We’ve all read a review of a car that we’ve actually driven, then taken a second to confirm that yes, the reviewer is fully in love with a car that we didn’t connect with, or that we think is garbage, or vice versa. We’ve also all had the most intense version of that feeling, when what seems like the entire press and every card-carrying car enthusiast on the internet goes absolutely head-over-heels for a car that you just don’t get. “Is it me? Did I miss something? Have I misjudged? Are people right when they say I’m ‘wired wrong’?”
I’ve always found it interesting to go back and read early reviews of cars several years in that, after the perfectly managed first drive program and press-launch champagne has worn away, after the commemorative hat has rotated itself into the dusty corner of the closet and the brand name tote-bag has come apart at the seams, has revealed itself to be kind of a dud. Are there hints of shortcomings that, with the benefit of hindsight we know will doom the car? Are there complaints about things that will grow louder over a production cycle? Is the early review hype train, and the weight of anticipation already building toward an overly positive first impression that will fade hard when examined just a little more closely when people actually buy and own and care for the car? It happens a lot!
Surely there’s a car that makes you feel like you’re the only one who knows its terrible secret. The interior is junk, the build quality is bad, the steering is dull, the powertrain is inert, ride quality stinks, etc. That the reviews are wrong, the forum people are wrong. That despite every “of the year” and four-star rating, this car is overrated. Which car is it?
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