Readers Say They Will Never Buy A Car From These Brands

Tesla, because Elon.

Submitted by: Give Me Tacos or Give Me Death

And...

Tesla. Too much focus on ADAS-forward design, giant tablets, unnecessarily simple physical controls and interior design, and I don’t want to be associated with Tesla-Stans. When they first came out with the original Tesla Roadster I had a lot of hope that their designs would be Driver-focused. Damn was I disappointed with the S dropped, and the new Roadster design looks like it’s just going to be a two-door Model S with fart-cans.

Submitted by: Weeks

And...

I’m going to jump on the “No-Tesla” bandwagon. I truly applaud what they have done as far as innovation and growing a company from a small niche brand into a mainstream competitor, but the lack of quality surrounding that technology is pretty appalling. I’ve seen nicer interiors in Dodge products.

Submitted by: FijiST

HyunKia, because of their dealers. Their product has gotten better, even though Genesis needs to be more of a Lexus dealer experience than a Hyundai experience, but their dealerships are still centered on a low credit score, financially-challenged customer.

Submitted by: Saigon_Design

And...

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The H/K twins, but not Genesis - The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of a low price is forgotten

Submitted by: Ceedge

Volkswagen. Never again.

I bought a beautiful Cobalt Blue ‘09 Passat wagon in 2013. 85,000 miles so of course it was out of warranty, but it was in great shape and was by far the nicest car I’d ever owned. In the 18 months that I had it, it cost me $8,000 in repair bills and the engine had to come out twice, once because a balance shaft seized and locked up the motor (as I was turning left across a busy intersection). I finally gave up on it when the throttle position sensor shit the bed while coming home on a busy expressway at night, and trying to get across three lanes of traffic with no throttle response (which is infuriating since the engine’s running, but the pedal no longer does anything) is sphincter-puckering. It’s the only car I ever owned that made me mad enough to write to corporate headquarters (and of course no response), and now every time I see a modern Volkswagen I want to throw rocks at it.

Submitted by: BonusMaximus

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BMW - I hate their giant screen interiors and design language. They’ve become soulless husks of their former selves. And them trying to push subscription on hardware that’s already in the car is offensive.

Submitted by: mountainbikingandtrackdays

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BMW

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Current models are ugly and overpriced, used ones are a ticking time bomb of maintenance issues.

Submitted by: Earthbound Misfit I

Jaguar. I purchased a new ‘17 F-Pace in 2016. Things failed on that car that I didn’t even know cars have. Creaks and rattles from mile 1. The InConrol system would make Gandhi take a hammer to it. The A/C compressor failed on day 3. Between recalls and breakdowns it was at the dealer about 25% of the time, and since they had few loaners I was usually in a rental Sentra while making a $1000 car payment. Worse than the car was JLR and the dealer’s flippant “so?” when I was begging them to get me out of this nightmare. It completely shut down on me on the highway one day after 11 months and 6K miles. I drove straight to another dealer and took a huge bath on it, but I didn’t care. One more day, and I was honestly going to set that car on fire in the middle of the Jag dealer. If JLR goes under I will dance on their grave.

Submitted by: greyspace

Chrysler & FIAT - now a two-fer. Most were convertibles and all were less than half a car.

I grew up in a Chrysler household. I know the Mopar pain. Between New Yorkers/Dynastys, Lebarons, Sebrings, Neons, it was both a mix of the “greatest hits” of K-Cars/Neons as well as the lowest of low-quality convertible. If you think LH platform cars were bad, try the JA/JR platform which was basically the same but top leaked and you got wet on you AND the electronics got soggy and even more unreliable.

Submitted by: FutureDoc

Chrysler & Fiat are a pretty good case for “two wrongs don’t make a right”

Submitted by: SlickS30r

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#2 would go to Hyundai/Kia. This is hard because I really want to like them. I think the Forte GT is a cool car with a stick, the K5 looks super slick, and their big SUVs are finally growing on me. But every time I get in one that got some miles on it, you can tell they don’t use the best quality materials. Things rattle, suspension thumps, steering pumps starting to whine, etc. It definitely shows why these are always priced less than their competitors.

Submitted by: FijiST

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Hyundai and Kia: Again- these two brands are having some major quality issues in particular with their engines.

Submitted by: ROBOT TURDS

For me, never again on Ford or Chrysler products. Long term reliability studies support my experience. Yes, YOU had a great Ford, but the tendencies are there.

My Ford - self-bricked at 80,000 miles. Within six months AC stopped working, liftgate motor broke, a power window motor broke, half the instrument cluster stopped illuminating, heating worked for only the passenger side of the car, and the transmission died.

Submitted by: Maha

And...

Ford, only because we have family friends that are a “Ford family” and it seems like all their cars/trucks have been POS’s. I believe at one time they had five non-running Fords in their driveway at the same time (Econoline, Tempo, Bronco, and 2 Escorts). Later they bought a brand new Escort ZX2, and the fuel pump gave out on their maiden voyage to go visit the grandparents in the new car, left them stranded out of state.

Submitted by: GreenN_Gold

And another...

Ford - no cars in N.A., no sale. The world has enough F150s

Submitted by: Ceedge

Ferrari

As a much younger guy, I was with some friends in NYC and came upon a Ferrari dealership. We grabbed the door handle during normal business hours, but it was locked, and the henchmen inside just gave us the stink eye and waved us off.

Came upon a Lamborghini/Bugatti/Spyker dealer shortly after and the guy held the door for us to come in, offered to take pictures posing next to the cars, etc.

A few years later we were in the same situation, passed the same dealerships. Ferrari dealer actually had the door unlocked and let us in that time, but kicked us out the moment the camera started to come out of my pocket.

It is the brief positive and negative interactions like that can spoil brand loyalty before it could even begin.

Submitted by: StalePhish

Mercedes. Worst car I ever owned. Literally one week after warranty was up, had catastrophic breakdown (due to faulty part, not anything that I could have avoided) that took out bottom half of engine (harmonic balancer was faulty and wrecked a bunch of other stuff). Needed over $11k in repairs, after much fighting and arguing with dealership and MB corporate they agreed to cover half the cost. So still cost me almost $6k out of pocket to repair a car that had less than 50k miles on it. That soured me enough, but besides that major breakdown I had dealt with constant small things wrong all the time with that car prior to that - constant electric gremlins over and over that I tried to get repaired but they never really were fixed. Power window motors, headlight bulbs that burn out every 4 weeks, battery would completely die if I went on vacation and didn’t start car in just 5-6 days. Awful awful car. After the $6k I paid to get it back functioning I promptly cut my losses and sold the car.

A few years later, long after I got rid of it, I got a letter from MB saying my car was being recalled because of a bad harmonic balancer.

Submitted by: RideOrange

My Dad once owned a Dodge Diplomat, he complained so much about how horrible that car was that I’ve never been able to consider a Dodge product without seriously second guessing the reliability. He would see a Dodge and then talk about that terrible Dodge he once owned, he was still complaining until he died in 2019.

Submitted by: SlickS30r

Nissan. Built out of the cheapest grade steel available and engineered like shit. Mom mom had an 06 Murano, that thing went through 2 exhausts by the time it was sold in 2017. There was a decent bit of the frame rusted out too. My buddy has an 09 Sentra, that thing has also gone through 2 exhausts. My dad has a 10 Rogue where the rear pad holders rusted so bad they seized the pads in place so he was driving around without rear brakes.

Craptacular vehicles for the average person that can’t afford a GTR.

Submitted by: Alex John

And...

Enough people have said Tesla as Tesladouche is the new BMW driver, speeding everywhere, no turn signal usage to speak of, condescending my-farts-dont-smell attitude, and financing POS fascist, racist, MAGAtard Musk.

But I’ll go with Nissan, the buy here pay here car even when brand new.

Submitted by: J-Bodybuilder - Never stick to sports

Mitsubishi.

They ugly.

Submitted by: Mehphisto

VinFast. When every car publication universally tells you “don’t buy a vehicle from them”, I am inclined to listen to said advice.

Could their cars get better in the future? Sure, but that could take a while. When even short-term reliability is in serious doubt, when would we feel confident that they would hold up in the long run? Plus, they seem woefully disorganized, with their battery subscription program that, from what I’ve read on their forums, appears and disappears from their website at random.

I will probably never feel comfortable buying from this brand until it is proven, which will be in enough years that I’ll either be too old to drive or six feet under by then.

Submitted by: paradsecar

Top of the list: Ford, Chrysler, GM, Fiat.

Why? Their quality control is shit. They are overpriced for the value. And their designs are always dated.

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Submitted by: ArtistAtLarge

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FIAT - Before going full Chrysler, my family had a 124 Spider that never ran more than a week. As a result, they traded that Spider in for a Lebaron. I blame FIAT for making a Chrysler look reliable.

Submitted by: FutureDoc

Subaru. Because my 2007 Impreza puked its head gaskets at 50K miles. Subaru knew this was a problem and did nothing. I had it fixed ($3K which included other things as long as they had the engine out) and then it started throwing codes like the evap cannister was bad. No, they needed to drop the tank which was going to cost another $1300 minimum on a car with under 70K miles. Apparently you have to take the whole rear drivetrain apart to get at the tank. There’s some excellent engineering. I gave the POS away. Maybe the worst car I have ever owned and I drove an Isuzu Trooper for a few years.

Submitted by: TheBlightOfGrey

Subaru.

I won’t ever work on a flat engine again unless it is behind the driver. They are so damn common here in Denver as well, there are so many capable all wheel drive vehicles out there. The exhaust note on the brapcans isn’t appealing to me in the slightest.

Submitted by: Markoff8585

Anything from GM. I’m really good at holding a grudge. I owned a 72 Roadmonster Estate Wagon and a 79 Monte Carlo. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Submitted by: sgtyukon

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I can’t ever see myself buying a GM product again, either. Outside of the Suburbans my grandpa always drove, my family has had nothing but trouble with them.

You don’t need to buy domestic to get a decent truck anymore. My dad’s Honda Ridgeline handles just about anything truck-ish I ever need to do. When the time comes that I can no longer practically borrow that, I’ll just rent one when the need arises.

Anything I might use a Tahoe for, a minivan can do cheaper and easier. If you’re in the market for any SUV smaller than that, there are probably a dozen superior options.

The only other car they make that is at all intriguing to me is the Corvette, but I think I’d rather have a Cayman if I’m spending that kind of money. I don’t need all that power to have fun on a twisty road.

Submitted by: Ticallion The Baptist