These On-Screen Automotive Mistakes Annoy Our Readers The Most

Sometimes it’s hard for us car people to fully immerse ourselves in a movie or TV show, because we’re too busy noticing all of the little vehicular mistakes that either weren’t caught or weren’t cared about. Sometimes too new of a car is shown on screen, sometimes an automatic is shifted like a manual, sometimes the wrong engine sound is played. This led me to my question from earlier this week, where I asked our wonderful audience what on-screen automotive mistake annoys them the most.

My example was from the fantastic Casablanca chase scene in “Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation” that features the then-new BMW F80 M3. Tom Cruise yeets the M3 down a long, dramatic flight of stairs, and for the stunt the Bimmer was clearly fitted with smaller base wheels than the 19s the M3 came with. It’s a glaring mistake, the sort of thing that isn’t really that big of a deal but bothers me every time nonetheless. Unsurprisingly, our audience had lots of examples of on-screen automotive mistakes that annoy them, so I’ve rounded up my favorite answers for your reading and viewing pleasure.

Hands down, squealing tires on dirt roads has to be the worst. There are too many instances of this happening in movies and TV programs to list.

Or even worse, on the beach

Couldn’t agree more. This has annoyed me since cars were in movies.

Every time someone tears off on dirt or gravel but they throw in a sound effect of peeling out on pavement. Don’t hear it much anymore, but it used to happen a lot.

I hate when a car comes to a slightly-more-aggressive-than-normal stop and the sound guy adds the chirping tires noise when the car isn’t even close to locking up the tires. I get it’s done for drama but it’s just annoying seeing a car being driven in a completely normal manner but sounding like it’s at the edge of traction every time it stops or turns.

Though it’s sadly common, Twisters (2024) was the worst… I despise hearing tire-squeal on dirt roads. But Twisters took it to an absurd level even when they were already doing 45-60 on a dirt side road, when they put the foot down to pass another vehicle

Submitted by: KOZEG, Mitch, Bob Clark, Thomas Hajicek, Jeremy, Rich A

This was by far the most popular answer.

Drives me crazy to see a car do a big jump or whatever and you clearly see the frame bend/collapse, but of course the chase goes on and on for miles like nothing happened. Bonus eyerolls for when the driver casually exits the door on a car that would have been so bent that it would have taken the jaws of life to open.

the yellow 930 targa in Commando that gets bashed repeatedly by Arnold in the Sunbeam Tiger, and rolled, and though it was heavily damaged, is absolutely perfect in the next scene

The movie “Twister” is infamous for this stuff. Stuff in the windshield, until suddenly it’s not. Mirrors gone, only to come back. Opening up car doors in a cornfield despite going 35-40mph (enough to engage the cruise).

As far as movie mistake with a car goes is when the t-1000 drives the big 18-wheeler wrecker goes off the street into the storm drain. When it lands you can clearly see that the truck broke a tie rod. The front wheels are pointing in two different directions. It’s magically fine though and the t-1000 keeps driving like nothing happened.

Submitted by: BuddyS, CruzS4, Polysyllabic, jsloden

Okay, I definitely need to watch “Commando.”

I work in the camera dept on films/tv shows and as a car enthusiast, it pains me when we have to take the headrests off of seats so we can see actors in the back seats. We absolutely try our best to leave them in, if possible.

The front seats are always missing headrests, so when they are filming from the backseat you can better see the actors as they drive/ride in the front. Always irked me.

Submitted by: Darwin Brandis, Alf Enthusiast

This always bothers me.

Being able to tell the vehicle is being pulled along on a trailer. Symptoms include: Driver is able to have a several minute conversation without ever looking at the road, the ride height of that small car is nearly as high as the rig next to it, the steering wheel seems to have a lot of play left and right while the car is going straight, the driver’s steering input doesn’t quite match the driving, and the most egregious of them all…the gear selector is in Park.

Cars that aren’t really moving & simply have a green screen.

Submitted by: J Wolf, Tim Z

These days I don’t think this is a problem very often; some of the modern filming rigs for driving scenes are fantastic pieces of engineering, plus we’ve got things like the volume for the backgrounds. But yeah, it always does make a difference when you know the car and the actors are actually driving.

Currently, its the line from Tron Ares which I saw this week. Spoilers I guess: Ares (Jared Leto) looks at an 8th gen Honda Civic Coupe (USDM if that matters) and goes “2.0L, 138hp, classic.” Which is wrong. The base civic which was shown had a 1.8L engine that made the 140hp. The Si had 2.0L which made 197hp. Like why did they go through the effort to put that line in if they weren’t going to even check that their numbers are right? I think in SOME markets, the 1.8L officially made 138 instead of 140 but even then, like, get the displacement right at least.

Not any one movie or show in particular but when a mechanic or someone that is supposed to know about cars just spews complete and utter nonsense. The entire F&F franchise are some of the worst offenders but they’re hardly alone.

This scene from the first Fast and Furious film has always bothered me. Jesse and Dom get super excited and surprised when they pop the hood on the Supra and find the 2JZ engine inside. Seriously, that is the only engine that came in that car, what did they expect to find? Anyone that can identify the 2JZ on sight already knows that car should have one.

Yes, That bugged me until I found out that the car was meant to be something else with a 2jz in it, Like a Nissan 200 or something, They changed the car but didn’t change the line.

Submitted by: Atomic, jsloden, Jack McCauley, Mark Hughes

This is why there always needs to be a car person on set to sign off on any dialogue.

Steering input not even remotely matching the circumstances. One that will forever stick out in my mind is Basic (Sam Jackson & Connie Nielsen). Nielsen’s character is driving a humvee, and her hands are rotating all over the steering wheel, but the wheel never actually turns.

Submitted by: Richard Cranium

This is especially egregious in stuff that’s been made over the past ten years or so.

Magical gearshifts. The first one I remember is the downshift in “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. Sure, we’re ripping along in 4th gear but popping it into 3rd will give us amazing acceleration!

I call that the “Days of Thunder” gear. Going flat out at Daytona, back straight, engine at redline in top gear…downshift into the Days of Thunder gear to get those extra 20 mph to make that pass without totally blasting that engine into dust.

This was going to be mine as well. It seems to happen in drag racing scenes all the time. Either they’re at the top of the range and they downshift for more speed?!? without blowing the valvetrain up or they upshift and shoot forward unrealistically fast.

Gear changes. “Can this go faster?” Upshift, tires squeal at 90mph, somehow 5th gear accelerates better than 3rd. And I can’t NOT count the number of gear changes in a chase scene. Someone driving a car with 12 gears while shooting 30 bullets out of a revolver is still happening somehow.

Manually shifting what is actually and clearly an Automatic. Not to give away a spoiler but S5 E4 of Stranger Things has them driving an 80’s 7 series that is clearly an automatic in most of the scenes, yet for dramatic purposes the camera points to the slamming of the shifter and “foot work” to indicate he’s shifting this now manual version. I think at one point in another scene he slammed it into Park or Reverse to highlight a shift!!

In 90s and 2000’s movies about racing (such as Driven, Cars), it seemed that the hero could go flying past other race cars once he decided to just floor it. As if all the cars in the race weren’t really going for it, but our hero has the courage to floor it, or better yet, drop a gear and go another 20 mph faster, because only he has the indomitable courage to win. Nuts!

Submitted by: DieselWagonGoon, Xavier96, Ian, Tony Tortilla, monsterajr1, ted guy

It’s especially funny when a movie messes up paddle shifting, too.

It’s very specific but there’s lots of mismatched Firebirds running through episodes of “The Rockford Files” especially in later years. I’ll be watching him driving a 77 which becomes a 75 as it is seen from overhead then from the side it’s a 74. Must have saved them a few dollars, but I do notice it every time.

They did upgrade the cars over the years but I bet they used stock earlier footage for the establishing shots.

They stopped replacing them with new models in 78 as he did not like the looks of the later models. I like them but I like all of that run with the 75 as seen in the main image for the video you posted, being my least favorite. I own a 74 and have owned a 76 T/A and a 73.

Submitted by: Dan60, monsterajr1

Love that reasoning for not continuing with the cars.

The Sopranos. Anthony has a second Gen Xterra. in many scenes, I think they switch between a 1st gen and a 2nd gen. Then in the final season, when it burns to the ground, the interior scenes are in a 2nd gen, and then the exterior scenes, are the 1st gen burning. confusing!

New model for the shot, old model for the wreck. Hawaii 5-0 when they torch a truck or shoot at Danno’s Camaro, The Sopranos when Christopher flips his Escalade, and the last one was Ballerina when they’re in the village escaping in a new Range Rover and magically an older model gets trashed. Grrr…

Submitted by: Sergio Valdez, Pierre-Paul Andriani

This is the frequent mistake that annoys me the most, I think. It made me so mad in “Ballerina.”

Most all cars now automatically lock when you reach a certain speed, but every show/movie is driving around with unlocked doors.

My pet peeve are the interior shots of driver or passenger cruising down the street with the door lock buttons up. (Almost all police shows.)

Submitted by: Eric C, Tigersharktoo

People also mentioned shifters being in the wrong position, which is another good example.

I love when the protagonist jumps in the car, often by sliding across the hood, and between entry and car peeling out is about 1.2 seconds. Apparently the key can be found, inserted, turned, and car shifted into drive all in under 1 second. Yup.

Submitted by: Polysyllabic

More protagonists need EVs with no start buttons, obviously.

My personal pet peeve (P3) is when a movie levels the playing field in a grossly mismatched chase scene between a fast car and something that can barely get out of its own way. Like when the hero is in a Mustang/BMW/Ferrari/superbike/whatever and is being chased by bad guys in a van/pickup/semi/bus/shitbox/whatever but just can’t seem to shake him! No, I don’t have specific examples, but that’s when I’ll be mansplaining to my girlfriend about horsepower/handling/maneuverability/etc while she’s rolling her eyes and questioning her recent life choices.

Risky Business Tom cruise in the Porsche should have really been able to out run the malaise era Caddy, especially in the corners.

In general when there’s any kind of car chase between cars (or motorcycles) with vastly different performance and handling limits and somehow it’s a long chase. Like a huge Tahoe chasing some sporty BMW sedan through city streets. Come on.

In Bad Boys how quickly they run down that 427 Cobra in the 911 after it has over a minute head start.

Submitted by: Norm DePlume, Mitch, Enrique Cobas, Nick B

You must admit that sometimes a mismatch like this makes the scene more fun, though.

Mismatched engine sounds, seems to always happen with motorcycles. Also, when there’s a chase on motorcycles, and the rider uses their throttle hand to shoot at someone while still accelerating away.

Motorcycles that suddenly morph from street bike to off-road bike and vice-versa. Similarly, tires that magically change from street tires to off-road tires and vice-versa. Motorcycles that have an entirely wrong engine sound, such as a four-stroke engine clearly sounding like a two-stroke engine.

And this one gets me every time: Character rides a motorcycle with no helmet or sunglasses, yet there are no blinks or tears. Believe me – if you’re riding past 20-25MPH and your eyes aren’t covered, you will definitely be tearing up like you just chopped a bag of onions.

Motorcycles showboat wheelying when accelerating to show that they’re going really hard, when in fact what they’re doing would significantly reduce their ability to accelerate. It’s possible to loft the front wheel with hard acceleration. It’s even possible to accelerate a powerful bike hard enough to flip over backwards if you’re completely ham-handed. But lifting the front wheel to the balance point, and then riding away like that would be really slow, and looks ridiculous.

Almost everything on screen with any kind of motorcycle from sport bike to cruiser. Sports bikes wheelieing on dirt roads. Harleys menacing a family sedan. 125cc dirt bikes outrunning sports cars, cop cars and really, any car at all. Motorcycle drivers letting go of the handlebars to turn around and shoot at someone with literally any gun. Jumping motorcycles through windows. On top of trains. Off of 2 story parking garages. 

Look, bikes are fragile. Compared to even the smallest car a motorcycle is even smaller. You can wipe out an entire gang of motorcycle hoodlums by just swerving into them in your camry. Doesn’t matter if they’re all on custom Electroglides, they are tiny and only balanced well when they’re going in a straight line. It’s likely your car will suffer no damage at all. Even the most stable bike is still a really dangerous place to try and shoot a gun. dirt bikes are sloooooooooow. Sure, they’re quick off the line but after that… And Sport bikes are the most fragile of all. Your tires will slip on a damp painted crosswalk, your suspension is going to struggle with a pothole and your tires have about as much grip on dirt as they do on snow. And no vehicle sucks worse in stop and go traffic. There’s a reason why motorcycles aren’t actually used in crimes, car chases or anything else.

Submitted by: tony2much, NotLewisHamilton, Video360, Steve65, Buckfiddious

I know nothing about motorcycles so luckily I never notice any of this stuff.