For clarification, I’m not talking about cars that you knew were great or terrible before you drove them. I’m referring more to cars that you anticipated would be great but turned out to be disappointing, or cars that you initially had low expectations of but genuinely surprised you.

As an example, I was quite let down when I test-drove the Acura TLX Type S. I was cross-shopping it with the Kia Stinger GT2 at the time. On paper, it looked great, but when I got behind the wheel, the motor felt weaker than its claimed 350hp, and the transmission seemed confused.

On the flip side, I had the opportunity to drive a friend’s Challenger RT. Despite everything I had heard about them being underpowered, outdated, slow, and heavy, the experience was different. The low-end torque provided a ton of fun, the sound was amazing, and the interior was spacious and comfy. While it wasn’t going to win any drag races or excel on backroads, it turned out to be a comfortable cruiser with a fun motor that wasn’t dangerous to drive and could easily be a daily driver.