When you're young and idealistic, you know exactly which car is best, and you want everyone to know about it. Had you driven anything more exciting than your parents' lawnmower at that point? Of course not, but you'd read all the reviews and still knew exactly which cars were the greatest and why everyone who disagreed was a stupid, dumb idiot. Spend a little time driving more cars, moving out of your parents' house and dealing with the realities of budgeting, though, and suddenly, you find yourself enjoying cars your younger self would have completely judged you for liking or even loving.
Of course, if you spend much time on the internet, you can still find plenty of those people who will tell you how much of a stupid, dumb idiot you were for buying a car they don't like. But actually, they're the ones who suck, and if there's any place where should encourage people to talk about weird, generally unloved cars they can't help loving, it's Jalopnik. I mean, I'm addicted to electric Fiats. I certainly can't judge. I'm never going to pretend they're the best cars in the world or that they'll work for everybody, but they work for me and make me happy.
Collin Woodard/Jalopnik
Do Fiat 500es have their downsides? Absolutely. I can tell you for a fact that the new ones have a lot fewer flaws than the first-generation ones, but there are still a lot of things it can't do, such as haul three kids with ease, dominate the trails at Moab, or set a lap record at the Nurburgring. I didn't buy it to do those things, though, and I'm happy. In fact, I've been driving the red one so much lately, I'm starting to have real concerns about that 5,000-mile lease.
What about you? Whether you own one or not, what's the car that's generally unloved but still has a special place in your heart? What's the car you know most people won't like, but you still do? We want to hear about it down in the comments. And if the jerks show up to rain on our parade, let's tell them to go kick rocks.
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