What car got significantly worse between generations?

"AM" (ap18961) 05/18/2015 at 23:27 • Filed to: None

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Like the title says, what car got worse with the new generation?

While not a whole new generation, the 2012 Honda Civic was a major let down and overall a very shitty car compared to the 2011.

Went from this:

To this:

The 2012 was such a bad car and received so many poor reviews that Honda had to do a major overhaul for 2013 including suspension, handling, design and interior quality.

TheOnelectronic > AM 05/18/2015 at 23:33

13

Eclipse. Went from a legitimately fast, fun car to a slow, boring flash-without-substance vehicle, and then to something even worse, by reputation at least.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > AM 05/18/2015 at 23:35

0

I’d say the Malibu from the 2008-12 gen to the 13-15 gen.

Interior got smaller, design got weirder, lost the option of a V6..

The new one coming out soon seems to redeem though.

TheHondaBro > AM 05/18/2015 at 23:35

4

The MkIV Supra got a lot worse with the next generation.

AM > TheOnelectronic 05/18/2015 at 23:36

3

Basically it went from a quick desirable car to a bloated POS.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > AM 05/18/2015 at 23:38

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Neither were very good, but my Mom daily drove one for years, but hates the newer gen so much, she actually refused a rental, and was going to settle for an Accent.

It also got amazing gas mileage, the new one didn’t. It was even the 3.6.

AM > Logansteno: Bought a VW? 05/18/2015 at 23:38

1

I like the design of the 08-12 Malibu’s. It was a very good looking car and the V6 model was surprisingly quick.

The new one does look promising, I hope there’s a V6 option again.

AM > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies 05/18/2015 at 23:40

1

Could be that she doesn’t like cars full of creases and swoops. But honestly, the new Impala is miles better than the car it replaced.

Jedidiah > AM 05/18/2015 at 23:41

1

Any Oldsmobile.

Take the Cutlass for example: Innovative compact that became a traditional mid-size that somehow turned into fwd badge-engineered garbage.

Same story goes for any Pontiac or Mitsubishi. They just took a downward spiral with a few redeeming high points along the way that never could make up for the fall they took.

Short-throw Granny Shifter is 2 #blessed 2b stressed > AM 05/18/2015 at 23:41

4

Every America car during the emissions/oil crisis era.

Luke's Dad Sold His 2000TL To Get a Sienna > AM 05/18/2015 at 23:41

0

Thank you for the Civic. I hate it more and more every year. The 2010 one is one of my favorites.

TheOnelectronic > AM 05/18/2015 at 23:43

1

Also, if you want to count motorcycles, and stay on the Honda theme, the VFR 800 was a legendary sport-touring bike with an atypical V-4, single-sided swingarm, VTEC (just kicked in, yo), and even had the radiators mounted on the side. I once rode one 1000 miles in three days.

Then, to replace it, Honda came out with the VFR 1200, a much heavier, more expensive bike that seemed to cater far more to the touring than to the sport, except it had a pitiful fuel range and poor rider comfort. Honda seemed to look at the list I made above, and decided that’s all a VFR needed to be. Did I mention it had an automatic?

StoneCold > TheOnelectronic 05/18/2015 at 23:45

1

Instant winner here.

Jedidiah > Short-throw Granny Shifter is 2 #blessed 2b stressed 05/18/2015 at 23:45

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Cars back then were terrible in general.

It’s just that the Americans countered competition with even more horrible than normal compacts and couldn’t reverse the momentum of their old-school production for large cars that wound up taking huge hits in quality.

AM > Luke's Dad Sold His 2000TL To Get a Sienna 05/18/2015 at 23:46

0

I think the last Civic that I truly liked was the 2000 Civic Si.

Captain of the Enterprise > AM 05/18/2015 at 23:47

2

Jeep Grand Cherokee

2014

Just personal preference but I prefer the looks of the 2011, I hate the newer headlights. They look like they ripped them off the 300 and made them fit with the design.

AM > Jedidiah 05/18/2015 at 23:48

2

Oh how I miss Pontiac. IMHO their cars were usually better looking than rebadged offerings from their sibling companies.

Jedidiah > TheOnelectronic 05/18/2015 at 23:48

0

Honda has decided to go full on Brougham in everything for some god-forsaken reason.

Axial > AM 05/18/2015 at 23:48

2

Volkswagen Jetta.

We got this awesome car:

To this de-contented, cheap piece of shit:

AM > TheOnelectronic 05/18/2015 at 23:48

1

Very sad indeed. Not to mention that the new bike was way uglier than the old one.

Axial > Logansteno: Bought a VW? 05/18/2015 at 23:49

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I dunno, I rather like the current Malibu for what it is. It’s not exciting, but it has a 265 HP option and it’s leaps and bounds better than the ‘08-’12.

AM > Captain of the Enterprise 05/18/2015 at 23:50

1

I prefer the styling of the 2014-2015 models but only in the Overland trim. However, the 2011-2013 models look a lot more muscular and “Jeep-like” than the facelift models.

The interior on the 2014 is much nicer than the 2011-2013 models though.

Luke's Dad Sold His 2000TL To Get a Sienna > AM 05/18/2015 at 23:50

1

Love that 2000 Si too. Honorable Mention to the 2000 Civic LX (that I specially love since we owned one) and the 2003 Civic Type R since we never got one, but it looks so much better than the Si version that we got (we got as in the United States and not “we” specifically.)

TheHondaBro > Short-throw Granny Shifter is 2 #blessed 2b stressed 05/18/2015 at 23:52

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You mean the one that Oregon still thinks is going on?

AM > StoneCold 05/18/2015 at 23:53

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He definitely wins this round.

AM > Axial 05/18/2015 at 23:55

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I have the “de-contented, cheap piece of shit” so I’m going to have to heavily defend the car! Haha jk, it’s not the greatest car out there but it is still much better than a lot of the competition.

Jedidiah > AM 05/18/2015 at 23:55

1

Pontiac had a chance before it got axed. It started to recover and form it’s own brand image again, but not enough people noticed.

Oldsmobile tried, but their marketing was so bad that they alienated their old consumers and failed to attract new ones. By the time they had done anything, they wound up being comparable to the competition rather than actually besting anyone.

Mitsubishi and Honda just gave up as far as I can tell.

Cars from Nash and Hudson took a big hit in quality several years after they merged to form AMC. (I’m excluding Kaiser-Jeep because it was always run by a bunch of cheap bastards)

Studebakers were always excellent according to my knowledge, but their are some loyal Packard fanatics that swear Packards took a bit hit in quality when the Studebaker-Packard Corporation was formed.

The moral of these stories are that bad corporate decisions ruin good cars will inevitably bankrupt your company.

unclevanos (Ovaltine Jenkins) > AM 05/18/2015 at 23:57

1

The Subaru Impreza has gone from a cheery awd cheap car with odd quirks such as frameless doors

To this

A car that tries to emulate toyota camry design cues and ignore the framless door heritage each model before had.

Rico > AM 05/19/2015 at 00:01

3

This which looks elegant:

To this proposed face lift which looks like it’s trying much too hard:

promoted by the color red > AM 05/19/2015 at 00:04

5

Subaru Legacy.

We went from this sleek thing:

to this bloated Sonata-looking mess.

AM > Jedidiah 05/19/2015 at 00:05

2

Agree with everything you just said. However, Pontiac could have been turned around but the government forced them to axe the company during the bailout.

Because of the bankruptcy, GM had to sell/discontinue Hummer, Pontiac, Saturn and Saab. The government also wanted them to sell off Opel/Vauxhall. And if I'm not mistaken they also wanted them to discontinue GMC as well.

AM > unclevanos (Ovaltine Jenkins) 05/19/2015 at 00:07

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It’s also bloated as fuck now.

AM > Rico 05/19/2015 at 00:07

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That 2nd one is so UGLY!

AM > promoted by the color red 05/19/2015 at 00:08

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2nd Subaru to be nominated, clearly they’re doing something wrong.

Axial > AM 05/19/2015 at 00:13

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It’s really the base models where it shows, and it only really applies to 2011. They caught a pretty big backlash over the changes, and so improved it by leaps and bounds. Today, I’d rather buy one of them than the equivalent Nissan, Honda, Toyota, or Ford. Fair game against Dodge, Chevy, Chrysler, Hyundai, and Kia.

But seriously, those trunk hinges are terrible.

AM > Axial 05/19/2015 at 00:18

2

Well to be fair mine’s a 2013 and it’s a top-spec TDI model so it has all the bells and whistles available. I personally like the Dart a lot more but I wanted a diesel for the mpgs.

As for the trunk hinges, they’re fucking terrible.

Axial > AM 05/19/2015 at 00:28

2

If I’m going to buy a low-spec car, the Dart has attractive options. If I’m going for top-end, then the Chrysler 200 probably wins me over. Seriously, that car’s interior is one hell of a nice place to be. People say it has a lot of road noise, and all I can respond with is “bitch please, I daily a 1990 GM vehicle.”

Is the fuel economy on the TDI all it’s cracked up to be? How’s the acceleration?

AM > Axial 05/19/2015 at 00:41

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The Chrysler 200 really caught my attention when the new gen came out, it finally became a genuinely good car. I used to drive an ‘03 Alero so road noise really doesn’t bother me that much.

As for fuel economy, I’ve averaged between 52-55mpg so far. That’s with good old fashion calculations at the pump not what the car says it’s getting. It has decent acceleration, pretty peppy little car but I’ve DD’ed a V8 truck for the last few years so it still feels very slow to me.

Spasoje > Axial 05/19/2015 at 00:53

1

You could also say that the MkV was a step down, design-wise, from the MkVI...

Went from that to a giant Corolla look-alike w/ a chrome mustache!

Axial > AM 05/19/2015 at 00:55

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I’m honestly curious about how the TDI stacks up in pants-feel next to a GTI or Fiesta ST, just because the instantaneous peak torque number looks good, and I’ve never been in one. I’ve been in GTIs (but not the newest one), so that’s my reference point for comparing it.

I’m not even going to use the ‘Vette as a comparison, that wouldn’t be fair.

Axial > Spasoje 05/19/2015 at 01:02

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I dunno, I think the Mk. V has a distinct, bubbly look all its own and on paper there’s nothing the Mk. IV has that the Mk. V doesn’t. In addition, the Mk. IV in the USA was a horrendously unreliable car with hard seats, stupid cup-holders, a CD-changer in the trunk, a woefully under-built automatic transmission that even the 2.slow N/A mill could destroy, and a leaky sunroof that eventually put it on recall. The Mk. IVb was a little better, but only in the seats and cup-holder departments.

Source of experience: I owned a 2002 Jetta GLS and dumped way too much money into it to keep it running, and it wasn’t ragged on.

The 2011 Mk. VI, however, lost the standard all-wheel discs, changed to really cheap trunk hinges that jut into the cargo area, brought back the 2.slow as the base engine, and in general just wasn’t as nice as the base Mk. V. They built the car to meet a target price and try to beat Toyota, and it really showed.

AM > Axial 05/19/2015 at 01:09

1

It feels like it has a lot of pull but in Edmunds testing, a Jetta TDI did 0-60 in 8.6 seconds which is much slower than the FiST and GTI. Like I said, it has decent acceleration but nothing to write home about.

Svart Smart, traded in his Smart > Axial 05/19/2015 at 01:13

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At least it looks better: No more chrome drool emanating from the radiator grille.

Axial > Svart Smart, traded in his Smart 05/19/2015 at 01:29

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Was black on the GLI, the only one I’d get.

Axial > AM 05/19/2015 at 01:32

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Well darn. Even the GTD wasn’t too quick, at 7 seconds to 60. I know diesels can do better, and I kinda want to see them seriously try with it.

AM > Axial 05/19/2015 at 01:34

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My all time favourite diesel car is the Audi Q7 V12 TDI. 490hp and 740lb-ft torque good for a 0-60 of about 5.5 seconds.

Spasoje > Axial 05/19/2015 at 01:44

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I definitely agree that the VI (I just noticed my typo lol) was a terrible, terrible car for those exact reasons - at least until the facelift came along. My first experience w/ the VI was an absolute base 2.0 w/ its automatic being its only option...crappy interior, slower than a cyclist, truly hateful all around.

Back in 2003, I bought a new MkIV - 1.8T manual - that I want to hold on to for another 10 years at least... I still find the seats the perfect amount of firm (haven’t tried 2002 and prior, so maybe these had IVb seats), and the ‘03 got the IVb’s cupholders, along with the more powerful version of the 1.8T. Mine also has no sunroof due to headroom issues...though VW is far from the only marque to have leaky sunroof issues, unfortunately. The only reliability problem I had the whole time might have actually been due to my own ignorance early on - i.e. using ethanol’d 87 instead of ethanol-free 94. That we shall see.

You can’t really pan it for having the CD changer in the trunk, given that practically every car did back then, and that they were pretty much obsolete (or should I say, irrelevant) by then anyway - or at least by the time I bought mine.

Axial > Spasoje 05/19/2015 at 02:05

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I am going to pan it anyway just because it was one more extra annoyance on top of a list of annoyances. :p

As for the sunroof, it wasn’t just that it was leaky, it’s that the leak caused water to eventually get to the transmission control computer under the passenger seat, break it, and then let the engine break your transmission.

Mine did have the Monsoon sound system, and that was a really good sound system to have in a car. Leaps better than anything I have now or have ridden in since.

Axial > AM 05/19/2015 at 02:06

1

V12 and diesel...that’s gotta sound awesome.

traderQAMobileTestAutomationMobileBoostOn > AM 05/19/2015 at 06:26

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If this doesn’t win, I don’t know what does.

MultiplaOrgasms > AM 05/19/2015 at 07:19

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Keep Oppo euro:

Went from the from probably the most fun per [insert currency] cheap shitbox:

to whatever the hell this is supposed to be:

Actually, all Peugeots of the 07 cycle

to

Again, great fun to drive nice looking compact to bloated mess that is rubbish at everything

to

Same. Fucking. Story.

Peugeot why u do dis

And probably the worst crime of them all:

to

Peugeot did not ruin one car, nope they ruined an entire lineup.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > AM 05/19/2015 at 08:17

1

Infiniti Q45 from first to second generation.

AM > Axial 05/19/2015 at 09:43

0

AM > MultiplaOrgasms 05/19/2015 at 09:47

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They ruined all their lovely cars :(

AM > traderQAMobileTestAutomationMobileBoostOn 05/19/2015 at 09:48

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Oh god 100% yes.

Rico > AM 05/19/2015 at 10:21

3

Repost this for the day crowd! I can do this all day!

This which looked amazing and still looks great:

To this piece of shit ugly fucking bland mobile:

bob and john > TheOnelectronic 05/21/2015 at 14:41

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the 1200...ehhh. I wouldnt count it as a continuation. more of a different model based on the same principles. The new VFR800 is great. (if not as good looking as the 07 gen)

TheOnelectronic > bob and john 05/22/2015 at 20:32

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Is there a new 800?

Regardless, at the time, the VFR 800 stopped existing and the VFR 1200 started existing. I think their intention was for it to be a replacement.

bob and john > TheOnelectronic 05/22/2015 at 20:59

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yes there is.