One carmaker dominated our top 10 cars of 1996 | Drive Flashback

Story first published in Drive on 6 December, 1996.

Curious thing about this list… in a year when prices for many new cars were shaved faster than the odds on a bookie’s wheel, this lot remained largely above the bargain bazaar.

With apologies then, your chances of a slashing discount on the majority of Drive’s Top 10 cars for 1996 aren’t too good.

With four or five of them, just finding the car you want, ready for immediate delivery, will be a bonus. This is remarkable in a trading environment as tough as many dealers can remember. It suggests there are still plenty of savvy buyers out there for the right car.

The one notable exception to all this is the Mitsubishi Magna V6. One of the better new products of 1996, it met with one of the year’s most low-key reactions. Supply is not a Magna problem… but demand? That’s another story.

Some of the Magna’s slow-burn acceptance can be attributed to astonishing events, out there among the plastic bunting and the free sausage sizzles, since the car was introduced in April. Price-tags on nearly 200 rival models have been cut this year, the first time price deflation, en masse, has happened since dear old Gough cut sales tax in the 1970s.

A further 87 models were pruned with the all-inclusive lure of drive-away pricing, a more subtle form of discounting, but discounting just the same. Amid all this chaos, the blue-chip cars remain difficult to budge from the price so cutely referred to as the “manufacturer’s recommended retail”.

As the calendar winds down, newspapers and magazines are chockers with annual Best Of lists, Cars of the Year and other grand gongery. Few provide any clues as to how the gongees achieve their elevated status.

To compile this list is very simple. Each of these cars, according to Drive’s staff, for what it’s worth, offer the best combination of quality, features, price, engineering, refinement, safety and potential resale value that your hard-earned cash can buy.

Hopefully they provide a few answers to the question every motoring critic is asked at least once a day. It’s a list we’re happy to recommend, reasonably safe in the knowledge you won’t be ringing up with a bone to pick until the warranty has long since expired.

From $14,990

The Korean brands may dominate, but three Japanese models hold a distinct edge in the tiny car class.

Mazda’s new 121 Metro is a great package but it needs the optional 1.5-litre engine, which is pricey. Toyota’s Starlet is a compact 1.3-litre and something of a mini-car star, but our money would be spent on Mitsubishi’s bob-tailed Mirage. The performance is sparkling and the engineering depth, the quality of materials and finish are evident from the very first kilometre.

The Mirage is solid, rates well in crash tests, is roomy, zoomy and several steps beyond the best the Koreans are offering. You can’t, after all, drive a price tag. For all its superiority, the Mirage commands only a modest premium which will be repaid over time, with resale values that should hold up well.

From $22,950

Clearly something exceptional is afoot when Honda can sell a record tally of Civics at a $3000 premium over the $19,990 small car squabble. Customers have also demonstrated a willingness to wait around for the boats to dock as supplies of Honda’s small car have been skimpy.

The Civic is a premium piece enjoying its best-ever sales year in Australia, at a time when the competition has never been tougher. The flight to quality has lifted the Civic GLi sedan and hatch to new heights.

Recent reductions to spare parts prices and continued strength of second-hand values make the Civic a sound long-term investment. Solid as a rock, refined to the nth degree and built like a Swiss chronometer, the Civic edges out the less expensive Subaru Impreza on our list.

From $28,000

If Mitsubishi’s marketing was as good as its new car, we’d all be driving one. The Magna badge carries the baggage of previous models, dating back more than a decade. It really doesn’t deserve the old cardigan and hat image, as the new car provides a more refined six-cylinder package than any mass market rival.

Quality is good, refinement off the meter in any comparison with a Falcon or Commodore. It may not be quite as big inside, but with the average Australian car carrying precisely 2.4 bums on seats, quite why we persist with the myth of the full five-seater escapes me. Good marks for safety, performance, wieldy road manners and a hush-kitted cabin make it the Buy of the Year, especially now that dealers are offering to meet the market. And it’s Australian-made.

From $38,340

This is what happens when good engineering and smart market research collide.

The Outback is a Liberty wagon on steroids. It combines all the inherent good things about Subaru – the quality, attention to detail and non-conformist thinking – with 2.5 litres worth of engine and enough ground clearance to make off-highway excursions fuss-free.

The Outback is the most car-like of any four-wheel-drive wagon, with no on-road ability sacrificed for its dirt-track, dual-purpose role. It isn’t a macho, bull-bar machine but will take most families everywhere they’d dream of going for a camping, fishing or skiing weekend.

A lot of former Jeep owners are choosing the Subaru… and appreciating the precision fit, hush-toned cabin and comfort levels more often found in good sedans. Well balanced and well built, the Outback may be a marketing idea, but that idea sprang from a real need: to combine on- and off-road ability without compromising either.

From $41,670

Another category winner from Mitsubishi’s engineers, this bigger-engined, luxury-fettled Magna is the best car made in Australia today.
In the US, where these Adelaide-built cars have just gone on sale, badged as the Diamante, reaction from press, dealers and early customers is very positive.

This Verada is light years ahead of previous tarted-up Magnas. Very fast, very quiet and very refined, the Verada is also very hard to get. If Holden or Ford made this car, by now the advertising would have you convinced it was a cross between Concorde and the Space Shuttle. As it is, Mitsubishi persists with the wimpy "please consider" stuff.

From $61,500

The old model tended to live in the shadow of the larger LS400 but the latest from Lexus is a revelation in its own right. When you consider Ford charges $31 more for its luxury LTD barge, the value for money quotient becomes obvious.

The ES300 is built like a micrometer and furnished like the lobby of a chi-chi hotel. In every area, from safety to sound, it represents a big leap forward over the none-too-shabby first-generation model.

The latest may look scarcely different but is entirely more satisfying to drive. The equipment list on both models (the other one is $69,500) gives you everything BMW doesn’t as standard equipment.

Potent performance, a cosseting cabin, positive road manners and effortless touring ability make it an outstanding package backed with superb after-sales service and customer care.

From $45,500

People-movers are not the most exciting form of automotive evolution but we defy the most ardent (usually blokey) critic to spend a week in a Honda Odyssey and not come away impressed. It is the standard-setter for the class, more car than bus, with a surprising turn of pace.

Honda erred with the 1995 model, introducing the Odyssey as a six-seater, figuring on the attraction of those captain’s chairs and a walk-through centre aisle. The mums of Australia had their say and the Odyssey is now available as a seven-seater with a centre bench. So easy to drive, with light controls and an airy cabin, the price includes a high level of standard equipment and safety.

Foundation members of Club Bloke will still call it wussy but female intelligence and intuition being what it is, the Odyssey should win any debate over a Holden or Ford station wagon.

From $36,990

The wagon that could, the Prado turned the 4WD market inside-out in 1996. After studying the Pajero’s more compact dimensions and applying more advanced technology to the engines and body construction, Toyota built a better mousetrap.

It drives better than any other 4WD and the claim is that it will crash better, too. The prices are so sharp they cut the opposition to ribbons, prompting the entire category to shift down from $45,000 to the new mark of $39,990.

Prado is up-to-the-minute in every technical detail and built to the usual Toyota standard, which most rival brands privately admit is the benchmark. Special mention should go to the V6 engine which makes the Jeep’s in-line six look like it was transplanted from a Valiant. Which it was.

$185,000

If we exclude toy cars (any Ferrari or Porsche, BMW M3 et al) and include only four-door sedans, this subtle and under-promoted E Class is the most outstanding product of 1996.

It is put together in very small numbers under the auspices of Mercedes’ tuning partner AMG – to be fair, not always a design house with unerring taste.

This time AMG has left the overt spoilers and tacky add-ons back in the garage to create a bespoke Benz of rare quality. Subtle enough not to draw too much attention in the traffic, the E36 is a genuine Q-ship with racing car poise but the ride quality of a true luxury car.

Mercedes-Benz Australia can’t get enough of them, which is why you’ve heard very little about it. The E36 is the complete one-car garage. If our Lotto numbers come up …

From $59,500

The revamped C-Class Mercedes addresses the old model’s twin flaws – a serious lack of get up and go and a very skinny equipment list.

The new model adds a fresh 2.0-litre engine and a five-speed automatic transmission plus an expanded list of creature comforts. The price is within a few dollars of the early-1994 launch figure of the original C180, which demonstrates just how much Benz has learned about value for money in three short years.

The C-Class is a smart buy because demand is very high for used examples and resale values are extremely strong. Arguably the best compact sedan in the world, the smallest Mercedes will be in production until the end of the decade with a mid-life facelift next year. You will enjoy the drive while you own it… and be pleasantly surprised when trade-in time comes around.

Looking for a good car and a great deal? There are plenty of excellent models on offer at sharply reduced prices. Among them, these well-proven, high-quality cars. They may not be fashionable but they’ll provide terrific value for your dollar.

So, how did your Drive colleagues of 1996 fare? Do you agree with their selections. Do you own, or have you owned, any of the cars in this list? Let us know in the comments below.