Car Years to Avoid: 112 Nameplates Where the Model Year Decides

Why one model year can be worth thousands more than the next

A nameplate is not one car. A redesign changes the engine, the transmission and the supplier list in a single model year, and the complaint record moves with it — sometimes by sixty points inside two years of the same badge. Every row below is a car whose worst year and best year are at least 25 points apart on our score, which means the question "which year" is worth more to a buyer than the question "which car".

Every figure comes from NHTSA owner complaints, normalised by years of exposure, and from recall campaigns. Follow any nameplate for its run-by-run reading.

Ranked by the gap between the worst year and the best

Scored from NHTSA complaints and recalls. Method. Showing the 112 widest gaps of 112.

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