What Is Happening to the Saloon?
Growing up in the 90s I remember saloons, coupes and convertibles being all the rage. The Pontiac Firebird and Chevy Camaro had T-Tops all the way to 2002. Road and Track awarded the Lincoln LS Car of the Year for like 10 years and said it was THE automobile to get. The Ford Taurus SHO rocked the saloon world with its sneaky performance.
SUVs were big and clumsy, and horrible on petrol. Cars handled better, performed better, and had better MPGs. The 90s were the mom minivan or saloons. Expeditions, Navigators, and Tahoes were popular by the late 90s, maybe the Wagoneer from the 80s. Men had pickup trucks before they had the full size SUV.
The 80s introduced us to real performance and the 90s carried that baton, giving us 2 decades of bad ass cars, legendary cars. You can debate forever what the best cars of all time, for these decades, could be and what belongs on the Mount Rushmore of best ever. That’s the point! These eras were so freakin loaded with style, passion, excitement, emotion, and engineering innovation. Richard Hammond would talk about how Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, McLaren, Jaguar, Koenigsegg, the original NSX, Dodge Viper; were bedroom poster cars. They made us feel something, cars had souls during these decades.
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Video games like Need for Speed brainwashed a generation of kids towards cars and performance. BMW and Audi used to battle for the best compact performance saloon with the M3 and RS4, whose engine could put out the most horsepower? Audi’s Quattro All Wheel Drive gave it the edge over the rear wheel drive BMW. Badges like M, RS and AMG meant something, they delivered a sensation of excitement, made the hairs on your arms stand up.
Fast and Furious showcased all the 90s sports cars that are so iconic: Mazda RX7, Toyota Supra, Mitsubishi 3000GT and Eclipse and Lancer, Nissan Skyline and 300, throw in the Impreza 22B. The Ford Probe, Acura Integra, Mazda Miata, and Toyota MR2 were the little brothers tagging along with these heavy hitters.
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The evolution, or domestication of SUVs, changed the car world. Sport Utility Vehicles eventually lost their Utility and became SVs, or cars perched on a high chair. SUVs aren’t rugged, they lack off road capability, and have small cargo areas with their sloping roof lines. They can’t do what they were originally intended to do. The SUV world sits on car frames for smoother rides, engine technology delivers better fuel economy, and everything is AWD or full time Four Wheel Drive. The consumer has been fooled into thinking SUVs are the only option because of these 3 attributes.
MPGs are comparable between a compact saloon and SUV. I would argue real world numbers for SUVs aren’t as advertised. SUVs are on car chassis and have small 4 cylinder engines like a car. The problem is they are heavier with a larger body and heavier hardware, it’s mathematically impossible to achieve that kind of fuel economy. We’ve been sold on this idea of new and improved, but the reality doesn’t support it. My 2022 Jeep Wrangler has the 2.0L turbo 4 cylinder, I average a combined 20 MPGs. That’s 1 MPG worse than the 3.6L V6 rating. Go back and look at the window sticker to your SV for the fuel economy rating, then compare it to what you’re actually getting in real world circumstances.
Ford and Chevy don’t make saloons anymore, it's some extra compact SUV. The executive cars like the BMW 7 series, Audi A8, Mercedes Benz E Class, Jaguar and the old Cadillacs are all but dead. Volvo doesn’t make a saloon anymore! The classic S60 and luxurious S90 are gone. Even the Honda Accord isn’t what it used to be, sales have noticeably declined over the years. Audi is cutting its car lineup for 2026. I honestly don’t know why.
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I will concede, the appeal of a convertible and coupe isn’t desirable, so I understand the stoppage in production. Coupes were great for a single person, they were inexpensive, easy to maintain, and were a great value. Coupes still had more backseat room than a freakin Tacoma. It makes me sad to see the saloon dying too.
The only reason I can think of is, I don’t think people care about emotion in their car anymore. Not only did the SUV become domesticated, but drivers did too. Manufacturers wrongly listened to the consumer, transitioned away from cars, and now we have all types of SVs. I wish makers fought more for the saloon by producing a quality product. The Chrysler 300 could have been a hell of a car. It was built on an awesome chassis, had a great transmission, solid engine, but the rest of the car was ignored. So much potential was wasted because FCA was more focused on RAM and Jeep that Dodge and Chrysler were half hearted after thoughts. There are so few cars to choose from, or the same cars in minor differences (BMW).
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I would love to see saloons push for retro styling and focus on engine performance for a comeback. Give drivers a reason to be excited again, give us something to feel. Put an inline engine or turbo diesel for power, pair it with a smooth 7 or 8 speed transmission, give me a modern suspension for sticky handling with a silky ride, bring back that wood trim on the interior with stainless or nickel accents, and gauges that light up when the accelerator is pressed. Don’t make the cabin too quiet, the driver needs to hear the engine sing a little.
Give the saloon its soul back.
