Initial perceptions can cloud your judgments. Trying to analyze something like a car can often be distorted by how you think it’s going to drive versus the reality of how it actually behaves behind the wheel. What are some cars you’ve been surprised by (for better or for worse) after taking a spin around the block?
Way back in the nineties, my former college roommate was constantly going to any of those manufacturer-sponsored driving events he would get invites to in the mail or, later, online. One that he inexplicably got notified about was for Cadillac cars; he didn’t seem to fit the demographic other than being a serial test-track-event visitor, but it was too tempting not to go. Ostensibly, the idea of the event was to show GM’s “standard of the world” was now trying to be more of an enthusiast brand and not just for those with an average age approaching deceased.
Naturally, he drove all of the cars there and claimed that the hosts had no problem with attendees driving the living crap out of the vehicles. One of the 1996 or so cars he sampled was that latest STS Seville, supposedly Cadillac’s true “Euro fighter” sedan:
Also, he took a spin in the almost comical soon-to-be-discontinued Fleetwood Brougham, the D-Body full-frame sedan that under the skin dated back to the “downsized” 1977 GM cars:
My ex-roommate’s response was that the big Brougham drove better than the modern STS; this had me checking to see if my phone was broken or if the connection was somehow compromised. However, after later driving used examples of similar cars, I know exactly what he meant.
You see, the STS looked the part of a BMW beater, all clean and crisp and almost German in styling. You expected the driving experience to mirror the exterior. It didn’t. Oh, it didn’t drive that badly, but it was as if someone had taken a front-drive Bonneville or even a Grand Am and tried to improve it in any way they could. They succeeded in making it better than those cars, but in terms of things like steering feel, ride, seats, and interior finishes, it was still a far, far cry from the refinement of a BMW E34 or later E39. Don’t even ask about the bank-vault feel of a Benz W124. You couldn’t help but be disappointed at what you thought was going to be a legitimate autobahn cruiser.
On the other hand, the “whale” Caprice-based Fleetwood Brougham seemed to be a bit of a joke; it looked more like a McMansion or even a gaudy banquet hall on wheels than it did a motor vehicle. The fact that it could move at all and go around corners would be shocking to you; it did. Here’s our man John Davis with an early model (a 1993) of this final rear drive bodystyle.
Equipped with FE2 Ride Handling Suspension, I was taken aback by its roadholding ability. It was like running a cop car in a Liberace suit, which is essentially what it was. Your expectations were so low that it was surprising how far you could push this delightful traditional Cadillac barge and have it come back for more. No, it was not even remotely a “sport sedan,” but it drove way better than you would have imagined.
Any other examples? Let’s see … I remember the Ford Transit van I rented was surprisingly nice to drive; it was bigger than the Chevy Express vans I’d been given the keys to before but felt far smaller.
Mitsubishi 3000GT? If I knew it was going to feel like the big touring coupe that it is, I might not have been let down. Instead, I assumed it would drive like an RX-7 or Z32 300ZX, and it does not.
How about you? What cars have you driven that were either far better or far worse than you ever imagined?
Top graphic image: Motorweek screenshot
1994 Buick Roadmaster. I was surprised how well it drove for being a 20 year old vehicle. Engine ran great, it rode beautifully without being too floaty and it handled very well for a vehicle with such a phat ass.
My grandpa had a 93, with every single option he could check. Positraction, LT1 V8, suspension, the couchiest leather seats you’ve ever seen. Thing would cruise down the highway at 80 like a boat, and lay down a fat strip of 11’s anytime you wanted. Just had to be careful parking because that front end was 15 miles away. Loved that car
I think maybe your grandpa had a 94. 93 came with the throttle body 350, code LO5.
You could be right, it’s been 15 years since he’s had is
My buddy in SoCal let me borrow his 93 Landcruiser FZJ80 while I was visiting. I got a warning speech from his gf “it’s slow, it doesn’t handle well, it takes a long time to stop” etc.
So, I get in, thinking it’s going to be a rattly old pile, and set off. Turning the key and firing up the 4.5L straight 6 was satisfying, as it came to life it rocked the vehicle a bit. Once in motion, I’m pleasantly surprised. The steering is relatively tight, the motor is pretty quiet, and the ride is nice. We get on the highway, and 65, 70mph with no problem, it’s smooth and I’m not sawing the wheel back and forth to stay in the lane. Even the acceleration was adequate, and off the line it actually felt pretty good, that 4.5L makes good low end.
The only time it felt uncivilized was going over broken wavelet or railroad tracks, it got a little jiggly on that type of surface.
This one was modified too, he had a 2-3″ lift, ARB winch bumper, and 33″ tires.
I fell in love with that thing; it honestly didn’t drive significantly worse than my 4Runner. The only downfall was the mileage, I was constantly putting fuel in that thing, I didn’t calculate the mileage, but he told me he gets around 10.
Another vehicle that pleasantly surprised me was my Ram, I test drove one not thinking I’d like it, but I was shocked at how well it drove.
I also once rented a Transit from Home Depot; it must have had the 3.5EB in it because I remember thinking the thing had some guts and drove better on the highway than my 4Runner.
Most cars are about what I expect. I might be forgetting some, but these stand out as widely different than expectation.
Better:
—’83/4 FWD Subaru GLs. Bought the first one because my 240Z was too rotted to pass inspection and it was $500. Bought another one after for the manual and (with a steering wheel and shift knob swap) it was better to drive than the Zs (including the much nicer 260 that followed). These cars were economical tanks. Performance limits were, of course, quite low, but light weight, manual controls, and good low end torque made them fun (and surprised more than a few people in “better” cars). Rust was their kryptonite.
—’80s Monte Carlo SS. Better handling than I expected it could have possibly had and a nice ride.
—’10 Lexus ES350. So much better than the horrible Camry of the same generation. Really seemed like a different car altogether.
—’90 Subaru Legacy FWD 5MT. Better to drive than it had any right to with basic touchpoint changes, better to drive than anything else I’ve driven and convinced me Subaru made a huge mistake with AWD only (and I stopped buying them when they did). My GR86 wishes it had the feel of it, though the chassis communicates about as well. The car even seemed to heal itself, frequently in regards to front wheel impacts that would cause the car to pull to that side for the rest of the day, but next morning track perfectly straight again. I’ve never experienced anything else like it from a machine. If I’m to believe that all humans have souls, then I have an easier time believing this car did as well—I’ve met a lot of people who are black holes. And to think I wasn’t all that enthused about buying it.
—NPR box truck. Nothing outstanding, just more fun than I thought it could be.
Worse:
—’08 Camry. Absolutely abysmal experience. I felt spiritually damaged every time I got out of it. I was well aware that cars could be bad to drive, but didn’t think they were actually capable of sucking energy out of your soul like a far less welcome Matilda May, though I should have figured it was possible as I had its opposite (see Legacy above).
—’16 Kia Rio. Like a bad early ’80s economy car without the driver connection and throttle response . . . or almost any response at all. Uncomfortable and dangerously slow regardless of the adequate numbers on paper.
2003 Pontiac Grand Prix. UGLY looking blob of a car. We rented it when my wife and I got married and drove from Nashville to Knoxville. Maybe it was because I was young and inexperienced but it seemed like the car really could haul ass and at the same time- it got pretty good fuel economy.
1986 VW Golf
Automatic, no AC, loud, drove like it was on rails and was always ready to give more MPH. Was sad when it finally died
For me it was the 1987 Honda Civic Wagovan I bought for CAD$800 off a work collegue.
I bought it because it was cheap and practical. It didn’t look pretty either. And it didn’t have much luxury… not even power steering… but it didn’t need it.
But it was also a gem with how it drove… especially after I installed a low restriction exhaust that improved the power above 5500rpm.
The handling was good, brakes good, shifter was great and the engine would rev up to 7500rpm.
Sadly it succumbed to advanced rust.
I had a 2003 Ram 1500 regular cab, shortbed 4×4 with a Hemi and 20″ wheels. Every single person who drove it commented on how well it handled for its size. One guy said it was like driving his ’96 Impala SS.
Lexus RX350 . . . IIRC model year 2016. Drove my in-laws for two weeks. Front heavy – it would dive when I applied the brakes. Poor visibility. Hated that car.
They squat so bad every time you pull out at a stop sign people think you’re flashing your brights at them.
Most Porsche Cayenne are as exciting or less to drive than a Lexus RX. The Macan is far more inspired.
The Mazda CX-90 was probably the most surprising as it feels unfinished in weird ways.
The first gen Audi R8 I drove was ridiculously crude in weird ways, like binding in the drivetrain when you turned at an intersection. The second gen one was fantastic, though.
Chevy Cruze. I owned a Cavalier, and that’s about where my expectations were. I was quite happy when it seemed a lot closer to the Mazda’s I owned at the time when I had a rental.
Not surprised. We rented a Cruz a few years ago and I was pleasantly surprised. I thought it was a pretty quick, peppy little car. And… they’re actually good cars. My neighbor has a 2011 Cruz and its now well past 175,000. No issues.
Agreed –
Had a Cruze rental about 8-9 years ago.
It was totally not terrible.
I dailied a 2012 Eco manual for 250k miles. Great car. I didn’t want to get rid of it but I didn’t have the space to keep it. And my left knee said it was time.
Rented a 26 BMW X1 and it was a huge disappointment.
Center stack had a sharp edge that was in the perfect spot to jam into my knee.Infotainment functionality/personalization was severely hampered because I didn’t have a BMW app/account, to the extent that it wouldn’t even remember my phone pairing after a power cycle. Dick move, BMW.Deactivating auto start/stop would always present a notification banner that it could be disabled by press-and-holding the vehicle settings button, but that didn’t work.Instrument panel brightness was controlled through a buried vehicle setting in the UI and not a physical switch or button.Jerky throttle/shifting and unusually punchy behavior when leaning into the throttle.HVAC blew with a gentle suggestion. Even when turned down to minimum temperature it just never actually felt cold. Seeing as how it was 80F in Maine at that time that was pretty disappointing.So mostly UI/infotainment complaints, but it proved to me that BMW lost the plot.
On the other hand, I’ve been a big fan of our 19 Cadi XT4. I’ll grant that the engine is rather loud when cold, but power delivery is great and the nine speed is damn near perfect with the exception of the occasional harsh shift. Seats are comfortable, it actually has buttons, quiet and a good size. The only real let down is it needs premium fuel which at 25 mpg for interstate travel is not particularly cheap, but tolerable.
I also have really liked my 11 Cruze. I won’t claim it’s as reliable as a Honda or a Toyota, but I’ve put just shy of 160,000 miles on it and it continues to be a nice daily. The 1.4 is nothing to brag about, but I really like how the car feels and handles. It’s set up fairly firm and stiff which inspires a fair bit of confidence. Interior noise is low and when paired with the 6 speed it’s a fairly engaging daily driver.
Better: 2010 Ford Fusion and 2011 Hyundai Sonata. Drove quite well for what they were. Certainly not sport sedans, but they were pretty decent handling cars relative to what I expected, which admittedly was pretty low given my experiences with previous midsize sedans from both companies.
Worse: Mazda3. Not that they are bad by any means, but I was coming from a Mazda Protegé. The edge has been quite well sanded off, the handling dulled for an admittedly much better ride.
Better: Chevy Impala rental a few years back.
It was reasonably comfortable and handled well enough.
As expected: Polestar 2, early 90’s Ford Explorer (when they were new) and early 90’s Miatas & RX7s For very different reasons.
Worse: In the early 90’s I briefly sold Toyotas at the old San Francisco Autocenter, about the time when all the Finance Bros (TechBros hadn’t been invented yet) wanted a 4Runner.
OMG – It was the most ponderous, top-heavy, soft-suspension-floppy thing I’ve ever driven. It’s a wonder they didn’t flip over more often.
I rented an Impala 2 years ago. I was certain it had a V6 because it really hauled ass on the freeway. When I got to where I was going was genuinely surprised it was a little 4-banger. It was also comfortable to drive. And when I looked up how much these cost I felt these were fantastic deal. Like $22-$25k-loaded. We need more cars like that.
IMO the BMW E92 drove . . . fine, but unremarkable. I was shocked considering the high regard in which those cars were held at the time.
I had a rental Chevy Trax last week.
Of course it is an inexpensive low-end car, which is great. I wish there were more cheap cars on the market. That’s fine. I shouldn’t expect much.
But I assure you it was even worse than expected. The interior materials and design felt actively hostile to human life. But here are a few key points:
Minor point but they have a 6 speed automatic, not a CVT.
Thanks!
That’s even worse then, because it means it was wandering between gears pretty often, and still took forever to downshift. I assumed it was a weak CVT with the “virtual gearing” that some cars have, versus an actual 6-speed.
Thanks for the info!
I noticed when I got my lightly used 2011 Cruze that the brakes were super touchy like that, but after a few months of driving they “normalized”. I wonder if this is a similar situation.
Curious about the CVT though, were you in China? The Trax doesn’t have a CVT available anywhere else.
Possible he had a FWD Trailblazer, those have the CVT.
See above. It was apparently a 6-speed.
I’m embarrassed that I couldn’t tell the difference between the weak, wandering, slow 6-speed that it must have had, and a weak, wandering, slow CVT with “virtual shift” fakery.
I think GM should be more embarrassed than you. How loose does an automatic have to be for it to feel like a CVT?
Better: I drove a rental Chevy Malibu a couple of years ago that made me want one. The engine was peppy, the suspension was just right, the steering was taut, and NVH was tolerable. I’d buy one if I were in the market for a car.
Worse: rental Mustang, circa 2013. Boring. Nothing special, except harder to get into and zero visibility.
Agree on the Malibu positives, but for me, on my rental they were swamped out by the negatives of really bad engine NVH, inexcusable interior quality, and a wonky control relationship. In isolation it would be ok, but you can tell GM gave up even trying to compete with Honda and Toyota in that class.
The Malibu was a perfectly cromulent rental car.
Amazing how many people-including me- had pretty positive experiences with Malibus and Impalas. They’re cheap old school cars. I also really disliked the Mustang we rented when we got married. It was also a seemingly boring experience. Maybe because with the Malibu it was like- fuck it, who cares, let’s floor it! I felt the Malibu was more sporty than the Mustang….
Try the 2.3 EcoBoost Mustang. That thing hauls ass. It won’t threaten a Miata in turns, but it’s no longer the solid rear axle oxcart, either.
4-bangers are more torquey anyway. The Impala we rented felt like it hauled ass and it was also a 4-banger. It just feels more….. “mechanical?”
I also had a rental Malibu a few years ago and I was genuinely shocked at how not terrible it was. Everything about it, except maybe some of the interior materials and the weird LeapFrog-esque infortainment was totally solid.
Could be that Bob Lutz worked on the last iteration of it. And at the time he was really all about trying to improve things like fit, finish, panel gaps, paint quality, interior materials.
No, my rental had abhorrent fit, finish, panel gaps, and interior materials. This car was designed to be a cheap fleet mainstay and felt it.
About that user name, that’s not normal. Consider talking to a doctor.
My example was probably a 2020 model, which was long enough ago that I think GM still cared about it and the tooling was probably still usable. I’d have to wonder what the 2024s look like. Overall, it was competitive.
Subaru Crosstrek. I don’t remember the year exactly but this was pre kids, so 2016ish maybe?
My wife and I wanted something fun with all wheel drive for snow trips. We loved the way it looked and went to the dealership planning on driving away in one. Then we drove it. My god, what an absolute dog. I couldn’t believe how bad the acceleration was. The motor would be screaming yet nothing was happening. I legit didn’t feel safe getting on the freeway. My wife drove it and thought the same. As soon as we got back to the dealership we left.
Subaru: Our AWD will get you there….but it will be slow!
I’m a little puzzled how Subaru moves so many Crosstreks. I guess a lot of people love off-road cosplay.
Its because if you don’t care about going fast they’re pretty great little cars. Really well laid out, good seating position, a YUGE gas tank so you can drive all weekend and yes- it does off roading very well because its one of the few AWD cars that is actually AWD- as in- a real mechanical honest to god 4X4. And we have done some insane shit with it in the Sierras.
Think of it the same way as the Wrangler. Utilitarian. Slow. But very good at what it does.
They’ve taken over around here for what the Outback once was; reasonably priced hiking-boot-turned-car that does most things well but nothing great.
Many people in the Northeast still don’t trust the psuedo-AWD systems that a lot of automakers put out. The Subaru worked before and it still works now, is sort of the mindset.
Those early Crosstreks all had the 2.0L. They were very, very, very slow.
They’re now equipped with the very typical 2.5L which helps a ton.
We test drove both the 2.0 and bought one with a 2.5. The difference was real noticeable. The 2.5 is fine. No- you won’t win drag races but people don’t buy these for anything other than boring pedestrian crap.
Had a rental first-gen Nissan Juke maybe a decade back as a dealership loaner while my car was being serviced (which, as a side note: Ford dealerships would only rent me Fords, which meant a truck. Doesn’t mean, however, you can’t go back the next day to trade it in for whatever was cheaper), and it was way peppier than I thought it’d be.
I still broadly have no love for crossovers, but if I had to pick one, it’d be the bug-eyed zippy Juke hands down. Thing absolutely ripped on bendy back roads.
Better: Charger V6 AWD GT, felt way more nimble and peppy than I expected and was legitimately happy going around corners
Better: 2024 Subaru Legacy Sport Turbo, not quite a WRX but still had lots of handling and was eager to be driven briskly
Worse: 2022 Mazda 3 hatchback 6MT. The shifter is beyond vague and the handling wasn’t that great
Worse: 2019 Golf R. Super turbo lag and was less fun than the GTI. Too buttoned down to justify the huge price delta from the GTI
A Lincoln towncar rental drove like it was hinged in the middle and the steering was controlled by committee. 2001 corvette worst riding kidney punching vehicle ever. Handled nice. 2025 Mazda cx70, everything was perfect.
Quite random:
Better than expected: Recent Chevy Trailblazer rental. You know, the little invisible crossover runt with the 1.3-liter turbo 3? It’s a stupid-looking thing and I thought I’d hate it, but it was surprisingly decent. The turbo 3 with the 9speed was pleasant, responsive, torquey, fully adequate. A bit bobbly and stiff in the ride and handling, but the steering was solid and it was still stable at 75. Not too loud. Lot of interior space. Way better interior quality than a 9th gen Malibu. Amazing A/C. Perfectly decent short-range family car and commuter for about $29K with AWD and a good options list. If this is the worst the auto world has to offer right now, we’re doing okay.
Worse than expected: Kia Stinger GT. Performance bargain, but it skipped the subjectives. The 3.3 V6 sounds present rather than upscale or enticing. Handling is OK. Ride is OK. It’s a bit loud and the interior feels way cheaper in person than in the photos. Lot of rattles and a bit of flex. Drinking problem. Not a bad car, but it did not live up to the hype or the sheet metal.
I second the Trailblazer. Really nice for the price and isn’t horrible to drive. Wish they made a hotter version honestly
Way better than expected – 2004 Impala cop car. It was given to me by a friend who bought 3 of them at a govt auction. He smacked up the front end messing around on his property and didn’t want it anymore. It was the last car I’d be shopping but I needed a new DD so I said yes.
Maybe I’m easy to please and just had low expectations but that cop car turned me into a GM fan again. The 3.8L is bulletproof, smooth, has decent power, somehow gets low 30s mpgs on the highway, and has survived several overheats. It’s a quiet comfy ride on the highway and soaks up the potholes around town with little fuss.
Sadly it’s rusting out pretty badly now and I’m only keeping it on the road to teach my daughters to drive.
Worse than expected – 1994 Honda Accord. Low mileage garage queen from my Mom. I really wanted to like this car and I did like the interior and dashboard layout. Clean and simple. But driving it with the 4 speed auto was a soul sucking experience. Always downshifting too early, 4 cylinder engine whining, somehow getting worse fuel economy than the Impala cop car. In fact, the cop car was better than the Accord in every measurable way except styling and that dashboard.
Surprisingly good:
2013 Chevy Sonic 1.3T with the 6 speed.
I stopped at the Chevy dealer next to my office building to test drive a Cruze Eco with the manual, the only manual cars they had on the lot were the sonic LT Turbo and the Camaro.
I was daily driving a 2001 Civic sedan with an automatic that was starting to slip 30K miles after I had replaced the failed transmission with a used one from eBay. I was surprised by how good the Sonic drove, and the dealer kept piling on discounts until I couldn’t say no. Stock it was enjoyable, after a small pile of mods, it was a little rocket.
K&N Cold Air Intake, ported intake manifold, sticky tires on lightweight Sparco wheels, and a tune to double the boost to 24 PSI made it an absolute riot to drive. The seats were terrible for long drives, and the hard plastic parts everywhere were a reminder that I bought the thing new for $13K but it was a fun little go-kart. On a late night drive I frustrated a 3rd gen Corvette owner intent on passing me on the freeway. Kept letting him get beside me, then dropping the throttle to walk away from him. We were the only ones on 94W and he had no reason to pass me other than his injured pride.
I’ve heard good things about the Sonic Turbo 6MT, they’re crazy hard to find though!
The stock trans seems give out around 250HP, engine seems capable of over 300, thanks to it’s forged internals. Vermont Tuning has upgraded Valve springs and other fun stuff to get you there, or at least did a decade ago./// I got rid of mine in 2016.
That engine/transmission combo is darn good if you can DIY. A tuned one will be a bit tired at about 200k miles, though. At least my Cruze was. But I never changed the clutch so it may well have been slipping a little on acceleration.
A lot of 1.4T/6MT cars were viewed as budget sporty cars. The engine took mods well to a point and the transmission shifting could easily be improved. So a lot of those cars were run hard and put away wet.
I LOVE those little cars! Me and my brother rented one when we went to visit our folks in TN. Got to Nashville and I told them we wanted whatever the cheapest car was. And it was a Sonic. Now here’s the thing. I’m 5 ft 7 but my brother is 6 foot 4. The car looked like it was shorter than he is tall. I was pretty sure we would need to go to the counter and get something else. But not only did he fit perfectly fine but it was way more of a car than I imagined. It had power everything, Apple and Android auto. Despite having a tiny little engine it was perfectly adequate and was able to keep up fine with freeway traffic. Driving between Nashville and Knoxville is a free for all and everyone was doing 80+ an we had no issues maintaining speed.
And it was a $13,000 car! I was VERY pleasantly surprised at how good it was for the money.
Yeah I had mine when my commute was 110 miles/day. Both my Outback and Civic were too boring in traffic after a long day of work as a sleep deprived new father. The Sonic kept me alert and home safe every day. Road tripped it a few times, even destroyed the original LRR tires on the Dragon. Had two toddlers and I could carry both of them and their stuff without issue.
The Dodge Durango we had as a rental a year ago. What we expected was a large, relaxed SUV to cruise around in during vacation. What we got was an automatic transmission which would downshift hectically whenever you looked at the accelerator pedal wrong and rev up as if we needed to get away from a crime site.
Porsche Cayman. I was doing some benchmarking in the 2010s, and got to drive some Porches. I was expecting a communicative chassis and steering and for it to feel engaging at normal road speeds. Instead driving it around in traffic it just felt like a car. It might as well have been a Golf.
It was fun when driven fast, but then everything is. I really wanted it to feel special at low speeds like an Elise/Exige/Europa/Evora.
I still want a Cayman, but only when I can’t cope with anything more extreme.
Then I drove it’s big brother with the engine in the wrong place, and expected it to feel heavier and weirdly unbalanced. I didn’t just expect that, I wanted the rear engined car GT to feel worse than the mid-engined sports car. But the 911 was great. Much better steering, which really pissed me off. I don’t have Cayman money, so I definitely don’t have 911 money.
2007 Chevy Impala. I expected terrible. I just had no idea how terrible.
2017 Suzuki Swift Sport: genuinely more fun to drive at any speed than my mk3 MR2. A great car. My wife’s car. She picks her cars with no input from me other than a veto on stuff I know to be unreliable. It was brilliant that car.