10 of the Most Underappreciated Cars

2016 Chevrolet SS ・ Photo by Chevrolet

To steal a line from Field of Dreams, “build it and they will come.” In the auto industry that is usually the case — build a good car and buyers will flock to it. However, sometimes really good vehicles go unnoticed by consumers. They appear superb on paper, and the automotive press heaps on praise, but they sit in showrooms collecting dust. Sadly unappreciated.

In most cases, the culprit is its image, especially in the luxury segment where the brand has to be viewed as cool and the style has to win the hearts of potential buyers. Other times the problem is a lingering negative reputation about poor quality that an automaker simply can’t shake. Sometimes it is just the lack of word of mouth.

To help potential car buyers avoid the pain of overlooking a good deal, the team of industry experts at Autobytel has pored over the 400-plus models and arrived at its list of the ten most underappreciated cars currently in showrooms.

2018 Cadillac ATS

Cadillac developed the ATS to complete squarely with the BMW 3 Series, which has a well-earned reputation as a world-class sport sedan. In the handling department, the ATS beats the 3 Series at its own game, offering quicker reactions and more road feel than the assumed king. The Caddy’s engines don’t match the Bimmer’s, though. Both offer a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder, but the BMW‘s feels stronger, and the turbocharged inline six in the 335i is much more powerful than the Caddy’s 3.6-liter V6. Moreover, the ATS’s 2.5-liter four-cylinder base engine doesn’t belong in a luxury car. Cadillac’s CUE infotainment system is also quite frustrating. Those negatives aside, based strictly on how fun it is to drive, the ATS should challenge the 3 Series for sales, but the BMW outsold it by a factor of almost five to one in 2014.

Photo by Cadillac

2018 Cadillac CTS

If the ATS is great, the CTS is even better. It rides a stretched version of the same lightweight platform that underpins the ATS, and that helps it feel like a much smaller car. That’s the opposite of BMW’s strategy for the 5 Series, which shares the larger 7 Series platform and therefore feels rather large and lumbering. The CTS is also drop-dead gorgeous, and while the ATS lacks willing power, the CTS does not. The VSport model boasts a 420-horsepower twin-turbocharged V6 that launches the car from 0 to 60 mph in just 4.4 seconds. Bottom line, the CTS is a brilliant car, and Cadillac shouldn’t be able to keep up with the demand. Instead, BMW sold 20,000 more 5 Series last year, and the Mercedes-Benz E-Class outsold it by 36,000 units.

Photo by General Motors

2018 Mazda Mazda3

It’s a crying shame that the Toyota Corolla outsells the Mazda3, and yet it does by a factor of more than three to one. The Corolla lacks passion in any way, and the Mazda3 has it in spades. Offered as a four-door hatchback or sedan, the Mazda3 has drawn raves from the automotive press for its agile handling, quality interior, and efficient engines. Much of that stems from Mazda‘s SkyActiv engineering philosophy, which focuses on lightweight and efficiencies wherever they can be found. Pricing can easily get to the mid $20,000 range, but the Mazda3 feels like a premium car and it’s worth the extra money.

Photo by Mazda

2018 Mazda Mazda6

The benefits of SkyActiv extend to the midsize Mazda6. The car’s light weight makes it handle like a sport sedan and helps the 184-horsepower 2.5-liter four-cylinder deliver as much as 40 mpg on the highway. No other gasoline-powered non-hybrid midsize sedan is as efficient. Unfortunately, the 2.5 is the only engine offered in the Mazda6. We’d like to see a turbocharged four-cylinder as well as the diesel that Mazda has promised for years but thus far has failed to deliver. Mazda sold just over 50,000 Mazda6s last year, while the Toyota Camry topped 430,000 sales. You’d think more people would want what is hands-down the best-looking midsize sedan on the market.

Photo by Mazda

2018 Mazda CX-5

Mazda has developed three vehicles since it adopted its SkyActiv philosophy, and all three make this list. The first of the group was the CX-5, a compact crossover that drives like a sport sedan. The CX-5’s 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine makes only 155 horsepower, but the 2.5-liter four produces a more palatable 184 horses while delivering fuel economy ratings as high as 25 city/32 highway mpg. Reasonable pricing, available all-wheel drive, and a roomy interior make it a great choice for small families, but it is far outsold by the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4. While those are fine vehicles in their own rights, why not choose a vehicle that’s far more fun to drive?

Photo by Cherise LaPine

2018 Ram 1500

It’s hard to call a vehicle that sells more than 300,000 units annually underappreciated, but many automotive journalists would argue that the RAM 1500 is the best pickup on the market. By that reasoning, it should outsell the Ford F-Series pickup, which happens to be the best-selling vehicle on the market with more than twice as many sales. The Ram is the only light-duty pickup on the market to offer a diesel engine, and it delivers the best full-size pickup fuel economy as well as a healthy 9,050 pounds of towing capability. A unique coil-spring rear suspension gives the Ram the smoothest ride of any pickup, and the handling is enhanced by the available air suspension. The interior also boasts the highest quality materials in the class. The aluminum F-150 is a great truck, but we prefer the Ram.

2018 Chevrolet Volt

With its onboard gasoline generator, the Chevrolet Volt offers an elegant solution to the issue of range anxiety. If your commute is 40 miles or less, you can drive the Volt on electricity almost exclusively. But if you need to go farther, the gasoline engine adds another 300 miles of range. That alone should make the Volt the car of choice for the green crowd, but it hasn’t. Chevrolet sold fewer than 20,000 Volts last year, while Toyota peddled more than 200,000 Priuses. The Volt could stand to be a little larger, and Chevrolet should replace the T-shaped battery with a flat battery to increase seating from four to five, but we still find it odd that the Volt hasn’t caught on as a cool green car.

Photo by Chevrolet

2018 Volkswagen Golf

Hatchbacks are more versatile than sedans, but America just doesn’t care. The Volkswagen Golf and Jetta are very similar cars, but the Jetta, a sedan, outsells the Golf hatchback almost five to one. While the Jetta’s trunk has 15.5 cubic feet of cargo space, the Golf offers as much as 52.7 cubic feet, making it a better choice for active lifestyle buyers. Most auto journalists will tell you the Golf is a better car than the Jetta, because it’s newer, features higher quality interior materials, and it isn’t saddled with one of the worst base engines on the market. The sport-oriented Golf GTI combines these strengths with agile moves and plenty of pep. We think it’s one of the best automotive values available today.

Photo by Volkswagen

2018 Chevrolet SS

With just 2,479 sales last year, the Chevrolet SS may appear to be the most underappreciated vehicle on this list. However, the SS is built by General Motors’ Australian subsidiary Holden, and Chevrolet is purposely limiting its availability. That’s too bad, because it is an excellent sport sedan. The 415-horsepower 6.2-liter catapults the car from 0 to 60 mph in just 4.5 seconds on its way to a 12.9-second quarter mile. Those figures are right in line with the 470-horsepower Dodge Charger SRT8. With 500 fewer pounds to tote around, the SS is more agile than its Charger rival, and the SS offers a manual transmission while the Charger doesn’t. Holden will end production in 2017 so get your SS while you can.

2018 Dodge Durango

For the large family that refuses to buy a minivan, the next best choice is a three-row crossover. Among a strong group of competitors, our favorite is the Dodge Durango, and yet it sells less than a third as many units as the Ford Explorer. The Explorer is a fine choice as well, but it doesn’t look as cool, or ride and handle as well as the often overlooked Dodge. That’s because the Durango is based on a premium platform that was the last good thing Mercedes-Benz did for Chrysler prior to the breakup of the Daimler-Chrysler relationship. The Durango is also unique among three-row crossover for offering a V8 engine, and the interior materials and infotainment system are unmatched in the class.

Photo by Carrie Kim