Cheap-Feeling, Underpowered, Or Just Ugly, These Cars Don't Justify Their Price

There's nothing quite like a new car. The cancer-causing chemicals are still off-gassing, the seats are still fresh from no on-gassings and the crisp piano black details and touchscreens are unsullied by grubby fingerprints. It feels like heaven. But when the shine wears off, and you're left with just A Car, are you still going to love it? Or are you going to regret paying way too much for a car that can't keep up with normal wear and tear?

It's easy for a new car to look like a million bucks, and cost that much too, but looks can be deceiving. There are some cars driving around right now like their MSRPs don't stink, and frankly, we've had it. Each member of the Jalopnik team called out the cars we find are the worse offenders here. I'm sure you have your own opinions as to what new cars are the most overpriced, and we'd love to hear them in the comments. 

Lamborghini's Urus totally does not live up to its $250,000-ish cost of entry. Yes, as a brand, Lamborghini does hold a significant cachet, rubbing Armani-swaddled elbows with the likes of Ferrari and Rolls-Royce, but it's hard to cut the Urus much slack when so little of it actually is Lamborghini.

Based on the same platform as the Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne, and Bentley Bentayga, and powered by an Audi-derived drivetrain, all the Urus brings to the table is the Lamborghini nameplate and over-the top styling that looks like it was penned by a hyperactive 12-year-old.

Consider too that in top Turbo E-Hybrid form, the Urus' closest-in-intent platform mate, the Porsche Cayenne, is nearly as quick, almost as fast, and comes in at a good one-hundred grand cheaper. Even BMW's weird-ass uber-SUV, the XM, is nearly $90K cheaper. It offers more combined power than the Urus and greater interior space. The Porsche and BMW also have more elegant cabins and, in the BMW's case, similarly polarizing exterior styling as the Urus.

Even putting the aesthetics and specs aside for a moment, it's equally important to acknowledge just how complicated a car the Urus is. That engenders having a good relationship with a dealer or factory-authorized service and repair facility. Consider how many of those there are for Lamborghini compared to those servicing Audi, BMW, or Porsche.

When it comes down to it, all you're really getting with the Urus and its outrageous price tag is a nameplate and some wacky styling that you'll probably get sick of looking at well before the $3K a month lease is up.

The Audi E-Tron GT never felt like it warranted a six-figure price tag. Despite debuting four years ago, the sedan's exterior design is already dated. The E-Tron GT prominently features a grille cover that acts like a visual megaphone telling everyone that it's, in fact, an electric car. Most high-priced electric cars have leaned into the idea of elegant, understated luxury. The E-Tron GT, on the other hand, looks brash and aggressive.

On the inside, I can't stand the E-Tron GT's paddle shifters. They aren't used for shifting, but regenerative braking. It's a feature ripped straight from a Formula E car, which I bet amuses the championship's dozen fans. Most luxury EV owners would rather have one-pedal driving instead. If you're in the market for a luxury EV sedan, just get a Lucid Air Touring. It's over $20,000 cheaper, and you get an extra 168 miles in range.

The Volkswagen ID Buzz is a fine van. I'll give it a lot of leeway because of how good it looks — few vehicles get such a positive reaction from just about everyone who sees it. Unfortunately, it costs about $25,000 too much. The interior materials and driving experience scream "cargo van" not "$70,000 lifestyle vehicle." There's far too much hard plastic and mediocre-at-best technology onboard to feel comfortable spending over $70,000. You've also got to consider the range is pretty piss poor for a vehicle this expensive. The EPA says it'll get at most 234 miles of range on a full charge, and that number drops to 231 for the all-wheel-drive dual-motor car. At the prices VW is asking for it, that's just not enough. None of this is to say the ID Buzz is an intrinsically bad car. It's just not a car that is good enough to justify its hefty price tag. I don't care how much the company wants to pull at your nostalgic heartstrings. I'm not sold. If a fully loaded ID Buzz cost $50,000, I'd be signing a much different tune, but that is, unfortunately, not the way the world works.

The Mercedes-Benz CLE300 4Matic starts at $59,150. That gets you a 4,000-pound all-wheel-drive coupe that's powered by a pedestrian turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-4 that produces 255 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque. Granted this is the base powertrain, but it feels underpowered, especially when you compare it to the silky inline-6 in the CLE450. The interior looks cute, but there are a disappointing amount of hard scratchy plastics that wouldn't offend in a Mitsubishi, but in Mercedes-Benz's sole coupe? (The Mercedes-AMG GT is an AMG, and I refuse to acknowledge any of the "four-door coupes" as coupes.) The CLE300 just doesn't feel like a car that should cost over $75,000 when desirable options are added. Save your money and buy a used E-Class Coupe; it has nicer materials and feels more premium.

The most overpriced car on the market today is the Subaru Solterra. It isn't an incredibly expensive car, which might make it seem like an odd choice, but it's not meant to be — the Solterra is your average midsize crossover, except that it happens to be electric. Yet the Solterra doesn't feel like an average $38,500 car. Its interior is loud, its ride is stiff, its plastics are cheap to the touch. It feels like Subaru (and Toyota) had a $38,500 electric crossover due at midnight and only started the project at 9pm. You can see where the companies were headed, what they were going for, but the result just doesn't live up to a nearly $40,000 price point. If the Solterra wants to be a mass-market EV with the ride and interior quality it has, it simply can't cost as much as it does. If it wants to be a $38,500 car, it needs to be nicer.

In today's ridiculously price inflated new car market, I don't really think the standard Nissan Z's $42,970 MSRP is really all that out of line. Nissan building a 400-horsepower sports car with classically handsome sheetmetal and an available manual transmission at all is pretty cool, but considering it costs less than a Toyota GR Supra, Ford Mustang GT, or BMW M240i makes it reasonable. What isn't reasonable, however is the automatic-only ostensibly track-focused Nissan Z Nismo being tragically overpriced at $65,750. 

At sixty-six grand the Z Nismo is priced ten percent higher than the significantly faster 500-hp Mustang Dark Horse, and pushes up against a base model C8 Corvette or Porsche Cayman. Nissan justifies the $22,780 price difference between base model and Nismo by giving the latter 20 extra horsepower, 34 extra pound-feet of torque, track-tuned suspension, and Akebono brake calipers. There is nothing Nissan could do to convince me this package is worth the base price of an entire 2025 Nissan Kicks more than a standard Z. Ultimately, I think the Z Nismo is a really cool car, and will likely be looked upon quite fondly in twenty years, but that shouldn't distract from the fact that it's drastically overpriced. I wish it was closer to $50,000 and could be ordered with a manual transmission. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

I know I'm not setting the world on fire with this pick. It's a pretty well-known situation that Stellantis' quality is dropping, and yet it turns around and sells some models for way, way too much. This big bus of a Jeep stands out in my mind, however, because it stands out every where it goes; it's a massive wall of plasticky parts with a starting MSRP of $91,190​​. It's pretty easy to push that price into the six-figure range when you start looking at options, packages and trim levels. 

I remember when I first saw one in a neighbor's driveway and I stood there staring at it like an early hominid in a Stanley Kubrick film trying to understand how Jeep thought building something so massive was a good idea. Turns out, it wasn't. Stellantis began cheaping out on parts and labor right around when it tried to make Jeep something it wasn't and never should be — a luxury nameplate. The Wagoneer was supposed to be a Cadillac Escalade equivalent, but if you come for the king you better not miss, and Jeep missed big time. Jeep is a brand folks associate with rugged and affordable vehicles, but this opulent family hauler is none of those things. It's a perfect representation of what has happened to the Jeep brand in general — bloated, poorly built SUVs that shock shoppers with their MSRPs. It's an expensive boondoggle that has only hurt a brand once cherished for lack of nonsense.

The Maserati MC20 is one of the most interesting cars the brand has made in years; a mid-engine supercar with butterfly doors, a newly developed twin-turbo V6, and absolutely gorgeous styling. It should be a hit, right? Sadly, while I think the MC20 is pretty great to drive, it just doesn't live up to its $239,000 starting price, which can surge well past $300,000 with options. The MC20 is saddled by some of the worst and weirdest ergonomics I've experienced in a supercar, from things like an uncomfortable driving position and bad visibility to lack of any meaningful storage space. It's not very well built either, and the Stellantis parts-bin sharing is obvious.

The MC20 is fast as hell and a blast on a good twisty road, plus fairly comfortable around town, but it doesn't feel that special from behind the wheel, and an Italian supercar should feel special. The engine is powerful and makes fun turbo noises, but it doesn't have a lot of character. Similarly priced competitors like the McLaren Artura offer a better breadth of ability, or you can save tens of thousands of dollars and go for any variety of Porsche 911, which won't frustrate you around town.