Our Two Cents: Cars we would kill, if we could
Welcome to this week’s episode of Our Two Cents, a series where we ask the staff here at Hagerty Media random questions about automobiles. Our folks spend far too much time every day thinking about cars, so it’s only fair to ask them the following question: What car would you kill and why?
Our answers are just as diverse as our interests, so have a look!
Don’t cross over
I would kill every single egg-shaped “crossover” vehicle simply because they’re hideous (see: Buick Encore). Do I need to expand on this? I feel like everyone should agree with this. They’re ugly as sin and shouldn’t exist. — Ben Woodworth
Toyota Prius, etc.
Any Prius before the latest version, and I’d also nominate the Smart car. Oh, and can I also throw those pedal-powered jitney bus/bicycle bar contraptions onto the fire? They go a whopping 5 mph on Woodward Avenue in Detroit, blocking traffic on a Sunday afternoon with a bunch of suburbanites hootin’ and hollerin’. — Todd Kraemer
Make like a tree and leaf
Nissan Leaf. The first one had such an opportunity to make a splash but was instead the ugliest car of the 21st century. The name is too stained by that mistake and should go away. — Larry Webster
Dropping the droptop
I vote for the last Chrysler Sebring convertible. Once I leaned over to use the lever to move the passenger seat back, and the entire seat bottom came away in my hand. Which is okay in a Boeing 737, but not a psuedo-luxe convertible. — Steven Cole Smith
Flamed out on flame surfacing
In an alternate universe, the 2002–2005 BMW 7 series (E65) woulda ended life as nothing more than a clay model. If so, the Bangle butt and that expensive-to-make (yet dumpy-looking) interior would have never let BMW slide into the convoluted, complex, and borderline offensive BMWs we see today. — Sajeev Mehta
No Eco, no Sport … no thanks!
Ford EcoSport. It’s basically a Ford Fiesta on stilts that costs many thousands more but has the same unpleasant interior. It’s just a hateful little crossover that was as uncompetitive as it was unattractive. It was more ponderous than the tight-handling Fiesta, but the real gut-punch was that the EcoSport arrived right around the time Ford said it would kill all non-SUV cars except the Mustang. — Eric Weiner
You are not us?
I was going to say the Ford EcoSport, but it looks like that one has been spoken for. (Put me down as seconding that motion, however.) So instead, I’ll turn my attention to the Lamborghini Urus. I don’t really care that it’s become the brand’s best-selling vehicle basically overnight. I don’t care that it’s a cash machine. I don’t care that Porsche was the first of those holdout sports-car marques to worship at the SUV altar. Porsche is German, which means logic reigns supreme. Of course there was going to be an SUV.
Lamborghini? It’s Italian. (This is the part where you guys “WELL ACKSHUALLY” me about the VW Group’s ownership and the parts sharing. Save it—I’m on a roll here.)
The whole brand is emotion and sex and things worried parents try to pray away. It’s crass, joyous, spiteful defiance of logic and reservation. The Urus feels like none of that. — Nathan Petroelje
Fry the oil-burner
This is such a fun game of the “butterfly effect” for me: I’ll think of one car that I would love to smite and, just a second later, realize that without that car we wouldn’t have something else. I thought of at least three despicable models that had positive implications in the marketplace. That said, I wish all the 1978–85 GM diesel cars never happened.
Those cars and the stories that spiraled from them put a bad taste in the mouths of so consumers when it came to diesel engines—a bad taste that was largely undeserved. If buyers would have received diesel cars that functioned properly and were actually thought-through, I think history would have changed. For good or bad I don’t know, but it’s hard to argue things wouldn’t have taken a different path. — Kyle Smith
Adios, Tin Lizzie
Channeling my inner Loki, I’d adopt the “agent of chaos” role for this scenario and I’d kill the Ford Model T. It would be interesting to see what the automotive landscape would look like today in its absence. — Stefan Lombard
Kill every icon!
Ooooh … if we’re doing chaos theory, let’s also kill the Tucker (no safety innovations), the Beetle (no VW or Porsche), the Mustang (no pony car wars), and the GTO (no muscle cars). Maybe the Corolla (no foreign cars made in the U.S.)? — Todd Kraemer
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My personal unfavorites are the GM X-bodies and some of the new BMWs. Due to the glowing magazine reviews, we got suckered into ordering a Phoenix, which would have been better off in a bonfire. And the big mouth Bimmers are just plain ugly. Saw our first one in 2021 at the BMW development center at the Nurburgring, and Hubby and I both thought it was a joke. It wasn’t, unfortunately.
PT cruiser, and the 2000s retro garbage TBird are top of my hate list
I disagree with the remark about Icon cars! I’ve been driving the same 1968 Mustang for 45 years. How many people can say that? I love Model Ts too. Nobody mentioned the Pontiac Fiero. Worst piece of junk I ever owned!
I agree with many choices – but not the Tin Lizzie! I’m a truck guy who loves beutifully designed and engineered cars – as well as this web site! Erase from history the Tesla “pickup” (yes, the one with the broken window glass). I admire Musk, but send all his production back to China!
Phew! I was expecting to see the Chevy Corvair on this list. I was all ready to send a scathing reply! Fortunately, it wasn’t there.
I wouldn’t let that happen. Heck, some of us have problems with saving Corvairs.
I’m down to only three!
Subjectivity on stilts.
If it’s electric, or powered by fewer than 4 cylinders, or “styled” in the manner of a Transformer, or NA with a manual transmission, or essentially a smartphone on wheels, it needs not exist. Likewise, while I’m channeling the “get off my lawn” old guy: if it “rolls coal”, is modified to look like something from a HotWheels package, or poorly maintained, or used for mobile phone chats and/or texting, please go away…
You folks seem a bit grouchy today…bordering on hateful.
Like it or not, crossovers make sense…tall for visibility, and family size room.
Most folks don’t need a truck based SUV since they are just going to be doing daily tasks.
Yes a Land/Range Rover can climb mountains, but most are high priced soccer mom cars.
Save your money, save natural resources and fuel by buying what you need, not a ego boost or status symbol.
Having said that, I would kill most of the GM lineup for the last 50 years.
Maybe kill GM itself for being so stupid…turning a 60% market share into bankruptcy and becoming a political tool while paying execs millions a year.
I know nothing about business, but I don’t think I could have done any worse…after all, in business what’s worse than bankruptcy?
We made the mistake of renting a Chrysler Sebring convertible while on vacation in Hawaii.
(Had to have a convertible to fully enjoy Hawaii’s incredible scenery and weather!)
What an absolute POS!
Cheapest, crappy interior of ANY Rental car that we’ve had.
The body structure was so loose and flexible….when you hit a bump the entire car shook like a dog does after getting out of a pond!
When we went to the Big Island, we rented a Ford Mustang convertible…..totally different car!
Beautiful interior with nice bucket seats… SO smooth….and fast!
The Lamborghini Urus is the #1 selling vehicle among trophy wives. Look in the driver’s seat next time you see one.
I searched ugliest Pontiac. The immediate result: Pontiac Aztek. It redefined hideous.
Agreed, you beat me to it!
I was wondering whether anyone was going to mention the ugly Aztek. I believe they are the most hideous vehicle ever produced by any manufacturer.
Hey, I saw an Aztec driving down the road last week, in very good condition, Kind of an aqua blue hue. You know something, cruising along with all of todays SUV it didn’t look out of place at all. Looked right at home. One car I’d kill is the Hyundai Veloster, that thing is butt ugly, the rear end design is a hideous mess.
Pacer, Gremlin, Chevette, Pinto, Vega, etc….
It is a normal pass time for us car types to wish we could remove cars from history but we must walk softly here because each is a link to the next,usually better.
It is with near universal hate that MoPar guys will hold up the K car and mini van as killers of there name plate but without that we never get Viper or Hellcats.
Us Ford guys universally point at the Mustang 2,but would FoxBody Cobras ever been born?
Although I do wish Ford would have stayed with canted valve “Cleveland heads” in the US those wedge heads held us back for years.
GM had some good stuff in the 60’s that just needed a push or 2 in the right direction.
Imagine if the all aluminum Turbo Wildcat was further developed.
The Corvair was a pretty solid car by its death.
The internal struggle that Corvette had to be the pinochle of Chevy performance hamper many projects.
How about overhead cam Pontiacs?
The list goes on,and on,and on…..
The failures and duds made the improvements that continue today
1. Crossovers: disagree
I loke wagons and hatchbacks but crossovers are far more capable and roomy and they are much better than full size SUV’s as daily drivers. Sure, some egg-shaped ones are ugly, but not all are egg-shaped nor ugly
2. Toyota Prius: disagerr
The old ones, sure. Have you seen the new one?
3. Leaf: agree
4. Chrysler Sebring convertible: ah … the entire Sebring line was killed off 13 years ago after the 2010 model year. It was replaced by the 200.
5. 2002–2005 BMW 7: again, already dead
6. Ford Eco Sport: agree
7. Lamborghini Urus: undecided
8. 1978–85 GM diesel cars: again, already dead
9. Ford Model T: totally disagree
The automotive landscape might not exist without the T.
10. Every Icon: (roll-eyes)
The writer must be very young to want to delete every vehicle icon.