These Are The Most Overrated Movie Cars Of All Time (2024)

The movie world is filled with some wonderful machines, like James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5, the Mach 5 from ‘Speed Racer’ and the Land Rover Defender in every movie it’s ever been in. But there have also been some more mundane movie cars. The kind of cars that you’d never pin up on your bedroom wall.

To separate the wheat from the chaff, we turned to you and asked for your picks of the most overrated movie cars of all time and, thankfully, you came back with some great suggestions. From unrealistic Bond cars to under-powered and under-performing muscle cars, these are some of the best suggestions you came back with.

So sit back, relax and flick through the most overrated movie cars of all time, according to Jalopnik’s dear readers. Is there a car out there that they missed? Let us know in the comments section below.

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2 / 14

The Mustang from Bullitt. The movie is awful* but the iconic car chase is just... bad. It’s like the much-mocked fight scene in “They Live” in that it goes on WAY too long. And in the end, it’s really just wedged, does little to advance the plot, it’s clearly there because the star wanted it.

*Yes, I’ve seen it. I own the DVD because that was the only way to see it 20 years ago and every car nerd said OMG Bullitt is great... It is not. It’s hard to imagine how you make a bad movie with Steve McQueen as the star and San Francisco as the backdrop but apparently you also need a script and I’m not sure this movie had one . Want the best car chase AND an incredible movie? Watch ‘The French Connection’.

Starting strong with this one, who’s going to come running to the Mustang’s defense?

Suggested by: buckfiddiousagain

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3 / 14

I have no qualms with the ‘Gone In 60 Seconds’ remake, but I hate the Mustang that launched a thousand awful clones. If you own one of these, you are not a connoisseur, you’re a self-indulgent wiener.

The Mustang for people who don’t know anything about Mustangs.

Suggested by: maymar

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4 / 14

The AMC Pacer from ‘Wayne’s World,’ AKA the Mirth Machine.

It might not have been a great car in the movie, but you lot don’t think it’s a great car in the real world, either.

Suggested by: Scott Harris (Facebook)

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5 / 14

Might be unpopular, but the ‘Back to the Future’ DeLorean. I mean the DeLorean in general just isn’t that great a car in the first place. At least with the Mad Max cars, while they are probably rolling death traps, the fact that someone built them and they run and drive is pretty damn impressive.

Did the addition of flight make the DeLorean any better? Or was it hot trash in every ‘Back To The Future’ film?

Suggested by: liffie420

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6 / 14

I think a certain Charger commenter on here will disagree with me =), but The General Lee Charger is overrated. Traitor flag aside, it’s literally just an orange Charger with 01 on the side, it’s not a particularly fun car to replicate in something like Forza, it’s not a character car like Herbie or Christine. I’d argue Dom’s Charger from ‘Fast And Furious’ is wayyy more iconic and cool...I guess if Daisy duke was on top of it then I’d get it, but I never understood the hype with the car.

Dom’s ‘Fast And Furious’ Charger would definitely win in a race, but does that make it more iconic?

Suggested by: darthspartan117

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7 / 14

The ‘Ghostbusters’ Cadillac Ambulance thing, just pips that other bunch of stuck on lunch boxes ,wires and tubes in the B to F DeLorean, closely followed by KITT!

Whereas the coolest have to be the Citroen Pallas in ‘European Vacation,’ the Family Truckster in ‘Lampoons Vacation,’ and the Winnebago (sh*tter’s full) in ‘Christmas Vacation,’ plus of course the Blues Mobile!!

Is this another complaint that boils down to it being style over substance?

Suggested by: Mark A Wood (Facebook)

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8 / 14

The Lotus submersible from ‘The Spy Who Loved Me:’

Course this prop was from one of the Roger Moore Bond flicks—when they were truly silly, but even this car is a total eyeball-roller. Where are the ballast tanks? It’d be easy for it to sink, but emerge from the water?

And then there’s the pièce de résistance — once the ‘car’ emerges from the water, Moore opens the window and tosses out a fish. So a fish bafflingly made its way into the cabin, but not the water — wowser.

It was the Seventies — WTF.

They only ever claimed the car was waterproof and not fish-proof, I guess.

Suggested by: the1969dodgechargerfan

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9 / 14

‘Smoky And The Bandit’ Trans Am. That movie really polished that turd.

A popular choice today, the Trans Am was always going to find its way onto this list.

Suggested by: vabubba

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10 / 14

Y2K bike from ‘Torque.’

Most of the others are competent for what they’re supposed to be, really being hyped, or (in Herbie’s case) clearly not capable of what’s shown and that’s what’s fun about it.

Sure it’s a bike, but this guy hates it so we’ll count it.

Suggested by: Christopher Wright-Thwing (Facebook)

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11 / 14

Since someone beat me to General Lee, I’m going to go with the Ford Explorers from ‘Jurassic Park.’ Cool paint job aside, those Explorers really were pretty horrendous vehicles. “My college roommate in the mid 00's was a JP super fan and bought an Explorer because of it. That thing broke down so many times that I considered charging him for the rides home after a while. We also tried to take it off-roading on fairly mild terrain (him in the Explorer, me in my bone-stock 1973 Jeep J-2500) and I had to pull him out of stuff so many danged times.

Quick shoutout to the most underrated movie car: the E38 BMW in “The Transporter”

Sure, everyone has fond memories of the ‘Jurassic Park’ Jeep, but nobody comes out to celebrate the Explorers crushed by a T Rex.

Suggested by: santacruzin6

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12 / 14

1. I’d agree with Herbie. I saw the original movie, and it’s pretty stupid. And they brought out Herbie in the Disney World stunt driving show and all I remember is all the old grandparents telling the little kids ‘SEE IT’S HERBIE!!!’ like they would have any idea what that is.. and they got no reaction.

2. F&F Skyline. Don’t get the Paul Walker reverence, he was a boring-ass actor and the car is only cool because 12 year olds could only see it in a video game.

You’re a brave poster for suggesting this one.

Suggested by: give-me-a-manuel-alpha-romero-you-cowards

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13 / 14

KITT on ‘Knight Rider,’ wow that car was junk.

Sure it’s a TV car but let’s be honest, KITT wasn’t great.

Suggested by: derphous

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