Top Brand New Cars to Avoid
What are the worst brand-new cars that you should not be wasting your money on? That’s what we’re going to find out.
1. Jeep Gladiator: A Flawed Truck Experience
Let’s start with the first vehicle, which is a truck, and it might just be the worst brand new truck that you can buy and that is the Jeep Gladiator.
The gladiator is basically a Jeep Wrangler with a truck bed, which may sound appealing to some, but the result is quite flawed.
The gladiator might just be the most uncomfortable, tiring, slow and cheap feeling truck there is.
It is an utter disappointment that only lets you down more and more the longer you drive it.
Now, that might be tolerable to some truck buyers if the gladiator were well made and affordable to buy, but unfortunately neither of those things are true.
Reliability and Jeep are two words that just don’t seem to go together.
These things are not very well made and do break, which is especially problematic for a truck, which is a vehicle type that is meant to be durable and tolerate heavy abuse.
The gladiator is also ridiculously expensive, which partly explains why it’s one of these slowest selling vehicles on the market right now.
Consumers recognize that you really are not getting your money’s worth, and I couldn’t agree more.
2. Dodge Hornet: Unreliable, and Expensive
There is another Stellantis vehicle that I just had to include on this list, and that vehicle is the Dodge Hornet.
the Hornet is a small crossover which shares its mechanical bits, interior and basic design.
With the Alpha Romeo Ali, there is one major problem right there.
Alphas are not exactly known for their reliability, so turning one into a Dodge isn’t exactly a great place to start, and not only is the build quality questionable, but the Hornet is just not a very good vehicle.
It is cramped inside. It doesn’t have much cargo space, which is odd for an SUV. It is not especially comfortable or great to drive.
The interior has some good technology, but is on the cheap side and it is shockingly expensive.
No surprise, much like the Gladiator, the Hornet is one of these slowest selling vehicles on the market right now, and I really see no reason why anyone should ever consider one.
So don’t waste your money because you have far, far better options out there.
3. Honda Prologue: Not Worth the Price
Moving away from Stellantis, the next vehicle that I would not recommend buying is the Honda Prologue.
For those not familiar with this one, the prologue is a new electric SUV, which Honda introduced in partnership with General Motors.
Essentially it’s just a re-bodied Chevrolet Blazer EV with different styling and a slightly different interior, but essentially both are more or less the same.
Now there’s nothing particularly wrong with the prologue as a vehicle.
It drives perfectly fine, it’s smooth, it’s comfortable and has good power and reasonable driving range.
And like the Blazer EV, it has a ton of interior space and cargo space and the technology is pretty well designed.
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There are a few major concerns with the prologue, however, that would stop me from recommending one.
Firstly, it is quite expensive. I really don’t see how it’s worth 10 to $15,000 more than a CR-V hybrid, which to me is the better vehicle anyway, regardless of the price difference.
Secondly, knowing that it is based on the Chevy Blazer, EV does concern me given that that vehicle recently had some major reliability issues right from launch that required a stop sale and needed to be sorted.
Not only does that bring into question the prologues quality, but then we have the third issue, which is that the prologue will be the only EV that Honda and General Motors build together.
Honda has already confirmed that all their future electric vehicles are going to use Honda technology, which means that once the prologue is discontinued, you can bet that parts support and servicing could eventually become very problematic.
So given these concerns, I really don’t see a valid reason to consider one unless you can get an incredible deal and maybe just lease it for three to four years.
And I would say the same about the Prologues Acura cousin, the Acura Z dx, which is even more expensive and therefore makes even less sense.
4. Mercedes-Benz EQE: An Overpriced
The next vehicle that was a complete disappointment is another EV, and that is the Mercedes-Benz EQE.
Rather than simply creating electric versions of their existing vehicles, Mercedes decided to create an entirely new lineup of EVs, which they’re calling their EQ vehicles.
Only It seems that Mercedes really didn’t put much effort into them. They certainly didn’t put any effort into the designs.
Take the Mercedes badge off and you are left with a totally generic blob of a vehicle. That could be almost anything. Unfortunately, the EQE is a letdown.
In other ways, the ride quality is unusually stiff.
The technology is a bit frustrating to use, and like other Mercedes models, the interior is a bit creaky and not as well made as it probably should be, and it all really falls apart when you see the pricing, which is absurdly high and explains why the EQ models are not selling and lose an enormous amount of value within the first year right after purchasing.
Perhaps Mercedes will get things right with their next generation of electric vehicles after they’ve been refined a little bit more, but for now, I would just say stay away and now moving away from electric vehicles.
5. BMW X2: A Sporty Crossover Gone Wrong
The next vehicle that I would strongly recommend staying away from is the BMW X2 for those unfamiliar with this one.
The X2 is a small crossover, which is designed to look a bit sportier than the BMW X1 BMW’s other small crossover.
Instead, however, the X2 somehow manages to just flop in almost every conceivable way.
My biggest complaint with it is the dual clutch automatic transmission, which was just unacceptably jerky when shifting as these transmissions sometimes tend to be the jerky transmission combined with the very stiff ride and the unrefined engine start stop feature was enough to turn me off.
The interior also has its own share of issues.
The infotainment system lacks any physical controls, so you’re forced to use the overly complex touchscreen, which is on the small size For some reason.
The interior is also not especially nice or that spacious, and because of that sloping roof line, you really don’t get that much cargo space.
I have no idea who the X2 is supposed to be for, especially with its ridiculous pricing, but I am not recommending it and I have a feeling that anyone that takes a shot on one will likely end up regretting it in no time as well.
6. BMW XM: A Pricey SUV
But I’m not done with BMW yet because I have one more abomination to share, and that vehicle is the BMW XM.
The XM is just that bad When you spend nearly 200,000 US or nearly a quarter million Canadian on a vehicle, you expect it to be pretty close to perfect.
And while the XM tries to be a performance SUV A comfortable luxury SUV and an efficient plug-in hybrid SUV all wrapped in one, it somehow manages to be none of those things.
Yes, it is fast, but it’s also very heavy, enormous and ungainly, so it really isn’t that great to drive.
The ride Quality is quite stiff, so it’s really not that comfortable either. And for some reason the XM is a plug-in hybrid, but it’s not that efficient because it also has a twin turbo V eight engine.
And then of course you have the design, which the less said here, the better.
I don’t know who would dump over $200,000 on one of these thinking it’s a good idea.
And judging by how these things are sitting and losing enormous value, it seems that very few are thinking about the XM period, which is a very good thing.