of. And I have to give it to you: There are some very convincing arguments that the first modern car wasn’t actually my beloved Lexus LS400, although I still think it was.

Anyway, that’s enough from me. Scroll down to see what everyone thinks the first modern car was.

The first Ford Taurus. Making a forward-looking luxury car is easy, doing it for the masses is something only the Taurus did.

Submitted by: XXLTall

Volvo 740. Safe, reliable, reasonably well equipped, safe as a bank vault. The advertising was mainly focused on safety, which feels very modern today.

Submitted by: snake68

Just as no one realized that Star Trek: Deep Space Nine pioneered the future of television when it first aired in 1993 with a serialized storyline that lasted the entire series, no one realized in 1980 that the AMC Eagle was the future of the automobile.

Before there was such a thing, the Eagle was a compact, car-based SUV, and now pretty much everyone drives it (including me, although I stuck with it until this year, when I started driving a 2008 Kia Rondo).

Submitted by: MustangIIMatt

I’ll raise your LS – and see you with another Toyota of that era – the 91-96 Camry that was developed alongside the LS (and later became the basis of the first ES). This is where the Camry practically became a household name and blew the doors off every other domestically made car. It looked great and is probably the only car from that era where you’ll still see them – probably worn out with a dent on the front and rear bumpers – but still going strong.

&

I’m going with the 1992 Camry. It was the first major mass market seller that brought comfort, affordability, features and true 200,000 miles plus potential reliability to the masses. Sure, the 89 LS400 was a great car, but it was still exclusive and unaffordable to most. The 1992 Camry set the benchmark and has never looked back.

Submitted by: PLAN-B 77 & BuddyS

The Citroën 2CV. The most was achieved with the fewest people. It brought front-wheel drive to the masses, although Citroen had done that before with the more expensive Traction Avant. The 2CV suspension is still unbeatable in bad road traffic. It is in one piece and can be dismantled so easily that someone stuck in the desert with a broken 2CV was able to dismantle it and rebuild it as a motorcycle to get out. Our modern cars are far too complex. We need some parsimony in the design of the 2CV.

Submitted by: Fred Schmacher

I would say… maybe a little cynical; the Ford Explorer in 1991. It pioneered the SUV trend that sought to get people out of wagons and minivans and into large truck-like vehicles to circumvent safety, efficiency and emissions standards and increase corporate profits. It’s a trend that has since changed the proportions and design of cars to accommodate the extra dimensions and higher bumpers of these vehicles.

Submitted by: Matt Pipes

The 1983 Dodge Caravan/Plymouth Voyager. Of course Lexus ‘modernized’ an already existing platform, but Lee Iacocca and co. literally invented a whole new class of car with features that didn’t exist at all, and that most current minivans haven’t strayed from. Even the form factor is generally the same from 40 years ago to today.

Submitted by: Mustard dayonnaise

Cadillac Type 51 from 1915.

First car with a center-mounted gear lever, gas-brake-clutch pedal, electric ignition with key and other controls that we find standard today.

Submitted by: Dr.Xyster

The 959 must be a top candidate. The thought that in 1984 you could buy a car with active suspension, computer-controlled all-wheel drive, tire pressure sensors, Twin Scrolls turbos and a Kevlar reinforced body was without exaggeration… unheard of. A car so good that it motivated billionaires to lobby the federal government to keep it on our shores, creating the show-and-display law we have today.

Submitted by: Austin Erving

It is the first generation Toyota Prius, which will celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of its launch next year. Without the Prius there is no Tesla, no Chinese car raid, no NEVI, no electric cars, no self-driving car (because the high voltage battery powers the computing power in these things), none of the topics happening in the auto industry right now are happening without Prius.

Submitted by: Jo Borras

Audi Quattro

Every modern car is

Turbo

AWD

Technology heavy

Actually heavy

Sort of like half SUV, half coupe, half fastback

Submitted by: Mike Poster

It was the first ‘crossover’ SUV. The segment that now dominates the car market

Submitted by: Keith Powers