This is a question I posed to myself the other day while reading a comparison test of a VW GTI, Mazda 3 and Kia Forte sedan. The Kia got 3rd place, but was heralded for being a huge improvement over the last one. The author said, “Kia has learned how to make a car turn. Uh oh.” They loved the Mazda 3, and of course blew their biggest kisses at the GTI (which it deserved). All 3 hold 5 people, handle pretty good, are well equipped, and any of them is a good (and cheap) buy.
The cars have handling and acceleration that could have kept up with far more expensive cars of the 80s and 90s, and more gadgets than a 2000 Mercedes. A perfect example is the new V6 Mustang. It makes more power than the old V8, gets good mileage, looks good and drives great. It’s 0-60 time of 5.5 seconds would murder a 1975 Ferrari 308′s 6.5 second sprint and it cost $141,000 (adjusted for inflation). In fact, the “sporty” Toyota Sienna I ranted about last month would be neck and neck with Tom Selleck’s favorite prancing horse. It’s simply automotive evolution.
Evolution is nothing new of course. Every year cars have gotten a little bigger, faster, and better. Even the Model T had changes made during its life. For the 1911 model year it got front doors (ok maybe a medium-sized change). But it’s not that the evolution is new, or speeding up. It’s the fact that evolution at the top is slowing down.
When the Ferrai Enzo came out it made waves bigger than when Kim Kardashian forgot the toilet seat was up. In 2002 it set a new record for a production car on Ferrari’s test track. Last year the F430 Scuderia beat that record, and it’s smaller, lighter and cheaper. Sure, the Bugatti Veyron raised the bar of what is possible, but was it that big a jump from the McLaren F1? For a while, as the smaller, cheaper cars evolved, so did the luxury cars and supercars. But I think we’re hitting a wall, and that’s allowing the “pilot fish”, like the Kias and Mazda 3s, to catch up.
In 2007, TIME Magazine made a list of the 50 Worst Cars of All TIme, the most recent one was the 2004 Chevy SSR ( It was just a bad idea, plain and simple. Even if it had driven like a BMW and had the interior of a Rolls, it was just plain stupid). Only 5 cars were post-2000 models, and they were all mistakes from which we learned a lot (Pontiac Aztek; Never again.) If this list was made again in 10 years, or even 30, how much will it have changed.
"And don't show your face here again!"
That’s good news for consumers, it just makes me wonder if there will be a day when no car is truly “bad.” Diesel cars used to be noisy: no longer. FWD cars couldn’t handle, but now they’re pretty good at it. Heavy cars rolled over faster than a heroin-addicted snitch, but now even the 5000lb BMW 550i corners flat. Hell, my friend’s 2004 V8 Toyota 4runner handled better than most pre-2000 passenger cars I’ve driven. Is the future full of quiet, smooth, fast, agile, comfortable cars, regardless of their price or brand?
American cars are catching up in quality and handling, the Germans are catching the Japanese with hybrid technology, and the Koreans are quickly catching up to everyone. Everyone wants everything from their car, and slowly car makers are figuring out how to do that. I mean, there’s a minivan with sport suspension and new trucks handle better than 4 year old cars. We’re heading to an all-inclusive automobile. And as nice as it is to have car quality-in all aspects-getting better, I hope we do have another Pinto, Aztek, or Le Baron. After all, how can you appreciate a sunny day…
…if you don’t see clouds once in a while?
So I pose my question to you: Do you think cars are collectively getting better, and at some point you could be happy with almost any of them? Or do you think we are human, and mistakes-like a 2015 Aztek-will continue to happen?
- Zack K
Wow has really no one commented?
GREAT article Zack. The way i see it, i am sure there will be some fluke out there every once in a while, but the idea is, there are also so many more people out there these days that there is almost a market for anything.
Good example, my friend was telling me a kind of truck he wanted, and he was describing it to me. I was a total car enthusiast at the time (and i still am), but the funniest thing was i had no idea that the Chevy SSR was on the worst cars ever made list. Anyways, i thought of the truck in my head and then magically referenced the image with a name i remember seeing it with before, and thought of Chevy SSR. Evidently, he was totally into getting it, and he liked it and thought it was unique.
So while there are flukes, i think people will still like the ugly ducklings. As for every other car, yeah its pretty amazing what wall we have come to. ESPECIALLY if you consider the aerodynamics and horsepower limit on cars trying to reach a top speed, we are definitely getting close there. All that is left is how fast you can get to 250 haha.
I think that one thing to remember, is as long as the car enthusiast is alive, we will never get to a scenario like you described at the end of your article. There will always be clouds, when you consider how beautiful a DB9 or DBS is, and how styling will be on a cheap affordable car. There will always be a noticeable difference. Just not as much though, i get what your saying.
I think as a whole cars are getting better. It stands to reason that engineers will always attempt to make things a little better than before. Especially if the are left to do so without the bean counters weighing in (see the 70's, 80's & early 90's) But don't think that the the good idea in a bad package won't happen again. It always does! Plus you have burgeoning markets/manufactures that will bring up the rear with craptastic vehicles; China has a few of these.
Great piece Zack. I think that yes, as a whole, cars are getting much better. Rarely do I get in a car built after 2005 that feels "substandard" in terms of safe, reliable transportation. I even drove the $9,995 Nissan Versa, the cheapest car you can buy in America, and in terms of reliability, space, comfort, and driving dynamics, it was perfectly adequate for 90% of the world's population. It will start when you need it to, get you around, and keep you reasonably safe in a crash.
It just means the rest of us, the journalists, critics out there, get to be pickier when we review cars. Everything is that much better. But yes, the "top tier" is certainly shrinking in terms of room for error.
This is a great article, and I totally agree. It is amazing how fast, efficient, and precise cars are getting. Soon the average person will be able to have a cheap, fast, efficient sports car (oh they can–the new mustang!)
There will always be crap cars, cheap cars, and the OMFG cars. The Hynudia that Matt reviewed a few weeks ago would be part of the segment of crappy and cheap cars. Every car maker has at least one that stands out, the Ford GT is still considered part of the OMFG segement. Even though the production stopped in 2005, its still raced privately in FIA GT2 european races by Matech Engineering. Plus I believe the GM fallout is making cars better and to a higher standard.
Well there will always be cheap cars, but the cheap cars seem to be getting less "crappy." The Genesis coupe wasn't great, but for most people it's a good looking car, with decent power and handling. I would rather drive the Genesis than the XR4ti, or a LeBaron, or a Ford Probe.
We're definitely not running short on OMFG cars. That's one thing there's more of these days. The Veyron opened the door for giant power and giant cost, as long as you deliver giant performance. The Zenvo, Hennessey Venom, SSc, etc are all crazy OMFG cars. Even when I don't like them, I love they're around.
Have you guys seen a Buick lately? OK stop spraying mountain dew all over your monitor. I can remember when I used to work for Enterprise car rental. The Buicks were a total piece of crap. I always asked myself who would want this? Now, Buick has totally changed. Not only do their cars look almost as good as a Lexus the interiors are really up to par now.
I drive a 1994 Toyota Camry. Yes, it looks every bit as beat-up as it sounds. When I drive dad's 2004 Camry is delivers the smoothest ride of any car I have taken a ride in lately. Everything is when you would want it to be inside. It gets great gas mileage. Other than the fact that it is a slushbox, and FWD what's not to like?
One thing I have noticed is if you have the money for a nice car, you will blow your money on something stupid. Ever notice how many silver BMW 3 series there are? How many people drive Audi A5's? How can people justify the money for an RX-8? You just cannot tell me the A5 is not a beautiful car. How many people go out and buy a Ford Mustang GT500 when the same amount of cash will get you into a fully loaded C6 corvette?
It's ironic to watch people buy a BMW SUV and whine that they need a truck just to haul the boat they own. Why not buy a 4WD Ford Expedition or something and then purchase a sedan or a sports car? As long as there are true sports car enthusiasts out there we will get our money's worth. Right now is a buyer's market for truly desirable cars. I heard of one gentleman purchasing an NSX unmolested for around 15 grand. Not bad!
I think that there have to be a few exterior failures because the only difference in the future will be styling. There will be other Aztec type styling failures because making rounder cars only leaves so many design directions. How can you differentiate your product when they all handle and come with the same standard equipment, crazy styling. It's going to create a very fast, safe and ugly failure. It may be something unique though because in the curent sea of Meh cars I see I can't tell a Hyundai from a Toyota at 200 yards. Sure it is going to be ugly, fail and suck but at least they'll have tried.
You are right though, how much faster can modern hypercars and even supercars go? For the most part they all have the same Ring times and only a few tenths difference in 0-60. Not a real big deal. It's going to be the Focus and Mustang type cars that make the greatest leaps.
learn from your mistakes… but who ever decided to put the Aztek into production probably walked into a pole just before they did.
The gentleman who designed the Aztec at GM was forced to bring the Aztec to production. He was later allowed to work on the brand-new (at the time) C6 corvette. It has more to do with the boneheads at GM who forced this designer to make the Aztec something that was edgy, hip, stylish. The Aztec was to be a vehicle that was not a mini-van, stationwagon, SUV etc. Yes it was the worst piece of garbage ever!
Great article, Zack. I'm linking this on my blog.
[...] Will the future have any bad cars? By alec421 I was on The Smoking Tire’s website when I found this great article by Zack Klapman. [...]
I think we're still going to see crappy cars. One think to keep in mind with most horrible cars, is that we don't realize they're horrible immediately. Sure you'll have the occasional exception like the Cimmaron, the Yugo or more recently the Saturn Ion, but usually even the worst cars have at least one redeeming quality that makes us forget about the horribleness of a vehicle until it's at the end of it's production cycle. The Times top 50 list isn't worth all that much, they're simply citing vehicles that get talked about as being disliked, not necessarily bad.
Case and point: the US Ford Focus. When the car was first released, it's styling and handling were applauded, and the SVT version was a true hot-hatch; but then came the reliability issues which turned them into lemons. By the time that was fixed, we got a style refresh and the elimination of the SVT trim, which then made it a boring car. then ANOTHER (ugly) styling refresh on what is now a poor-handling, outdated chassis. Ten years later, we have a car that has been crappy throughout it's entire existence without anybody really noticing it until just now. For my money, I'll galdly roll around in an ugly, garish looking Pontiac Aztek over an unreliable, or boring, or ugly Ford Focus any day.
My opinion:
They (manufacturers) have stopped creating cars. I think cars are getting WORSE in stead of better. In fact, I think there are no cars manufactured any more these days, just transportation machines. Cars the way they should be, driving for pleasure, are getting rare. The feeling of driving 80 km/h (50 mph?) should NOT be the same as driving 140 km/h (90 mph). But nowadays it's all the same. Everything is smooth and silent. What's the pleasure in that if you want to drive? It's great for transport, but not the way a car is supposed to be in my opinion. Oh yea, I am from Europe and I hate automatic transmissions. It's plain stupid, even worse with paddles.
Cars are not produced any more, all you can buy from a dealership is a transportation machine.