Cars usually go through some quality control processes to make sure they are safe, efficient, reliable and all that stuff. Some manufacturers are not so good on that, and we end up having cars such as the Ford Pinto that would burst into flames on an accident, with no chance of survival for the passengers. What about recent cars? Is there any car model you would not drive/ride at all?
For me it would be probably the Lifan 320, the fake mini-cooper. First of all, it just looks hideous. And it was made in china - it is unsafe, badly made and a terrible, terrible copy of the mini. It looks like a person with speaking impairments explained to a half-deaf person what the car should look like on a terrible phone connection.
I dated a GM engineer for a while, and he was given a practically endless rotating schedule of new cars to drive. So whenever we went out, I’d drive whatever he showed up in.
I know it’s a trope, but I felt like a real douch driving a Hummer. I’d never buy one. It was also much less roomy inside than you’d expect.
I learned to drive in an AMC Pacer. Terrible car, it was like driving a fishbowl. Also it took about 10 minutes to get up to 60 mph. Then I drove a 1979 MG Midget and fell in love with manual transmissions and speed.
On my thru hike of the Appalachian Trail and needing to hitch rides into trail towns, I was very appreciative of any ride I could get. Most unsafe was in the bed of a pickup truck (this alone is common) filled up to over the bed walls with various objects, leaving to to cling onto this ‘junk’ to get any stability and not slide off onto the road.
It actually looks ‘ok’ for that style of car, that does not go into it’s safety. But with that said as a thru hiker, yes I would get in.
I’m a car enthusiast so as a rule, there is no car that come to mind that I would not drive or ride in just for shits and giggles. However, the list of cars I’d never own is quite extensive.
likewise. I’m in the “deciding” stage of buying a motorcycle, so even a hilariously unsafe car like the Lifan referred to by OP wouldn’t faze me. I wouldn’t drive one for a bunch of other reasons, though.
I am comfortable with my masculinity but I always felt weird driving a VW bug. And it was a POS so I wouldn’t buy one. Not sure I’d want to drive a Kia or Hyundai either.
I’ve been party to several car rentals over the past several years. Usually we requested a full size (I think) and the pickings are consistent, probably because of ease of service. We rented an Imapala once. Once. At the time, rappers had convinced we that the six-fo’ Impala was cool, but the 20XX was an underpowered slug. We usually went with Dodge Chargers in the same category, as when you have a rental you should get the best (power-wise at least) that you can find in a given class.
Not sure if it hurts or helps your case, but per your wiki link, it was designed in China and is built in Russia.
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Not sure I’d want to drive a Kia or Hyundai either.
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Kia (and parent Hyundai) have changed in a big way over the past ten years, and especially in the last five. They are no longer the crappy econoboxes that everybody associates with their names.
I have owned a Pinto and several Edsels so I’m basically not all that picky. And I have at least five times the miles on motorcycles as I do cars so I’m not a nervous type. But I drove an Isetta Fretta once and never again.
I’ll ride in just about anything as long as it is legally roadworthy. There are a few rental vehicles I’ll avoid unless absolutely nothing else is available; the Chrysler PT Cruiser comes to mind.
You know what, we need more wagons in the US, but wait, actually we don’t.
Because we already have them. We just jack them up and call them Sport Utility Vehicles, or SUVs. Or, as I like to call them SIMULATED Utility Vehicles, since less than 14% of these supposedly rugged vehicles ever leave the pavement.
This. Kia and Hyundai today are where Toyota and Honda were in the 90’s, in terms of level of safety and quality. They did to the Japanese what the Japanese did to the Big 3 in the 80’s.
As for the OP, one word: Yugo. I drove one once. Once.
The last season premier of Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee had Sarah Jessica Parker in her 70s station wagon. Nice mix of her nostalgia and a car guy’s loathing of them. I’m okay with wagons myself - some look really cool. It’s Rancheros/El Caminos that bug me, a truck just makes more sense.
As far as refusals - nothing on my end but I’ve owned many convertibles and have had dates refuse outright to get in; one of my aunts was always a nervous driver (she’s quit driving altogether) and never rode in one. I suppose some would have refused to get on one of my motorcycles but I never ask anyone - I wait for them to show interest.
