What is the Most Overrated Car Of All Time?

OK I'm going to P some people off but I think the Ford Mustang is the most Over Rated car EVER.
For starters a really good friend back in high school (70's) Dad owned a Ford dealership so my bud would drive a different Mustang very often and his Dad had a very large collection of rustangs as well.I have driven almost every (icon) Mustang there was,or at least spent a lot of time riding in them.Almost 100% of them were at best problematic in many ways,VERY unreliable and very low quality in general.The Boss series was the worst,chewed up parts way quick.It seems the cars always had the cheapest suspension and drive line parts imaginable.Now with very many upgrades,and Re working they may be a little better,Yes they have made some large HP cars and yes they were the first Pony cars and sold a gazallion cars,but that dosent mean the cars are any good. I think you will be hard pressed to find a completly stock older Mustang that would be very feasable to drive very often. And the whole lot of Fords in general have been a blight to the Auto world for many years IMO.

DaddyVDUB

OK I'm going to P some people off but I think the Ford Mustang is the most Over Rated car EVER.
For starters a really good friend back in high school (70's) Dad owned a Ford dealership so my bud would drive a different Mustang very often and his Dad had a very large collection of rustangs *snip*

There is where your credibility ended. Fail.

Can you make a point without at least appearing to be biased or close-minded? Like the Beetle the Mustang has sold zillions so how can it be overrated if people are buying them left and right? The Mustang does what its supposed to do. Look good, make a good noise and be reasonably fast for the money you pay. End of story. Now if you would of said the new GT500 is overrated then you would have a legitimate beef, otherwise you do not.

YSSMAN

RE: The Kafer (ie, Beetle)

I wouldn't call it overrated whatsoever. Considering how meticulously it had been designed by Ferdinand Porsche (it had been an idea of his dating back to the 1920s), and the almost absurd development process that was involved to make it not only an incredibly dependable car, but also one that had parts that were easily interchangeable, it was pretty much a revolution in automotive engineering and design. I still think that the Volkswagen was partially responsible for the re-industrialization of Germany both inter-war and post-war, it really being an unanticipated success under both circumstances (despite it being a money raising scheme for the Nazis for some time). Just looking at the effects that the car has had on the world culturally, its absolutely amazing. Then you look at the impact on industry (as homeforsummer pointed out...), spurring the creation of the 500, Mini, 2CV, among others, it is really rather amazing what came of it.

I still think the Type-I is one of the pinnacle achievements in automotive engineering, and in no way, shape or form should it ever be called "overrated." Ever.

Though I wouldn't say the Beetle "spurred on" creation of the 2CV or Mini, at the very least... the 2CV had prototypes before the Kafer did (before the war, in fact), Issigonis' Mini was so different in concept to anything that you could say fairly safely that his concept was original (and he designed the car to replace motorcycles and bubble cars in Britain at the time). That said, that's not to say that all those cars didn't have very similar intentions - to get their respective countries into cars.

Did you know that the VW has the British to thank for being here today?

Wikipedia article

The Volkswagen factory at Wolfsburg was handed over by the Americans to British control in 1945; it was to be dismantled and shipped to Britain. Thankfully for Volkswagen, no British car manufacturer was interested in the factory; "the vehicle does not meet the fundamental technical requirement of a motor-car ... it is quite unattractive to the average buyer ... To build the car commercially would be a completely uneconomic enterprise." The factory survived by producing cars for the British Army instead....

The re-opening of the factory is largely accredited to British Army officer Major Ivan Hirst (1916–2000). Hirst was ordered to take control of the heavily bombed factory, which the Americans had captured. His first task was to remove an unexploded bomb which had fallen through the roof and lodged itself between some pieces of irreplaceable production equipment; if the bomb had exploded, the Beetle's fate would have been sealed. Hirst persuaded the British military to order 20,000 of the cars, and by 1946 the factory was producing 1,000 cars a month. During this period the car and its town changed their Nazi-era names to Volkswagen (people's car) and Wolfsburg, respectively. The first 1,785 Beetles were made in a factory near Wolfsburg in 1945.

Source: Click

Just imagine if VW had remained under British control... actually, don't. They would have failed years ago, and all the Mk1 Golfs would have been built terribly and suffered from striking workers

JCE

Like the Beetle the Mustang has sold zillions so how can it be overrated if people are buying them left and right?

The 106 and Saxo - despite being the same car - both populated the European sales top 10 for the entirety of their production. And no-one complained that I'd nominated them...

Perhaps the fact a car sells zillions contributes to the overrating... People rate them enough to buy them despite the fact the car is cack.

seanyb505

Seriously, I totaled mine in two weeks.

I doubt it's the car's fault in that case seeing that many of them have survived for a good 25 years of daily driving. And I doubt anything would have lasted much more than that two weeks judging by the sound of your driving habits. Compared to pretty much any car gone into production in the early seventies it is a damn tough model. You wouldn't call a 911 Turbo from the eighties overrated because it can't keep up with the latest GT3 RS, would you?

Before someone plays the bias card, yes I do own a 240. That car wasn't made to be indestructible, it was made to protect its passengers when things go wrong. It does just that even today, something you can't say of all new cars out there.

Famine

JCE

Like the Beetle the Mustang has sold zillions so how can it be overrated if people are buying them left and right?

The 106 and Saxo - despite being the same car - both populated the European sales top 10 for the entirety of their production. And no-one complained that I'd nominated them...

Perhaps the fact a car sells zillions contributes to the overrating... People rate them enough to buy them despite the fact the car is cack.

Agreed... Corolla is also a pretty big seller, if not the biggest, yet no-one complained about it being nominated either.

Edit: Backstreet boys have sold a zillion copies of their albums, doesn't make them good.

-Fred-

And unlike a 25k Ferrari or Porsche, the maintenance costs aren't out of this world. Getting an oil change will cost you pretty much the same at an Acura dealer as it would for an Integra!

As well as the fact that an oil change every so often is all it will really ever need. Seriously, it's amazing just how bullet-proof the NSX's engine is, even with heavy aftermarket products on them.

casey_2005

Agreed... Corolla is also a pretty big seller, if not the biggest, yet no-one complained about it being nominated either.

I wouldn't personally call the Corolla overrated though - everyone knows it's dull, and the press have always said that they're dull, so they aren't "rated" in the first place. They're just a fair bet for a reliable car, which is all some people want.

If everyone went around saying they're awesome and the car couldn't back that up, then that would be overrating it.

homeforsummer

the 2CV had prototypes before the Kafer did (before the war, in fact)

I'm curious about this bit, because I know that the Beetle had been more or less in the prototype stage since the early 1930s.

Some of you are losing the plot.


An economy car, designed to get your mum to the grocery store and back dependably and selling in the millions, because it does just that, cannot be compared to a car that is considered as the dogs danglies from the get.

Some of these cars have morphed from being basic transportation and now have a modicum of sportiness. Your Citroen Saxo VTR is always going to he a hotted up shopping cart. It's no 350Z no matter what delusions you may have.

Toronado

I'm curious about this bit, because I know that the Beetle had been more or less in the prototype stage since the early 1930s.

They both were. Wikipedia reckons "early 1930s" for the 2CV and "1931/1932" for the Beetle.

The prototype Beetle:



A prototype 2CV (I know it says 1939 on the numberplate, but the article still says early 30s):



I don't think either influenced the other - it just happened that both countries decided they needed similar transport solutions at the same time. Unsurprising, given that both countries were probably in a similar state since WW1.

neanderthal

An economy car, designed to get your mum to the grocery store and back dependably and selling in the millions, because it does just that, cannot be compared to a car that is considered as the dogs danglies from the get.

Except when it's both...

My other site is literally replete with examples of moronic children who won't accept that there are better cars than the 106/Saxo (and most recently and hilariously, the 206 - a 206 forum set upon a member who'd bought a better car and remarked, truthfully, that it was "a bit of a step up from a 206". We watched and laughed).

And this fulfils the "rated" part of the word "overrated". The fact that the cars are actually crap fulfils the "over" part.

neanderthal

It's no 350Z no matter what delusions you may have.

And a 350Z is just a cramped Datsun with a Renault engine, designed to get a fat, bald, old guy to the golf club and back reliably, selling in the thousands because it does just that.

And so on, and so forth.

neanderthal

Some of you are losing the plot.


An economy car, designed to get your mum to the grocery store and back dependably and selling in the millions, because it does just that, cannot be compared to a car that is considered as the dogs danglies from the get.

Some of these cars have morphed from being basic transportation and now have a modicum of sportiness. Your Citroen Saxo VTR is always going to he a hotted up shopping cart. It's no 350Z no matter what delusions you may have.

Well, that may be correct...but there aren't THAT many eco cars that have been released for THAT long. So we don't know exactly, because there are several eco cars being set up to go on sale as I speak/reply right now, and so they will hardly have been on sale, so we don't know at all for sure.

All lambos ever created to compete with ferrari. Ferrari is better why won't they just give up!!!!

PJ-FFL

All lambos ever created to compete with ferrari. Ferrari is better why won't they just give up!!!!

Now I prefer Ferraris to Lamborghinis... but this statement is just ridiculous...

Famine

The 106 and Saxo - despite being the same car - both populated the European sales top 10 for the entirety of their production. And no-one complained that I'd nominated them...

Perhaps the fact a car sells zillions contributes to the overrating... People rate them enough to buy them despite the fact the car is cack.

I didn't leave them out on purpose I was trying to make a point and since he is in America he probably won't know what those are and what they are about.

homeforsummer

I wouldn't personally call the Corolla overrated though - everyone knows it's dull, and the press have always said that they're dull, so they aren't "rated" in the first place. They're just a fair bet for a reliable car, which is all some people want.

If everyone went around saying they're awesome and the car couldn't back that up, then that would be overrating it.

I agree. This is why my 3 nominees fit the bill.

The H2 can't go offroad to save its life despite what their owners think.
The Ferrari Enzo isn't the end all to be all in performance since cheaper cars can do the same.
The Prius sucks, plain and simple. A petrol powered Honda Civic gets better mpg.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyiUL...eature=related

Watch some of the other H2 vids (H2 starts at 53 seconds in on thisone). Obviously they cant off road :/

JCE

The H2 can't go offroad to save its life despite what their owners think.

I have firsthand experience that that isn't true.

Toronado

I have firsthand experience that that isn't true.

Where you in one that went through a Puddle? max respect to the H2 puddle conquerors. I have to agree that the H2 is an overrated car/suv/thing/turd. It is just a bling bling vehicle, driven by people like Coolio. H2 has to be one of the best suggestions I have seen on this thread.

bennyrrr

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyiUL...eature=related

Watch some of the other H2 vids (H2 starts at 53 seconds in on thisone). Obviously they cant off road :/

You call THAT offroading? Looks like a U.K spring fete car park!

EDIT: Minus points because the H2 got stuck in surface mud.