This may or may not be the most popular opinion, but as much as I love the convenience, safety and headline-grabbing figures of modern performance cars, they usually seem to be missing something when it comes to driver involvement. Most (all?) of them are too big, heavy, fast, and/or isolated to be enjoyable on most public roads, or even some racetracks. The following article sums up my predicament rather well:
This is why, in recent years, I have become increasingly fond of modern classic performance cars from my youth - which, in my case, was the 1990s and 2000s. Compared to today’s increasingly complicated, tech-heavy machinery, they tended to offer a simpler, purer and more involving driving experience, and in many ways were also less encumbered by safety, emissions and economy legislation, although they were seldom as fast and/or grippy as modern equivalents - which is actually a good thing for fast road driving.
In fact, in my humble opinion, it was in - whisper it - 1994 (which is now 26 years ago, believe it or not!) that the entire new car market reached its absolute zenith, especially with regards to performance cars, and I am confident (if not outright certain) that there will never be a year quite like it again in motoring history.
Another reason why I rediscovered my love of cars that are now considered to be modern classics was that during the '90s and '00s, you could find a much greater variety in engine configurations than today (even in more affordable machinery), and a larger proportion of normally aspirated cars as well. Nowadays, however, most (if not all) of the truly special stuff tends to be priced so far into the stratosphere as to be unattainable for the common man - and if current trends continue, even they face an uncertain future as legislation tightens further.
Unsurprisingly, more and more modern classics from the last decade of the 20th century (and the first decade of the 21st) are now increasingly sought-after by collectors, as reflected in their steadily rising resale values. Sadly, I must admit that I may never have a chance to even drive any of the cars I lusted after before my 18th birthday, but at least I was lucky to have lived through the era(s) during which they were in production - and read about them too.
