This is the worst car I've driven all year

I test drive around 50 to 60 cars, pickups, and SUVs every year. The contrast in overall quality between what consumers can buy now and what they could buy when I was growing up is astounding.

It's fair to say that there are almost no bad cars anymore.

Almost.

Every so often, I get behind the wheel of one that doesn't do it for me. This happened several months back with the 2016 Volkswagen Golf SportWagen TSI S.

I didn't out-and-out hate the car. It's a wagon after all. Car writers have a soft spot for wagons.

But the VW didn't compare favorably with other vehicles in its general price range and with its configuration I've sampled in 2016 (and in the years before that). To be honest, it ultimately soured me on basic wagons a bit and got me thinking that automakers are correct to focus on smaller crossovers and SUVs to serve the needs of what in the past might have been wagon aficionados.

It has some pluses, of course. And I had, when I tried the SportWagen out, just finished driving a VW Dune Beetle that I really enjoyed. Also, let me say at the outset that my $22,445 test vehicle served as quite capable basic, versatile transportation. I wasn't expecting a Ferrari FF.