Taste is a funny thing, as it moves in cycles. After all, if you took someone from 2007, put them in a time machine and warped them to the present day, they might be alarmed to see that Nickelback is now ironically cool, people are wearing sweatsuits again, and IPAs are every-freaking-where. It’s the same thing with cars. Although it can be easy to poke fun at a car you don’t like, one day, you might wake up and realize you don’t detest the car you hated anymore.
I’ll give you an example. When the Bentley Flying Spur was fresh on the market, I wasn’t a fan. It looked like it had been at the bottom of a canal wearing cement shoes for a week, and it was substantially more expensive than the Volkswagen Phaeton on which it was based. It lacked the stiff upper lip of its Arnage big brother, instead trading on flash and arguably diluting the Bentley name. Now though, things are different.
Perhaps its because much uglier luxury sedans have since been made, or because depreciation hit the 2005 Flying Spur like a can of Twisted Tea, but I find myself mellowing to the old Flying Spur. It’s a big, fast, all-weather businessperson’s express, and it’s hard to hate on that overarching concept much. Plus, the Flying Spur line has outlasted that of the Arnage and Mulsanne, and it feels more traditional than say, the Bentayga.
So, what’s a car you hated but have since come around to? It could be something that you once considered a shitbox, something you once considered a cash grab, or something else entirely. Regardless of differing circumstances, we’d love to hear your picks in the comments below.
(Photo credits: Bentley)
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When I was twelve I saw a 300 SL coupe at a show and thought it was hideous. Weird proportions, stupid doors and ugly plaid seats with a tacky white steering wheel. Ten years later I saw another one and my opinion changed completely. It’s an absolutely beautiful car inside and out as long as it isn’t wearing Rudge wheels.
Big nosed BMW M4s and M3s, G12 7 Series, and Bangle Butt cars!
Not a specific car but a whole genre.
Hybrids.
I used to LOATH the Prius, primarily because of the arguably true stereotype they would go 5mph under the speed limit in the left lane… which made me despise almost all hybrids.
Anyway, I’ve come around on Hybrids in general and am considering buying a hybrid Camry to replace my Tacoma. The primary factor being the fact that I drive a lot for work and 68¢ per mile at 53mpg is a lot better than 16mpg…. Not to mention bouncing around in the Tacoma for 8 hours a day can wear on you vs a comfortable sedan.
The Z3 M Coupe. I’d always been a BMW fan (today I only really like the M2), looking for awesome models that had depreciated and become obtainable, and a few times I considered it, but it felt like it hurt my eyes to look at it. So I wrote it off.
Suddenly a couple of years ago I was looking for a track car and ran across a good deal on standard Z3 2.8 Coupe and thought, hey, that’s different. I’d written them off completely. But now they looked entirely different to me.Quirky, but good quirky, and like nothing else. I always thought the roadster looked a little off from the rear, too small, and here you had these awesome bulged fenders and extended roofline.
I bought it, driving it was like driving nothing else, I fell in love, then graduated to the M version. Thankfully, prices took a dip – I thought that ship might have sailed away forever. It’s now my dream car and a favorite to drive.
Bangle era BMWs. Compared to the shit they are putting out there now,the Bangles look classy and restrained.
Vanagon, especially Westfalia versions
Ford Probe. Especially the first gen. When they were everywhere, it was just a car with a funny name. Now they’re a charming lost gem of the 90s
Not counting the new generation, which I think looks great and might actually be willing to lay down my own hard-earned money for… I nominate the Prius.
I still loathe the thought of actually having to drive any of the previous generations, as every older Prius I ever drove was not at all enjoyable for me personally. Nonetheless, I have also had to come to respect the fact that for a lot of people they have actually been really good cars. They are affordable, reliable, economical, roomy enough and get the job done, really all that can be asked of an effective transportation appliance.
Jerry Seinfeld famously gave Bill Burr crap for dailying a Prius on “Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee.” Burr said he though of it like an appliance, like a toaster or a blender. When he wanted to drive for fun, he broke out the Mustang Mach 1, but he didn’t really want to sit idling in the school pick up line with it.
I saw a green first gen Prius the other day, it was reasonably clean and seemed well taken care of; my first thought was, “That’ll be a classic in the near future.” It’s the first notable hybrid car, has funky looks, is a Toyota, and its descendants are massively popular. I’d certainly own a first-gen as a novelty.
I’d give the nod to the Honda Insight on both of those, even if the Prius has vastly out-sold it.
I knew there was one I was forgetting, I still think the Prius will be more notable than the Insight as far as a collector’s item, though.
I have only fairly recently come to the opinion that the 2nd gen Prius is actually not a bad looking car, and is a nice functional design. Plus it has the CRX window.
The other side of the coin: what is a car that you admired but were disappointed in when you finally got to drive one? For me it was a ’55 Thunderbird, completely restored, absolutely gorgeous. However, it was heavy, uncomfortable, had lousy handling, a 2-speed automatic, and was too large for what it was (and later models were even larger!). It looks light and sporty, and maybe it was much better than the barges of the time, but they are better seen and not driven.
I’m afraid the opposite is far more common, a car I liked I have learned to hate.
Fox Body Mustangs. I never liked them while they were being produced, but I have grown to appreciate them. C3 Corvettes are another one.
I turn 52 in three weeks, and I have thought all my life that the C3 Corvette is absolutely the sexiest body design ever conceived by an American automaker. No American car has topped it yet, and none of you can convince me otherwise. Find me a better one.
Ok I have one that I’ll probably get flak for because nobody cares about it, and one that I’ll definitely get all the hate for because I’m still not a fan, but I’m starting to see the appeal.
The first one is the late model thunderbird platform mercury cougar, I always hated that vertical rear window, but now I want one more than a little (I want to widebody it and turn it into an imsa style street car).
The second one is, and I hesitate to say this here, the GMT800 trucks. Before I’m impaled like one of Vlad’s subjects let me explain. I had one that I bought new in ’06, and kept for a total of 7 months. The interior failed so badly that the thing dumped my brother on his head when the rear seat collapsed as he went to climb out of it. I traded it in on an ’07 ram 3500 dually with a cummins and six speed manual. Now, however, I’m at least seeing that mine was likely a fluke with the structural failures so maybe it might be worth looking at. . . maybe.
I had a love hate relationship with a GMT800 based Yukon XL 2500. I’ll start out by saying I hate driving trucks, but sports cars can’t tow 10K Lb 🙁 The thing tried to kill me, twice, but it was too reliable by the time I had to retire it with 245K miles. Hated the interior even though this one had a denali one installed by insurance after it was stolen then found by the previous owner. The only thing that managed to kill this unkillable truck was towing about 8K Lb, not knowing my friend that borrowed it lowered the receiver, and crossing train tracks that were in a slight valley relative to the road and it turns out that rails are FAR stronger than frames and receivers. Clean snap on the frame going about 3/4 of the way up from the bottom right behind where the leaf springs attach leaving it perfectly drivable, but useless for it’s only purpose, towing. It never got into double digits MPG wise highway driving, but also never worse than 7.9 with the trailer. Same trailer on same trip in a 2016 silverado netted us 4.3mpg, of course it got 24 I think without the trailer.
As for the two near death experiences, David Tracy literally saved my life or at least my kidneys… I had an issue with the cooling system leaking and as I start investigating a hose bursts and shoots about 3oz of antifreeze down my throat as I am screaming in pain from my hand being scalded. Fortunately I read this 6 days before and knew I needed to get hammered ASAP and stay that way for 12 hours: https://jalopnik.com/heres-how-all-of-the-fluids-in-your-car-can-kill-you-1789532554
Second time, I had to unload 4 tires and an air compressor before leaving, so started it up for the first time in 4 months, pulled it forward about 4′ with the garage door open, and unload the tires then the compressor. As I’m setting the compressor down I think to myself “cool, every color is disappearing except for red. OH SHIT! THIS IS BAD!” and try to sprint out of the garage. I start stumbling about 10′ from the door and last thing I remember is as I’m falling my shoulder hits the mirror on my RX8 and I say sorry to it. Wake up about 5 minutes later face down in snow with the truck fully warmed up. Turns out that 8.1L engine outputs a LOT of carbon monoxide in the first 45 seconds after startup.
I forgot to mention that after reading that article I went down a rabbit how of trying to find what the antidote would be to each of them. End result is I knew how ethylene glycol gets metabolized, and it basically gets handled like any other alcohol, but breaks down into something toxic. Work around is your body will metabolize any ethanol it can first before it starts metabolizing antifreeze so you just need to stay above 0.12 ABV for however long it takes you to pee it out of your system. I even remember the first 6 of the 12 hours I told my friends I need to stay drunk. Now brake fluid scares me more than any other fluid as I think you’re just screwed if you drink it with no viable cure.
Thanks, I’m glad I’m not alone in the absurdity.
Also fun fact, the toxic metabolite of ethylene glycol forms a crystal in the kidneys that is detectable in an autopsy so it’s basically useless as an intentional poison if you don’t want to get caught. I have to teach other officers chemistry for our urine tests we use so there’s many a rabbit hole I’ve followed.
I’ll probably never need to know this but it sure is interesting
45 seconds? That’s very impressive.
1970’s cars as a whole, especially the big personal luxury coupes. I went from hating them, to thinking they are ironically cool, to genuinely liking them.
I’ve kind of gone the other way, I used to love big, cushy barged (and really, still do) and used to love 70s luxocruisers, but I’ve become much more aware of their janky build quality and shoddy materials over the years, and less tolerant of the cheap plastic baroque trim elements they were decorated with. I’d lean more to 1960s and older or 1990s and newer, personally.
One of my very favorite features that Torch ever wrote over on the lighting website was “Where Are The Large Cars Of Beauty And Grace?”
Lately I find myself wanting my neighbor’s car from when I was seven: a 1976 Buick Riviera exactly like this one. That’s one handsome two-door barge. https://bringatrailer.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/1976_buick_riviera_DSC_0005-37606-scaled.jpg?fit=940%2C627
When I was younger in the 1980s, I hated the Honda Civic Wagon/Wagovan.
But then I bought a used one off of a co-worker for cheap… and I grew to love the inner goodness of the Civic Wagovan.
Miata, kinda? Not exactly hate, but for a time I didn’t care for them as they were “modern” and I was a hardcore classic car guy. I thought everyone praising the Miata just didn’t know classic sports cars would be better as they have more personality.
But, after spending enough time on ye olde Jello Picnic site and Opposite-lock, I started to come around to Miatas and modern cars in general, becoming interested in the engineering and acquiring the taste for newer car styling, thinking maybe there really is something to those cars. Eventually an NA Miata was the first “modern” (lol) car on my someday list.
And now I own an NA Miata and it’s the best thing ever, I must take a moment to tell you how fun Miatas are, it goes zoom but not too much zoom so you can zoom all the time and around corners quickly and CONVERTIBLE ohmygosh it’s great you must join the cult yes join us there’s only a minor ceremony involved so little blood you won’t even notic-
Anyway, the other car I hated but came around to is the Nissan GTR. It’s easy to forget there was once a time when misinformation about that car was more prevalent than actual facts, especially in the realm of high school auto tech class. Anybody else remember when every young JDM fanboy thought GTRs were illegal in the U.S. because they were “faster than any American police car” so they couldn’t be allowed in? Where the frick did that idea come from? It used to be everywhere and SO FREAKING WRONG it drove me insane and I hated the GTR for being put on a pedestal as this mythical giant slayer that would beat anyone and everything and cure cancer and get Dominic Toretto pregnant and solve world hunger and beat up your dad or whatever. It was the Alicorn OC of cars.
Now, I respect the GTR for what it is. It’s neat, it looks cool and turbo straight six AWD Japanese coupe is a fun concept. It’s still overhyped to the moon though, which is sad as now half the people paying six figures for them think they’re buying a modern supercar, not a car that with a bit of tuning could beat 90s supercars in the 90s. It’s a good car with an interesting history, but it ain’t $500k good. I wouldn’t kick one out of my fleet though.
I can’t come up with a single one. There are a few cars I’ve fallen out of love with (Tesla, notably), but I can’t think of any that I eventually came to like. Apparently I hold strong car grudges. 🙂
Last gen Civic. When it first came out I thought “not in this lifetime!” Now I’m 5 years into 2019 Si ownership, and it’s a great car. The styling still doesn’t spark joy, but it’s been a super reliable ton of fun.
A lot of American sedans from the past decade or so. I thought the Ford Fusion was pretty forgettable at first, but looking back, I think both generations are pretty handsome sedans. Also a lot of Lincoln and Cadillac sedans from before sedans were no more, they’re a lot nicer looking and performing than I gave them credit for.
The styling of the first gen Fusion has grown on me, admittedly. However, a 2009 Fusion is the first car I can safely say hated me. My fiancee had one when we met in 2017, and it had been generally reliable up to around 130k. The first time I ever drove it, the check engine light came on and it started misfiring. It was all downhill from there. Went through a couple throttle bodies, several coil packs, the sunroof broke, and the radio antenna started leaking into the cabin. The rear defroster gave up despite no damage, it started leaking power steering fluid and oil as well. By the time he upgraded to a 2018 Mazda3 in 2021, it needed both axles, control arms, tie rods, was misfiring again, valve cover gaskets went filling the spark plug areas with oil, and it had compression varying from 80psi to 140psi on different cylinders (V6). And it was stuck in limp mode. I think it might have had 160k ish on it at the time. I’ve seen Piech-era VWs have fewer issues at those miles.
When I was shopping for a car last year, one of the first things within my budget that I looked at was a Ford Fusion, precisely because I thought they were such handsome cars. Then I found out about the transmissions in those cars being ticking time bombs. It made me very sad. Before I found that out, there was one that sold on a lot up the street from me, in that searing electric blue, that I kicked myself for missing out on. Sometimes you think you’ve missed the boat, when you’ve actually dodged a bullet.
That’s true! I’ve definitely test drove some cars that seemed really appealing, but clearly had serious problems I was trying to overlook 😀
The 1971 Buick Riviera. I found it laughable when new, and now I’d absolutely love to have one of these audacious things.
I would do naughty things for a boattail Riv.
For the longest time I couldn’t stomach the sight of the Lexus RX. Ubiquitous, and driven slowly by a purple haired lady, or her husband with the nicely trimmed beard. Then about 5 years ago I was shopping a car for my daughter and came across one of these and had a closer look. AWD, big enough for stuff, small enough to park, and reliable as a pair of socks. If you’re going to buy just one used car to do everything, you could do much worse than one of these
As an appliance sure, but why do they have to be so ugly? I have a very high tolerance for vehicles others consider ugly, but why does its chin do what it does?
I don’t like them because they’re a crossover, which is almost universally a bad thing, and they have fake AWD, which I hate on many levels.
Where do you find socks as reliable as a Lexus?
Nissan Juke. I feel like it’s the Nickelback of cars. Everyone memes on it, but for no reason other than everyone else does. It’s a community punching bag. I can’t say that I was any better.
Then go to 2016, and I needed to replace my 2004 Mazda 3 which I dearly loved. I went to the dealership to look at something. I don’t remember what and it ended up being a piece of garbage in person. The salesperson, not wanting to lose my business asked what drew me to that car and I explained I wanted another manual hatchback. He asked if I was open minded, and after I said sure he told me to wait.
A few minutes later he pulls up in a maroon, 2012 Nissan Juke. It had been rotting away on the lot. No one wanted it. The price was right. And you don’t see what it looks like from the inside right?
I owned that car for 8 years, and 120k miles. Outside of brakes, oil changes, tires, and spark plugs, the only work I ever had to do on it was both the front wheel bearings, and that was right at the end of it’s life. It was zippy and fun to drive. It was also the only car I’ve ever owned that attracted attention from ladies. Typically it was middle aged moms telling me how cute it was, but it was attention regardless.
Killed two deer in that car, and sadly the second one did it in. It was a great car. RIP Juke.
If a Juke was ever gonna have a redemption arc, it’d start with kill count paint/stickers like an old warbird.
Good call. I didn’t exactly hate them originally, but I didn’t like them either. But in our current era of giant box vehicles all around, it does now seem to point the way to an alternate universe where the market was happy with regular 4 door hatchbacks and slightly taller stuff like it, if you really needed the extra space.
The Juke isn’t that great in the extra space area. Personally I’d love it if someone came up with a “cargo bay” insert that replaces the back seats, which have been folded down in mine for at least 8 years. Strong tie-down points, configurable dividers, that kind of thing.
The Juke was far from spacious. I’m a large man. Both tall and wide, so that’s a consideration I look for in my vehicles, and the Juke was comfortable for me. However, fitting someone in the seat behind me was a challenge. Even a kid would struggle for leg room, and I’d have to slide my seat forward jamming my own knees into the dash.
The backseat was not very roomy, and I found that I also spent most of my time with it folded down.
“Typically it was middle aged moms telling me how cute it was, but it was attention regardless.”
This is absolutely a thing. My 90 year old mom’s middle-aged hairstylist loves my Juke.
Sadly IPAs never went away. Now everybody is making hazy IPAs and they never stopped making the regular ones. If you want good beer you’re outta luck unless you go Belgian or German. Which is fine as they make a lot.
Friend of mine when I was studying at the RCA was Belgian. One afternoon he says the magic words “want to go get a beer?”. The student bar didn’t open until 6pm, so of course I agreed. We walk for like half an hour, must have passed a dozen pubs (this is central London after all). Eventually I said “Beirens, where the fuck are you taking us?”. Turns out he knew a Belgian place. The weakest beer was something like 8%, which is pretty heavy for an early afternoon snifter. After about four I swear I could see through time.
I did a transEurope classic car rally that ended at Rolduc, a medieval abbey. Although it is in The Netherlands, it was founded in the 12th century by Flemish monks who still brew their own beer in the cellar. After surviving 2000 miles in a janky 70s Triumph, stepping into the dark cool embrace of the arched cellars and being handed a crisp fresh-pulled beer made by Jesuits. That memory is a keeper.
I’ve heard some of those are monumentally strong.
It made me forget about 50 years of Triumph stench.
Belgian beer is supreme
I love IPAs, but they’re not for everyone. You at least have to appreciate that the English were so hellbent on having fresh beer wherever they went that they came up with a variety specifically to send on 3+ month voyages.
sadly? the breweries make them because the people buy them.
in america you are absolutely NOT out of luck to buy good, great, or even the absolute BEST beers in the world. american small breweries are currently making the finest pilsners, lagers, saisons, spontaneous, bitters, milds, pale ales that either goes head to head with europe’s best or exceeds them from my taste comparisons.
american craft breweries is something that we should take massive pride in. theyre like the early japanese car makers. they started off with shite, became better, became obsessive, became creative, and now the global leaders of the industry. not to take anything away from europes best but i believe overall america offers better beer now.
i fcking love beer.
I’ll need some pointers to find those non-IPAs pls. Everything we get on the west coast here is disgustingly bitter hops juice. Thanks!
The west coast is definitely the worst about it, especially restaurants. A beer list with 30 options: Budweiser, Bud Light, and 28 IPA variants. Even when the breweries like Sierra Nevada and Russian River make good stouts, sours, Belgians, etc they’re hard to actually find.
Yeah, and everyone’s favorite “local boy done good” microbrewery, Lagunitas, basically only offers bitter, bitterer, and bittererrest. Even their pilsner is undrinkable.
They’re a great example. I’ve had a couple non-IPAs from them that were pretty decent, but they barely exist outside of their taproom.
Tesla products. I don’t know if I necessarily hated them, but I had a negative impression of them due to the irritating behavior of some Tesla fans, Elon’s generalized unlikability, build quality issues, and quirks.
While I like EVs, I was of the opinion that I would consider buying any EV but a Tesla. Over time, I started to think Tesla vehicles have enough advantages (particularly the Supercharger network) that they are the best EV options available, so I bought a Model 3 in January.
At this point, I am legitimately a Tesla fan and want to trade my cheap ex-rental Model 3 in for a Model S. I doubt I will actually buy a Model S any time soon, but if I happen to come across a newish used mildly janky cheap ex-rental Model S I would at least consider it.
Basically all the retro cars. But especially the PT Cruiser and the HHR.
I hated both with a passion when they came out. Now I look back at an era where you could get a small inexpensive car that someone bothered to inject some design into. Cars like this are basically extinct, and that’s pretty sad to me.
The PT Cruiser might be a bit too much for me, but I would gladly rock an HHR these days. Couldn’t say that 15 years ago.
The slit-eyed Grand Cherokee. When they came out I saw them everywhere. I won’t say they enraged me—more that they offended my sense of what was right & proper. I saw one at close proximity earlier today, and they don’t bother me a bit now.
Partly I’ve mellowed, and partly come to accept that my aesthetic ideals are largely from the past.
I really like those. Thought it was a strong design and was disappointed they dulled it down with the facelift.
Well, I’ve been a philistine most of my life, but am always willing to learn.
Are you referring to the front end—and can you give me a quick thumbnail of why you feel that was strong?
Was it perhaps because the thin curved headlights emphasized the move to the rounded front/away from the blocky previous model?
Very modern, clean, distinctive, looked quite aero efficient (I have no idea if it was, I assume so) but still kept the trademark grille intact.
What’s the slit eye Grand Cherokee? The new one? I really love it. I like the long flat hood look. I’ve always thought they were striking. The WK is probably the only Grand Cherokee that makes me go, eh, not great.