The 10 Worst Luxury Cars Ever Produced

You know what they say, with luxury comes expenses, but some things are better left at the dealership, if I do say so myself. Welcome to this week’s post dedicated to the all too famous luxury cars but with a twist – the worst luxury cars ever produced, and some of the names on the list might actually surprise you. 

1. BMW i3

BMW takes the title for the worst luxury car ever produced and for all the right reasons. The i3 was introduced in 2013 as an Electric Vehicle, around the time when EV’s were still quite new, producing 170 horsepower with a range of 80 miles. These two areas saw improvements by 2021, but not really much of a difference – 230 horsepower and 113 miles of capacity. The price for one started at $44,000 which was around the same price for a higher ranged Polestar 2 (at the time). BMW moved to discontinue the i3 in 2021 and instead replaced it with a bigger IX and i4 models for the North American market as the demand for larger Electric Vehicles continued to grow. 

Fun Fact: BMW i3’s had the lowest range of all luxury vehicles across the United States, forcing the German’s to take action. 

2. 1981 Cadillac V8 6-4

Cadillac, now is considered the world’s most affordable luxury car on the market with the CT5, and that is mainly because the CT5 does not contain a V8 6-4 engine. That was the engine that Cadillac decided would be in all road-going vehicles back in 1981, with only the Seville escaping this curse. It costed customers $16,532 for a Fleetwood back then, which is $52,687 today, but the cost to fix the engine would definitely outweigh the vehicle.

The V8 6-4 was a great invention (theoretically) when it came out. It allowed users to deactivate cylinders based on their driving, automatically. The V8 had the ability to transform into a V6 or V4 easily, which helped citizens to abide by emissions regulations (at the time) and save money at the pump. Little did the customers know, it would come at a bigger cost. The engines became problematic when it came to the fuel injection systems when they couldn’t keep up with the changing cylinders which led to a bumpy/laggy customer experience. Ultimately, many had it deactivated and Cadillac discontinued it after a year. 

3. 1974 Jaguar XK-E V12 Series III

Next up is Jaguar with it’s XK-E V12 Series III. Today, Jaguar is part of Land Rover, which is considered to be the most unreliable luxury brand in the world. Even back in the 70’s, they were still having problems, at that time it was known as E-Type in Europe (or XK-E). It wasn’t always bad though – or at least it didn’t start that way, it started as a pretty stunning sports car making 260+ horsepower and 160 mph in the 60’s. But in the 70’s, it had to appeal to the North American market, and this is where things got a bit disastrous. Strict emission regulations forced Jaguar to abandon the much loved 4.2 litre 6 cylinder and replace it with a top-heavy 5.3 litre V12 instead, breaking the regulations that were set in Europe at the time.

And that’s not all! North America also required ugly bumpers and modifications to the body, taking away from the E-Type’s sleek finish and leading to a Jaguar without an identity. It went from being known as “the most beautiful car in the world” by Enzo Ferrari, to now a heavy, ugly land yacht. 

4. Cadillac Allante 

Another Cadillac made the list and trust me this is not the last time you will be seeing this name on this list either. Let’s just start with the fact that Edmunds ranked this the 23rd worst car of all time and it gets better (I mean sarcastically). You know something is seriously wrong when a vehicle only lasts 6 years on the market (1987-1993) and the company lost money! 21,000 units were sold and even with an MSRP of $54,000 ($140,000 today) they still couldn’t make a profit on this hefty 3,600 lb luxury roadster, due to the lengthy manufacturing process. 

5. 1984 Maserati Biturbo 

Alejandro DeTomasso was the head-honcho at Maserati after the company was saved from bankruptcy by the Italian government. He had a dream that he wanted so desperately wanted to make a reality – he wanted an everyday car that would be able to compete with the BMW 3-series. With that being said, the physical manifestation of his dream (a $25,000 Biturbo) was the first twin-turbocharged production car in the world. And it…sucked. 

There were so many things wrong with it: the AM452-90 engine block could not handle the pressure of the twin-turbo setup, cheap build quality led to cracking interiors and body corrosion and they even had to recall the 1984-1985 models as they were known to catch fire because of exhaust issues. Ultimately, the “everyman” Maserati was not only expensive to buy but even more to repair, leading to Maserati being known as “one of the worst luxury car brands”. 

6. Cadillac Cimarron 

Cadillac is easily one of the worst luxury car brands, clearly with its 3rd entry on the list, but the Cimarron might be the main reason for this. Cadillac basically re-badged a Chevrolet Cavalier to compete with the Audi 5000 and Mercedes 150E (at the time) and it failed. Yet, General Motors thought it was wise to get customers to pay $12,000 ($36,392 today) for a rushed, leather-clad Chevrolet, nearly doubling the price of the Cavalier that it was so evidently based on. 

Cimarron went down as being known as one of the most notorious re-badging efforts in automotive history. Cadillac ended up selling 132,000 units in 6 years as the poorly designed Caddy failed to compete with the European imports. 

7. Mercedes Benz SLC 

In 1996, Mercedes Benz released the sporty roadster which they called “SLK” – Sporty, Light, Compact. However, in 2016, the world’s number one luxury car brand renamed it to SLC and charged customers anywhere between $38,000-$57,000 for the SLC43 models. But it was only a matter of time before this model was squashed. Competition didn’t take long to catch up and soon names like Porsche (with the 718 Boxster) and Jaguar’s F-Type caused sales for the SLC to plummet. 3 years later in 2019, Mercedes discontinued the SLC and continued to push the GT range. Mercedes did decide to release the SL model in 2023 for a jaw dropping price of $140,000. 

8. Aston Martin Lagonda

In the 1970’s, Aston Martin needed a hero and William Towns stepped up to the plate, designing the ugly four door wedge known as the Lagonda. Not surprisingly, the Lagonda turned out to be one of the worst cars one could buy, and only sold 645 units between 1977 and 1989. It underwent 4 facelifts and was still named in Bloomberg Business Week’s “50 ugliest cars of all time”. 

Aston Martin determined to sell the vehicle, demanded $25,000 ($120,732 today), for it and that’s not the worst part. The engine was a hand built 5.4 litre V8 laced with electrical issues. So why buy this car you may ask? Well one of it’s selling points is that it was the first production car with a digital instrument panel; unfortunately the system was known to fail and require expensive repairs…..So much for getting help, am I right?   

9. Delorean DMC-12

John Delorean once convinced investors he would create a fiber-glass bodied, rotary powered sports car capable of 200 horsepower AND it would be affordable. Instead, we got a lumpy 2,718 lb, 130 horsepower 2.8 litre V6 that costed customers $25,000 ($80,000 today). It was underpowered, overpriced, and dealerships even refused to work on the warranty covered repairs, which made the frequent mechanical problems more annoying for Delorean owners. Why? Because John Delorean owed them money! 

The DMC-12 also had many electrical problems underneath its bird wing doors and multiple recalls for sticking throttles and suspension malfunctions. Only 9,200 of these iconic vehicles were sold, making this one of the worst luxury cars to buy in 1981. 

10. Ferrari Mondial 8

The last on our list the is the Ferrari Mondial 8, but unfortunately this list is far from being finished. “Mondial” in French means global and was Ferrari’s attempt at a 2+2 supercar. Between 1980-1993, 6,800 units were sold actually making this car Ferrari’s best selling vehicle at the time (impressive I know). The Mondial was created to replace the much loved 308GT but failed. It received a 3.0 litre V8 engine that struggled to make 214 horsepower. Not to mention, it was severely underpowered and heavily overweight at 3,459 lbs. 

It also didn’t help that the Mondial spent more time frequenting mechanic shops than time on the road. A “sophisticated injection system” was known to fail and the automated clutch assemblies were regular culprits for customers. The Mondial definitely lacked Ferrari’s character and dependability, making it one of the most affordable luxury cars on the market today. It really was more of a grazing cow than a race horse.     

Final Thoughts

If you liked this post, why not check out our post on the No. 1 Luxury Car in the World. Leave your thoughts on this post and others over on our socials, we would love to hear from you! 

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitter