I kinda happened across this old issue of C&D while I was cleaning some stuff. There are some real gems in here. The cover car is the Plymouth Pronto Spyder, which wasn't a bad looking concept car, kind of the Solstice concept before there was a Solstice concept, a lot of the part for the concept were plucked from existing Chryslers, mainly the Neon.

The Upfront page is all about the 1999 Oldsmobile Alero, which they didn't give driving impressions on, later in the issue they test the 1999 Pontiac Grand Am and didn't bitch about the styling or interior. Other tests include the 1999 Mercury Cougar, the Dodge Ram 1500 SS/T which they called "The last of the performance trucks.

There was a comparo of 5 $40k coupes, the finishing order:

5th-Cadillac Eldorado Touring Coupe

4th-Lincoln Mark VIII LSC

3rd-Volvo C70

2nd-Mercedes-Benz CLK320

1st-Lexus SC300

And now for the "Holy hell, that actually happened?" moment, the minivan comparison finishing order:

4th-Ford Windstar LX

3rd-Toyota Sienna XLE

2nd-Dodge Grand Caravan ES

1st-Pontiac Trans Sport Montana

The fact that they picked a V6 Lexus over all those other is lame. And the C70? Does anyone even remember that car? Hell, people still want to buy Eldorados and Mark VIIIs.

I always had an odd fascination with the C70, I really liked it in droptop form. I wouldn't mind having any of those cars, oddly the Lexus would be my last choice, partly because of the stupid grille the one in the test had (earlier ones didn't have that atrocity) and partly because I really really like the other 4.

Oh, make no mistake, they did bitch about the Grand Am's exterior. I have that issue and I think it was just a short test and not the later full road-test. I recall them testing a gold GA GT for the Road Test and they moaned and cried over the cladding and the spoiler.

The fact that they picked a V6 Lexus over all those other is lame. And the C70? Does anyone even remember that car? Hell, people still want to buy Eldorados and Mark VIIIs.

Correction: the SC has an inline-6, not a V6.

But it's still lame.

Plymouth Pronto Spyder pics!

http://www.allpar.com/cars/concepts/pronto-spyder.html