The Ten Most Deceitful Cars on the Road:

It seems like whenever a new car comes out today, the manufacturers offer at least one trim level that offers a sportier look without really doing anything to the actual car components.  Nissan is a perfect example.  They offer the “Midnight Edition” trim.  It’s basically where they take a car in their lineup and give it a black spoiler, larger black rims, and black mirrors, along with a few more accents here and there.  It might make your family sedan look a little cooler, but… well, you can see where this is going.  These “upgrades” aren’t cheap either…

 

Everybody wants the best performance they can get in a car.  Unfortunately, the illusion of performance is a more common offering than actual performance.  Here’s our list of the top 10 cars that look like they offer a higher degree of performance than they actually do:

 

Subaru BRZ/Toyota 86

Here we go… right off the bat we have one of the best, if not one of the most controversial cars that you can buy right now.  The BRZ/86 is a fantastic car!  On top of that, it looks really cool, and it’s really affordable.  I personally believe that it’s on the list of the top 5 best cars today.  That being said, the question most associated with the car is, “does it need more power?”  Power isn’t the primary goal of the tiny Japanese vehicle, but it just can’t seem to shake the judgment and go about its business in peace.  It’s kind of shame, but until the car gets at least 30 more horsepower and a substantial torque boost, the perception will remain the same.  That’s why it’s on our list.

 

Mercedes CLA 250

Mercedes… a name brand associated with performance, prestige, and solid, German Engineering.  The CLA is most certainly still a Mercedes… I’m not complaining about the car itself.  I mean, let’s face it, the CLA 250 is the entry level offering in one of the most traditionally prestigious automotive brands.  You get quite a bit at a reasonable price.  I also happen to think that it’s one of the more sporty-looking cars in the lineup.  It’s curvy, it has a large front grille, and the car is stanced just right.  That’s where the majority of my praises come to an end.  Power comes from a 2.0 liter turbocharged 4 cylinder engine which makes only 208 horsepower and 258 lbs/ft. of torque.  For an entry level car, I have to say that’s not bad.  In the broad spectrum though, that’s less than a Golf GTI, and in terms of power, it’s little more than the car mentioned above.  It’s not just that either.  There are a lot of people who say the transmission disappoints.  Put all that together and the CLA is so close to being what we would expect from a Mercedes, but sometimes close just isn’t close enough.

 

Nissan Sentra Nismo

I’m not going to lie… Nissan hasn’t failed to disappoint me in recent years.  When they announced the Nissan Sentra SR Turbo, I was actually pretty excited.  The SR Turbo offers a pretty significant upgrade – 188 horsepower and 177 lbs/ft of torque – from the other Sentra models, all of which are a bit mundane.  I thought to myself, “Finally!  They remembered their roots!  The days of the SE-R Spec V have returned!”  When I heard that they were releasing a Nismo version of the Sentra, my heart was glad!  Then I heard about the differences between the Nismo and SR Turbo… let’s just say my disappointment level rose to a new high.  Better seats, cool accents, and maybe just a tad bit of stiffening in some dampers and suspension are fine and dandy, but they only go so far.  The Sentra Nismo definitely looks like it should do better… C’mon Nissan.  If you read the reviews, I’m not alone here.

 

Nissan Versa Note SR

Oh no… We’re back on the Nissan kick here.  The Versa is a friend to no one.  So again, Nissan messes up a bit.  The hatchback Versa looks a bit sad.  There isn’t really any way around that.  However, the SR hatchback has some added touches that gives the Note some much needed street cred.  Larger wheels, a spoiler, and even a tasteful body kit try to cover up the Note’s true intentions.  The seats even have a “racing stripe”!  Pretty cool?  Well, kind of, but not really… there isn’t anything different than the other trim levels, except the higher price tag, of course.

 

Honda Civic Sport

The newly redesigned Civic has made quite a splash in the market.  It’s the number one selling car in America right now.  It looks good!  It looks stylish!  Honda also brought back the hatchback version of the car this past year.  The Civic Sport is one of the versions of the hatchback that gives you a larger set of wheels, blacked out grille, and a sweet, center-mounted, dual-exhaust.  What’s not to love about that?  I would say quite a bit.  While the Civic offers ample performance compared to other competitors in the class, you would think that the Civic “Sport”, being named as such, and being a hatchback, would offer a little more performance.  It offers the same 180 horsepower engine available in all the other Civics.  The Civic Sport should have been given the Si treatment.  At the very least, it should fall between the rest of the Civic lineup and Si model.  Until that happens, it’s just another Civic that looks the part but just doesn’t follow through.

 

Dodge Challenger SXT

I’ve never really been a fan of any Dodge products.  That being said, I do have to admit that both the Challenger and Charger look a lot better in person than they do in pictures.  They sound good too!  At least they haven’t stooped to the level of putting a 4 cylinder engine in their “modern muscle cars”.  What they do have is a V-6.  Not bad, but doesn’t everyone really want the V-8 versions of the Challenger and Charger?  Of course they do, but not everyone can afford the V-8s.  There are plenty people who still want one of the two modern muscle cars though.  The Charger can be used as a family sedan because of its four doors and large size.  The Challenger doesn’t fair quite as well.  It’s a coupe, it looks really menacing, and even in base trim, it looks like it could would eat anything else on the road for a snack.  It’s also incredibly heavy.  It would make sense then that the V-6 just wouldn’t quite be enough to propel this behemoth around town.

 

Ford Fiesta ST

This is really the only car on this list that does what it says it does… for the most part.  It offers way more performance than the base Fiesta, and it looks like it does just that.  Substantial horsepower gains and “go faster” parts makes the smaller of the two in the ST family one of the best enthusiast cars on the market.  So why is it here?  Cobb doesn’t offer various tuning packages for this car for no reason.  The car can handle more than it gives.  Does that mean it should have more?  Does it mean that it deserves to be on this list?  Not necessarily.  Some say that it should offer more than it does, even though I think it’s fine just the way it is.  You can decide for yourself.

Kia Forte Koup

The Forte Koup has been around for a while now, and it’s gotten better over the years.  I personally think the last generation Koup looked a little better, even though the performance wasn’t as impressive as the current generation.  The Koup is just that – a coupe.  It’s sleek and flowy design looks like it would be quite quick.  It’s not really.  There’s ample power under the hood: 201 horsepower to be exact.  But it’s still a Forte.  It’s just a little too lazy.  Everything just feels a little too dull.  That’s about it…

 

Toyota Camry XSE

When the newly redesigned Camry was revealed, it took everyone by surprise… in a good way!  Everyone loved it!  Finally… a Camry that didn’t look like a Camry.  I even saw one on the road the other day, and I was super impressed.  It’s also the best handling and fastest Camry to date.  Are you impressed yet?  You should be.  If you haven’t seen one, go find one at your local Toyota dealer.  But not so fast.  The new Camry is great, and it gives me hope for where Toyota is going… really!  Right now though, the Camry suffers from a case of Lexus-itis.  Let me explain really quick.  You remember the LFA?  Yeah it was Lexus’ first attempt at making a supercar.  It was a huge success in terms of being a fantastic car… one of the best in history, in my opinion.  What Lexus did was incredible.  But those who could afford the $400,000 price tag didn’t want a Lexus.  Why would they when they could have gotten a Lamborghini, Ferrari, or Pagani?  A name is everything.  Lexus is in the process of redefining themselves, or rather, they are trying to do so.  As Toyota tries to do the same thing with their Camry, make sure not to ignore them, because if they keep moving forward like they are, in time, the Camry will truly be an awesome car.  For right now, we have the best Camry we’ve ever had!  But just remember one thing… it’s still a Camry.

 

Infiniti Q50 2.0T

Infiniti is Nissan’s luxury sister brand.  While the more iconic cars in history have come through Nissan or Datsun rather than Infiniti, they have had and do still have some very competent performance cars.  The Q50 2.0T isn’t one of them.  Simply put, it looks aggressive and stylish.  So it should!  It disappoints when it comes to performance.  Like the CLA 250, power comes from a 2.0 liter turbocharged engine that makes 208 horsepower.  Unlike the CLA 250, the Infiniti is substantially more overweight.  That makes is sluggish slow and underwhelming.  Just saying…

 

That’s my list of the cars that look like they should have more performance than they do.  As always, I tried to limit the list to cars you can go out right now and buy.  Just remember that if you’re looking to buy any of the cars mentioned above that I warned you…

 

–SWF