This 1996 ‘Car Guide’ CD Let You Build and Price Any Car Without the Internet

One of the many ways that the internet has failed to live up to its promise is with online car shopping. Yes, you don’t need to visit a dealership or send away for physical brochures, but online car buying guides are as much about drawing eyeballs to ads as they are about conveying information. The same goes for automaker configurators, where specs are often buried (or just nonexistent) and the graphics don’t exactly reflect the latest and greatest tech. There’s a better way, and one publication figured it out 30 years ago.

In 1996, Popular Mechanics released a “Car Guide” on CD-ROM that let people browse every new car on sale without the internet. Detailed in a recent YouTube video from LGR Blerbs, it shows just how far backwards things have gone. And it’s got a Viper with yellow wheels on the cover.

Click past the main menu with its nifty startup animation, and you get a drop down menu listing not just every model, but every trim level. Each trim level in turn has a landing page with basic information like pricing (including destination), powertrain, fuel economy, and the availability of key features like cruise control and driver and front-passenger airbags. The latter didn’t become mandatory on light trucks (a category that included most SUVs at the time, as well as pickups) until the 1997 model year, and dual front airbags weren’t mandated until the 1998 model year. Standard central locking and air conditioning also weren’t a given at the time.

You could also browse and price out the full option list and see what a car looked like in its available paint colors—and some unavailable ones. I’m pretty sure the 1996 Pontiac Sunfire wasn’t available with a full-body woodgrain wrap from the factory, but that is available here. On the more practical side, you can compare specs and features for different models and estimate fuel costs by inputting your anticipated weekly mileage and gas prices. The default of $1.25 per gallon makes me cry.

1996 Popular Mechanics Car Guide CD-ROM for Windows 3.1

There’s a used car section as well, but with fewer models and less information for the ones that are listed. But it still fives value estimates based on mileage, just like today’s used car websites. Whether a dealer would actually agree with those estimates is another matter.

This car-buying CD should look laughably antiquated, but slow loading times and unsophisticated graphics aside, it puts many modern online buyer guides and configurators to shame. All the information is sensibly organized, with no interruptions encouraging you to contact a dealer or fill out a survey. Today’s internet hasn’t improved on this early effort because, as it turns out, easy access to information isn’t a business model.