Most overhyped, disappointing car you've ever driven?

Can you guys keep it quiet about the MSM until I sell mine?

RX8 granted the one that I drove had a slushbox, but I was so underwhelmed that I just can't see that thing as being a successor to the obnoxiously fun FB RX7 that I remembered riding around in as a kid.

thestig99 wrote: Mazdaspeed Miata. Expected my NA but with the added fun of boost and little more refined/highway friendly. Only found lag and stupid gearing

I had the exact same experience when I drove one a few years ago. I never understood how such a tiny turbo running so little boost could be so laggy.

My '10 had to spool an order of magnitude more quickly with MUCH higher peak boost (yes that's a bit exaggerated.)

I see four on here that I totally agree with.

370Z: I was totally prepared to buy one. Heck I half had the check written before the test drive. I couldn't get the test drive over fast enough. Totally hated it.

MSM: Great idea poorly executed. Gearing sucked. 1st gear was a joke. Engine management was horrid. It was also very uncomfortable for over an hour in the saddle.

E46: I think the Mazda 6 was a better drive. just very very plain and not that quick.

Wrangler on concrete: My dad's wrangler was great in dirt but worse thing ever on the concrete. I'd take my old FSJ over it every day.

Strike_Zero wrote:

z31maniac wrote:

Strike_Zero wrote: E92 M3 . . . Ugh, you have to rev the piss out of it get going. 295 tq @ 4000 revs in 3700lb coupe makes for a hoo hum street runner. It feel no more powerful than my E34 530i in the low RPM range

I drove one with the DCT and thought it was amazing. But that kind of comparison to a car that is only a few hundred lbs less and has 40% less tq, I just don't understand. I guess maybe if you're trying to lug it around 40mph in 6th gear it might feel sluggish, but why would you do that?

Clutch and row yerself gearbox left me feeling cold, again in the low rpm range. After 4 grand it was wonderful, but who wants to buzz around town @ 4000+ rpm in V8 . . . To me, the S65 feels just like a S14 . . . Never drove a one with DCT.

I have to agree with you. I drove my buddies 6-speed and was expecting so much more. My e36 m3 felt "torquier". I actually raced him from a roll up a local bridge in a 200K mile 540i 6-speed that I was flipping and he barely beat me. It was pretty funny

Swank Force One wrote:

crankwalk wrote: This is going to surprise some people. But, FD RX7. I had a 93 with bolt ons and suspension and it was just boring. I had heard wow wonderful they were but there was no drama, just too smooth and did what it needed to do but didn't "scare" you a little. That sounds dumb looking back on it but when you are expecting something else and get a very capab;e car that just doesn't do it for you.....that's how I felt. My old silver hooptie:

I believe JamesMcD shares the same sentiments about his FD.

Yeah, pretty much. My FD is nearly stock and is perhaps a bit too refined for me. The fact that I restored the whole thing and built the engine makes me hate to sell it, but it's probably going to happen.

Also, I have to be another guy to bag on FCs. I drove mine daily for two years. It was reliable and fun to hoon in the rain, but it was slower than my MX6 GT, got worse gas mileage, was far more flexible and flimsy feeling on the highway, and didn't handle as well. I thought it was going to be a revelation in comparison, but it just made me want my MX6 back.

JamesMcD wrote:

Swank Force One wrote:

crankwalk wrote: This is going to surprise some people. But, FD RX7. I had a 93 with bolt ons and suspension and it was just boring. I had heard wow wonderful they were but there was no drama, just too smooth and did what it needed to do but didn't "scare" you a little. That sounds dumb looking back on it but when you are expecting something else and get a very capab;e car that just doesn't do it for you.....that's how I felt. My old silver hooptie:

I believe JamesMcD shares the same sentiments about his FD.

Yeah, pretty much. My FD is nearly stock and is perhaps a bit too refined for me. The fact that I restored the whole thing and built the engine makes me hate to sell it, but it's probably going to happen. There must be something wrong with me that I want to sell my FD and build my two GC 626s. Also, I have to be another guy to bag on FCs. I drove mine daily for two years. It was reliable and fun to hoon in the rain, but it was slower than my MX6 GT, got worse gas mileage, was far more flexible and flimsy feeling on the highway, and didn't handle as well. I thought it was going to be a revelation in comparison, but it just made me want my MX6 back.

E30 and MK2 VW, I couldnt really figure out what made them much more exciting than a camry. The ones I drove were not in good shape and I imagine that didnt help, but they were still just kinda boring. LT1 roadmaster too, I didnt like that car at all.

My problem is everytime I get my hands on a sports car I end up coming back to the reality of things I need in a vehicle. Reliability, ride height, utility, mpg.

I've always seemed to be drawn to the rally car, but all the rally cars we get are either bigger like the wrx or evo, and get bad MPG.

Someday Subaru will make a 40mpg WRX, and that will be the day I buy a new car.

E36 m3 Automatic Convertible. However, I absolutely loved the M 3/4/5 l had. l miss it quite a bit.

GM era SAABs I've owned multiple c900 turbos and 9000s. They are quite different driving experiences, but both are engaging.....when I drive a 9-5, if I closed my eyes, I could almost belive that I am driving a GM G body Olds or Pontiac with a nicer engine. And I don't just mean the way they ride, the interiors have that uniquely GM plasticy feel too.

1.6L stock Miata. Maybe I wasn't driving it hard enough, but it just didn't do it for me.

1.6 Miata. I got in it hoping for a reliable MG or Triumph and it just wasn't. The feel, the smell and the sound just weren't there. It did nothing for me. I would rather have my Civic then a 1.6 Miata any day.

Mazda2. I read so many great reviews on this forum and in the magazine and then I drove it and went a drove the Fiat 500. The Mazda2 was just boring especially against the 500.

Z31 300ZX. Dull steering, dull engine and not that great handling. I will pass.

Another non-Miata fan here. I drove an NA and just wasn't impressed all that much.

Also on my disappointment list: Porsche 928, C4 Corvette, VTEC Civic Si (one was a 93 and the other was a B16 powered version).

pimpm3 wrote:

Strike_Zero wrote:

z31maniac wrote:

Strike_Zero wrote: E92 M3 . . . Ugh, you have to rev the piss out of it get going. 295 tq @ 4000 revs in 3700lb coupe makes for a hoo hum street runner. It feel no more powerful than my E34 530i in the low RPM range

I drove one with the DCT and thought it was amazing. But that kind of comparison to a car that is only a few hundred lbs less and has 40% less tq, I just don't understand. I guess maybe if you're trying to lug it around 40mph in 6th gear it might feel sluggish, but why would you do that?

Clutch and row yerself gearbox left me feeling cold, again in the low rpm range. After 4 grand it was wonderful, but who wants to buzz around town @ 4000+ rpm in V8 . . . To me, the S65 feels just like a S14 . . . Never drove a one with DCT.

I have to agree with you. I drove my buddies 6-speed and was expecting so much more. My e36 m3 felt "torquier". I actually raced him from a roll up a local bridge in a 200K mile 540i 6-speed that I was flipping and he barely beat me. It was pretty funny

Sorry, then he sucked at driving. The DCT cars have been clocked at 3.9 0-60 and low 12s in the 1/4 at over 110mph.

An E39 540 isn't going to even come close to that kind of performance.

That's like me pointing out I was 2 seconds off an Exige at Hallett my last time out in my stock power 1.6 Miata. That was down to his poor driving, not the exceptional perfomance of a 23 year old Miata.

I feel that the people who can't appreciate rwd cars on the street have never owned a car with "enough" power.

Meh. Ive autocrossed and street driven a c5. Plenty of power to get into trouble. I liked the car but it didnt change my fwd tastes. Ive driven a 400hp/6spd camaro SS and thought it was boring. Ive driven old musclecars with big tires and lockers that would light up the rear tires at will but couldnt go down the highway at less than 4000 rpm and couldnt take a turn faster than 10mph. Those are just a PITA. I think for RWD cars to live up to RWD hype they have to have a few things going for them: Good weight distribution, decent handling besides that (controlled body motions, decent steering), and enough power to change what the car is doing in the middle of long turns. But it is by no means assured that if you hop into a RWD car, that it will have any of those things. And even if it does have those things, that's no guarantee that you'll LIKE the car more than some other car that happens to be FWD. It's just different strokes. I like my fwd 80s dodge midsize sedans. I don't like fairmonts. You could say they are very similar other than drivetrains. Doesnt matter to me, i do NOT like fairmonts. There are many other factors in play.

MSM is up there. The focus ST is on the list also. Such a letdown.

HappyAndy wrote: RX8 granted the one that I drove had a slushbox, but I was so underwhelmed that I just can't see that thing as being a successor to the obnoxiously fun FB RX7 that I remembered riding around in as a kid.

The slushbox ones are horrifically bad. You can't use the upper 2k of the rev range, and the older RX8's came with auto 4-speeds. The slushbox takes away the only power the engine has, which isn't a whole lot to begin with! Can you imagine a S2000 with a 4 speed and a 7k redline? I'm sure that would suck like there's no tomorrow.

Never driven one but my dad and my brother test drove a 350z once. They said it was disappointing as well. It wouldn't do a doughnut according to them. I wanted to test a 370z when I was car shopping last, but I couldn't find a local dealer with a stick shift model. The dealers said I could test out their auto ones, but I didn't bother. My parents also drove a 944 back when they were new (i'm guessing non-turbo?) and said the were highly underwhelmed. Ended up with a turbo MKIII supra for less money, they said.

I'll have to say the Genesis Coupe 2.0T when they came out, not the newer one with the power boost. Im sure it's a fine sports car, but driving around town it felt like I was in a corolla. Same goes for the Evo X. Everyone agrees the thing handles like its suspension is made of magic, but it felt very VERY cheap when driving around normally, which is what I do almost all of the time.

I've got a few...the first Mustang I drove was an early 00's GT with a 5 speed, aftermarket intake manifold and intake, short shifter, etc. I took it on the highway to see what all the hype was about with these 'murican muscle cars...wow, talk about a slow turd! I think my poorly tuned, oil burning 280z with carburators would have spanked it. Now the 2013 GT500 I drove the other week, that is a different story!

Another big turd is the new Camaro SS....I already knew it was ugly and you can't see out of it, but I was sorely disappointed when I mashed the go pedal.

Oh, and a big +1 on Focuses...until the current one came out, I have not driven/worked on any bigger pieces of poo...the SVT ones must be amazing for everyone to love them, I just know the regular ones are absolute garbage.

Oh, and Corvettes are fun to drive, but why does the interior have to look like a '95 Grand Am?!

I really feel for the suckers that bought a Mazdaspeed Miata (almost me before I drove a few). ~40 lbs of wheel/tire combined with underdamped bump and way too much rebound means it rides terribly, handles worse than a stiffened NB with 15s, and the curb weight is 2550 lbs. The 1.8 NA's were 2300, normal NB's usually hung out around 2400. As far as the turbo goes, everything about the stock turbo setup needs to be replaced to get a halfway performing car. Tons of lag, terrible AFRs, a pants-on-head ECU, no torque below 4k RPM, a low rev-limit, gear-limited to 125mph, and terrible overall response just kills all the good things about the Miata. The gains over a stock 2001+ NB? ~20 ft-lbs at the higher part of the rev range. 0-60 times dropped by about a half-second to high 6s. Hooray.

It's like the marketing guys were desperate to boost the diminishing sales of the NB (read: restyled NA) by slapping on some wheels and a thing that makes a little bit of whooshing noises and calling it a serious sports car.

To steal FM's image: (Stock MSM turbo on left)

I've gotten a lot of practice ragging on the MSM, lots of people are convinced they'll make the best Exocet donors. Engineers get a pass on telling the customers they're wrong, right?

80s camaros and firebirds. When I was in highschool everyone always talked about how awesome they were and all the "cool kids" had them. When I drove one I felt like it was slower and with worse handling than my Protege.

Any old mopar with a hemi.......

I really shouldn't say this, because I'm helping to prep one for LeMons racing, but Rolls Royce. I drove several of them when I valet parked cars in college. They were awful to drive.

Javelin wrote: In reply to aussiesmg: GTO, LS1 Firebird Formula / Trans Am, LS1 Camaro Z28 / SS, LT1 Firebird Formula / Trans Am, LT1 Camaro Z28 / SS, LT1 Impala SS, Cobalt SS/SC, Cobalt SS/TC, Pontiac Grand Prix GTP / GXP, Solstice GXP / Sky GXP, GNX, Turbo Trans Am, Syclone / Typhoon, C4 ZR1, LT4 C4, C5 FRC, C5 Z06, C4 Grand Sport, 3rd Gen Camaro 1LE, 3rd Gen Firebird Formula 350, Saturn SC2...

Grand Prix GTP? A front drive slushbox? Really?

Add Fiero GT / Formula to the list though

Travis_K wrote: E30 and MK2 VW, I couldnt really figure out what made them much more exciting than a camry.

Don't know about E30s, but I do love my Mk2 VWs. They are light, simple & sprightly cars anyone can fix with a hammer & a 13mm wrench. I'm very partial to them because I had an 85 Jetta in High school and it was the first car I ever auto crossed & the first car I ever got laid in. It was also my first car with heat (my very first car was a 72 Beetle). Being able to fix that Jetta got me two jobs: first delivering pizza & later, my first job fixing cars (at a local VW shop). So, I'm a bit biased. That was twenty years ago, and I still own one of those cars and probably always will.