Looking for a new car will always be a hard thing to do. The choice clearly depends on a few very important factors: the price, the type of car, the options it has, performance, handling, the reason for the purchase, and so on. However, when the price goes higher than $100,000, one may want to pay more attention to what he or she buys. A few luxury vehicles and sports cars can be purchased with that kind of money, but not all of them are worth the asking price. Some of them simply don't look good enough, while others may depreciate faster than a smartphone, according to The Clever. The buyer should always be more informed than the seller and start evaluating the possibilities before ending up with a bad car and no way to resell it.
One shouldn't get fooled by the looks of a vehicle, though. If a car looks stunning, it doesn't mean that it can be easily driven or that it's comfortable. Expensive rides aren't always what they seem, and this is a fact one should always remember. Some of the vehicles on the market aren't worth what the price tag says they are, and these should clearly be avoided. This list tries to offer a few pieces of information about 20 vehicles that can offer less than the amount of money the buyer would pay for them.
20 2016 Dodge Viper
Despite the aggressive looks and the history behind this car, the 2016 Dodge Viper can be considered one bad expensive car. Websites like Car and Driver, Edmunds, and others have offered it a rating of only 6.8 points, and this doesn't look good according to Money INC.
The price one would pay to have one is $118,795, not an ideal one for a car that gets 21 mpg on the highway and 12 mpg in the city.
Even if it offers a nice infotainment setup and an interesting amount of power, it still remains uncomfortable and tight. There are also a few major issues with the brakes, namely that they lack responsiveness.
19 2016 Nissan GT-R
The price for this car also called "Godzilla" wasn't thought out well—between $101,770 and $149,990, according to Money INC. Even if it depends on the options and features of the car, this doesn't explain why it's so expensive. There are no luxury grade materials on the interior, the spare parts are too expensive, and it also received a reliability score of only 3.5 out of 5. The cornering ability, the power, and the grip cannot save this car from this list. The overall score was 7.5 from a total of 10 points, and so, this car shouldn't be evaluated at more than $100,000.
18 2016 Jaguar F-Type
The price for this 2016 Jaguar F-Type is $106,450, a sum that most people wouldn't offer for a car unless it has some sentimental value for the new owner or if he or she can truly afford it. The car is powerful and does well at handling, but the fuel economy cannot be compared to that of any other competitor, according to Money INC.
In addition, the interior offers hard-to-use controls that can make driving quite difficult.
The reliability of this car is 3 out of 5, while the overall score adds up to a 7.5 out of 10. When talking about this sum of money, this car is definitely not a good choice.
17 2016 Audi A8
When one sees the four circles that represent the Audi badge, one may think that none of their models can possibly be bad, but this cannot be more wrong. In fact, the 2016 Audi A8 has a few options that make it a bad choice for the sum of $137,900. Despite the engines that have great power and run smoothly, the interior hosts an outdated infotainment system, the trunk has limited space, and there are only a few driver-assistance features, according to Money INC. The maintenance costs are high, and it gets only 7.4 points as an overall rating. This isn't good for an Audi.
16 2016 Jaguar XJ
When one pays $121,000 for a car, one would definitely believe that this car can offer power as well as comfort and the newest technology. The first point on the list was achieved by the 2016 Jaguar XJ, but the other two don't meet the expectations of this vehicle’s class. The interior is uncomfortable, the maintenance costs are ridiculously high, the reliability score was only 3.5, and the intuitive technology seems to have been misplaced somewhere else, according to Money INC. Jaguars are known as luxury vehicles with interesting sporty features and comfort when driven, but this model didn't live up to the standards.
15 2001 Mercedes-Benz S55 AMG
It's a known fact that when one buys a new car, as soon as he or she drives it off the dealer’s parking lot, it's worth less. However, the 2001 Mercedes-Benz S55 AMG was a lot worse because it didn't hold its resale value very well at all, according to Money INC.
One of the reasons why this has happened was because it was known to be unreliable.
Each repair made to it made a deep hole in the pocket of the owner. With a price of $150,000 and a few well-known mechanical issues, this car isn't the best choice for a high-end vehicle.
14 1991 Alfa Romeo SZ
A used 1991 Alfa Romeo SZ in 2018 costs around $100,000 because it's so hard to find one, but this is strange because its looks don't help it very much (though Alfa enthusiasts will surely disagree with me). Who would buy one? It was created because Alfa Romeo was in great need of publicity and sales in the year 1989. It received a 3.0-litre 12-valve V6 engine that offered 210 horsepower, but this didn't save the brand at that time. The poor results made the situations worse, and Alfa Romeo unfortunately needed to recover from the tragedy.
13 2015 Ferrari Pininfarina Sergio
The trend of ugly and expensive cars that would be bought by a small group of people only because of the badges and because they want to be seen with a car that many cannot afford, has grown rapidly in the past few years.
The Ferrari Pininfarina Sergio is one of those “trendy” cars that cost $3 million.
Despite the huge price, the only thing that matters about it is the fact that it's fast. The design isn't one of the greatest ones with its open-top idea, and there are a lot of cheaper sports cars that deliver much more value than this can.
12 Mercedes-Benz Maybach Exelero
With one customer paying the $8 million price tag on it, the Maybach, one may think, is offering a spaceship at least. But no, this isn't the case. The 2017 Mercedes-Benz Maybach Exelero was designed wrong from the beginning as a mixture between a luxury coupe and a limousine. The aesthetics weren't calculated at all; it seems to have borrowed a bit from here and another bit from there. Owning this car would drive anyone mad because the maintenance costs are way over anyone’s head. It represents a collector’s piece, and this is the only reason why someone who can afford it would also buy it, according to Money INC.
11 2004 Mercedes Maybach 57
When the 2004 Mercedes Maybach 57 appeared, the price tag said $305,500, but it didn't keep its value at all, even if it was a clear competitor to the Rolls-Royce luxury brand.
After less than ten years, this car could be bought at a price a little over $100,000, way too low for the luxurious Maybach badge.
Some cars aren't worth the risk of losing so much money just to drive them once or twice. It definitely needed a lot of money for servicing as well. It wasn't a great choice back then, and that fact hasn't changed over the years.
10 2017 BMW 7 Series
The 2017 BMW 7 Series is a stunning vehicle with great design and a lot of history behind it, but these aren't the greatest reasons to pay $143,000 to own one, according to Money INC. It's well known that BMW isn't the best choice when one seeks interior comfort. Another bad thing going for the company is that a casual observer isn't really able to tell the difference between a 7 Series, a 5 Series, and a 3 Series from the back; they seem to be identical. The 7 Series can also be placed among those vehicles that make one lose a lot of money when they're sold.
9 1992 BMW 850i
The BMW 8 series represents the first BMW experiment with a V12 engine, but it was a complete failure back then because people weren't looking for coupes with huge engines during that period.
When it was new, the price tag was listed at way over $150,000 with tons of options, but it didn't get the popularity that the producer wanted.
Nowadays, they wouldn't dare to remake the engine that cost them so much, and so, the car can be bought at a very low price if one wants to look at it every day, according to Jalopnik. What a waste.
8 1997 Aston Martin DB7
Aston Martin and James Bond made quite a team, but not all Aston Martins are worth the money they command. The 1997 Aston Martin DB7 was the model that started a crisis in modern designs with its newly fitted engine, a supercharged six-cylinder unit that made it a great exotic car. When it was new, its price was around $200,000, but it didn't keep its value in time. Nowadays, one can be bought with the same amount of money one needs to purchase a used Jeep Wrangler, according to Jalopnik. This is one of those cars that doesn’t maintain their value in time and don't have what it takes to survive over the years.
7 1980 Porsche 928
The 1980 Porsche 928 was created as a solution for the issues the Porsche 911 had. That was a period when the German producer seemed to be stuck making the same model over and over again. They needed a change, and so, they designed the 928 with a V8 engine placed under the hood. It had a price tag of $109,000 back then, but now, it's only worth 10% of the initial sum. Another car that doesn't do well in the test of time, it should be clearly avoided. The spare parts are also very hard to find nowadays, according to Jalopnik.
6 1999 Jaguar XK8
According to Jalopnik, this car was more than $100,000 when it was new back in 1999, but if one wants to buy it nowadays, he or she would be stunned. The price went so low that it represents the equivalent of 12 months invoice for a phone service. The Jaguar XK8 was an icebreaker back in the days, a luxury coupe that should have marked the return of the company in that particular segment of cars, but it didn't retain its value over the years like other old/classic cars did. Even if it looks quite nice for a car from 1999, its price was a little too much for that period.
5 2001 Mitsuoka Orochi
According to The Clever, this 2001 creature is listed on every ugly-cars list that can be found online. The Mitsuoka Orochi was created with the idea to get all the attention and to stand out from the crowd, but the way it did eventually was by being seen as a bad one.
The name comes from a legendary Japanese dragon that had eight heads, but it ended up looking more like a smirking fish.
Its price went higher than $100,000 for the full-option models, while the engine of the car was the same one fitted on the Toyota Highlander and Camry models: a 3.3-liter V6 with 230 horsepower. Not worth it.
4 2017 Porsche Panamera
The CEO of Porsche, Matthias Mueller, admitted that this car doesn't look as nice as they had planned at the beginning, according to The Clever. This is the first question one should ask him or herself before paying $142,665 for one. The engine is quite impressive, a 4.8-liter turbocharged V8 with 520 horsepower and a sprint from 0 to 60 mph in only 3.7 seconds, but the design team failed. The CEO also stated that there were a few mistakes made when the first-generation Panamera was produced. No one should pay the original asking price for this car.
3 2000 Ferrari 550 Maranello
Ferrari is well known for its gorgeous sports cars and for the stunning design of each one of them, but the truth is that every designer can fail at a point. This was the case with the 2000 Ferrari 550 Maranello. Compared to other models from the Italian producer, this one doesn't fit in the picture quite well, according to The Clever. It's an ugly duckling between those beautiful white sparrows. Nowadays, a used Maranello can reach a price of $219,900, so one may wonder how much money those people have paid to own one in 2000. It's all about the badge.
2 2017 Maserati Ghibli
The 2017 Maserati Ghibli wanted to be a luxury car, but it wasn't that luxurious and doesn't even offer some of the features present on most basic cars available on the market. Nowadays, $100,000 cars are sold with forward-collision alerts, lane-departure warning systems, automatic braking, and even more innovative technologies.
The Ghibli didn't receive any of these features, and the price is the same.
It doesn't have adaptive cruise control or a panoramic sunroof. If a person wants a custom Ghibli, the engine choice is limited to a 3.0-liter turbocharged V6 and another version of this same engine but with a little bit more power.
1 2009 Ferrari California
With a price of $192,000 when new, the 2009 Ferrari California isn't the best choice when it comes to sports cars. The V8 engine was placed up front, it's quite heavy for a supercar, and the design was a bit out of the Ferrari league. Ferrari CEO, Sergio Marchionne, wasn't so pleased with the car. According to The Clever, he bought two Californias, but he had a lot of difficulties with them. He wasn't pleased at all. Having in mind that even the CEO had something bad to say about it, this car shouldn't make it on a list of one's possible acquisitions.
References: jalopnik.com, moneyinc.com, theclever.com