These Are The Cars You Would Never Recommend Anyone Buys

“You picked the Gladiator for legitimate reasons, but I’ll pick ANY Stellantis vehicle. In the last decade, I’ve had four that everyone of their transmission went out in. You’d think at least ONE might break 100K miles without a new trans.”

Clearing every car from Stellantis is a quick and easy way to narrow down your options, I guess.

Suggested by: sausagefingers76

“Tesla, especially Cybertruck.

“I mean do we need to write that reason here???”

There were so many reasons against this one that many posters struggled to pick one.

Suggested by: hayase

“Any Chevy. GM’s interiors in general are a joke, but Chevy in particular makes you feel like you’re sitting in a product designed for a developing market. I don’t want to pay U.S. car prices for an Indonesian driving experience.”

Alright, so nothing from Stellantis or Chevrolet, got it.

Suggested by: neverspeakawordagain

“A lot of easy answers.

“But the best answer is don’t buy anything over MSRP or we will laugh at you.”

U.S. dealers love a markup, and we’ve got to say no!

Suggested by: nemo1

“There are a lot of blanket answers here, but here’s a more specific one: Any 2012-2018 Ford Focus or Fiesta with the DPS6 dual-clutch transmission. It’s a shame, because they’re otherwise really good economy cars, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend an ST or a base model with a manual transmission. The used car market is seemingly saturated with the DCT models, though. They appear nearly every time a friend or family member asks me for help finding an inexpensive car. My answer is always, ‘Can you drive stick? No? Ok, move along’.”

Finally, a nice, Jalopnik-style specific answer.

Suggested by: spartaneer12

“The Ford Ecosport.

“This is no longer being imported to the U.S., but there are apparently quite a few unsold ones sitting on dealer lots, plus the used ones are highly depreciated.

“Underpowered, cramped, problematic engine, questionable build quality and allegedly rust issues.”

Another Ford that’s best avoided, good to know.

Suggested by: earthbound-misfit-i

“I’ll step away from reliability concerns since Stellantis is already well represented here. Instead, I’ll focus on realistic utility/usability and say a two-door Jeep (yes, I know we’re still in Stellantis territory.)

“99.5% of the populations doesn’t need a Jeep. Unless you are going off-roading enough to warrant a dedicated off-road rig; and to be clear off-roading isn’t a fire road or gravel lot that any economy car could also tackle. So what you end up with is a vehicle that is uncomfortable to drive in, a reliability nightmare, and has the economy of a supercar. Not to mention, Jeep’s seem to cast a spell on people and before they know it, they’ve spent $10k on modifications without realizing it.

“I work in the bike industry and I always tell customers to buy the bike that will be best for 95% of their riding, not that aspirational 5% that they think/hope they will do. You don’t need a long travel enduro rig for riding around on your local trails even if you might make a bike park trip or two each year. It’ll suck on those local trails.”

I love an answer with a bike metaphor, now I know exactly what you mean.

Suggested by: santacruzin6

“Related to a comment from yesterday: anything VW.

“I know…somewhere out there, there will be people who claim to have owned many dozens of VW’s with no issues experienced. Congrats on being lucky! Your reliability doesn’t make VW an automaker I would ever recommend.

“Simple reason: all four VWs that were owned in my family were garbage. All VWs owned by friends and work colleagues (except for the one guy who never had an issue) had repeated issues with everything from MK4 through to more recent MKVIIs. My time on the MKIV and MKV forums just showed the lengths to which people will endure misery to have a hot hatch that worked sometimes.

“I will never buy another, and that means I will never recommend one.”

Right, no Stellantis, Chevrolet OR Volkswagen, got it.

Suggested by: dolsh

“I don’t recommend any luxury truck bigger than a Ford Maverick, maybe a Ranger. You are not Mr. home improvement, You are not a part of the chip ‘n’ dale rescue squad. Spending $100K on a king ranch that isn’t even going to see plywood, much less towing an imaginary boat once a year is Ludacris. Exceptions exist, but come on now, 90% of people in those monstrosities are just wasting gas and blocking sight lines.”

A Maverick is enough truck for anyone to lug around their hopes and dreams. You almost certainly don’t need that ridiculous, chrome-covered beast from GMC.

Suggested by: darthspartan117

“If they knew how to build cars that were as strong as the motors, they would be called General Automobiles.

“Zero effort in their vehicles to even be competitive in anything other than price outside of 7+ seat SUVs and Crew Cab trucks.

“What GM product short of the T1XX or VSS-S platform would actually find its way to a recommended list and even these two would be the ‘budget/value’ play in those recommended lists.”

OK, so we’re saying nothing from Stellantis, Chevrolet, Volkswagen and now General Motors? Got it.

Suggested by: potbellyjoe

“Any Range Rover over three years old. They run great for a while, then once one thing goes bad the rest is soon to follow. If you buy a used one from a dealer or large reseller (i.e. AutoNation) then hopefully it’s been repaired well and you can get a couple more years out of it.”

Expensive repairs, vulnerabilities to theft and eye-watering depreciation make the Range Rover best avoided.

Suggested by: bs-leblanc

“Any Escalade, in any trim. If you really need a fancy, giant, box-shaped tank to take your kids to school and soccer practice, buy a Yukon Denali and save your self $25K - $30K. At least then when the plastics start cracking, and all the fittings start creaking and rattling, and the leather starts wearing out, and the printing on the buttons starts wearing off (all of which will happen in under five years), you won’t be driving an aging, shitty $120,000 vehicle. You’ll be driving a shitty aging $90,000 vehicle.”

Save yourself $30k, solid advice here.

Suggested by: JohnnyWasASchoolBoy

“Any Nissan with a CVT.

“Anything that says Jeep on it, anywhere.

“Any Ford with a Dual Clutch Automatic.”

I’m honestly surprised automatics to avoid were just limited to Nissans, and not every auto car.

Suggested by: az-liberty

“None of them. I would never recommend a car to a non-car person again. Shit goes wrong with the car or they just don’t like it, then it’s somehow on me.

“Them: You’re a car guy. What do you recommend right now?

“Me: Whatever you’re interested in. All new cars are pretty good and all will have something you won’t like. Look for a type of car you want and cross shop them all, test drive them all, then research your top picks on Consumer reports and various forums dedicated to those models to see what existing owners have to say.

“So when they buy that Cybertruck, which I would have warned them not to buy, fails or disappoints them, then they can’t blame me.”

So your problem is more with the person and rather the lack of options? Right.

Suggested by: autojunkie