These Cars Scream ‘I Make Terrible Decisions’

Not every decision we make is a good one. In fact, there are some people out there who pretty much only make bad decisions. Unfortunately for the rest of us, they’ve got to drive cars, too, and that idea is what led me to the question I asked you all last week.

I wanted to know what cars you all thought screamed “I make bad decisions!” What cars let everyone else on the road know that they should steer clear, because there’s no way of knowing what sort of crap they’ll pull next? We got literally hundreds of suggestions from you fine folks. Of course, there are a lot of the usual suspects on the list (as you’ll soon see), but quite a few of you spoke from personal experience about the bad decisions you made and the cars you ended up with as a result of said decisions. At least you’re learning.

At any rate, why don’t you all scroll on down below and check out what cars your fellow Jalops think are an indicator of horrible decisionmaking Did your car make the list? If it did, I’ve got some bad news. You might need to reevaluate your life choices. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you.

After 15 years of 45+ mile commutes, I can say with absolute certainty that it is any of the SRT/Demon/Hellcat etc cars. On the road they consistently make horrible decisions (100+ in the slow lane or, on occasion, the shoulder) and while I of course don’t know the specifics of anyone’s financial situations, based on age alone it seems they often are spending huge sums of money they don’t have on their vehicle.

Submitted by: SantaCruzin

I owned one that promptly nuked its cooling system, blew two suspension air bags, cracked a wheel, wore out its transmission valve body, jammed the HVAC doors, and then tossed a dome light cover into my face to add insult to injury.

But I didn’t learn my lesson and bought a second one. That one had a perfect air suspension, but developed a valve cover gasket leak that was so bad that the car produced James Bond-like smoke screens. Oh yeah and it had 4 blown speakers and half of the safety systems were eventually disabled.

Basically, don’t buy any car I buy, because I basically universally make bad decisions. lol

Submitted by: Mercedes Streeter

Maserati. Any modern model (especially Ghibli) that is not the 2009-2012 Quattroporte GTS 4.7 (the only collector car from the era).

Submitted by: ChaosphereVIII

Used Nissan Altima, especially if it came from a rental car sales lot. Everyone with a pulse knows the fastest car on Earth is usually a rental car on the interstate. They’ve been curbed, oil changes were neglected, normal maintenance could have been deferred, and it’s anyone’s guess what has actually happened inside that car. A used Altima from the Enterprise or Hertz sales lot takes those fears and cranks them up to 11. You’re already playing CVT roulette on a car that has been driven like the last lap at Daytona. Combine that with the stereotypes and expectations of used Altima drivers, and the stain will be burned on you the entire time you own that car. And that stain reads, “I HATE MY MONEY AND MAKE POOR PURCHASING DECISIONS!” Save yourself the stress and go find a nice used Mazda3 or Toyota Corolla/Camry if you want something similar.

Submitted by: Xavier96

Audi A8. Someone I knew had a 2000 A8 4.2, which they gave to a family member when it was about 15 years old. At that point, after putting a new set of tires on it, the car was in the shop more than it was on the road – with electrical problems, suspension problems, and eventually, timing chain issues – at that point they had put almost $10k of work into the car, and ended up giving it away. The original buyer now has a ~5 year old A8, and that’s been back at the dealer for odd electrical issues constantly since new as well. I don’t want to know what it will be like in 10 years…

Submitted by: Adam Guha

The guy who bought a Fiat 500X

This person looked at the compact SUV market where everyone sells at least one model…and they chose the one with Fiat reliability and Jeep engineering…. Built by Stellantis in a tiny volume model that will definitely make parts difficult to find and expensive when something inevitably goes wrong? From a brand with an uncertain (if not pessimistic) future? Powered by an Italian built, turbocharged engine? With less cargo space and worse practicality than the Jeep version… Yet costing more?

Thie 500X screams poor decision making

Submitted by: Laytonx

A Fisker Ocean. I saw a brand new one a few months ago, I know that person saw me looking that them(specifically the driver, not the cat) like they had 3 heads.

Submitted by: Marcus C

Any Infiniti G series car (G25/G35/G37). A perfectly normal car usually ruined by its 4th owner.

Submitted by: Garlos Chosn (gib latest tab)

Jeep Wrangler. I love the concept of the rugged, cool-looking Wrangler, but the reality is lacking. Consistently ranked near the bottom of Consumer Reports (and other) ratings for performance and reliability, people continue to buy these by the droves, even as prices continue to climb. I went through a Jeep period years ago, owning several models, and now agree with CR. There are cheaper ways to look cool, be more comfortable and save money.

Submitted by: David Mize

It’s not even the right decision of the Wrong-Decision-Twins with the Hornet. It’s making a terrible decision worse by paying more for it.

Submitted by: potbellyjoe

Cybertruck. I was behind a founders edition the other day thinking that the value that truck lost since new is as much as I paid for my brand new 22 Tacoma, and its not like owning an Aston where at least at the end of the day you have a work of art and something amazing to drive, no, you have a dumpster on wheels.

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yeah, it’s the cybertruck. There really isnt any competition.

There are bad cars, there are expensive cars, there are cars that make everyone despise you but there is no other car that hits bad, expensive and horribly unlikable as the cybertruck does.

There’s a reason you never see anyone riding passenger in one, it’s the car of divorced, lost our savings on crypto failure men everywhere

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My neighbor’s second Cybertruck is clearly the worst automotive decision I’ve ever witnessed. Buying one is already dubious. But two? What, does he need a spare for when the other is in the shop? I’ve never seen either of them carrying anything in the bed, let alone both at once, and he owns more cars than his house can fit people, so it can’t be some “I need to drive two trucks at once” thing. I truly cannot fathom what’s going on there.

The “Eco Friendly Not Elon Friendly” bumper sticker is appreciated but unconvincing.

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Cybertruck. I knew some guys that put down money for the pre-release back in 2019 (I think). To put it lightly, these were not the most responsible young men.

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NOTHING beats the Cybertruck in this class.

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I mean, why do you want to make trillionaire fuhrer richer ?

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Cybertruck. The Yugo depreciated slower.

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Cybertruck is the obvious answer, for all sorts of reasons, including having been engineered by a lunatic hubristic billionaire whose brain has been obviously mounted backwards in his head.

Submitted by: Lenny Sanders & JaredOfLondon & GMan003 & Pabst302 & Harry Tuttle & Derry & chucklebutt & Francois Schneider (franssu)