If you’re anything like me, you probably dream about some of the super cool rides in the Fast & Furious movies. For the most part, the team over at Universal Studios has done a great job choosing and designing cars for these movies. But… there were some cars that were undeniably duds.
In this article, I’m going to take you through the worst cars of the Fast & Furious franchise, and tell you exactly why they were so disappointing. These are the worst cars from the Fast and Furious movies…
2005 Volkswagen Touran (Tokyo Drift)
Alright, let’s kick off this list with what is pretty much unanimously the worst car in any Fast & Furious movie, the 2005 Volkswagen Touran driven by Lil Bow Wow in Tokyo Drift, better known as the Hulkmobile.
I don’t know how much Universal paid Lil Bow Wow, but it must’ve been a lot to convince him to drive this absolute travesty. I mean, come on, Lucas Black gets to drive a ‘67 Mustang Fastback, and Lil Bow Wow gets stuck with a superhero-themed van that makes me question the director’s sobriety. Not fair.
Apparently this green hunk of garbage was stuck in the movie because director Justin Lin was a fan of the Hulk as a kid. I personally think a better way to pay homage to your favorite superhero is to slap a sticker of him of the back of a sick tuner with some serious muscle, instead of painting his face on a van that looks like it’s dented up, and I think Bow Wow would agree.
1950 Chevrolet Fleetline (The Fate of the Furious)
If you remember the race scene in Cuba in The Fate of the Furious, then you probably remember Dom flying down a dirt road in a 1950 Chevy Fleetline with its engine exposed. Throughout the race there’s a bunch of close-ups on what appears to be a turbocharged big block Chevy engine.
But I hate to burst your bubble, the turbocharger was totally fake. It was hollowed out and essentially just functioned like an air intake. That means this Fleetline was still workin with the 92 horsepower it came off the lot with half a century ago. Must’ve taken some serious movie magic to make a car that underpowered and rusted out look even a little bit cool. No, this car is definitely not doing 100 miles per hour in reverse like Dom pulls in the movie.
1987 Chevrolet Caprice (Furious 7)
The 1987 Chevy Caprice driven by Ludacris in Furious 7 is pretty much the pinnacle of everything that was wrong with 80’s American autos. Versions of the Caprice in the 70’s were actually pretty cool, but as the 80’s came around, this car just got bigger and bigger, and the engine didn’t grow to match its weight.
The V6 they stuck in 80’s models made a measly 140 horsepower, and took about 11 seconds to propel this thing up to 60. The interior is lined in cheap-o leather and the fake wood accents everywhere will make you cringe.
Believe it or not, Ludacris actually owned the ‘87 Caprice they used in Furious 7. To make it slightly better he had a custom 350-horsepower crate engine added in, and some Bassett Racing Wheels and a sidewinder shifter too. But if you’re as famous as Luda, and can have any car you want, why go with this ugly 80’s bucket?
BMW 323 iS Coupe E36 (2 Fast 2 Furious)
Now, this one makes me a bit sad. Craig Liebermann proposed that they use a replica of PTG E36 M3s, the legendary race cars that proved themselves in the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1995. But somehow, I guess when he wasn’t looking, they instead got a significantly less cool 323 E36 and tried to make it look more like an M3 by throwing on some massive wheel arches.
As a result, they had to fill those wheel arches with huge wheels. So, they threw in some 20-inch chrome Giovanna rims that made this car extremely confusing to look at. It’s like… the wheels of a ranfla… but on a BMW. Does not compute.
But perhaps the worst part about this car is that it was an AUTOMATIC! With just how horrible this car was, it’s no wonder it failed to sell at auction several times, until finally they were able to pawn it off on some sucker for $11,000. I feel sorry for that guy.
2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder GTS (2 Fast 2 Furious)
Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, and apparently Tyrese Gibson picked out the exterior design of the ‘03 Eclipse Spyder himself. But if you ask me, it’s just too much. And they were pretty much just putting lipstick on a pig anyway. This car is not fast and not a tuner car. I mean, if you listen to the engine, it sounds like a Subaru boxer motor with headers that are different lengths. You’re not scaring any bad guys with that sound.
Apparently, this car had zero performance mods, but they stuck some expensive wheels, a racing wing and a giant muffler on it, making it basically… and I’m sorry Tyrese… a ricer. Throughout their movies, Fast & Furious has been a beacon of hope for real tuner culture, but to see a car like this Eclipse Syper get a leading role… it just hurts my soul.
2000 Acura NSX (2 Fast 2 Furious)
We here at Ideal are huge fans of the Acura NSX, it’s an absolute legend in the JDM game, and it’s proven itself on the racetrack as well as a super capable street car. The guts of Tej’s NSX in 2 Fast 2 Furious have nothing wrong with them at all. In fact, this is an extremely impressive car performance-wise.
But why on Earth would you take such a cool car and give it a paint job like this? I guess they were going for something like a Louis Vuitton pattern, but it really just looks like one of those tacky paint jobs they used to do on Pimp My Ride. And to make matters worse they threw a huge and useless scoop on the top, and replaced the wheels with some big Giovanna chromes that clash with the already awful paint job, and really just don’t belong on any NSX whatsoever.
With all of the aftermarket work done on cars throughout this movie franchise, it boggles my mind how they could’ve screwed this one up so bad.
Dodge Chargers
No, I’m not talking about Dom’s sweet 197 Charger R/T from Fast Five, or the 1969 Charger Daytona from Fast & Furious 6, or any of the classic Chargers you see throughout the franchise. Those are awesome. I’m talking about the stock body Chargers made after 2000 that appear in pretty much every movie since Fast Five.
No, these Chargers aren’t bad cars. In fact, when I see one on the street, I think they look pretty cool. But I don’t watch Fast & Furious movies to see cars that I see everyday. I want to see unique tuners loaded with sick aftermarket mods blowing out ridiculous horsepower. It seems like either the producers are getting a little lazy, or they have a lucrative product placement deal with Dodge, because there are just way too many Chargers in the new movies.
From 2010 Charger SRT-8 in Fast Five to the 2012 Charger SRT-8 LD in Fast & Furious 6 to the 2015 Charger LD in Furious 7, it’s just overkill.
2014 Maserati Ghibli (Furious 7)
With all the incredible models on the market these days, why on Earth would they choose to use a Maserati Ghibli as a major car in Furious 7? As any serious car guy will tell you, the Ghibli is notoriously a hunk of junk. They’re well-known for their cheap interior quality, outdated technology, poor reliability, and entirely-too-high price.
If you were unlucky enough to pick up a 2014 Ghibli for its MSRP price, your car would’ve depreciated about 60% already. And that’s because Maseratis across the board are extremely unreliable, the Ghibli being perhaps the best example. Sure, a Maserati might look cool from the outside, but you’re going to be disappointed when your dashboard looks like a Christmas tree of warning lights.
2004 Mazda RX-8 (Tokyo Drift)
The Mazda RX-7 is a legit sports car that’s a blast to drive and has some serious tuning ability. But when it came time to release the next generation with the RX-8, it seems like Mazda’s engineers just took a few years off. The RX-8 was slower and less powerful than the RX-7, and it looked way less cool too, in my opinion.
It’s really no wonder that the RX-8 never really caught on with the tuner community or in the American market in general. It’s attempt to look like a fast-driving sports car is betrayed by its asthmatic engine and poor driving dynamics. And while the paint job on this car isn’t quite as bad as the fake Louis Vuitton NSX, I’d still say they would’ve been better off without that gradient two-tone baby blue look. That might look good as a plastic toy to give to your baby son, but not as a lead car in a Fast & Furious movie.
1971 Jensen Interceptor (Fast & Furious 6)
Upon first glance at a ‘71 Jensen Interceptor, you might say, “Oh that’s a pretty cool muscle car.” But get into the details and you’re going to take that back real quick. This car lacked an identity… it kind of looked like a muscle car but also kind of like a station wagon. In reality, it was called a Grand Touring, but I’d say it’s more like a Bland Boring.
The half-assed British electrical wiring makes this car incredibly unreliable, and while they threw a pretty awesome Chrysler big block V8 in this thing, they hooked it up to a 727 Torqueflite automatic transmission, which had three speeds. Oof.
This was just an all-around awful car from the jump, and really had no place in a movie franchise for car guys.
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