This Is the Stuff Movies Constantly Get Wrong About Cars

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I love seeing cars in movies. They can easily make a scene way more exciting. The problem is that not everything about the cars in those movies is, uh, accurate. Excluding pretty much everything from the Fast and Furious universe (because that’s too easy of an answer), it seems like movies tend to make a lot of car mistakes!

Last week, I asked you guys what movies get wrong about cars. Are the components incorrectly identified? Are the interior lights always on? Why are the damn keys always hidden in the sun visor?

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In my own examples, I mentioned how I noticed the BMW 3-Series used in Wheelman sometimes sounded like it had a V10 engine in some shots where it didn’t in others. Jeremy Rush, who directed and wrote the film, reached out with some clarification on the matter:

“The reason that the BMW doesn’t sound 100 percent authentic to real life,” he wrote, “is because it’s not. It’s fake. In fact, every single sound in the entire movie is 100 percent artificial. Every single gunshot, engine rev, tire screech, finger tap, bird chirp, and rustle of fabric.

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“The sound designers and I specifically chose different engines, and their components, for certain scenes. For the BMW I think we used the sounds from five different engines, recorded with up to 14 different microphones on different components (induction, exhaust, belts, etc.) The Porsche 3.2 engine was mostly sound designed with audio from a 2.7 and a 3.0 engine.”

The artificial sound, he asserted, was by choice.

I suppose if it’s a purposeful, stylistic decision, then it can’t really be a mistake, can it? Anyway, let’s see what about movies bugs the hell out you guys. At what point can you no longer suspend that disbelief?

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Gunfire (liffie420)

Cars are not bulletproof! At least their doors aren’t.

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Overdrive! (buckfiddious)

It’s not as epic as it sounds.

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Impress Me (Lokiparts)

“Wow, yeah, looks like you’ve got a Barilla dry-sump header with dual-shock overhead piston bores.”

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Hotwire (Yoopernatural)

Are you telling me it’s not that simple!?

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A List (Bubba Fett, Seymour-Baus,Inc.)

Here are a bunch of frustrations.

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Explosion (Obfuscatio: philosopher at large)

Put it in park: Explosion. Get out of it: Explosion. Lean against it: Explosion.

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Seatbelts (Markoff8585)

Nobody needs to buckle up. Safety is a lie.

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Take the Keys (Sid Bridge)

Just toss ‘em, it’s all good.

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Flip (Josh H)

Yes, cars can flip. But not that easily.

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Taxi! (Keyboard Ross)

Hah! If only!

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Airbags (Rugged Simplicity)

They never seem to work when you want them to.

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Project Car (ShadowPryde)

Oh, you finished in four hours? How nice and realistic!

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Driving Stick (Laser-Guided)

I guess adrenaline makes you an expert?

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Floor It! (66ChevelleSS)

And do it when you make up your mind about something related to the plot.