The 4 Best Cars Nobody Buys

Build a great car, and it deserves to succeed. But that's not to say it will. The U.S. auto market, past and present, is littered with examples of excellent products that buyers shunned.

Cadillac ATS (2014 sales: 29,890)
Change can be hard to recognize—and even harder to accept. That certainly seems to be the case with Cadillac. The division has shaken off the overstuffed glitz of its (admittedly highly profitable and, for a long time, quite popular) past. After a period of some identity confusion, Cadillac with the ATS and the CTS [see separate entry] has come out the other side, offering cars that out-BMW BMW. The ATS both in sedan and—even more so—in coupe form, drive with the poise and responsiveness that used to be a given in the BMW 3-series. Granted, the ATS is not perfect: The CUE interface is annoying and the back seat is pretty tight. But enthusiasts for years had no problem overlooking the frustration of iDrive and a cramped back seat in the BMW (both alleviated in today's models). Why can't enthusiasts do the same for the ATS? One suspects it's not that they can't overlook the car's shortcomings in order to embrace its driving excellence, but that they're unwilling to look in Cadillac's direction at all. The ATS is a very different Cadillac from those that have gone before—a polar opposite, in fact. As we're seeing with the disappointing sales of this anything-but-disappointing car, it's the kind of change that many buyers are having a hard time coming to grips with.

Porsche Cayman (2014 sales: 3417)
While the Porsche Cayman continues to hold us in its thrall—it's been on our 10Best Cars list eight times—the 911 is the Porsche sports car that holds sway with buyers. In fact, while the first-generation Cayman burst out of the gate at a sprint, with 7025 sold in 2006 and 6027 in 2007, sales haven't cracked 3500 in any other year. The 911? Porsche moved more than 10,000 in each of the past two years. And that's a shame, because the Cayman is the better car to drive, distilling and delivering the Porsche magic with few superfluous frills. The secret is its mid-engined chassis, which imparts hyper-sharp reflexes and a natural at-the-limit stability that requires electronics on the rear-engined 911. From its sublime steering to its wonderful transmissions, and from its gorgeous styling to its rigid structure—40 percent torsionally stiffer than the hyper-rigid Boxster convertible—the Cayman is one of the very best cars on the planet.

Mazda 5 (2014 sales: 11,613)
Bigger-is-better is as much the driving force in the purchase of the American family car as it is the American family home. That seems particularly true for those in the midst of child raising, which means the notion of a smaller-than-standard minivan was always going to be a tough sell. But the Mazda 5 selling at 10 percent of the volume of the Dodge Grand Caravan? The Mazda 5 isn't that much smaller. After all, plenty of minivans are sold to people with only two kids, the extra seats designated for additional members of the kiddie carpool. So what does it matter if the Mazda 5's third-row chairs are cramped? These are other people's kids we're talking about. Meanwhile, the Mazda's tidy dimensions make it far easier to park and maneuver for those cool parents who haven't abandoned the city for a four-bedroom colonial in the exurbs. The Mazda 5 is also far more nimble and fun to drive than any of the regular-sized vans—even if Mazda has dropped the available six-speed stick. At a starting price of $22,060, the Mazda 5 is also the most affordable minivan out there, although not by a lot. On a dollars-per-pound basis, the Euro-sized Mazda is never going to compete. But for those who can get beyond that warehouse-club thinking, the Mazda 5 is an excellent way to get six seats without going full suburban-paunch.

Jaguar XJ (2014 sales: 4329)
Full-size luxury sedans seem to be suffering a pandemic of weird design. The Audi A8 has a nose like an industrial air inlet, the BMW 7-series suffers from goiter, and the Lexus LS? Yeesh. That's why we nod in approval whenever we see a Jaguar XJ roll by. The Jag's athletic appearance talks the talk, while a lightweight aluminum structure and sporty but not punishing ride give it the walk. Upgrade to the long-wheelbase model for business-class rear accommodations in an airy sedan that hardly gives up any of the shorter variant's hustle. Alternately, go all the way with the 550-horse XJR, whose nimbleness—especially in long-wheelbase format—seems to defy both physics and common sense. Jag's sales volume can't touch the German competition, perhaps in part because of semi-outdated perceptions of the brand's quality, but maybe that's a virtue in disguise: In a line of "bought it with my branch-manager bonus" German luxobarges at the country club valet, the Jag stands out like a set of washboard abs in a room full of paunches. Plus, coming in more than $20,000 cheaper than a comparable Mercedes-Benz S-Class, you could even call the sinewy Jag a bargain.