10 of The WORST Cars of the 2010’s
No matter which decade we look at, there are always some things that stand out, both the good and the bad. The 80’s had the crazy hair, the 90’s had the interesting Music, the 00’s had the awful fashion, and the 10’s had almost all of the technology that we now know and love… as well as some awful cars too. It’s true. The 2010’s had some of the worst cars imaginable. There are always awful models out every year, but as a decade, we had some really awful creations to live with, luckily just about all of which failed quite dramatically, and today, we’re here to look at them.
We’ve rounded up 10 of the worst cars that were around in the last decade to help point out and showcase some of the biggest marketing, manufacturing and general motoring mistakes that could have possibly been made to dissect and remind us why they were so bad. Buying a car first time round.
Let’s take a look.
Mitsubishi Mirage
Slow, clunky, uncomfortable and not great to look at. These are all things that are hard to argue with about the Mitsubishi Mirage. With a 0-60 of 13 seconds and a truly awful design, this cheap and cheerful vehicle is a great economical runner but that’s about all it has to offer. It is not a pleasant car and definitely earned its place here.
Fiat 500L
The Fiat 500 is a great car for what it is, even if it is a little pricey compared to its rivals. The Fiat 500 XL is an interesting variant that adds a lot more practicality into the mix even if not so great to look at. The Fiat 500L is the middle of the two that has neither of the benefits and yet both the disadvantages. It’s slow, impractical and generally just not great for anything. It’s great for highlighting the benefits of the others but as a car itself, it is certainly not strong.
Range Rover
Despite being a true classic, the Range Rover was still a massively problematic vehicle. Albeit luxurious and practical in design and nature, it still had a huge array of issues, making it very unreliable. Gearbox issues and suspension problems were some of the most common, but it had many issues in general.
Nissan Xtrail
The Xtrail is an affordable 7 seat vehicle which can make it a game changer, and despite being a practical vehicle to operate generally, it sadly, like the Range Rover, had a huge list of problems too. In a survey conducted by What Car, it actually comes to light as one of the most unreliable vehicles in its class. That is an easy way to make sure you’re one of the worst vehicles of the decade!
Vauxhall Mokka
Expensive and low, although still surprisingly large and spacious, the Mokka is still not a very popular car. Despite being a crossover, it’s not a pleasant drive according to most reviews and even the smallest bump in the road can make you well aware of its presence. It’s not something you need from a car like this, especially with other cars in the same class as this.
Jeep Compass
Jeep is a seriously strong brand, but when you lower the value of a car and make it less off-road and more city-friendly, you sacrifice a lot of what makes it great. In the case of the Jeep Compass, you’re left with an uncomfortable and bad performing 4-wheel driving box that is not too reliable either (especially the CVT models). As a result, it’s sent Jeep from best to worst cars here and it’s one to avoid, especially for the budget!
Smart Cars
What more needs to be said about these. Despite being great if you live in a massively overpopulated area for parking and incredibly economical, this is still one of the worst cars of the decade, and the 2010s had a lot of them. They were ridiculously small, uncomfortable, and had some of the most issue prone transmissions of any car of the decade. That’s a cocktail for regret once you get past the savings brought from the low running costs, but each to their own.
Mini Coupe
This is simply something that wasn’t needed or wanted by anyone really. It was practically the same as all other models of Mini Cooper in terms of performance, so, what justifies the difference? Was it the notorious lack of comfort from the dire suspension? The elevated price? The strange design? We’re not quite sure, but they all make a cocktail for failure when you add them together.
BMW GT5
The BMW GT5 has a lot of the problems that the 500L and the Mini Coupe share too, and that’s that they were a kind of in-between model that shared the weak points from other models in becoming their own monstrosity. Although being a good performer, their awful design and high price resulted in very poor sales and they were not a great idea to being with. As far as things go, that definitely makes them one of the worst cars of the 2010s.
Suzuki Jimny
To finish up, we’ll look at one last 4×4, and that is the Suzuki Jimny. Although Suzuki got their act together in 2018, the model before then was seriously outplayed and became awful in comparison too. It was boxy, uncomfortable and painfully lacking in all the features modern cars utilise more than ever, making it a huge mistake. Even Suzuki saw this hence the massive revamp (which is great), but we can’t ignore the monster before this. If you’re shopping for a used car, don’t be fooled by the new models’ reputation.
Ultimately, a lot of this does come down to opinion. We have always believed that there are no ‘bad’ cars out there. Instead, poor maintenance and occasional design flaws. Different things matter to different people when it comes time to looking at what are the best and worst cars, no matter when you look. Although some of these were economical, that’s about all they had going for them. Whether it was the price, speed, handling, design, or just blatant unreliability, all of these cars have major downfalls that landed them here in the first place. Let’s see what this decade brings!
Happy driving!
NB: Much of the data for these reviews came from reputable sources such as WhatCar and TopGear
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