6 Beautiful Cars That Are Too Terrible To Actually Drive
1. Aston Martin DB7
The DB7 is easily one of the prettiest Aston Martins ever produced, but it was never a genuine performance car. In a move to lower costs, the DB7 was based on the ancient Jaguar XJS platform. As a result, the DB7 suffered from wooly steering, an unresponsive chassis and copious amounts of body roll.
Things weren’t much better on the inside. With Ford owning Aston at the time, the interior was festooned with buttons from the Blue Oval parts bin, making the expensive GT feel distinctly low-rent. Ultimately, these cars are better suited for a museum as opposed to the open road.
2. Disco Volante by Touring Superleggera
The Disco Volante by Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera is arguably the sexiest coach-built car on sale today. Based on the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione, Touring managed to improve upon a masterpiece, blending 1950s aesthetics with modern-day performance. A shame then that the driving experience doesn’t live up to the good looks.
You see, the Alfa 8C was a pretty terrible performance car, with road testers complaining of body-roll, poor steering feel and unpredictable handling on the limit. The solution: if you own one, park it in your living room and just stare at it.
3. Maserati 3200 GT
The Maserati 3200 GT was a truly stunning design. The earlier 1998-2002 cars - with their gorgeous LED boomerang rear lights - were the prettiest models, helping to show off the svelte but muscular waistline of the Giorgetto Giugiaro-designed body. But, the beautiful package was ultimately ruined by terrible driving dynamics.
A sensitive steering rack, dim-witted automatic gearbox and floaty suspension resulted in a car that was difficult to hustle down a back road. The twin-turbocharged 3.2-litre V8 with 370bhp was the only redeeming feature.
4. BMW Z8
With its retro 507-inspired looks, the Z8 is beautiful machine, but it never hit the mark dynamically because of its lack of steering feel, chronic understeer and soft suspension that gave the BMW an identity crisis: was it a cruiser, a sports car or a grand tourer? Nobody really knew…
The E39 M5-derived 4.9-litre V8 gave the car sufficient straight line poke, but it wasn’t enough to save the dodgy package. If there was ever a car that deserves to be put on a plinth, it’s the Z8.
5. DeLorean DMC-12
When the DMC-12 was released back in 1981, it was a huge flop. With its rear-engined layout, stainless steel body and incredible gullwing doors, it promised so much and delivered so little. Build quality and reliability was horrendous and the rear-mounted, 150bhp, 2.85-litre V6 made the car woefully slow.
American customers got an even rawer deal, with US-spec DeLoreans featuring a power-sapping catalytic converter. With only 130bhp on tap, 0-60mph was achieved in an agonising10 seconds. We’d naturally love one in our garage as a show piece, but that’s where it’d stay.
6. Spyker C8
Dutch car maker Spyker is the master of stunning automotive details. When the original C8 was launched, the world went into a collective crisis. With an exposed manual gearbox, propellor-inspired steering wheel and CNC-pressed dashboard, it was achingly beautiful.
Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said about its dynamic capabilities. The 4.2-litre, 400bhp, V8 engine ensured that the C8 was rapid in a straight line, but it struggled when it reached the corners. Road testers complained of terrible understeer, poor brakes and a harsh ride. The C8, then, is the kind of car you could look at for hours on end. Which is just as well, because you wouldn’t want to drive it.
What other cars do you think should be reserved for museum purposes only and kept off the roads?
Comments
C8 a beautiful car? Well, it sounds amazing but in my opinion is pure rice on wheels
Exactly!
Most TVR’s could be added to the list. Great to look at, sound fantastic, but more likely to try murder you 5 times a day or break down. Except the Sagaris. Looks bonkers and actually drives well (Here’s to you lot Noble!).
The guy my ford gets serviced at’ boss owns a TVR Cerbera. He said it breaks down more times in a week than anything he’d ever seen in his life. Great looking car, pretty nice performance, poor build quality and reliability is shocking.
Depends on the TVR - my Chimaera has been totally reliable, and if they are set up right they are great to drive so long as you remember there are no driver aids. If you drive it like a car that has ABS, traction control etc you will probably experience ‘death by tree’, but then I’d argue you have killed yourself, it’s not the fault of the car that you have driven like a plonker.
Build quality is a bit sketchy, particularly some of the wiring, but they are such simple cars that it isn’t that hard to straighten everything out. Mine replaced an Audi RS6 (C5) - the reliability of that thing was absolutely shocking, the repairs were complex and the parts prices were eye watering. The TVR is simple, so a lot less to go wrong, it’s easy to work on (just done upgrades and maintenance so far) and the parts are cheap.
Cerberas are a different kettle of fish - they are highly strung and require proper maintenance, but if you buy one and don’t know this already you’ve not done your homework. There are plenty of specialists out there who can make a Cerb much more reliable, particularly the Speed 6 which had design issues which can now be sorted out with upgraded engine components.
that aston has to be one of the most plain jane cars ive ever seen in my life
I hear the Lancia Stratos is difficult to drive and crashing it will almost certainly kill you ( 30:70 weight distribution ) but I sure do love looking at it.
I think difficult and terrible have slightly different connotations
Spot on about the Lancia Stratos, never driven it in real lift but was a handful on Sega Rally ;)
What the heck about the Disco Volante?? I find what he said about Disco Volante a bunch of bs.
This comment will probably get some down-votes.
What about the countach?
Well, if you drive these cars at 9/10ths or 10/10ths, I’m sure they will be terrible. Drive it at 4/10ths or 5/10ths and I’m sure you’d have a whole lotta fun cruising around listening to that exhaust note and soaking in the romance that these cars offer in dollops.
Alfa Romeo Brera
I think, the Gumpert Apollo is a stunning car. The design is awesome and the race track performance is from another planet. But that’s what makes it also a bad car to drive on your daily roads. The hard suspension and gearbox are terrible for daily use and slow driving.
Except the Apollo isn’t really a car that you daily drive. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should
You could look at the DB7 the way the article puts it and criticise it for using an ‘ancient’ XJS design, but if you have ever driven an XJS you would understand exactly why the platform was so long-lived. Having been in both a ‘standard’ XJS and a DB7 Vantage, and also owning an XJR-s, I can speak from experience that the XJS platform is extremely capable, and depending on the suspension and steering setup you choose can be a floaty waft-machine or a pretty nifty handling brute. Check out the XJS racing series if you want to see what they are capable of.
The DB7 was designed as a sporty tourer - it does this excellently. The Ford switches do let the interior down (the budget was tight at the time of design), but there is a hidden blessing for owners now, as a lot of parts are Jaguar sourced - you can sometimes remove the Aston sticker and find the Jaguar part number still in place behind it, so you’re able to save a fortune using equivalent parts.
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