It will put me through some ridiculous routes or lead me to incorrect destination for the same place I've been visiting for many years.
I get the feeling that I'm being used as a Guinea pig.
When I went to Venice, Apple map generally worked better in terms of walking directions.
As well, it insists on naming my cities main streets by their highway #s rather than the actual names of the street - which is extra confusing because the two directions of the "highway" are the two one-way main streets through town.
I agree - I've long suspected that I've been used as a "probe" to check if a road is still accessible, or what speed is typical, etc. by being sent on strange sub-optimal routes.
If I know the orientation of the map, then I can usually figure out what my starting direction is. Otherwise, I stuck with Google Maps fumbling direction until I start moving my vehicle, and by that point, it's already mis-navigated me.
I also hate the way their maps are constantly hiding information, like street names, unless you zoom waaaaaay in.
MapQuest provided so much detail at similar scales vs. Google Maps.
I understand that feeling completely. I travel all over the US and rely upon it. Google Maps is my only copilot and it can give some really puzzling suggestions.
My last fun one: I was traveling on an interstate and had ~5 miles to go until my exit onto a highway (which I was then going to travel on for ~50 miles.) Instead of continuing down the interstate, it had me exit at the nearest exit, then get onto a rutted out dirt road (which would have connected with the highway.) All to save a mile I guess? I quickly turned around when I realized where Maps had lead me.
One other time I was leaving a residential neighborhood and it literally had me driving in a loop around the block until I restarted the navigation.
It's pretty much a requirement to look at where Google Maps is actually going to take you before setting off, and that's unfortunate.