Home     New Car Reviews     New Cars of 2004

Hot New Cars of 2004

Every year, DriveNow.com brings you a list of our favorite new cars. This year's list was more difficult to compile than usual, but not for lack of choices. In fact, we found so many great new designs that making the final decision took hours of painstaking deliberation. In the end, we came up with seven vehicles that not only captured our fancy, but also lead the way in trendsetting design.

Continuing in their aggressive push towards brand new automotive designs, Chrysler unveiled the 2004 Crossfire late last year. The Crossfire is a bit of a throwback to the halcyon days of rear wheel drive muscle cars, and it looks the part. The body is lean, low, and muscular. The sporty roofline curves sleekly downwards towards an athletically proportioned rump. Perhaps most importantly, there is a healthy expanse of oh-so-masculine hood in front of the windshield. This is how American sports cars are supposed to look. Hats off to Chrysler once again for their unerring and brazen embodiment of Americana.

Nobody saw it coming. The engineers at GMC have been quietly tinkering with the lowly Envoy to produce what might be the simplest - yet most utterly useful - design feature of 2004. The Envoy XUV is the first SUV to feature a power sliding glass roof. What this does is essentially allow you to convert your SUV into a short bed pickup at the touch of a button. Chevy tried a similar tactic when they built their Avalanche, but fell just short of the mark. While the Avalanche was primarily a truck, the Envoy XUV is primarily a sport utility. It is rugged, yet comfortable. It is both stylish and practical. Though you may be tempted by the new Hemi-powered Durango, keep at least one spot on your dance card open for GMC.

The legendary Mazda rotary engine makes a triumphant return in 2004, much to the delight of car enthusiasts across the US. Even better, it comes wrapped in a brilliant resurrection of the classic RX-7. You really can't ask for much more. The new RX-8 is one of those rare vehicles that lives up to the legacy of its predecessor. It was just in time, too. On the calendar of Retro-Cool Import Coupes, 2002 was the year of the Beetle and the 350Z owned 2003. Mazda has made its play for 2004, and the RX-8 looks like a strong contender.

We recently spotted a vanity plate on a Town & Country that read "GAVE IN". It made us laugh, but it also set the wheels of thought into motion. Minivans are an extremely practical form of transportation for those with large families, far more so than a station wagon or even an SUV. But as Americans, our personal identities are so tied to our vehicles that the thought of driving a minivan often makes our blood curdle. So why can't someone design a minivan that seats seven and has amenities to spare, but looks sleek enough to be proud of? Apparently Nissan had the same idea. The '04 Quest is the best looking minivan on the market today. Even the category frontrunner Honda Odyssey now looks stodgy in comparison. Not enough? The Quest also matches the Odyssey's horsepower rating with a 240hp V6. If we were in Honda's shoes, we'd be worried.

Though it's difficult for us to stop referring to the new GTO as a Holden Monaro (the Australian car from which it was derived), the powertrain of this car is impressive enough to get our vote for one of the best resurrected American muscle cars. Yes, it still looks like another overturned bathtub with a Pontiac emblem, but it's a bathtub with a 350hp Corvette engine and rear wheel drive. Because of that and a sticker price of over $10,000 less than the 'Vette, we offer our praise to GM and Bob Lutz.

Last year, Toyota unveiled a new line of compacts to California residents under the brand name Scion. Though we on the East Coast are only just now beginning to see the billboards for these trendy compacts, they have been a tremendous success for several months on the other side of the country. Soon the Scion xA and xB will be available nationwide, and the xA in particular is worth a look. It's cheap, it's stylish, it has decent cargo room, and it gets 32 miles to the gallon in the city.

Perhaps the coolest thing about this SUV is the fact that it's a Volkswagen. After all, VW hasn't sold an SUV in America since the last Thing was shipped up from Mexico in 1975. Sure, it's not as sleek looking as an FX35, but there's just something about the no-nonsense German styling that really appeals to us. Sometimes the best design is not the most futuristic, but the most practical and timeless.