Overengineering a car is unheard of these days, however, there was once a period in time when many car manufacturers were doing this. Overengineering a car is essentially going above and beyond in terms of build quality, and it happens when the engineers have more power than the accountants, in particular, the bean counters.
Overengineering a car is great for consumers, but it can be terrible for business as it slices profit margins, and it can even put some companies at a loss point. These overengineered cars are usually bulletproof, and they are a bi-word for reliability. Here are the ten most overengineered cars ever.
10 Mercedes S-Class W140
The Mercedes S-Class W140 was the last overengineered Mercedes ever created, it was essentially a tank. The whole development process took a decade, and it cost over a billion dollars for Mercedes. It was a solid, handbuilt car that ran from 1991 to 1998.
It was the first S-Class to be fitted with a V12 and this was in response to the BMW 750. Mercedes actually delayed production of the W140 by 18 months just so they could develop a new V12 engine and also rearrange the engine bay in order for it to be fitted. These cars are essentially bulletproof and that's why they're one of the best Mercedes ever made.
9 Audi A2
The Audi A2 isn't a luxury car. It's an economy supermini which Audi designed as a "small Audi, not a cheap Audi." What Audi wanted was a car that was very good on gas, hence why it was made to be so aerodynamic and light. It was constructed from aluminum and aluminum alloy into a monocoque. The A2 used a variety of economical engines all of which promised high MPG figures.
The A2 only weighed 830kg, which is less than a Miata, yet the A2 seats five comfortably. It was, however, a huge loss for Audi despite it selling more than 170,000 units, which was nothing in comparison to its rival, the Mercedes A-class. It should have been successful, but it was just too far ahead of its time.
8 Bugatti Chiron
The Bugatti Chiron is probably the last modern car that is still overengineered. However, you do expect this from a car costing over $3 million. Bugatti spends $2.9 million on every Chiron and the main reason is that they overengineer the car to the max. The testing is vigorous, the development costs were over $1.6 billion and only 500 Chiron models will be made.
However, unlike the Veyron, Bugatti actually does profit off the Chiron. It is unknown how much profit they make off each car, however, it is surely a lot more than the $6.25 million lost on every Veyron sold. A team of 20 mechanics is handpicked to assemble all 1800 parts of a Chiron and each car takes around 6 months to build. You can now see why the Chiron is the hypercar of choice for many billionaires.
7 Lexus LS400
In 1989, Toyota made a car that was a total game-changer in the car world, especially for Japanese cars. It was called the Lexus (Luxury EXports to the US) and the first car was the LS400. It was made at a time when economy cars were, strangely enough, expensive for Japanese manufacturers to import to the USA. However, luxury cars were a lot cheaper so in the late 1980s to early 1990s many new Japanese luxury brands emerged onto the scene.
The LS400 was the first, and it cost Toyota over $1 billion to develop over just under a decade. It featured a new V8 and many other new luxury features. The criteria for this car was simply for it to be the best car in the world. The team developing this car did 1.7 million miles worth of testing across many different environments including European roadways and Arizona deserts.
6 Mercedes 600 Grosser
If you wanted to be a ruthless dictator you had to have a Mercedes 600 Grosser. Famous owners include Pol Pot, Kim Jong-Il, Saddam Hussein, Leonid Brezhnev, Chairman Mao, and Nicolae Ceauşescu. Notice a correlation? This car was loved by people with monumental amounts of power in their time and the name "Grosser" translates quite simply to "big."
The 600 had an engine-driven hydraulic system that powered the windows, the boot lid, sunroof, and even the adjustable seats. The windows were so fast that they could chop your head off. This car was built to a standard never seen before, probably because Mercedes was too scared of what might happen to them if it wasn't up to the standards of their clientele.
5 VW Phaeton
This is a luxury car that flopped quite badly despite it being completely overengineered. It had two designated car batteries. One for the starter motor and the other for the accessories. It had an anti-glare instrument cluster, dehumidifying windows, a brilliant climate control system, and air vents that hid away when you didn't need them.
VW's chairman at the time, Ferdinand Piech, had a completely absurd list of things he wanted the Phaeton to be. In fact, the demands were so high half of the engineering team for this car left as they believed it was not possible. He wanted this car to be the best car in the world and in all fairness to the CEO, it probably was the best luxury car on sale back in 2002.
4 Citroën SM
Mix a bankrupt Italian brand with a bankrupt French brand together to make a sporty GT car and what do you get? The Citroën SM. This should be the world's most unreliable car as it features a Maserati V6 and Citroën hydropneumatic suspension. It was one of the greatest French sports cars ever despite France not making many sports cars. Its ride was brilliant and surprisingly too was its handling.
This car could be driven on three wheels if need be thanks to its suspension. It was the first Citroën to actually utilize the weird hydropneumatic suspension that Citroën is famous for. Unfortunately, it never sold well.
3 Mercedes W123 E-Class
If you go to any country that has very harsh roads you will find a Mercedes W123 E-Class lying about somewhere. This is the car of choice for people living in countries that have rough roads and that's thanks to its reliability. It will go on and on forever through really any terrain. It even won the 1977 London-Sydney marathon rally.
The diesel engines were bulletproof, and they go on forever. The bodywork is solid and there isn't a panel gap in sight. Many taxi companies used these cars, and they usually did between 500,000 to a million miles with very few issues. After retirement, these cars were mainly shipped to Africa whereby even on the rough roads they required little maintenance.
2 Porsche 959
In 1987, Porsche launched the fastest car in the world, the 197 mph 959, and what a car it was. The first with adjustable suspension, tire pressure sensors, and a one of a kind AWD system. It was the fastest accelerating car at the time with a 0-60 time of 3.7 seconds. This was the car that almost bankrupted Porsche. It was originally built to partake in Group B rallying, however, the series was canceled.
It did win the Paris-Dakar rally though, so it has some racing pedigree. It even had an off-road gear, in addition to the other 5-speeds in its gearbox. This is a rally supercar for the road. It is one of the fastest cars of the 1980s.
1 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4
The Mitsubishi 3000 GT VR4 is a JDM car that was way too advanced for its time. It featured an active aero spoiler, four-wheel steering, a 6-speed Getrag manual gearbox, an all-wheel-drive system. The spyder models even had a folding metal top. It was never a popular car though, and it was also really expensive.
The VR4 is known to have many common issues due to how many electronics there are. There is always something bound to go wrong. It's an underrated Japanese car that we would love to drive.