The retro-style car craze was at its height in the early 2000s, fueled by models such as the New Beetle, Mini Cooper, and PT Cruiser. Even today, we see quite a few retro-inspired new cars in the showrooms.
Carmakers have built many retro models in the last 25 years, many of which are now affordable but uncool and perhaps even more cool but not affordable. We’ve scoured the internet to find 13 retro-styled models that fit both criteria.
VW New Beetle
Love it or hate it, Volkswagen’s New Beetle is often credited with starting the whole retro-style car craze when it arrived in 1998. It was based on the VW Golf platform, and so it also had the same engine options. The engine was now mounted at the front, not the rear like its predecessor.
The regular models were decently powerful, but the super-rare RSi version was in a league of its own. It had a 3.2-liter VR6 engine, AWD, wide body, and many other upgrades compared to the standard New Beetle. Sadly, it’s not affordable, but the 1,8 Turbo Beetle is very tunable and a more reasonable option.
Fiat 500
The tiny Fiat 500 appeared on the European market in 2007, but North Americans had to wait until 2012 to enjoy this little bundle of retro joy, which has a design heavily inspired by the 1957-75 Fiat 500.
While the versions with the smallest engines are best enjoyed in urban environments, the Abarth models pack a serious punch and can easily handle some twisty mountain roads.
Mini Cooper
The Mini Cooper needs no introduction. The original Mini from the 1960s is an icon, and in 2001, this new version took over where the old one left off.
BMW now owns the Mini brand, and they’ve done a great job making it a fun car for style-conscious driving enthusiasts. All three generations of the new Mini have reliability issues, but most owners seem to agree that’s a small price to pay in order to be behind the wheel of a legendary hot hatch.
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang was first introduced in 1964 and has been in continuous production ever since. This “secretary’s car” proved to be a massive hit and is now the world’s best-selling sports car.
In 2005, the Ford Mustang adopted a retro design that looked very much like the original 1960s ‘Stang, and it was a huge improvement over the previous generation. Under the hood, this all-American muscle car had a 4.6-liter modular V8 that sent 300 ponies to the rear tires.
Chevrolet Camaro
It took Chevrolet a couple of years to develop an answer to the original Ford Mustang, and the same thing happened when Ford released the retro-styled fifth-gen in the mid-2000s.
The Camaro was discontinued in 2002, and the new retro design fifth-gen wasn’t available until 2010. However, it was an immediate success thanks to its excellent design and a starring role in the Transformers movies.
Dodge Challenger
Dodge discontinued the Challenger in the early 1980s; by then, it was a mere shadow of its former self. After seeing the success of the retro-inspired Mustang, Dodge introduced the third-gen Challenger in 2008.
The Challenger is, arguably, the most retro-looking of the three reborn muscle cars. Handling-wise, it’s generally not as good as the Mustang and Camaro, but it more than makes up for that with the supercharged Hellcat engine’s brute force.
Chevrolet SSR
Chevrolet tends to play it safe, but in 2003, they decided to go a bit wild and made a retro-styled convertible sports truck. It wasn’t a particularly good truck and an even worse sports car, but it’s still very cool.
Later models had an LS2 V8 engine under the hood and could even be ordered with a 6-speed manual transmission. With a 0 to 60 time of just over five seconds, it did offer sports car-like acceleration, and with the top down, it’s an excellent cruiser.
Toyota FJ Cruiser
Production of the Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser ended in 1984, but in 2006, the Japanese manufacturer introduced the FJ Cruiser. As its name suggests, the FJ Cruiser was heavily inspired by the FJ40 Land Cruiser.
The FJ Cruiser had plenty of throwback design cues, including a short wheelbase, a similar grille-headlight arrangement to the FJ40, a near-vertical windshield with triple wipers, and the name “Toyota” spelled out across the grille.
Ford Bronco
After a 25-year hiatus, Ford introduced the sixth-gen Bronco in 2021. The Blue Oval not only brought back the legendary nameplate but it’s also designed to look like the original Bronco from the 1960s.
The Bronco isn’t the cheapest SUV on the market, but it’s certainly one of the coolest, and just like the original, it’s also a very capable off-roader.
Jeep Wrangler
We weren’t sure if the Jeep Wrangler belonged on this list. It’s practically looked the same since it was introduced, but it’s probably a case of if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
The good thing is that you can buy practically any generation of the Jeep Wrangler, and non-Jeep enthusiasts won’t be able to tell how old it is. There’s also a massive selection of aftermarket parts, so you can easily turn it into something truly unique.
Suzuki Jimny
Sadly, the Suzuki Jimny isn’t available on the North American market. However, we decided to include it because it’s such a massive hit in other markets.
The Jimny has a huge following and an even bigger aftermarket. People have modified this tiny off-road SUV in every possible way—it’s even seen use as an overland vehicle.
Plymouth Prowler
Everyone was excited when Plymouth unveiled the striking Prowler, but that excitement ended as soon as people found out it only had a V6 engine and an automatic transmission. The hot rod-styled sports car flopped spectacularly.
Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, Plymouth Prowler prices have remained fairly steady, and it’s now seeing a surge in popularity. If you’d like a modern, factory-styled hot rod, now is the time to get one.
Chevrolet HHR
Chevrolet launched the retro-styled HHR van as a 2006 model. Its design was heavily inspired by the Chevy Suburban and Advance Design trucks from the late 1940s and early 1950s.
If you think it also looks a bit like the Chrysler PT Cruiser, that’s probably because Chevrolet recruited Bryan Nesbitt, the lead designer of the PT Cruiser, to design the HHR.
