I said it right there in the headline, but please allow me to reiterate: a boring car is not necessarily a bad car or a design failure, and while you are free to do whatever you like with your responses, the intention here is not to dump on cars for any inability to excite. We’re pro-car here, always. That said, and OK as it may be, some cars are boring.
Some of the cars I have the most affection for are boring. I doubt anyone thinks a Grandpa-spec Crown Victoria or Lincoln Town Car is exciting, but as very American expressions of restrained “classiness” and no-nonsense car design, I think they’re interesting and fun, and the growing scarcity of nice ones only makes them more appealing
Another boring beaut for me is the Toyota Camry, long despised by try-hard enthusiasts as the dullest, worst thing to drive for a real car person such as themselves (see also: minivans). I happen to like every iteration of Camry simply for being the comfortable, inoffensive, reliable “regular car” that gets one from A to B without fuss or temptation and frequent invisibility to law enforcement, particularly in shades of white, silver, and beige on the most basic wheels offered.
… Which is not to say a Camry cannot excite, as evidenced by its increasingly aggro styling (peaking, I think, with the XV70 version as seen below) and availability of 300+ horsepower trims. It’s also worth noting that new Camrys of any trim are an increasingly rare sight in the crossover-crazy era we live in (at least in my slice of North Texas), so I’m likely to point and say, “Look, a Camry,” when I see one, which makes them not-boring.
As for a car I will never point at, or be moved by in any way? A Tesla Model Y, specifically in white. It’s a perfectly good-looking car, but looking pretty tired even with its refresh, simply because this basic shape has been on roads for so long, and in great numbers. It’s just “an car” to me, though I completely understand it’s a fine automobile, remains a top choice among EVs, and depending on trim, can out-hustle many “exciting” cars. But it does nothing for me; it looks more generic to me than minimalist, and it’s just … blah. To me. In white.
A will say that, in black, it’s a different story. There’s a murdered-out Model Y Premium that I see on the regular (license plate: DRTH VDR) that I think looks downright sinister and not-boring.
Your turn:
What Is The Most Boring New Car? (Which Is Not Necessarily A Bad Thing)
Top graphic image: Tesla
All those CUVs in many shades of grey. Have to really stare to see a badge or model name and even then, it’s not always findable or readable at speed or even stop and go traffic.
Suppose they might be good for when you want to be unnoticed.
You already called it: Camry, though a Corolla is probably a close second. The Corolla is available in too many trims that add interest to be entirely boring; it makes the basic no-frills model that much more uncommon and, by extension, less boring.
Although I have noticed that the RAV4 is now even more ubiquitous than the Camry. It’s everywhere and so bland that I cannot tell, at first glance, whether the one I see is indeed a RAV or its slightly buffer cousin the Highlander.
F-150. Camry of the truck world. They’re everywhere, I never notice them, they’re good at their job, and they’ve barely changed in appearance in 15 years.
Yes the F-150 is unnoticeable but the chevy silverados are always tailgating me.
They want to be noticed!
All of the completely interchangeable CUVs. Inevitably painted some shade of gray.
I agree with the Model Y. We’re on our second and while it is absolutely a fantastic daily driver, it’s still just a rolling iPhone. With snow tires it’s borderline unstoppable on snowy roads while also being quiet, efficient, roomy, and cheap to operate overall. It’s very fast, but also boring in almost all regards. It’s a perfect “car” when you don’t want a bunch of additional B.S. on the reg.
They’re the ultimate car for people who think of cars as an appliance. They go places, they do things, they have no personality or quirks. They’re basically just a microwave: you know what it’s going to do, but operating the wipers is like trying to fix the time on a microwave.
There’s a way to operate the wipers? I thought you had to tweet Elon and ask him to turn them on.
Fellow Y owner here. It can dance when the road gets twisty. It delivers exactly as much involvement as desired. Turn on FSD and it’ll do 95% of the driving. Don’t turn it on and drive it. It’s fun on a twisty road with minimal body roll and great braking. Overall a great car.
I’ve developed a kind of face blindness for gray cars. Anything gray is just a boring lump on the road, IMO.
Also, Nissan SUVs. Not only are they boring, but they’re a rolling billboard telling other drivers to cover their brake pedal and prepare for some stupidity.
A Honda Odyssey is boring but we love ours. We can load up all 5 of the grandkids and some stuff and get them where we need to be without issue or excitement.
It just does the job it was designed to do without issue…unless one of the kids crosses the imaginary border between them but that isn’t the Odyssey’s fault.
If it’s not the Toyota Corolla, I don’t know what is. But it’s one of the few cars I will blindly recommend to anyone. There’s just nothing on it that would unduly break, either the standard version of the hybrid. And Toyota has done a decent job bringing more verve to the styling.
There are three black ones in my apartment parking lot and the owners constantly try to get into not-their-Corolla. Just because they are identical, right down to the dents and scratches.
Most small/midsized SUVs. They’re likely some front-drive/AWD based thing with a transversely mounted four cylinder engine and CVT.
They do not particularly have much outstanding in terms of next-generation technological advancement, nor do they particularly drive in such a fashion as to make them desirable. They are transportation appliances. Which is what the people want.
They follow from a line of descendants than can be traced back through various transportation appliances of yore.
I don’t know, but I’m certain to rent whatever it is the next time I’m in an airport lot.
I had a ZR71 6.2L Suburban this week. It was not boring. Occasionally infuriating, but not boring. 🙂
I had a Kia Soul last month. The last gasp of personality in the segment. Kia insists the Seltos is a direct replacement. No.
Crew cab F150. I see about 500 a day and they all look the same because they are all Lariat or Platinum trim levels. And they are all dark gray or black so there is little color differentiation. If I see an STX trim I do a double take.
Current Corolla but specifically a Hybrid Sedan. Doesn’t get the Prius recent power bump, doesn’t have a hatch or AWD to make it go to interesting places or haul large things. It isn’t a tad bit sporty, flashy, or interesting, just “An Car” in the decade of the Hybrid.
One thing I’ve noticed is that the last/current generations of Camry have started to develop massive Big Altima Energy over the last few years. The aggro styling has definitely led to aggro driving behavior.
The ultimate “wallpaper car” to me, at least in this area, has to be the Lexus RX in its various forms.
Yes the Camry does not need all that extra aero crap. It needs to look boring, and that is ok.
It would be greatly improved if it shelved all the “aero” crap in exchange for massive drag reduction and increased fuel efficiency. I want my appliance car to cost as little as possible to operate, and adding stupid styling elements to make it look like it’s something it’s not while adding cost/inefficiency defeats the purpose.
Very well said!!!
The second “exhaust tip” tack-welded to the muffler alongside the actual tip gets me every time. So dumb.
OMG, someone else has noticed this too. A while ago I only noticed it on the “sporty” XSE trim with dual mufflers (but quad tips, with the outer two being clean and shiny and the inners being the real ones). Now it seems pretty much all them have a dual-tip muffler with the outboard one being take. Talk about trying too hard. How much did they possibly save on manufacturing by not actually splicing the pipe to the second one?
The entire Buick lineup of nothing but CUVs – some of which are faux.
The entire Chrysler lineup – of which there is a minivan.
And the entire Ram lineup – which consists of a truck and a van.
Nothing says “wait, those are different cars?!?!” like going to the Buick website.
The naming convention certainly doesn’t help.
EN_ _ _ _ _
I’d like to buy a vowel, Pat.
anything but “ENtertaining”
Mitsubishi Outlander Sport??
The whole US Mitsubishi line-up??
Yesterday’s Trax is probably up there. A base spec Corolla is probably near the top of the list.
But I’m going to nominate the Chevy Express, because if you got in it you wouldn’t be able to tell if it was a 2026 or a 2012, except maybe by the radio.
Was the white paint peeling off from the factory? I guess that is exterior and you specified interior.
The white paint peeling from the factory is a feature – it gives you something to talk about while trying to remember what year it is.
Only difference between a 2026 and a 2003 is the rust.
The Toyota Corolla Cross. It’s boring to look at, boring to drive, and too boring to even tell your friends that you bought one. I swear that every one I have seen is white, so I’m not even sure it comes in colors. The upshot is that it is also boring to own. It’s reliable, reasonably priced, and economical. You get to forget you even own the damn thing unitl it comes time to get wherever it is you need to go, which is great if you’re into that sort of thing.
The official car of “why yes, I own a vehicle” 🙂
This is why I want one for my wife’s next car. I don’t want to think about the thing until it needs tires. Anything that I find “exciting” in a car, she’d find annoying or just not care about.
Friends of mine replaced their problematic aging Elantra Hybrid with a used Corolla Cross LE, and it was so boring that they forgot to tell me for like 2 weeks, and I didn’t even notice it despite seeing them several times. It’s been 4 months and that was the last I heard of it, versus the Elantra’s nearly weekly updates on it’s self-destruction. They couldn’t me more whelmed, and I’m glad.
Stretch…yawn…cannot muster comment…too…bored…yet still the most excited person about this question…zzzzz and yes the tesla model y for sure
The Nissan Rouge
I suspect most would agree a Rouge is the poster child for “generic soulless transportation appliance”. They have no style whatsoever, are almost always in some shade of gray, and are about as un-inspiring to drive as they come thanks to a wheezy, rattly engine and belt-based CVT. Throw in below-average reliability, famously awful dealers, and much more compelling options at a similar price point, and you’ve really got strong “IDGAF about cars or driving whatsoever” energy.
Or if you have Big Altima energy, but need to subject a kid or dog to it at the same time, then you get a Rogue (as we all know kids and pets are famously bulky and do not fit in sedans or wagons)
The Juke should’ve had the Rogue name and the Rogue should’ve been named Anautomobile.