Buick Reatta, maybe?

 

ahhh there it is. thank you

 

For Mercedes, the ultimate classic is the 50's vintage SL with gull-wing doors. Among more modern Mercedes products, I'd say the current S-Class, which is a luxury-benchmark.

For Dodge, it would have to be the Challenger...and the fact that today's Challenger, though somewhat larger, looks so much like the original.

For Fiat, what else?............the classic "Topolino" 500.

For VW, the classic air-cooled Beetle...although the air-cooled rear-engined Microbus also gained notoriety in the 1960s as the Hippie Bus of the Counterculture Movement, splot-painted with all kinds of bright-color swirl-patterns. It was also (arguably) the most difficult mass-production vehicle ever to drive in a crosswind...the wind blew it around like a toothpick.

 

My pleasure. I also thought the Reatta was a cool car, just never owned one.

 

Very cool car indeed.

 

Maybe my recollection is wrong as I was only in my teens, but I don't recall the Audi 5000 being a flop. I remember critical acclaim for a cutting edge design and availability of Quattro when AWD wasn't really a "thing".

And 60 Minutes did kill the 5000 with their completely wrong reporting of unintended acceleration. So much that Audi had to change the name to the 100/200.

As for @Hoovey2411 's OP [Great Thread, by the way!] and some of my thoughts (I'll try not to repeat what's been said already):

Cadillac: I'm going to go with Escalade. Cadillac has been playing catch-up for so long, I think any of it's classic sedans are so far removed from being world-class, that most people don't think of them when they think Cadillac.

VW: I'm going to say Golf/Rabbit. Yes, the Beetle was iconic, and when it was relevant, it did "define" what VW was (with the Bus, the Thing, etc.). But VW is mainstream now, and so is the Golf.

Subaru: Outback, hands down.

What I find interesting sitting here staring at the screen, is that there seems to be many automakers that arguably don't have a defining vehicle.

@LexsCTJill referenced Nissan with a "??" above. I agree. What do I think of when I think Nissan? Altima? Maxima? 240Z?

What about Chevy? Camaro? It's not really their bread and butter car. But I'm hesitant to say a Cobalt or a Malibu "defines" what people think of as a "Chevy".

I think I'd say the same for Volvo. The 240? I'm not sure I can say that "defines" Volvo--that car is old by now. And while I love the current Volvo lineup, I can't say that any current model "defines" Volvo as a brand.

Even Infiniti--I would not say that they have a "defining" model.

[EDIT--I see I failed in not repeating]

 

Acura didn't "kill" the Legend; it was renamed "RL" because more people knew the name "Legend" than knew the name "Acura".

 

For Pontiac, it's a toss up between the GTO and Trans Am.
For Nissan, I have to go with the Z car. I still have a special place in my heart for the 240 Z even though I never owned one.
For Toyota, to me, it's the Celica ( I owned three of them, two of them with over 300k on the clock when retired), and of course, the Corolla.

 

Trans Am and Firebird. All the boys wanted one in the 80s.

 

Yeah and nobody cared about Acura ever since.

 

Trans-Am was a Firebird, Jill....simply the upper-line version of it, above the Formula Firebird.

 

gotta be the worst reason to change a car name

 

Yeah, no kidding. Should have done away with Acura and kept Legend. Who doesn't want to be identified with the word Legend?

Almost as dumb as the Ford 500-Taurus fiasco, although that situation was a little different.

 

Nissan, no brainer and and hands down "GODZILLA"

 

I think it depends on what you mean by defining. If we are talking about mainstream vehicle then I would say ES or RX. However if you wanted to be selective I would say the LC.