If I recall correctly the jeep and bike from vCoH were both unable to cause suppression and both were incredibly soft targets. If caught in a bad position they could quickly lose most of their health to a lone unit and ever suffer some engine criticals accelerating their death.
The bike was priced with this in mind at 180 (less health than the jeep)the jeep was 220. So 20 more mp you get suppression, genuine damage dealing and a sliver more health (if the hitpoints between the two games are comparable).
Fair point on the path finding that is definitely a negative (like alot of units including the wc51).
Such a fantastic unit for OKW that works wonders with a nearby sturmpioneersquad or on its own.
Can reverse in a heartbeat, very maneuverable, fast and frustratingly hard to kill even with bazookas (they miss alot).
It can rotate on the spot to suppress/deal dmg in another arc and unlike an MG squad it doesn't have to pack up. This makes it difficult to flank at the best of times as it can just slam it into reverse to create a new suppression arc.
Incredibly annoying to find your cutoff locked down in the first minute or two by 1 kubel and sturmpioneer/volks which is a nasty combination to tackle with just riflemen.
To compare it with the wc51 for the US which has a 20 fuel cost and no suppression. Yes it does do more damage and has a transport capacity however it will struggle to 1v1 a lone kubel or squad and it is doctrine specific. Is the 0 fuel cost reasonable compared to 20?
It should be noted that this is from the perspective of a mainly 2v2 player and I'm aware that it can be managed more effectively in 1v1. The argument I think is still fair.