Worst-Made Cars on the Road

Yahoo, Forbes ^ | Friday, April 9, 2010 | Hannah Elliott

[throwback]

If you want to drive something dependable and long-lasting, steer clear of these vehicles.

With a 22% improvement in sales last month, and despite the six-month, $4.3 billion loss it announced Wednesday, General Motors is likely to have its strongest spring and summer in years. Plus, the automaker had critically acclaimed new products at the recent New York Auto Show and the much-anticipated Chevrolet Volt is due out this fall.

More from Forbes.com:

• In Depth: Worst-Made Cars On The Road

• Navigating Your Way Through Traffic

• Cars With the Best Gas Mileage

Year-over-year sales of GM's Cadillac division alone are up almost 76%; sales in the Buick, Chevrolet and GMC divisions were each up more than 40% for March. The industry as a whole was up 24.3%.

Unfortunately just because GM's cars are selling well now doesn't mean they're the best bet for durability or value -- yet. It'll take awhile before GM's new direction shows up in tangible new products at the dealership.

Four of the seven vehicles on our list of the worst-made cars on the road come from GM brands.

[reagan_fanatic]

[CharacterCounts]

Going back 30 years, I've found their testing methods for consumer products to be dubious at best; their experimental method seems to me to be poorly controlled, poorly designed, and often shows a lack of understanding of the product.

I remember back in the 80's a computer company issued a new advanced PC with more memory, speed, and reliability than most on the market. All of the computer geek mags were bragging on it big time. CR gave it its lowest rating - because they didn't like the keyboard. Wish I could remember the name of the PC.

[Ignatz]

Thanks. Over the years I have used them as another source of opinion when making decisions on large purchases (TV’s, digital cameras, GPS units, etc.) and have found MOST of their ratings to be accurate. There have been a few stinkers along the way, though, lol! Coffee-makers comes to mind...

[stbdside]

My 2003 Ford Focus has almost 120K miles on it, still feels and runs like new.

[ArrogantBustard]

De gustibus ...

In the late 1980s, I started looking to specialty magazines for product reviews. In the late 1990s, I started also looking on the internet. I have found both to be more useful than CR. In particular, I find user reviews generally much more useful than professional reviewer reviews.

That computer review is an example of the sort of thing I'm talking about.

[95B30]

Well, two of the vehicles on the list I can personally vouch for as excellent vehicles. I had an Aveo that i used as a commuter car doing 80 miles a day through the mountains and snow. Never had a problem, ate the snow and ice better then my 4X4 ever thought of doing. It now belongs to my daughter and has 100 K plus. I also own a Colorado and love it. No complaints. Both were bought prior to it becoming Government Motors of course. Remember that Toyota was a favorite for years to a lot of these surveys....

[-YYZ-]

“Not to cast doubt on this report but there’s only one car in the list, the Aveo. All the rest are larger vehicles which leads me to believe the test criteria is skewed towards fuel economy and safety crash tests.”

The article says the picks were based on vehicles with poor CR projected reliability and poor JD Powers reliability ratings. Some of them also had rather poor occupant safety ratings, which considering their size should really not be an issue - after all, we get people on here all the time who equate size with safety.

[saganite]

Consumer reports consistently gives the Wrangler low marks for its highway manners but I don’t know what they would expect from a vehicle with a solid axle specifically designed for off road use.

[Red Badger]

Rest In Peace, old friend, your work is finished.....

If you want ON or OFF the DIESEL ”KnOcK” LIST just FReepmail me.....

This is a fairly HIGH VOLUME ping list on some days.....

[Red Badger]

It’s a wonder you even noticed you’d been hit!................or did you see it in the rearview mirror?.............

[stephenjohnbanker]

A good car!

[Ditter]

I can't count the number of Cheve Surburbans and Tahoes I have had ever since it was a 3 door crew truck and I have never had a problem with any of them. I do trade them off before they reach 100,000 miles so maybe they give out on down the road, but I take good care of them and have scheduled maintenance. My 2009 Tahoe may be my last because it is Government Motors now and that makes me sad. I am pretty old and who knows, my kids may take my drivers license away from me before I need a new Tahoe.

[JWinNC]

That would explain it... I’ve also heard that they had trouble or messed up the diesels.

jw

[antiRepublicrat]

There is no fair comparison on the highway. The only comparison is did you survive what hit you?

Then you can't direct your comments only towards a Smart, but would have to condemn all small cars. And don't let size fool you. Because of poor design, the last iteration of the Ford F-150 was a deathtrap even compared to most passenger cars (they're better now). There's even a Chinese SUV out there that's not as safe as the Smart.

[DrC]

“That’d be covered by the “General Welfare” reference in the Preamble, I reckon.”

Or Congress’s war-making powers... :-)

[antiRepublicrat]

While many US cars may not be in there, or you have to translate an American model to a European model, I’ve found that ADAC (www.adac.de) has the best safety tests. Even if you can’t read German, the stars and color codes are pretty obvious.

[JWinNC]

I’m glad I’m not the only one.

I certainly don’t waste my $ on their “reports.”

jw

[jurroppi1]

I'm not so sure I'd want to be in one when crashing into anything larger than it - especially with a bumper that is higher than the hood (like most pickups and SUVs). The front end of my F150 from bumper to the start of the cabin (where my feet sit) is as big as a smart car (I've driven alongside and parked next to enough of them to see that plain as day). Smart Car Goes Airborne in Crash Test; Are They Safe?

[JWinNC]

The worst car I ever owned, by a MILE, was a 2000-2001 Buick LaSabre. The engineering was so bad as to be embarrassing. I doubt anyone would fess up to being involved with the design of that clunker.

For example... you had to disconnect one of the engine mounts to put on the accessory belt.

jw

[Celtic Conservative]

Funny, I bought an aveo for the Missus three years ago. So far it has been a pretty reliable car for us. Less problems than the sunfire she owned previously. Having said that I bought a used 2005 new beetle and I have been quite impressed with that little bugger, too.

FWIW

CC