Feature: The 2000s December 21, 2009 AUTORIVALS.NET

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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. The 2000s was a rollercoaster decade with everything from new cars to dead companies, new styling to retro styling, small cars, large cars, fat cars, and short cars. With all that's happened recently in the automotive world, it's hard to remember everything. It wasn't all bad but a lot of it was, all the more reason to look forward to the new decade. But until then, let's take a brief moment to look back. From Mammoth to Miniscule Hummer H2 smart fortwo The 2000s spelled the end of oversized, inefficient vehicles when gas prices spiked to an all-time high. Car sizes did a complete 180 going from the gigantic Hummer H2 to the tiny smart fortwo. The H2 weighed a colossal 6,600 pounds compared to the 1,600 pound fortwo which translated to an average of 10 mpg for the H2 versus 38 mpg for the fortwo. From Extravagant to Economical Maybach 57 Tata Nano With the worst recession in decades, exorbitant vehicles like Maybachs are a dying breed like Hummers. The Maybach 57 and 62 come with a price tag around $340,000 to $430,000 which is now too much for the shrinking extreme-wealthy class. On the completely opposite end of the spectrum is the Tata Nano. The cheapest car in the world comes in around $2,000 although isn't available everywhere yet. What do you get for a $2,000 car? Not much (barely anything at all actually). Rising Popularity of Affordable Sports Cars Honda S2000 Nissan 350Z Ah, some good news about this decade. The recent years have shown a rise in popularity of sports cars. The late 1990s and early 2000s killed off too many great sports cars to count (300ZX, 3000GT, Camaro, Firebird, RX-7, Supra, Trans Am and many more) due to declining sales, spiking insurance rates, and a deteriorating market. Some good ones (like the S2000) still hung around but only in the later 2000s has the sports car market returned closer to what it used to be. We're still missing some of them but have enough good ones to be satisfied. Family Cars with Sports Car Speed 1998 Nissan Altima 2002 Nissan Altima The 2002 Nissan Altima brought something no mainstream family car had before, sports car speed. Previously, most family cars would hit 0-60 mph in anywhere between 8 to 10 seconds but the 2002 Altima brought a 3.5L V6 engine with 240 horsepower to the table resulting in 0-60 mph in 6.3 seconds and a quarter-mile time of 14.7 seconds at 97 mph, close to a Porsche Boxster at that time. Since then, all other manufacturers have had to match or better the Altima's performance with more powerful engines. A New Form of Sports Cars Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Subaru WRX STI The 2000s brought a new era of sports cars. Traditionally, sports cars were always a two-door rear-wheel drive layout but with the introduction of the Lancer Evolution and WRX STI in America, sports car tradition was thrown out the window. They've been available elsewhere in the world for quite awhile but never seen in the United States until 2003. They brought all-wheel drive with powerful engines in sedan form and a rally car heritage. The Hybrid Toyota Prius Honda Insight Everyone's favorite new technology, hybrids. Honda was actually the first to bring a hybrid to America in 2000 with their three-door hatchback Insight but it wasn't until Toyota's second generation Prius released in 2004 did they really take off. Now the Prius controls the majority of the hybrid market and has spawned new hybrid models from nearly every major automaker. The... Um, who knows... BMW X6 Acura ZDX Just when you think the world learned its lesson with inefficient vehicles like the Hummer comes BMW with its X6. BMW calls it a 'Sports Activity Coupe' (that's 'SAC' for short) which combines the poor fuel efficiency of an SUV with the reduced cargo capacity of a fastback. And rather than letting BMW grab the sales from people who prefer vanity over efficiency comes Acura with its ZDX.

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