Toyota Paseo

Although inherently inferior to the Corolla GTS, the Paseo still provided a fun, sporty drive, with eye-catching good looks. The 2+2 Paseo was not a mechanical wonder, and it never set a land speed record -- it only sported a 1.5-liter inline four outputting 100 horsepower, landing it in the same sporty compact league with the Mazda MX-3 and Volkswagen GTI. Of course, its selling point was not power, but affordability and excellent mileage -- the Paseo can get up to 32 mpg on the highway, and 28 in the city. The Paseo also sported an excellent suspension system, further smoothing the ride granted by the front wheel drive setup.

Despite all this, there is no doubting that the car simply lacks power -- a condition further worsened in 1996, when the Paseo lost a precious 7 horses. Amusingly, a 4A-GE engine swap from the car that preceded the Paseo, the Corolla GTS, greatly increases the performance of the car, among other things (this noder has heard of a Paseo sporting up to 330 hp). Another frequent complaint of the Paseo is that it's very cramped in the back seat, and lacks cargo space (typical of 2+2s, however). To attract buyers to the rather unpopular little car, Toyota offered a convertible model in 1997 -- but that failed to save the Paseo, which met its end in the middle of that year.