► 2024 has had lots of highs, but it’s also had some big automotive lows
► CAR names its biggest disappointments of 2024
► EVs, AMGs and one of the world’s most popular cars listed
Surely there are no truly bad cars on sale in 2024? Surely? Well, our reviewers think otherwise, and this year has proven that it’s truly possible to still a terrible car.
I won’t give away any spoilers just yet, but there are a few surprises in there, including one of the world’s best-selling cars. It’s worth adding that some of these cars aren’t necessarily the worst things we’ve driven in 2024, but the ones that have left us most disappointed – either because there was a lot riding on a launch or it just failed to live up to expectation.
Read on to find out the biggest automotive lows of 2024.
So, yep, ‘worst’ is probably overstating it. Ferrari, if you’re ready this and you’ve a de-fleeted Roma Spider that just needs to disappear, I can definitely help with that. But it’s amazing how long four years is on planet car. I absolutely adored the Roma coupe when it debuted; still do. Precious few modern cars are so beautiful; precious few 600bhp cars so playful and forgiving.
But, driving the Spider recently, it was wobbly and loose, lacked mid-corner and corner-exit predictability, and the infotainment infuriated as it always has. The engine also felt and sounded far more overtly turbocharged than I remembered, sadly. The Roma Spider oozes romance, yes. But the 911 Turbo S cabriolet is the better car.
Along with the Model 3, the Tesla Model Y is the car that has most transformed the fortunes of the most transformative car company on the planet. But while the sales figures of the 3 are understandable, despite some of the perverse controls, I do not understand why anyone would plump for the Model Y.
It takes all the worst bits of the 3 and then rolls them into a package with overly sharp steering and a ride quality where rocks have replaced dampers. 2025’s update can’t come too soon.
This is far from the worst car I’ve driven in 2024, but given how much I loved the previous-gen C63 S the latest version has most definitely left me disappointed. Granted, AMG took a risk and in doing so were the first to deliver what will soon be the default powertrain (plug-in hybrid) for cars like this. But my oh my, they missed the mark with the new C63.
Whereas I feel BMW has nailed the new M5 by refusing to compromise (in every area but weight), AMG has taken it a step too far and left us with what feels like a Beta product. Such a shame.
This car put me – and us – in a position that opposes the apparent view of most other motoring titles to such an extent we got another one in to check I hadn’t lost my mind. While I’m sure Dacia’s intentions in bringing a ‘new’ electric car to market for £16k are noble enough, you just can’t escape the reality of what that means for the new Spring when it’s based on a 2015 ICE vehicle originally engineered to be sold for the equivalent of £3000.
From the handling to the Euro NCAP score, it’s impossible to recommend. Buy a nearly new Corsa Electric instead.
Jesus, what a mess. I know Skywell is a new brand to the UK, so I really should try to give the BE11 the benefit of the doubt. After all, breaking new ground is tough for any car manufacturer – not least a fledgling Chinese EV brand that’s never operated in Europe before. But there wasn’t a single thing about this car I liked.
For me, it fell at every hurdle. Fisher Price build quality, irritating safety technology, an overly complicated infotainment system, average electric range claims, uninspiring handling and a steering system that felt like it was connected to a horse-drawn cart in the neighbouring parish. And what’s the price of all this mediocrity? £36,995. So, it’s this or a Skoda Enyaq and a few pints down the pub. I know what I’d rather have.
I’m with Luke on this one. At first glance, the BE11 exhibits no immediate hallmarks of poor quality – there’s some semblance of style inside with varying materials, and though the exterior is woefully uncharismatic, it’s not necessarily offensive either. I didn’t have high hopes, but rather low-grade expectations, given the advancement of other Chinese EV marques in recent years.
When I say they came crashing down within a mere thirty seconds of getting in the car, I mean I got in and immediately felt sick.
The interior was cheap and nasty, while the driving experience teetered on the line between horrible and alarming. The ride was poor, the steering tune was ghostly light and the car rolled into corners as though Jesse Pinkman were hiding in an opposite bush with a big magnet. All for the price of a refined European alternative? Get out of here.
You may think I’m being harsh with this one, but it’s mainly because I’ve been quite lucky in driving a roster of at-the-very-least-good cars this year. The Subaru Forester has a niche place in the world; it’s enormously utilitarian and sensible, practical and built to last.
But it’s just so… ‘meh.’ Subaru’s CVT-transmission’d, naturally-aspirated petrol powertrain is just dismal, sapping power and ends up not being very efficient either. It’s a soggy family bus to drive, and some of the tech on it still feels like it’s stuck in the 90s. I have such a soft spot for Subaru, but when almost all of the competition is either sweeter to drive, nicer to be in or can be had for less, the Forester just looks weak by comparison.
Having attended the glitzy, Milan-based launch of the Junior, I was keen to drive Alfa Romeo’s take on the eCMP2 platform in the UK. Unfortunately, it was the most disappointing drive I had in 2024.
The exterior was just as good as I remembered, but inside cheap plastics really missed the premium feel I was hoping for. Worse still, the brakes lacked feel and bite at the top of the pedal, and had the same awkward transition between regen and friction brakes as my Jeep Avenger long-termer.
Having driven the rest of the largely impressive Alfa range, I was hoping for more.
The Peugeot e-3008 is probably not the worst car I’ve driven this year, but it sure as hell is the most disappointing. The new 3008 was the first car built on Stellantis’ STLA Medium platform, and meant to be the crown jewels of this automotive group, underpinning up to a two million cars per year once up and running.
But the result was underwhelming. Heavy, an unsettled ride and an interior that looks fantastic in a showroom but proved infuriating use in the real world. Combine that with surprisingly cramped interior – I recall my brother (who is not interested in cars in the slightest) asking ‘how have they made such a car big car with so little space in it’ – and you have a car that’s very hard to recommend.
I’ve tried to cut the Grenadier some slack – Ineos is new to making cars after all. But the Quartermaster pickup took an already bad vehicle and made it truly awful.
The Quartermaster takes all the bad bits of the already challenging Grenadier – the horrendous steering, the cabin that has more buttons than a pantomime audition room, the thirsty and outdated-feeling engines – and made it even less practical. It doesn’t even offer the 1,000kg payload that would have provided access to the (sadly closing) tax loophole that would have made it a bit better value.
But what I find most offensive is the sense that so much in the Grenadier range feels like it was designed around the needs of an athletic farm worker that is strong enough to get the door to close first time and tall enough to get in and out. If you’re short then tough – side steps are only an option so getting in and out of your £70k+ car will cost you extra.
Oh, the crushing disappointment of the hire car lottery… We had booked through the cheapest rental website, so we were hardly surprised when we were tossed the keys to a car none of us recognised. The SWM G01 is a Chinese crossover at the lower echelons of the Spanish hire car scene and it did at least swallow five adults and long weekend luggage with ease.
But it was also one of the worst cars dynamically I’ve driven all year, with very little to recommend it: extraordinarily sluggish acceleration, pronounced driveline shunt at low speeds and infotainment menus riddled with English spelling mistakes. Cheap and not especially cheerful.
Dacia’s entire history is built around recycling Renaults or their components into keenly priced, honest transportation. Sadly, with the Spring, Dacia has really scraped the bottom of the parts bin. It’s based on a crossover that’s been sold in India since 2015 but drives like something that would have been unrecommendable in the 1990s.
While 970kg, 165 section tyres and 64bhp could be fun, it’s actually terrifying. Body roll is concerning, wet grip dangerous, and the stability control is crude to the point of it provoking the tail to twitch whilst trying to contain understeer. Awful.
The new Dacia Duster was a big disappointment for me. The previous Duster was a great car – great in the tradition of the Mitsubishi Shogun Pinin and the Daihatsu Fourtrak and the Hyundai Terracan. Some colleagues were far from convinced, disliking the seats and the steering, and wanting more stuff. Well, they’ve had their way, and it now has a bit more stuff, and better seats.
But it’s also become something that surely nobody wanted: ordinary. It doesn’t drive very well, and feels less likely to survive an apocalypse. It’s rather too much like the Renault Captur for my liking.