My best friend recently introduced me to this idea of 'youngtimer cars,' basically cars that aren't so old but worth owning, collecting, maintaining, or whatever it is people do with these cars. The category we agreed upon was that these cars should have been sold within 1980 to 1999. So yes, cars with model years starting before 1980, or go past to the 2000s can be considered as long as their year model falls between 1980 to 1999.
Our discussion even went so far as to set parameters when building our top ten youngtimer cars, with a cap of 500k for cars being sold in Facebook Marketplace. And it was challenging because I have limited knowledge of cars in that era.
It did get me thinking though, of what a good three-car garage of youngtimer cars would be. Cars that were specifically sold here locally, not imported or grey market cars. With those in mind, these would be the three cars I think I'd like to have and the reasons why.
First generation Suzuki Vitara. It should be 5-doors, automatic transmission, and 4x4. As always, this would be our bad weather car, with minor modifications. A snorkel and breather tubes to make sure it can brave floods should the need arise. It has decent size and space for my small family of three. This would also be my wife's car.
First generation Toyota Rav4. Again, 5-door and automatic transmission. Small yet spacious enough for daily driving if a bit of a gas guzzler. At least the car is tall enough and visible enough to other SUVs and bigger pick ups. The reason I chose this is for my daughter. At least she can drive a relatively big and safe car, but with a smallish size that can easily fit most parking spaces.
BMW E34 5-series. Again, automatic transmission. Wishful thinking is a touring, aka station wagon. I'm picking this over the E30 3-Series and E36 3-Series just because the former is too expensive and rare, while the latter is too common here. And honestly most of the variants of the E36 I see on FB MP are 316i models, which isn't bad. But there's something about the E34 that I really like, so yes, I do wish I could have an E34. It doesn't have to be the M5, I'd be perfectly happy with a 520i or 525i.
Special mention: Toyota Echo Verso (Yaris Verso). This is a bit of a cheat since it started August 1999, but this is the car I'd want for myself. Only sold in a manual transmission locally, this is still one of my dream cars. It can seat four or five adults, but the rear seats can be folded and dismantled to create a flat bed, almost similar to the Honda Jazz's Magic Seats. Plus being a 1.5L manual I'm guessing this has amazing fuel efficiency. The only reason I'm choosing the BMW over this is the transmission.
Out.
