The 10 Worst Cars - Ever!

blujax01

blujax01

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According to Edmunds, 10th to 1st. My personal remembrance in parentheses.

10) 1971 Ford Pinto - (complete with flaming gas tank.)

9) 1975 AMC Pacer - (Sun tea anyone?)

8) 1979 Olds Cutlass Supreme Diesel - (*cough*cough*)

7) 1982 Cadillac Cimmarron - (Pimped out Chevy Cavalier)

6) 1958 Edsel Corsair - (The one that started the tradition of "worst cars" lists)

5) 2003 Saturn Ion - (The beginning of the end)

4) 1971 Chevy Vega - (Toyota's salesman of the year)

3) 1987 Yugo - (ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha)

2) 1974 Mustang II (See "1974 Pinto")

1) 2001 Pontiac Aztek (Well, if I were rallying on the Serengeti, maybe)

I could add my 1983 Ford Escort GT. I think the GT stood for "Garage Time"
 
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Don't forget the early Pontiac Sunbirds

My wife drove a '76 that had to come from the factory with the rust built in! When we were young and didn't have money for entertainment, we could sit on the front porch and watch it rust apart at the curb. I'm not kidding.
 
What about anything made by Lancia, the Ford Fairmont, my mother had one and when you would put it in park it would stay there after the linkage snapped. How about the Aries K? (My favorite was the Dodge Rampage pickup version).
 
I owned both a Pinto and a Vega....never had a problem with either of them that I can recall. They were both fairly well tricked out with accessories and were actually kinda cute cars.
 
Mrs Rule had a Green Pinto when we first met. The car would not die even in upper WI and MN. It would always start in 20* below. It went through several Sisters at UW Madison, it finally died quietly on the side of the road and turned into a small pile of rust particles:D

The Vega was a cool car and made Mr Nader famous, you could always tell one was coming down the street it had that sewing machine noise. Car was actually very much ahead of the times in some ways.

You mention the Green house car (Pacer) Mrs Rules other Sister had a Gremlin, man that was junk!:eek:
 
Rule3 said:
The Vega was a cool car and made Mr Nader famous, you could always tell one was coming down the street it had that sewing machine noise. Car was actually very much ahead of the times in some ways.
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I believe you're thinking of the Corvair, which is the one that made Nader infamous. You're right, though. In some ways it was a very advanced vehicle for Detroit. I remember the great F1 champion Stirling Moss making a fool of a Corvair critic/prosecutor in the hearings they had on its safety.
 
I used to have a Corvair. Darn thing don't have enough power to get up the hill. I had to back up, wait for the light to change and get a running start.
 
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Well, nobody has mentioned my personal favorite piece of ****: Suzuki. As a Ford and Suzuki parts dealer who has spent seven years with Toyota, and five years with Nissan before that, Suzuki is without a doubt the biggest piece of junk I've had the priviledge of making money off of in my entire 24 year parts career. The guy that works next to me made the statement the other day that every Forenza should come with a transmission range sensor and complete set of gaskets and new cylinder head in the trunk. Guy comes in for touch up paint the other day on a Grand Vitara, and after he left we decided it didn't matter if we could get him a touch up stick or not; he's gonna need a complete timing chain setup pretty soon anyway. :)
 
CW Spook said:
I believe you're thinking of the Corvair, which is the one that made Nader infamous. You're right, though. In some ways it was a very advanced vehicle for Detroit. I remember the great F1 champion Stirling Moss making a fool of a Corvair critic/prosecutor in the hearings they had on its safety.
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I have not been able to stand Nader since he did his hatchet job on the Corvair (I guess that would be, like, forever). At the time, I thought it was the best thing GM was building. I had three, and they were all great cars, especially in a Minnesota winter.
 
1974 Pinto. I couldn't keep the rubber timing belt from slipping. My local mechanic recommended I trade it in on a used lawn mower.
 
My cousin taught me to drive in a Corvair. That would be early-mid 60's. I always remember them having a nice oil patina on the back end.
 
Corvairs!

Marshwheeling said:
I have not been able to stand Nader since he did his hatchet job on the Corvair (I guess that would be, like, forever). At the time, I thought it was the best thing GM was building. I had three, and they were all great cars, especially in a Minnesota winter.
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I actually had a dozen or so Corvairs during a 10 year period when I was actively collecting them. Everything from a pristine 1964 80 HP Model 500 through a 1967 110HP Monza to a 1968 140HP Corsa. Never owned, but I drove a 180H Spyder.

I loved them all but my favorite was one of the Uber-Rare 1969 Convertibles. A pal of mine had a Crown-Conversion Corv-8 with a 327/325 HP and a 4 speed. I always thought these were great cars.

My submission for the worst car ever would have to be the 1986 Hyundai Excell. Might caught fire... TWICE!

Drew
 
FIAT=Misery

The only car I ever owned that I truly despised. I can't remember the Fiat model name, probably have repressed it from my memory. It was actually a very handsome looking sporty 2 door. Within 6 or 7 months after buying it new, it had every catastrophic electrical failure known to modern automotive engineering. I dumped it and bought a Triumph TR4 and a Triumph Trident 750cc bike. Life was good again.

Cheers;
Lefty

BTW

Every American auto I have owned has been nothing less than excellent and I'm happy to say I never owned any of those on the 10 worst list. Just lucky I guess.
 
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I have fond memories of the Pacer. The captain of the cheerleading squad at my HS had one and lived down the street from me. If she saw me walking home from track practice, she'd pick me up and I'd have to squeeze into a car full of cheerleaders. A hardship I gladly accepted. Sadly, the thing never did break down on a back road.

My college GF had a Gremlin. Fun car, you could do donuts in the snow without worrying about smacking the back end into anything.

If yu start adding foreign cars to the list, the American ones won't make the top ten. A friend of mine had a Renault "LeCar" which was an absolute piece of rubbish.
 
So whats the 10 best cars? Why cant a car be built from a survey where mechanics do the imput of their opinions of the best engine, transmission, brakes, etc? Why do they always change whats proven good? I like trucks and have two at the moment. Why did chev and gmc phase out the 350 and go to a smaller less powerfull engine that gives no better gas mileage?
All the companys build vehicles that look like the other companys. Mini vans, now all the crossovers. None of them seem to be indivigalist, and if they do make a new style and it catchs on the other companys copycat it. I think the murango was the first crossover and now every maker has one.
Actualy I have had great mechanical luck with all my vehicles through the years. I have only bought a couple new vehicles in my life. I have never had a engine, transmission or anything major blow or go out.
 
Sebago Son said:
I actually had a dozen or so Corvairs during a 10 year period when I was actively collecting them. Everything from a pristine 1964 80 HP Model 500 through a 1967 110HP Monza to a 1968 140HP Corsa. Never owned, but I drove a 180H Spyder.

I loved them all but my favorite was one of the Uber-Rare 1969 Convertibles. A pal of mine had a Crown-Conversion Corv-8 with a 327/325 HP and a 4 speed. I always thought these were great cars.

My submission for the worst car ever would have to be the 1986 Hyundai Excell. Might caught fire... TWICE!

Drew
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When i was young and crazy(and had more cash to spend before getting married) I had a 69 SS Chevelle 600+ HP..not real good in the winter so
I bought a 180 Spyder as a "winter beater" for something like $300.00 man that thing was fast heater sucked though...was fun to surprise the chargers and stuff with it..used to go out on the frozen lake and just have a blast with it..AH!!!THOSE WERE THE DAYS!
 
Chev made a BRILLIANT decision to make diesel engines by installing high compression heads on their small block, I had friends who had one and the thing didn't last 25000 miles. Genuine ***. And where is the Rambler American?? Where is the AMC Matador??
 
I remember buying a 140 Corsa convertible from a scrap yard about 50 miles away.... (when you buy Corvair parts, word get around). I think I paid $300 for the car, running and driving. Was about 1985 as I recall. Went to the yard, paid the man and started driving the trip home. Before I got there I had to stop three times to crimp off a broken brake line. Limped into the yard with one drum still working....

But man, I had the top down, the 8-track playing Led Zeppelin III to the smell of burning oil and high octane... I was on top of the world! :)
 
Drove a friends Corvair Spuder around a road course once. It went like a bat out of hell, but would get front end lite at speed on the strait ways and the rear would try to get loose in the corners. Hot but no thanks.
 
FIAT!

oldflatfoot said:
The only car I ever owned that I truly despised. I can't remember the Fiat model name, probably have repressed it from my memory. It was actually a very handsome looking sporty 2 door. Within 6 or 7 months after buying it new, it had every catastrophic electrical failure known to modern automotive engineering. I dumped it and bought a Triumph TR4 and a Triumph Trident 750cc bike. Life was good again.

Cheers;
Lefty
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Lefty, I had a 1978 Fiat Spyder. White with a tan top and interior. You are right! It was a very handsome car... I had alot of fun with that machine until I broke down on the L.I. Expressway trying to catch the ferry out of Orient Point.... the electric fuel pump packed it in.... Luckily I was still close to Babylon and you could actually see a car parts store from where I broke down. I left my buddy with the broken down Fiat, jumped the fence, walked over to the parts store and bought a new MOOG electric fuel pump, which bolted right up. Seems that a previous owner had the same problem.... :)

I used to carry tools, another fuel pump, oil, plugs and wires, a distributor cap and a spare accelerator cable wherever I went and became quite proficient in changing them out by the side of the road.

Was a fun car, and I drove it for several years but when the front cross member finally gave out, it totaled the otherwise fine, but finicky car. There were no new front crossmembers available and this was a stamped metal design. That simple fact killed alot of 124/128 Fiats in New England....

Drew.
 
The 1971 Vega was Motor Trends Car of the year. I bought one. It really was the worst car I have ever owned. It was so noisy you couldn't hear passengers in the back seat. There were pockets in the front fenders that collected salt from the streets and quickly rusted out. Worst of all they had inadequate cooling systems which shortly caused the aluminum engines to fail. Chevy initially refused to accept responsibility for the engine failure but eventually did. I sold the car cheaply to the teenage son of a colleague who promptly rolled it over totalling it. He wasn't hurt badly but the Vega mercifully was out of its misery.
 
Ah, memories. Had a ' 77 AMC Rambler from when the govt. was propping the company up; a 360 V8 and the suspension of a Radio Flyer. The only thing on it that consistently worked was the rear window defroster. When the great day came it had to be towed off.

Maybe that's why I don't quite trust Mitt.

I had bad luck with cars in the early '80s; an '81 Rabbit (a real ***) and a '81 Escort. The Escort (chosen by my wife; I came home one day to find it in my driveway on trial) was so gutless it was terrifying.

Needless to say I haven't darkened any GM, Chrysler, Ford, or VW showrooms in a LONG time.
 
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