What is the Most Overrated Car Of All Time?

Mhmmm... Countach... the truck that looked like an angel...

If we're going to include cheap cars, shouldn't the Daewoo Matiz be in there, somewhere? I mean, here's a car that was worse than purgatory when new, and is still being made by two different companies (Chevrolet and Chery) over a decade later... and being copycatted by every backyard builder in China, apparently.
 
niky
If we're going to include cheap cars, shouldn't the Daewoo Matiz be in there, somewhere?
Click to expand...

Nah, they do exactly what it says on the tin, cheap motoring for the people not caring about motors. I've never met a person claiming they're the best. Cars like that are just underrated, they give people a chance to buy a cheap car, and is never appreaciated for what it is.. Even if it's just awful in every other aspect :)

Famine
Anyway, the most overrated supercar is the Countach.

[...]

So that's pretty much the definition of overrated. Load of crap but thought of highly. And I just undercut the thread by about £75,000.
Click to expand...

I did the same in post three. A car bought new buy old men wanting a safe and sound car is now being referred to as 'the car of all time' by the local heroes here. Never breaks down, kills a tree in 60 mph, fast, great looking, modern, safer than almost every new 'tin can', they don't rust etc etc :) A guy I know has Volvo tattooed on his wrist.. He works at our equalent of Halfords and I get free stuff, so I can't complain :) But yeah, 240 is King of Overrated in my books. They aren't really anything of what I've described them as.

The Countach is very cool looking.. I may be biased, I have one while. One of these
 
Last edited:
Around here people tend to worship the Mustang a little too much. Particularly the oh so glorious 210hp 5.0 Foxbody. Yet, my 197hp Civic is "gay". Sure, the new one is pretty quick, but any of the other standard GTs aren't that fast and can't turn to save themselves.
 
Last edited:
Eric.
Around here people tend to worship the Mustang a little too much. Particularly the oh so glorious 210hp 5.0 Foxbody. Yet, my 197hp Civic is "gay". Sure, the new one is pretty quick, but any of the other standard GTs aren't that fast and can't turn to save themselves.
Click to expand...

Did you smoke some controlled substances before making this post? First of all the 302 made 205bhp and a monsterous 275tq*. Couple that with it being lightweight (2800lbs*) and they are faster than you think. Infact your Si will have a hardtime keeping up with it in not only a straight line but around corners. There is a good reason why the Foxbodies are autocrossed. They are quite capable around corners as well as being quick.

*-http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/1990-to-1993-ford-mustang-8.htm
 
In Gran Turismo the answer is Escudo (Pikes peak version very well known since GT2)
In real life I'll say Ferrari (just the word is enought)



MadMax
 
Hugo Boss
I think stating the Saxo and 106 are overrated, because it's THE car for the underpriviliged youth in the UK, would have sufficed and leaves no room to raise objection against.
However, the second part of your plea, it so happens, emerges, notwithstanding the deliberate and conscientious phrasing, to be wide off target though. I once managed to conceive myself being François Delecour driving an original 106 XSi, despite my feet being size 10,5.

The most overrated car of all time must be any particular model from Hyundai or Kia. It's OK if you say you bought one because they're cheap. The problem is most buyers make up other arguments as well. Take one of my best friends, for example. He bought an Hyunday Inspireless because it 'drives well, is comfortable and looks alright'. In reality it does none of these three things and clearly makes the car overrated.
The only good part about it is the safety. If you get into an accident, you'll always get out of the car since the play of the gear stick allows you to knock out any window necessary.
Still, that doesn't alter the fact that Hyundai's and Kia's are overrated.
Click to expand...

I agree with almost everything on this post. 👍
 
I'm proud to be the owner of a car on this list, AE86. They may be, but I will say one thing about them, the fun factor is not overrated
 
Who and where has a Hyundai, Kia, or grocery getter/ school run supermini ever been "overated?"

When I read the original post I understood overated to mean by magazines and the so called know it alls.
 
slidesquad#1
Regarding the original post, the NSX had just as much power as it's contemporary Ferrari, and is arguably a better car all around than the 348. I'll agree with you on the price, it possibly cost too much, but only in terms of the badge it wore, not in terms of the car it was.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and My Mom is just as beautiful as Megan Fox, Lindsay Lohan, Keira Knightley, Anne Hathaway, Miley Cyrus, Scarlett Johansson, Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez. COMBINED.

Do you know what you just said is equal to heresy, Right?

How in the hell can a car with A V6 engine and under 300 Horsepower (albeit with a impressive P/W Ratio) beat a trusted Marque who's cars have V8s or V12s in them and can get 400 HP easily with their eyes closed?

The Only Ferrari which I think the NSX could have competed with was the Dino. think about it; both cars had a V6, had pretty much the Same Horsepower relative to their time, were built pretty much the same way, and both had Impressive Power-to-weight Numbers.

so, to sum it all up, you are either; a. stoned or drunk; b. live in a fantasy world or a alternate universe where Hondas can outperform Ferraris; or c. Just Plain Nuts. Plain and Simple.
 
Wiki says you're the nutter here!

The 348 (The car the NSX was originally aimed at) had two available engines: A 300hp 3.4 V8 or a 320hp version of the same.
 
RacingGameFan22
Do you know what you just said is equal to heresy, Right?

How in the hell can a car with A V6 engine and under 300 Horsepower (albeit with a impressive P/W Ratio) beat a trusted Marque who's cars have V8s or V12s in them and can get 400 HP easily with their eyes closed?

The Only Ferrari which I think the NSX could have competed with was the Dino. think about it; both cars had a V6, had pretty much the Same Horsepower relative to their time, were built pretty much the same way, and both had Impressive Power-to-weight Numbers.

so, to sum it all up, you are either; a. stoned or drunk; b. live in a fantasy world or a alternate universe where Hondas can outperform Ferraris; or c. Just Plain Nuts. Plain and Simple.
Click to expand...
This post is so hilariously wrong that it makes me think it was sarcasm. I particularly love the part where you said that the Dino, that went out of production in 1976, was somehow a competitor with the 1990+ NSX.
If you are actually being serious and not satirizing Ferrari elitism...wow...
 
Last edited:
RacingGameFan22
Yeah, and My Mom is just as beautiful as Megan Fox, Lindsay Lohan, Keira Knightley, Anne Hathaway, Miley Cyrus, Scarlett Johansson, Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez. COMBINED.

Do you know what you just said is equal to heresy, Right?

How in the hell can a car with A V6 engine and under 300 Horsepower (albeit with a impressive P/W Ratio) beat a trusted Marque who's cars have V8s or V12s in them and can get 400 HP easily with their eyes closed?

The Only Ferrari which I think the NSX could have competed with was the Dino. think about it; both cars had a V6, had pretty much the Same Horsepower relative to their time, were built pretty much the same way, and both had Impressive Power-to-weight Numbers.

so, to sum it all up, you are either; a. stoned or drunk; b. live in a fantasy world or a alternate universe where Hondas can outperform Ferraris; or c. Just Plain Nuts. Plain and Simple.
Click to expand...

Dear Lord... why is this little six cylinder Porsche going faster than my V8 Lexus through the corner? Tell me it ain't so...

The NSX was better than Ferraris of the time. Better in that it could actually handle. (and this is in the opinion of testers who drove them, including Gordon Murray) When your reputation is built on building racing cars for the road, that's a huge blow. In fact, you can thank Honda for spurring the line of development that lead to the genuinely worthy F360 and F430.

Even today, the NSX handles itself pretty well... it was still (apparently) ahead of the Porsche 911 series in terms of handling up to the 996, and is still well-regarded. It's like the Lotus Elise... why change the car when it was perfect to begin with? Just keep updating it to keep it current... well... at least Lotus understands the importance of power figures to the target audience... and keeps upgrading the engine offerings to suit.

The only problem with the NSX is the price-badge ratio... just as some people can't fathom paying over $30,000 for a Hyundai... some cant fathom paying three times that much for a Honda. Doesn't matter whether you are getting what you pay for (aluminum and titanium construction, ultra-lightweight), people have Honda pigeonholed as a "cheap" brand, and that's that.

If I had the chance, I would have at least one of them in my garage. Right beside my Ferrari 360 Stradale. :lol:
 
Last edited:
RacingGameFan22
How in the hell can a car with A V6 engine and under 300 Horsepower (albeit with a impressive P/W Ratio) beat a trusted Marque who's cars have V8s or V12s in them and can get 400 HP easily with their eyes closed?
Click to expand...

You're barking up the wrong tree here mister. If Honda wanted to take out as much as possible from their V6, they had done that. Honda may not King of sports cars (I'll leave that to experts like you to decide), but those guys are Kings of specific output. Maybe they went for balance over sheer power, like (I read) they've done with the latest Civic R :) Put it this way, I doubt it's due to lack of technology that the newest R has less power than its competitors...
 
RacingGameFan22
How in the hell can a car with A V6 engine and under 300 Horsepower (albeit with a impressive P/W Ratio) beat a trusted Marque who's cars have V8s or V12s in them and can get 400 HP easily with their eyes closed?
Click to expand...

The Ferrari around at the time of the NSX's launch was the 348, which had only 300bhp. The NSX had at least 276bhp and was lighter. Even if the 348 had the marginally better power-to-weight ratio, it's handling was unpredictable on the limit. At the time the NSX was the better, if less exotic, car.
 
The NSX was still considered a better car well into the late 90's even. Despite having 215 and 235 width tires even. The 92 models only ran 205/50/15s up front (my Civic runs that much rubber now)

Most over rated cars though?

GT-R (R32 up) - It is heavy, quick yes, but not as fast as fanboys like to think (R32 to R34) and is so over played its old.

Veyron - Just is, period.

AE86 - Sorry, I've driven these, setup or not, and they are pretty anticlimatic. Yes, they have a neat vintage-ish appeal, but I can think of a dozen cars that can be had for less that do so many things better, like the Miata, MR2, or for speed, a 92 Civic Si.

S13 - See above, though it isn't as bad as an AE86 for the most part.
 
Remember the obituaries for the NSX as well? I didn't think it would mean much, but it seemed like every major magazine had some big full-page commentary about it at the time. It was sad seeing the car fade away like that, in a mess of underpowered automatic-equipped targa pushovers... But clearly, the car meant a lot to quite a few people.

The good news is that resale values on them are halfway decent, and you can pick up well-kept models easily for $25K. Of course, that assumes that you can even find one for sale.
 
Hands down...the VW Beetle. I really don't like it at all, and it has sold...actually, I forgot, sorry. But the thing is just way overrated, even if it's popular with the more 'casual' crowd.
 
350Z. Every one I see is driven by some db who thinks hes hot stuff. Ive never driven one, but the drivers always piss me off. Has someone said Civics, too? My Jeep eats Civics for brunch.
 
YSSMAN
The good news is that resale values on them are halfway decent, and you can pick up well-kept models easily for $25K. Of course, that assumes that you can even find one for sale.
Click to expand...

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!
 
C-ZETA
Hands down...the VW Beetle. I really don't like it at all, and it has sold...actually, I forgot, sorry. But the thing is just way overrated, even if it's popular with the more 'casual' crowd.
Click to expand...

Funny you mention the Beetle (and I assume you're talking about the original Volks Wagen and not the new "Mädchen Wagen"), it's a car which for most of my life I thought was overrated, and more recently have really started to like. The same thing happened with all the classic "peoples' cars" really, the Mini, the 500, the 2CV etc. Their concept becomes more relevant again all the time, just as it was for those cars in the 40s/50s/60s.
 
The Volkswagen... whose strange, air-cooled flat-four was one of the most widely used engines in grassroots motorsports and kitcar building. (Look up the Formula VW, sometime). Also, like the 13B, its unique, compact design lends itself well to small aircraft use.

The swingaxles and rear-engine made handling a little more exciting than need be, the car was undeniably crude, noisy and unrefined...

But the Beetle sold well into the 70's, and, in Brazil, till just a few years ago (wiki'ing... apparently 2003... we had a batch of new ones here back in 2000 brought in by a grey market guy... sold out quickly). This isn't a car loved for any semblance of refinement, sportiness or luxury... it's loved because it's the Beetle... for better or for worse.
 
seanyb505
350Z. Every one I see is driven by some db who thinks hes hot stuff. Ive never driven one, but the drivers always piss me off.
Click to expand...

The drivers pissing you off means it's over-rated? There may be plenty of douche bags and a**holes behind the wheel, and while most reviews are certainly glowing, I don't think I've ever seen a comparo where it won. It's mostly a bang for the buck argument that earns the car good marks. Good handling, good braking, good acceleration; nothing that's the best. If being over-rated is driver dependent, than I'm not sure there is a car that ISN'T over-rated.
 
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.
 

Latest Posts

Back