Modern Classics: Hot Wheels Car Culture

The Hot Wheels Car Culture Modern Classics is a set that I wasn’t really that much interested in compared to some of the others. The only real draw for me about this set was the introduction of a brand new casting. The Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5-16 EVO II. Yes, that is a mouthful. But it is a car that has had a good run in the motorsport scene. The original race going version of the car had a Cosworth-built engine with 239 kW of power and 324 PS of torque. The EVO II homologated version ran at 173 kW of power and 235 PS of torque instead. But it had a commanding presence with generous performance for the time and having a limited run made it a very desirable car indeed.

Other cars in this series include the Renault 5 Turbo. A car that has been designed for rallying by the French. The car was modified to have a mid-mounted 1.4L turbocharged engine that produced 118 kW and 160 PS. Admittedly, putting a mid-mounted, turbocharged engine, on a short-wheelbase rear-wheel drive car was a bit crazy. But Renault was crazy like that. And the car went on to win the Monte Carlo Rally on its first outing with the WRC.

The Porsche 964 wasn’t built for a specific type of race unlike the 190E and Renault 5. Instead, the 964 continued the 911 moniker in Carrera form. It came with an air-cooled, naturally-aspirated, horizontally opposed engine making 184 kW of power and 250 PS of torque. As the casting on this series does not have a rear wing, we are assuming that this is the non-turbo version of the Carrera.

Next is the 1985 Honda CR-X. The first generation Honda CR-X was not intended for racing. However, a high-performance version of the car di come out in the form of the Si which came with a 1.6L motor pumping out 101 kW of power and 137 PS of torque. However, with a curb weight of less than a ton, the car performed quite well. While the casting on this series is based on the first generation CR-X with modifications, it was done so in a good way. Personally, I have been introduced to the second generation CR-X when I started learning about cars.

Finally, we have the 1992 BMW M3. BMW’s M-series cars are their high-performance versions of their normal road cars. This one is based from the BMW E30. With the final versions running 158 kW and 215 PS power and torque respectively, these cars were practically ready for motorsports. As such, the car has been seen racing in the several Touring Car championships and even raced as a rally car on selected rounds of the WRC.

The set, is such a mixed bag that even the name is sometimes hard to explain. Modern Classics can be interpreted in different ways but different people. And the definition of modern changes depending on who you talk to because someone born in the 70s will have a different outlook that someone born in the 80s. Even in automobile-speak, enthusiasts will still have different takes on what a modern classic actually is. I did get the set and I will be putting down some notes on these cars. But its worth may be a bit of a hit-or-miss.

’17 Audi RS6 Avant by Hot Wheels

The Audi RS6 Avant is on its third generation released from 2013 to 2018. It would have been under the codes C7 and 4G depending on who you are talking to and if you didn’t know, the Avant simply means that this car is a 5-door estate car (or station wagon if you really want to call it that). The car originally came with a twin-turbo V8 with a 4L displacement putting out a maximum of 560 PS and 700 Nm of torque. However, Audi thought that it could do with a bump in performance so they re-tuned the ECU they increased the maximum output to 605 PS and 750 Nm of torque. They called this the RS6 Performance. Maximum speed had been limited to a claimed 250 km/h though, the same as the standard RS6 Avant. I have been attracted to estates for a long time now, probably because there were so many performance sedans already out on the road. The wagon body-style was less conspicuous and would be a great sleeper car if I ever managed to get my hands on one.

Hot Wheels released a casting based on the 2017 RS6 Avant which is basically saying that it is based on the Performance version. It was part of the mainline cars for 2018 under the Factory Fresh series. This is the first casting for this model and a lot of people have been hyped about it. It didn’t disappoint. The car looked great with its bright red paint job and Y5 wheelset. Not only that, Hot Wheels decided on including details such as headlights and taillights, the Audi logo, the Quattro logo, and even number plates!

The casting was designed by Ryu Asada. He’s the same guy that gave us the Honda S2000 in 2011, the ’90 Acura NSX in 2015, the ’17 Nissan GT-R in 2017 and the ’82 Nissan Skyline R30 in 2018 among others. Those models were already damn good and this RS6 Avant joins them as one of Hot Wheels’ best so far. Another thing to mention about this casting is that it also came out as a Super Treasure Hunt for 2018 which made the hunt for the car even more frustrating (thank you, scalpers!).

But STH or not, having this car in your collection is pretty much a must. It will go down in history as one of the best cars that Hot Wheels produced and is really just one cool ride. If you have an actual Audi RS6 Avant, then it is even more of a no-brainer to get one.