The Worst American Cars - POLL

Forbes ^ | 10.21.02 | Michael Frank

[Phantom Lord]

What, no Mercury Comet?

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

The Pacer had a rotary engine? Naaah.

And anyone who thinks it's the ugliest car ever made never saw the original Nissan 280SX. I could stare at that car for hours, marveling at its breathtaking ugliness, at all the hincty little details, at the sheer audacity and fussiness of its nightmarish design. It was a rolling train-wreck, the likes of which we'll never ever see again.

The big Mazda with the power opera window was butt-ugly, too, but that original 'SX wins the prize.

[Delta 21]

DAMN STRAIGHT!!!

Why wouldnt everyone in America want to own the car that was "Unsafe at ANY Speed"? The Corvair is a great car.

[Axenolith]

Some chevettes were made with 1.8L Isuzu diesels, you talk about something unable to get out of its own way...

[babyface00]

I take exception to the Caprice. I've owned several, as well as the permutations of it. Pontiac Bonneville, Buick Electra and Park Avenue, Olds 88 and 98, and lets not forget Cadillacs, using the same platform into the mid/late 90's with Chevrolet. And that's not counting the wagons or the cabs. It does exactly what it was designed to do, and continued to sell well for two decades with minor variations. How many different engine/transmission combinations could you get? How many different price points and trim levels? Two doors, four doors, wagons...Parts are cheap for the most part, and they just don't die with routine maintenance. Its not unusual to get a couple hundred thousand miles out of one.

If you took all the vehicles that GM produced on that single RWD platform from '76 until something like '96, I'll bet it was the best selling car of all time. There are still plenty running around.

[PoorMuttly]

The Oldsmobile DYNAMIC 88.

I win. Still have nightmares about exhaust routed through bumper...which of course rusted out from the top, from condensation. Sometimes had to start it by setting fire to paper on top of carb. It worked. This car is no doubt used as a taxi in hell.

[Lokibob]

Another Rosie slam. I love it!!!!

I had a Fuego, and what a pig (speaking of Rosie)!!!!!

It came with Michelin X tires (14.2 inch rims, not 14 inch, not 15 inch but 14.2 inch). The only tires that would fit was the X tire. At $100 a tire. These x tires were sticky, man you could go around a corner at 55 and never slide. HOWEVER, they had the consistancy of an art gum eraser. The first set balded in 10,000 miles (in fairness tho, I had a lot of mountain driving, switchbacks and all at speed). 2nd set was worn out in 15k miles. Decided to put 13" wheels on the pig and cheap tires. That worked however (see below) it probably was because performance had fallen.

The turbo went out at 15K, estimated to cost $1500, but the car still ran, so I blew that off. The performance went to nothing. This car , when the turbo was running, would go from 55 to 85 in flat nothing in 5th gear. Great performance out of an 85HP engine.

At 25k miles, smoke came out of the instrument cluster. I disassembled it and found a burned printed circuit board. Handy soldering iron fixed that, but about every 5k miles, another part of the board would burn out. Pretty soon I had wires running all over the circuit board. Remember, this was in 80's when boards wern't small.

75k, and the brakes wore out, and the metallic/asbestos pads were on the epa hit list. Another $400 for environmental abatement.

88k miles, the rubber hoses (vacuum)(and man did the sucker ever have vacuum hoses all over) seemed to self distruct. The engine just quit, never to run again.

The first 10k miles were fun to drive.

Oh, I forgot, it had a oil level measuring dip stick. Only one I have ever seen. 5 mins after the engine was turned off, the dip stick would measure the oil level, and send the results to a guage on the instrument panel.

[spoiler2]

I voted Corvair, and that's after owning about five of the little junkers back in the early seventies.

WAY too many mechanical problems, not to mention learning to drive white-knuckled in any bad weather, waiting for that first inkling of oversteer. Volkswagens and Porsches were easy to drive after that Corvair "training" period.

WORST problem was the heated air for the interior of the car passed over the engine first. If the engine was leaking ANY oil, and they usually did, with defrost on, this half-burnt smog was directed up onto the inside of the windshield, then into your lungs!

[1L]

I bought a new 2002 Honda Accord, loaded. Big mistake,

My wife drives a 2001. What's the problem? We've liked ours, though I do wish that the steering wheel tilt went up higher. We also had them replace shocks, and for some reason, it seems to be a magnet for door dings, but I think that's partly my wife parking too close to other cars.

[hunter112]

Re: the Gremlin... "Were the designers at AMC blind? How could they consistently turn out so many hideous cars?

LOL. Phew, that is funny.

What is funny, in retrospect, was James Bond driving an AMC Matador in "Live and Let Die"!

But, in fairness, I have to confess, I have owned two cars on the list. My 82 Pontiac Phoenix was so bad, that I will NEVER purchase a GM product for the rest of my life. At least my Gremlin (which I traded in for the Phoenix) gave me two years of good service, if you ignore that all four stock tires wore out at 17K miles!

Now, I buy Japanese cars, they're the last people on the planet who give a damn about what they build.

[SwordofTruth]

Own a Toyota Tacoma with not a single problem at 85k miles, and love it.

I own a 99 Toyota Corolla and the transmission went out at 74,000 miles. My sister has a 2000 Toyota Camry and her transmission went at 61,000 miles. IMO Toyotas are pieces of junk. They may have been well built in the past, but not today. I would never buy another Toyota again.

[Woodman]

How about...

...this little gem. Of course my bias is that we had these for drivers education cars.

[ladtx]

My experience was just the opposite. I had no problems whatsoever with mine. Of course I babied it, always cleaning, tightening, adjusting, etc. and it always ran like a top, or maybe a scalded cat was more like it. The one time I had it up to 120, some guy in his Mama's Buick was trying to pass me on the highway, he never got to. But then that was about 40 years ago when I had more b_lls than brains. Wish I still had it tho'.

[BJungNan]

They left the worst ones off the list (all GM):

- Chevy Vega (aluminum cylinder walls that wear out at 50,000 miles and the engine consums a quart of oil per 100 miles driven. Real smart GM)

- Oldmobile Cutlass (350ci gasoline engine converted to diesel. Engine blows up at 35,000 miles. Real smart GM).

- Caprice Classic (They had to do something with the vega transmissions. Nylon reverse gear goes out if trany put through to much stop and go driving. I know it is on the list. Real smart GM).

- 1984 z28 camero (anyone that owned one knows what went wrong with these things - everything. Real smart GM).

GM does not stand for Good Merchandise.

[Uncle Miltie]

What about that Aztek?

[ricpic]

PONTIAC AZTEC 2002: A car only a lesbian could love.

---

As a proud Subaru owner I resemble that remark.

[wallcrawlr]

read beyond the 1st post...

[kidd]

In the early 1980s American Motors Corporation (before it was absorbed by Chrysler) and French-maker Renault teamed up to make some really awful cars ...

I agree completely. I had a 1984 Renault Alliance. A complete POS. Had to have the front axle replaced three times because of a poorly designed CV joint...I spent more on repairs than the original cost of the car in less than four years.

[Woodman]

How about the idea of a Mustang on a Pinto like this example (BTW this is the nice one the butt ugly ones had a vinyl top)...

MUSTANG II - It just can't get much better than this or can it???? Notice the "Fire Chicken" on the hood!!!

[MatthewViti]

What about the GEO Metro and the Ford Festiva?