The worst used cars you'll want to avoid this year |
The worst used cars you'll want to avoid this year
From a 13-second Mitsubishi Mirage to a Toyota Tundra with worrying crash-test scores, the used cars not worth your money
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Most used cars on the market today are serviceable. The average quality floor across the automotive industry has risen substantially over the past two decades, driven by consumer expectations, safety regulations, and intensifying competition that punishes manufacturers who ship vehicles with serious deficiencies. A buyer shopping for a used compact SUV or a used sedan in the $20,000–$35,000 range will find no shortage of capable options. Many of them are genuinely good. The challenge is that a few are not. In the used-car market, where buyers often lack the recourse available with a certified new vehicle, landing on a bad one carries real financial consequences that can persist for years.
Used cars add a layer of complexity to the bad-car problem that new cars do not. A vehicle that was merely mediocre when new can become a liability after 50,000 miles of use, especially if its initial flaws — underpowered engine, poor ride quality, substandard materials — have compounded with wear. Buyers who choose a new car with a poor review score can at least return it to the dealer if the problems become serious enough. Used-car buyers take on a vehicle’s history alongside its current shortcomings, and a car that finished last in its class rankings when it was new offers no particular reason to believe it has improved in the intervening years.
The 10 vehicles below come from U.S. News & World Report’s list of used cars to avoid, which identified the lowest-rated models on the U.S. News database using a 10-point scoring system that incorporates expert reviews, safety data, and owner-reported reliability and satisfaction. Every vehicle on this list earned a rating of 6.5 or below. Several were discontinued due to poor performance, which is informative in itself.
1. Mitsubishi Mirage scores 5.2 out of 10 at discontinuation
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The 2022 Mitsubishi Mirage earned a 5.2 out of 10 from U.S. News, the lowest rating on this list, and Mitsubishi discontinued the model after the 2024 model year. The Mirage’s sole genuine virtue was its price: the car occupied the absolute bottom of the market, which attracted buyers whose budget left them no other viable option. At that price point, the Mirage’s deficiencies became easier to absorb in theory, but harder to live with in practice.
The performance was genuinely dismal. A 0-to-60 mph time of approximately 13 seconds puts the Mirage well behind not just compact cars but most vehicles on the road, including ones that weigh considerably more and are built for fuel economy over speed. The handling offered no compensation for the lack of straight-line performance, and the ride quality fell short of even modest expectations. The exterior styling did not generate sufficient goodwill to offset those driving shortcomings.
The interior compounded the problems. Cheap plastics dominated the cabin, giving the interior a noticeably downmarket character, and the feature list was short even by the standards of entry-level vehicles. The Mirage’s one legitimate counterclaim was its genuinely good fuel economy, and its projected ownership costs were low. Those are real benefits for a buyer on an extremely tight budget. Neither benefit, however, makes the Mirage a car worth buying on the used market, where the price gap between the Mirage and significantly better alternatives has narrowed. A buyer who can afford a used Mirage can probably also afford a used vehicle that drives, looks, and feels substantially better in every measurable dimension. The used-market price differential between a Mirage and a meaningfully better-rated subcompact is narrow enough that the Mirage’s low cost no longer constitutes a compelling argument for choosing it over the alternatives that a comparable budget can reach.
2. Ford EcoSport sits last in its class with a 5.5 rating
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The 2022 Ford $F EcoSport earned a U.S. News rating of 5.5 and ranked 21st in its subcompact SUV class. It was in last place, because the class contained exactly 21 entries. The EcoSport’s problems span multiple vehicle categories: the engine delivers weak output, the handling is merely adequate, and the ride is noticeably bumpy. Its fuel economy also disappointed, eliminating one of the common compensations buyers of underpowered vehicles might otherwise expect.
The interior compounds the vehicle’s competitive disadvantages. The cabin materials feel downmarket, telegraphing cost-cutting across every surface the driver and passengers come into contact with. The rear seats are undersized for adults, limiting the EcoSport’s family utility. The standard infotainment display measured 4.2 inches — smaller than most smartphones at the time of production — which was a notable shortcoming even in 2022. The optional 8-inch screen offered a more usable interface, but an optional infotainment upgrade does not address the powertrain, ride, and materials deficiencies that make the EcoSport a poor choice at any configuration.
Discontinuing the EcoSport was the right decision. The model’s class-last position reflects a vehicle that was outcompeted in nearly every meaningful category by a substantial majority of its segment rivals. Used buyers shopping the subcompact SUV category will find that the vehicles that finished above the EcoSport in 2022 class rankings are available at similar used prices and offer better experiences meaningfully across all the dimensions where the EcoSport underdelivered. The EcoSport’s used-market price does not compensate for its shortcomings, and buyers who prioritize fuel economy, cabin quality, or........