Usually, I don’t like when automakers kill off a vehicle. It means there’s one less option for buyers to choose from, one less car for enthusiasts to enjoy (even if they’re not very good), and one less project for people to pour their heart and soul into. However, not all vehicles deserve the same sort of treatment. Some of them, as E.G. Daily’s 1985 hit “One Way Love,” so eloquently put it, are better off dead. (Side note, go watch the movie “Better Off Dead.” It rocks.) Anyway, that idea is what brings me to today’s question.
I want to know what dead car you think deserves to stay dead. We’ve talked at length about cars that deserve a second lease on life, and I want to be clear: these aren’t those. These are vehicles that only benefit society if no one has the opportunity to buy a new one ever again. They’re the types of vehicles that just have no place in modern society. Hell, they probably didn’t have much of a place when they were being made. Before you even start writing, don’t waste my time fantasizing about cars you wish were dead. I don’t care about that crap. This is a different question entirely.
My choice
If this was a fair and just world, and I was ignoring my own rules, I’d say the Volkswagen ID Buzz is better off dead. But Volkswagen already said it’ll be back for the 2027 model year, so really it’s in more of a coma than anything else right now.
Because of that, my better off dead car of choice is one you’re all familiar with at this point: it’s the Dodge Stratus Coupe. A few weeks ago, I stoked the ire of the internet when I dared say the Stratus R/T Coupe of the early 2000s wasn’t a good car. Well, I’m not afraid of you people, and I’m not backing down.
This hunk of junk sucks, guys, and the automotive world is better off without it. Yeah, it had a lazy five-speed manual and a lethargic V6 motor… if you were lucky. Sure, it won a Car and Driver comparison test against an SN95 Ford Mustang GT and Chevy Monte Carlo back in 2002, but that doesn’t make it good, or even something worth existing.
People will moan about the fact that cars like this don’t exist anymore, and that’s because they were bad. If they were good, desirable cars, they’d have sold more, and thus, they’d still be on sale. However, because they were killed, it left designers and engineers to work on actual good products. What those exactly were, I don’t know. It was pre-Recession Chrysler, after all.
In any case, the Dodge Stratus R/T Coupe doesn’t deserve to exist anymore, but your answer does. So, how about you drop down below and let your fellow Jalops know what car should stay dead?
