It’s tough to say exactly what makes a car “modern.” Is it the technology it has on the inside? Is it how drivable it is on a daily basis? Maybe it all has to do with styling. It’s tough to say, and I’ve got to assume it’s a mix of these three factors, plus a whole mess of others. Mulling this over did get me thinking, though, and it’s what led me to today’s question.
I want to know what you all consider to be the first modern car. What car kicked off the era of vehicles we currently find ourselves in today? I know this is sort of a nebulous idea since there’s no 100% right answer, but that’s sort of the fun part, isn’t it? I’m not going to sit here and tell you what counts as modern and what doesn’t. I’m the President of this blog, not a God.
My choice
To me, the first truly modern vehicle was the 1989 Lexus LS400. It changed the game with what you can expect from a luxury car with its whisper-quiet yet efficient 4.0-liter V8 engine, comfy leather interior and advanced technology (even for today), plus Toyota reliability that means there are still plenty of these first-gen LS tooling around on the roads today — even as the final ones prepare to roll off the assembly line.
The LS was just such a leap forward when you look at contemporary cars from the late 1980s, and you can still see its lineage in vehicles today. A modern car looks far more like a 1989 Lexus LS than it does a 1989 Mercedes-Benz S-Class, BMW 7 Series or Land Rover Range Rover. This was a car that changed the world in a lot of ways and brought us into a new era.
Anyway, that’s enough out of me. Why don’t you all head on down below and let your fellow Jalops know what you think the first-ever “modern” car was? As always, I’ll be giving out bonus points if you tell us why you picked your choice.
