The Worst American Cars - POLL

Forbes ^ | 10.21.02 | Michael Frank

[freedumb2003]

I looked at the "properties" of your red x. Chevette not a bad choice but I am an old Chrystler guy....

[CyberCowboy777]

I have owned a '81 Citation, good snow car - so much weight up front on the front wheel drive.

Bad electrical was my major problem

[CyberCowboy777]

Eagle Sport two door was a great little AWD, fishing, skiing, go anywhere car.

[truth_seeker]

"Some European cars were so good I still wish they made them today. The BMW 2002 comes to mind. With a few minor improvements they could make this today and it would still be one of the best cars on the road."

In the evolutionary sense, they still do make it. They now call it 325i (or 330i) if you will.

The eurostyle automotive press (Road & Track, Car & Driver) consistently use the 3 and 5 series BMWs as if they are "benchmarks" for excellent automobiles.

I used to watch open class racing at Hockenheimring (near Heidelberg). A Corvette and a BMW 2002 went at it. Corvette pulled away on straights, but BMW made it up on curves.

They propped the trunk lid of the BMW to make a "wing."

Today I'm fascinated by the power output of turbo-fours like Saab Aero and Subaru.

In order for GM to be involved, they have to BUY a company (Saab) because their corporate culture is virtually incapable of keeping up with progress.

[gridlock]

What about the GEO Metro and the Ford Festiva?

The Geo Metro was a rebadged Suzuki Swift, and came from Korea.

The Ford Festiva was a cheap German built American imitation of a cheap American built German car...

But my worst ever American honors has to come down to either the Chevette, Maverick or Citation (X-Body), but only because I have personal experience with all of those. Universally, they were all POSs.

But backed into a corner, I would have to go with the Chevette. I had an automatic. No power at all. Bought it used for fifty bucks, and I wuz ROBBED!

[CyberCowboy777]

My commuter is a '97 Sable, been a decent car. I put about 600 to 1000 mile a week on it and do not take very good care of it.

But it seems to keep going - 118,000 miles.

A door ajar issue recently and a sensor in the transmission going out is the only real issues.

3.0L V6 does a pretty good job.

[oh8eleven]

What a great thread! I'm in my mid 50s and have either owned, driven or know of all these "classics." I've been laughing for so long I had to take a break. Thanks Freepers, you're the best.

My entry - the 1980 Datsun B210 wagon. What a dog! If I could have used rust for fuel I'd have been rich. The interior's plasticizers out-gassed so quickly the car's windshield had a permanent fog on it. Plus, the dash board, arm rests etc., became so hard they started breaking like peanut brittle.

Speaking of dogs - at the time I had two kids and an Old English Sheep dog. Fully loaded the wheels would rub some other body part (especially when we turned a corner), and the nose would point straight up to the North Star.

[wallcrawlr]

Depressing??? No way. Light-hearted is what I hope you mean.

[InvisibleChurch]

Sometimes had to start it by setting fire to paper on top of carb

LOL!!!

[InvisibleChurch]

The absolute worst idea that ever made it to production, without doubt is the Pontiac Aztec.

you'll note that no other car makers have come up with an 'answer' to the Azteck

[PoorMuttly]

I can't believe you reminded me of this car.

Two days ago, I was going to Post something about it, regarding the Mars "Beagle"....but cringed too much during my psychological upheavals of rememberance...and the subsequent nightmares (now I understand them...)...but the catharsis brought me some peace...and now THIS!

I would wax rhapsodic about the Maverick too...which felt like a death-trap...but my Dad put Gabriel Hijackers on it, and drove it coast to coast and back...so it is buried with my other automotive nightmares.

I remember every hot chrome rustbubble on that psychotic-designed exhaust bumper.

Now I am visualizing another giant Olds I had...like a '62...the steering wheel of which had to be turned a foot for it to even move the wheels at all.

Are you working for a distillery?

[DigitalSpace]

My nomination is the Ford Aerostar. My mom used to drive an '89 Ford Aerostar that devoured steering fluid like a bunch of kids going through a bowl of candy. Awful car. Ford stards for "Found On Road, Dead". My stepdad owned a '76 Pinto and a 1982 Chevrolet Citation, both memorable cars, lol. My mom also owned a 1976 Pinto station wagon around the early 90's, which lasted for another 2 years before it started smoking and caught on fire (fortunately, nobody was hurt), not from being tapped by another car on the gas tank, but from an electrical malfunction. She also had a 78 Caprice station wagon around 1993 (after the Pinto debacle) or so that lasted another 2 years. Same thing with the '77 Ford LTD wagon, which looked nice. It beat out the Pinto and Caprice... by lasting 3 years (Then on to the Aerostar, which has now beenreplaced with an '91 Plymouth Voyager, no complaints about it yet). I loved how the car looked though, if I had one today I can only imagine how I would fix it up... I'm 21, and yet to own a car. But I'm sure I'll have interesting stories of my own someday! Great picks on this list. The best looking Pacer was the one that appeared in Wayne's World, lol.

[ducatinova]

Misinformation is a scary thing. The metro was not built in Korea. It was built in Canada thru a joint venture with GM and Suzuki. Early models and the Chevrolet Sprint were sent over from Japan. In general they were good cars. Small and cheap and got 55 mpg. The Festiva is not to be mistaken for the Fiesta. The Fiesta was a German designed small car sent to the US in the late 1970's. The Festiva is built in Korea by KIA.Ford bought it and its Aspire sibling from KIA and sold it thru its US dealer network.Known as the Pride in its home market and in other markets that KIA sold it in. It was originally designed and built by Mazda as the 121. KIA licensed the design and built it for cheap. Problems with it were mostly cheap and extremely thin body panels. Also its 4 cylinder engine was not the longest lived design. Each person has his horror stories about American cars. My family had a Vega...lasted 15000 miles from new. Inexcusable. We owned a gremlin Very fast and well built but not to everyones styling taste. There was no 4 door gremlin built. That was the Hornet which was on a longer wheelbase and came first. The Gremlin was a chopped off Hornet. I would say any mid-70 thru present US made car is junk. We had not owned a US car in years ,1979 chevy the thru a rod at 41000 miles was our last until 1996 when we bought a Neon. Total junk. It was in the junk yard at 48000 miles after three blown head gaskets and hundreds of other problems that were the manufacturers fault.

[cmsgop]

We had a 61 Corvair. It was a great Sunday Car.

[ducatinova]

Americans for the most part do not know about the horrid Allegro. For those that do not know it's Hydroelastic suspension was prone to collapes and the body structure was very weak. My father Inlaw had one in the early 70's. He had a flat tire and when he jacked it up to change it the windshield popped out! Talk about body flex.

[ducatinova]

James Bond drove a red Hornet Hatchback in that movie. It was the bad guy Scaramunga or something like that who was in a Matador coupe...remember...it had wings!

[ducatinova]

I read somewhere and I forget where but 1 out of every 4 1984 fiero's burned! My buddy had a white one in college. We called it the Fire ro. You could cook hotdogs on the little grille over the engine.

[wordsofearnest]

Two words Chevy Vega

[wallcrawlr]

I know theyve gotten some bad press. But I'd love to own/drive a Fiero GT.

And on a list of Good non-American cars:
...the MK I MR2 is great...same as my MKII MR2.

[ducatinova]

I have heard horror stories about Renault but my family was lucky enough to have gotten good examples. My brother, sister and I each received new Le Cars to drive in high school. Mine was a red base model with out the LeCar sticker and it's dashboard was hard plastic. My sisters was a deluxe white with stripes and a full cloth sunroof. My brother was the sore loser in the draw and received a five door also white with stripes. He hated it but not because it was a bad car. It was a cramp in his style. All three lasted over 100000 miles. The biggest problem was design of the cooling system. It was a sealed system that if any air got into it would cause the engine to overheat. Lucky for us when Dad bought the cars we were shown how to read the coolant level and how to bleed off any air if the tank went low. Most americans are drive it and forget it types...Once when I was at the AMC dealer getting the oil changed the machanic took me over to a Lecar that was getting a rebuild of its engine. The owner had never changed the oil in 58000 miles. the sludge in the oil pan looked like six inches of black jello. anyway, the three Renaults we had lasted a long time in the hands of teenagers. All three ended their lifes wrecked. Mine was stolen and fliped, my sister hit a pole in her's and my brother was ran over by a power truck.