What Car Never Lived Up To Its Potential?

When designers and engineers go about building a car, they're always filled with incredibly high hopes for what it's going to be. Nobody ever sets out hoping to make something that's mid, or even second best. They want to build the best car they can, hoping it fulfills all the potential they put into it. Unfortunately, that doesn't always happen for one reason or another, and that idea is what led me to today's question.

I want to know what car you think never lived up to its potential. What car could have been great, but sort of fell apart at the very end? These are the types of cars that promised a hell of a lot and, unfortunately for everybody, delivered on very little. Building cars is a very hard thing to do, so making them everything they can be is a nearly impossible task. Plenty of cars have gotten close, but far more have fallen well short.

Please keep in mind, I'm not asking you what cars didn't meet your expectations or live up to the hype. We've already asked that, and I'm not interested in rehashing.

My pick for this question is actually a fairly new car to the market: the Volkswagen ID Buzz. On the outside, it looks stellar. It's a wonderful throwback to the original VW Bus while not looking too cheesy and Boomer-bait-y. However, everything on the inside and underneath is simply not good enough, and it could have been.

On the inside, the ID Buzz is fitted with the cheapest, crappiest, hardest plastic you'll find on this side of a city bus. Sure, it's got some nice leather and good tech on higher trims, but you'll be paying nearly $70,000 for the pleasure of getting that equipment, which should just come as standard. Underneath, it's a similarly crappy story. Range is limited to just 234 miles in the rear-wheel-drive model and 232 miles with all-wheel drive. In this day and age, that's simply not good enough. I like Volkswagen, and I know it has the engineering power to make good cars. Because of that, I know the ID Buzz had the potential to be good. It just... isn't, and that's a goddamn shame.

In any case, you all should follow my lead and sound off below on what cars you think never lived up to their potential. As always, I'll be giving out cash prizes to those who explain why their choice missed the mark by so much.