These Are The Cars You Would Pardon From Public Criticism

Despite some vehicles having widespread praise, there’s no such thing as a perfect car. We all have different needs and wants based on what we desire from a driving experience, where we live, and what we can afford to spend on a car. Certain maligned cars could be ideal under other circumstances. Maybe they were just ahead of their time, with the market shifting in their favor.

We asked our readers earlier this week which cars they would pardon from public criticism. The responses in the comments varied from fun, undersized runabouts to uniquely divisive vehicles. With the dwindling number of cars left in Ford’s lineup, many are reconsidering their feelings about now-discontinued models and those currently in production. Other commenters defended an entire vehicle category that’s often derided for their target demographic automakers aimed to sell them to. Without further ado, here are your top picks for cars that shouldn’t be shamed.

Ferrari 348. The most underrated, underappreciated Ferrari. So many reasons it’s great. But reviews at the time focused on twitchy handling, which today we celebrate as “go-kart-like.” They were $100K new, depreciated to $30K 15 years ago, and are now up to $70K and climbing.

Submitted by: Nader

Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet.

It was a bold move. It may have missed, but we need to applaud boldness in this cookie-cutter, private-equity, holding-company-driven, vanilla corporate world where safe is the only play.

Submitted by: potbellyjoe

Easy. All minivans. They got saddled with a bad rep early on as “soccer mom” cars, but only because they are, by far, the most useful family vehicles ever. They can haul a lot of people, a lot of cargo and keep your kids from smacking doors into other cars in parking lots. A far better vehicle for any urban/suburban family than any SUV or pickup truck.

Submitted by: Thomas Hajicek

The Mustang Mach-E. You have to admit that it’s a solid buy, it outperforms a lot of the “real” mustang variations, and it does actually incorporate hints of the coupe styling. If everyone else (BMW, Porsche, MB, etc.) can have 4-door crossover SUV coupes, so can Ford. Plus, I suspect that calling it a Mustang probably checks some box on a CAFE requirement and allows Ford to build more of the beloved ICE versions without penalty.

Submitted by: BuddyS

The Chevy SSR. Look, we get it, the V8-powered, stick shift, hardtop convertible truck doesn’t handle the way an S2000 does. That doesn’t mean it’s not cool that they actually made them.

Submitted by: manbearpig

The mighty Prius.

Enthusiasts don’t like it because it’s a car where no on one on the design team cared what enthusiasts thought.

Drive a Prius like it’s meant to be driven and it will teach you how to be a more efficient driver, and you’ll come out the other side a better driver in general.

Try to drive a Prius like a sports car and it will fight you. Because that’s not what it’s for. It’s like hating a Miata because it’s a terrible rock-crawler or hating a Corvette because it’s terrible at hauling mulch.

In the end, the Prius is a great little car that gets fantastic mileage, lasts forever and will get you where you want to go surprisingly comfortably.

Submitted by: Buckfiddious

The Nissan Juke.

Fun/different styling should result in quirky niche cars that we look back on fondly 20 years later, and not be ridiculed into oblivion in a single generation…

Submitted by: Herbie555

The ’96-’99 Ford Taurus.

I had a ’97 in red. They were comfortable, got reasonable mileage for the time, and were generally cheap to maintain and repair. They got all sorts of flak for reliability problems that were largely solved before the ’96s even came out, particularly on transmissions. If you just did a drain and refill on the transmission periodically, they held up well. I did that near yearly because the mercon needed to do it cost ~$25. General failure stats showed that changing fluid every 3-4 years led to long life.

And then there was the style issue. Yes, a little weird. But not the same boring design everyone else had. And in some cases, it was very inspired. The absurd-looking dash control pod seemed just stupid at first. But then you found out after driving one for a few hours that the buttons were laid out in paths that your hand naturally followed (arcs, not straight lines), and there were little details in the design that gave tactile feedback as well (ie, the ridge that the radio buttons sat atop) that made it so that operating the controls was intuitive and easy and could easily be done without taking your eyes off the road – all long before moving many of those controls to the steering wheel became common.

(not mine pictured, rather one from a coworker who is selling theirs – I sold mine over a decade ago, but it was still running strong at 25 years old last I heard)

Submitted by: Shortyoh

The Fiat 500/Fiat Abarth. These cars have been sold in Europe for many years and have an aura that others don’t have. NO, Fix It Again Tony is not to be applied anymore. These are reliable when well-maintained and driven properly.

Submitted by: Luc Desaulniers (minardi)

The Mustang II. It certainly was not the best Mustang. It may be the worst Mustang. But it was the best Mustang for the time, it sold like hotcakes, and kept the nameplate alive for later, better versions.

Submitted by: FriscoFairlane

Nissan Altima. Allow me to explain.

People love to deride and criticize people who drive a Nissan Altima, specifically if it is dented, banged up, or in some form of disrepair. However, It’s often driven by those who need to get somewhere, plain and simple. They need an affordable means of getting around, and more than likely understand that car ownership is far more expensive than it has any right to be.

Submitted by: Alf Enthusiast

In a world dominated by bland, lookalike crossovers, no automaker should be criticized for taking chances and standing out from the crowd. Even if those chances failed and they ultimately stood out in a bad way. So in that spirit, I would pardon the Pontiac Aztek, the unloved car that took all the wrong chances.

Submitted by: Spinner145

It’s the Aztek, no question. The hate is forced at this point. In hindsight, it was too early for its time. Looking back, it doesn’t really even stand out from other cars made around the same time period.

Submitted by: CWiz6