Worst Cars Ever Made

[Tarhog]

Here's the list:

AMC Pacer (1975-80)

Chevrolet Vega (1970-74)

Citroen SM (1970-72)

Fiat Strada (1978-88)

Ford Bronco II (1983-89)

Ford Edsel (1957-59)

Ford Pinto (1971-80)

Honda Accord hatchback (1978)

Mazda RX-2 (1971)

Oldsmobile Delta 88 (1979-84)

Pontiac Fiero (1984)

Renault Dauphine (1956-68)

Sachsenring Trabant (1957-62)

Yugo GV (1981-91)

My Dad had both a Pacer and Pacer Wagon, preceded by a Gremlin and a fluorescent orange VW Squareback. He had a thing for truly ugly vehicles.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4063790/

The current lucky generation of automotive customers has no real understanding of how truly awful a car can be.

Even entry-level vehicles and subcompacts these days are surprisingly well made, thanks to a revolution started mainly by Japanese automakers like Toyota and Honda Motor. Honda's first-generation Accord came out in the days when Detroit was producing real stinkers like General Motors' Chevy Vega and Ford Motor's Pinto. Between that time and today, the Japanese proved to the world that just because a car was cheap, it didn't mean it also couldn't be a well-built, value-laden automobile that looked and drove well.

Now, it's hard to find poorly made cars at all. True, nascent auto industries in places like Sri Lanka, Vietnam and other developing nations are a long way from turning out flawless automobiles. But even here the general quality is ensured, because most of the manufacturers have joint ventures with Japanese and Western carmakers.

The Japanese influence has rippled across the auto business, from inexpensive vehicles to high-quality sports and luxury cars. Early in his career, Porsche's current president, Wendelin Wiedeking, shook up the company's inefficient, crowded factories by consulting Japanese manufacturing experts. The experts reorganized Porsche's plants, forging lean assembly lines that have made a once-reeling company highly profitable.

Modern cars, cheap or pricey, are expected to run all of the time. The days of seeing late-model cars on the side of the freeway in the summertime, smoke billowing from their hoods due to overheating, are over. Cars may be more complex now, but they can no longer be mediocre, and they must be cost-competitive.

While the rules of the game may be that simple to explain, their violation can be enough to kill an entire brand. All of the mainstream French and Italian automakers — and plenty of British ones — were, one by one, forced to abandon the U.S. because they neglected issues of quality, engineering and design. If you are expecting to read about a certain vehicle from Yugoslavia, you have come to the right place. (Yugo, by the way, could make a comeback in the U.S. if one-time and potentially future importer Malcolm Bricklin, who was also the first person to bring Subaru to the U.S., gets his wish.)

So how bad does a car have to be to make it on to our list?

"It depends on your definition," said Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Auto Safety. "People pick on a vehicle like the Yugo, which was just a generic lemon. The Ford Pinto was a safety lemon. The Chevrolet Vega was an engineering lemon. The Edsel was a styling lemon."

You will read about all of these cars here, mostly because we considered a variety of criteria when forming our list. The ideal candidates were, simply, lousy cars that didn't run, but we had other rules that were central to the endeavor:

We had to limit the scope to cars made after World War II. Yes, the pool of automotive manufacturers that operate in the U.S. has thinned considerably since then as inferior makers have died. But we couldn't even begin to cover the hordes of rickety startups that failed in the early days of cars — companies that built the automotive equivalent of bathtub gin.

We sought cars that fit certain descriptions: unsafe, poorly styled, poorly engineered, poorly considered, poorly marketed, were public relations disasters — or a combination of any of the above.

We wanted a variety of vehicles from around the world, but also a colorful portrait of some of the most memorably bad vehicles in history. We could have picked on manufacturers that just built one bad car after another — there was more than one Yugo, after all — but then we would have ended up with a list of Russian Ladas and so forth.

One-shot deals like the Rocket Car were not considered.

Knowing in advance that we would consider at least some of our finds to be, actually, somewhat lovable vehicles, we gave special consideration to cars that were potentially noble ideas, but mismanaged. Pontiac's Fiero and Honda's Accord, both of which are on the list, started badly but got much better over time. Citroen's hydro-pneumatic suspension was an idea decades ahead of its time when it appeared on the 1954 Traction 15 Six H — and has grown over time into the hydractive suspension on modern Citroens. Unfortunately, as you will read, great ideas are not always executed well; early air or water suspensions were dubious, and Citroen's SM used both.

The result of our inquiry, you will find, is a tour de force of how cars can go wrong. The best we can say is that the days when these 14 vehicles you are about to see were made are, we hope, behind us.

[@DCGoldPants]

right now the Jeep Liberty is a sad replacement for the Cherkoee. I can't believe they did that.

[WallyG3]

How about the Pontiac Aztec? What an eyesore!

Remember Le Car?

[TK]

The Mustang II

Nothing more then a glorified Pinto.

:puke:

[BG]

The Miata was lame too. I dare you guys to fess up if you were driving around in one. You weren't cool and most people thought you were gay.

[WallyG3]

I really liked the Miata when it came out. There weren't any little roadsters out back then. Of course at the time I was in high school driving the family wagon (complete with simulated wood paneling), so most anything would have been an upgrade.

[@DCGoldPants]

Originally posted by WallyG3

How about the Pontiac Aztec? What an eyesore!

Remember Le Car?

I usually call the Aztec either "The Pontiac Mung", "Rhino" or "Jerk"

[Rabblerouser]

I don't think these were to well thought of either:

AMC Gremlin

Volkswagon Thing

Chevy Corvair

Dodge Colt

[Prosperity]

what about the Honda Element

[carlsbadd]

Chevy Corvair

My neighbor had the engine fall out of his in front of our house, when we were kids. Man was that funny. I think it was made from compressed rust or something.

[Rabblerouser]

Wasn't the corvair the car Ralph Nader had his knickers in a twist over?

[carlsbadd]

Originally posted by Equality

what about the Honda Element

I kinda like some of the things about the element. I like the fact that you can just hose it out whenever.

It does look like a chopped down bread truck. Haven't made up my mind on this one yet.

[carlsbadd]

Originally posted by Rabblerouser

Wasn't the corvair the car Ralph Nader had his knickers in a twist over?

I think that helped launch Naders quest, of course this was before the days of the exploding pintos and mustang II's.

[buckeyeG]

Well it looks like AMC is the hands down winner.

Remember the matador.:laugh:

[Dan T.]

Originally posted by buckeyeG

Remember the matador.:laugh:

The Matador had to be the ugliest car in the history of transportation.:puke:

[Tommy-the-Greek]

Studebaker (SP?) didn't make the list???

Or Racer X's Shooting Star..............

[skinsfan44]

Originally posted by buckeyeG

Well it looks like AMC is the hands down winner.

Remember the matador.:laugh:

Yea, AMC (All Most a Car) were real piece of sh1t cars back then.

But today, I would say ANYTHING that Nissan makes.

I know some of you are going to attack me for saying that, but I was a mechanic for 18 years, and 3 of them a Nissan mechanic.

I wouldn't own one of them, even if you gave it to me.

[riggins44]

The Mustang II was a mistake. The Chevette was another one.

Had Ford made the Probe the next Mustang that would have been even a bigger one. Mustang Club of America and Mustang owners kept that from happening. They told Ford that the car needed to be rear wheel drive and have a V8.

[Maxito]

Well the worst car that was the worst was a 94 Dodge Caravan that my dad bought. We had to change the transmission like 4 times.

[redman]

Honorable mention: the Cadillac Cimarron. Man that was a piece of ****! My father owned it and it was basically a small Chevy 4-door with some extra styling. And underpowered as hell!

My father also owned the Pacer. Tarhog, are you sure we're not related? :laugh:

[DaFunky1]

Actually the Corvair wasn't that bad of a car over 1,000,000 units produced and sold I believe... I have looked into buying a couple over the years. They actually handled well. The biggest problem I recall with the Corvair was that if hit at a certain angle the steering column would come right into the driver's sternum. Nothing too major there. :rotflmao: They also had a problem with oversteer, which was fixed in 1963 or 1964... after that they were actually very well made and safe.

the Chevette on the other hand was a crummy car but an upgrade from the Yugo.

I almost bought a Yugo brand new for $3000 once w/AC. Decided I'd save my money and buy something more fun to work on a 1967 Firebird.

I test drove a 55 Chevy 210 one time. I don't know how many of you remember the transmission commercial with stuff falling out from under... well I think this 55 inspired the commercial.

[Tommy-the-Greek]

This is the worst car in history.

[a_good_brotha]

I know some crappy cars:

remake of VW Beetle

VW Rabbit (my parents spent almost as much money fixing it than making payments)

I also think that Ford Focus sucks.

[PCS]

Wel..er...................

:secret:

I learned how to drive in an AMC Pacer. Of course it was Moms but then I started driving it and it kinda sorta became mine and wasn't all that bad driving around Fairfax so long as it was going down hill. Then tragedy hit the tragedy and we then owned another of the worst cars in history.

The 78 Oldsmobile Delta 88. If there was a better example of a driving breakdown I don't know what it was. Damn thing cost $4.00 just to start it up.

[stratoman]

Originally posted by Tarhog

Here's the list:

AMC Pacer (1975-80)

Chevrolet Vega (1970-74)

Citroen SM (1970-72)

Fiat Strada (1978-88)

Ford Bronco II (1983-89)

Ford Edsel (1957-59)

Ford Pinto (1971-80)

Honda Accord hatchback (1978)

Mazda RX-2 (1971)

Oldsmobile Delta 88 (1979-84)

Pontiac Fiero (1984)

Renault Dauphine (1956-68)

Sachsenring Trabant (1957-62)

Yugo GV (1981-91)

.

tarhog you have pretty much listed them all. I can say I test drove a Yugo in 85 and the gas meter said full but the thing was out of gas.