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  1. Five cars that seemed like a good idea at the time
  2. Renault Avantime, Too far ahead of its time
  3. Mercedes-Benz R-Class, R you joking?
  4. Volkswagen Phaeton, Stranded flagship
  5. Jaguar X-Type, X-Factor? It's a no from us.
  6. DeLorean DMC-12, Time travail

Volkswagen Phaeton, Stranded flagship

Volkswagen conceived and built the Phaeton under the premise that it could actually make the very best car in the world. And most would agree it's a magnificent piece of engineering, but the world's best car? Probably not. That's not the issue here, though; the issue is that even if VW had made a car so fantastically superlative that nobody could dispute it was the world's best, it still has a whopping great VW badge on the front.

And people with enough money to buy the world's best car generally don't want their neighbours to think they've bought a Passat, which is why VW has only flogged a couple of thousand worldwide - and also why the Phaeton is possibly the used car bargain of the century. Underneath VW's flagship limo sits a Bentley Continental, basically, except because of the whole VW badge and unpopularity thing, you can get a used Phaeton - the pinnacle of VW engineering excellence - for about the price of a Kia Picanto. That's like Megan Fox agreeing to marry you on the condition that she can wear a Primark shell suit at all times.

Mark Nichol