QOTD: What Car Do You Not Recommend?
Last week, we asked you about the most underrated car/truck on the market. Since most of you are enthusiasts, I'd guess that some of you recommend underrated vehicles when your friends and family ask you about purchase decisions. But what are the cars/trucks you steer your friends/family away from?
As a professional member of the automotive media, I don't really have one particular model in mind, since I've learned that car shoppers often will ask for advice and then do what they want anyway. I understand why that happens -- car buying is an emotional process, and some folks will go with the car that's best-looking and/or most fun-to-drive over the logical choice. Other times folks are limited in choice due to their budget.
Still, I try to warn folks away from brands/models that have reliability concerns, or vehicles that I feel are overpriced, or vehicles that offer a terrible driving experience. I suspect many of you use those factors, or others, to warn people away from certain vehicles.
But that's not the question -- though it is probably a future QOTD. No, the question is, which vehicle do you tell people to avoid?
Sound off below.
[Image: comzeal images/Shutterstock.com]
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Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
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Really the better question is, what could be recommended? I think only a small portion of what is currently for sale is worth the purchase at any reasonable price.
I steer people away from Subaru, BMW, and anything fully electric.
Nissans over 75K. I've known too many people where the CVT blows up and they are out lots of money on a CVT for a cheap Sentra.
I consider myself well versed in cars, but there's one thing I can't figure out about some of the responses up there: why the Subaru hate? I can drive down one of the main drags through town and see dozens of Subarus at least 8-10 years old, many of them Outbacks and Foresters. I know the boxer engines can get a little maintenance heavy as they age, but that's true of any ICE. Typically Subarus tend to be top tier in quality scores. We might have our own reasons for not liking them (...cough...killing the WRX STi...cough), but in one showroom you have their contribution to rally cars in different flavors (WRX), a true small, light RWD relatively inexpensive sports car in the BRZ, and a model with enough brand recognition to be up there with Jell-o and Kleenex with the Outback. Personally if someone I know just must have a Japanese crossover that seats 5 easily with leftover cargo space, I'd guide them to either an Outback or the CX-70/90.