One of the hallmarks of a fun movie is at least one cool car. Cars like the DeLorean from the Back to the Future movie or the Mustang from the movie Bullitt remain embedded in moviegoers’ minds when they leave the theater. However, sometimes movies don’t quite make the grade with the cars they feature. Take a look at seven of the worst ideas for movie cars in the last few decades.
1. Days of Thunder Rental Cars
The Days of Thunder movie focused on racecar drivers, and one of its highlight scenes was a spontaneous beach race between two of the rival drivers. However, the cars featured in the race were rental cars in the form of a Chevrolet Lumina and a Ford Taurus. Even though the scene was technically exciting as it turned into a demolition derby, no one really wants to see two boring cars like the Lumina and Taurus in a race.
2. The Wingo Character in Cars
Cars was an animated film from Pixar, and one of its vehicular characters was a sportscar named Wingo. Unfortunately, Wingo was full of automotive faux pas, including a ridiculous spoiler sextet, a terrible paint job and ground effects that were inadvisably wind resistant.
3. Another Rental Car in Planes, Trains & Automobiles
This classic comedy movie eventually features the two main characters renting a car to get where they want to go. The car in question is a 1986 Chrysler LeBaron Town and Country, which is painted a gaudy pea green with a wood-paneled soft top. It’s definitely not a car you’ll remember when you leave.
4. 1975 Mercury Boat in Uncle Buck
It’s actually a Marquis Brougham Coupe, but the better way to describe it is as a brown boat. The car belongs to the titular character and includes a loud backfire along with a consistently dirty exterior and interior. Very embarrassing for everyone involved.
5. Twilight’s Volvo C30
The car driven by the vampire hero in Twilight has to be one of the most offensive in terms of story context. It’s not a very impressive scene when dashing hero Edward comes zooming up to save the heroine in a boring, everyman compact hatchback.
6. Vacation’s 2015 Tartan Prancer
This car is actually completely invented by the writers for this movie, but it’s still demonstrably terrible. It’s a minivan made in Albania with two front ends, cupholders on the outside of the vehicle and forward-tilting headrests among a number of other nonsensical features. It’s a jaw-droppingly ridiculous vehicle in every way.
7. Batman vs. Superman and the 2016 Jeep Renegade
The Renegade is not a bad vehicle at all. It looks pretty cool and has some strong off-road chops. However, it’s difficult to imagine that the fantastically rich Bruce Wayne is really going to be driving a subcompact SUV made by…Fiat-Chrysler. There are so many better ideas for a Bruce Wayne SUV in this movie, like a Land Rover, a Mercedes G-Class, or even a Porsche Cayenne.
