this is based on my observations on one specific car model: toyota yaris, but you can apply to anything else.
1. first drove a rental yaris in 2006 when it was very new on the USA market. i thought: what a gutless noisy little POS (corolla was my daily driver and felt a whole more refined).
2. when my kid crashed the hand me down corolla, i wanted to buy her a cheap penalty box for her mostly city driving. i test drove a 2007 yaris and indeed it drove like a POS with the added qualification of very noisy and wandering on hwy when i took it home (my daily driver was prius at that time and felt like a very fine car in comparison).
3. couple of years later i bought 03 saturn ion for my son as a disposable first teenager car. i drove this POS to work for 3 weeks to burn old gas and diagnose any problems (there were plenty). after that was over, i took my kid's yaris to work as she was out of town. WOW, suddenly nice crisp steering, decent power, and smooth shifting. I was shocked how nice the ride was (in comparison to the ion).
4. then i went back to commute in RAV4 that is mine after we swapped cars with wifey. when my kid was out of town, i took her yaris again to check it. WOW, what a gutless noisy little POS again.
So the cycle ends here.
1. first drove a rental yaris in 2006 when it was very new on the USA market. i thought: what a gutless noisy little POS (corolla was my daily driver and felt a whole more refined).
2. when my kid crashed the hand me down corolla, i wanted to buy her a cheap penalty box for her mostly city driving. i test drove a 2007 yaris and indeed it drove like a POS with the added qualification of very noisy and wandering on hwy when i took it home (my daily driver was prius at that time and felt like a very fine car in comparison).
3. couple of years later i bought 03 saturn ion for my son as a disposable first teenager car. i drove this POS to work for 3 weeks to burn old gas and diagnose any problems (there were plenty). after that was over, i took my kid's yaris to work as she was out of town. WOW, suddenly nice crisp steering, decent power, and smooth shifting. I was shocked how nice the ride was (in comparison to the ion).
4. then i went back to commute in RAV4 that is mine after we swapped cars with wifey. when my kid was out of town, i took her yaris again to check it. WOW, what a gutless noisy little POS again.
So the cycle ends here.