History of Bad Automobiles (general, 1990s, historical, years)

[Chango]

My parents has a Chevette when I was a kid in the 80's. I have fond memories of putting across the Arizona Desert in it... in the summer with no AC. I haven't seen one outside of a junkyard since the 90's.

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by Chango

My parents has a Chevette when I was a kid in the 80's. I have fond memories of putting across the Arizona Desert in it... in the summer with no AC. I haven't seen one since the 90's.

Saw one yesterday in the Hospital Parking lot... quite a variety of cars on a daily basis come through the lot.

Much of the population is older and California's mild weather is kind.

[Mistermobile]

There's a guy down the block that partially restores older American cars and displays them for sale. There is a '56 Plymouth there right now with rust bubbles at the hood line and around the wheel wells. American cars of a certain age were, as my dad used to say, "rusters." So even back then we all knew that the cars were not produced to last.

I suffered through ownership of the Chrysler Cordoba that leaked oil constantly, stalled at intersections, and gulped gas. The gas tank was so big that the front end of the Cordoba raised up with a full tank. Lee Iacocca appeared in later Chrysler commercials apologizing for the over all lemony workmanship in this model.

I had the steering wheel of a Volkswagen bug come off in my hands in a tunnel. These old models had no gas gauge but a wire you turned under the dash, if you ran the tank dry, to give you another gallon.

But I had a Dodge Dart that was wonderful.

[ram2]

Originally Posted by SluggoF16

In retrospect, I would definitely add the 1976 Chevy Chevette to the list. Underpowered, ugly, unreliable. An American Yugo.

A German Yugo. The Chevette was designed by GM's division in Germany, Opel, and sold for several years in Europe before coming to the USA. So much for German engineering.

[ram2]

Originally Posted by hensleya1

Hi all--

I wrote about the Vega at length on my blog a while back, and at greater length about some of the truly terrible cars Detroit has cranked out over the years.

full link

The GM Quad 4 engine, now called the "Twin Cam", was notorious for collecting oil sludge.

[NJGOAT]

As a car enthusiast, I always find these lists interesting. Many times it's not that the car itself was bad, but that it didn't sell well or represented something larger. Of the cars on the list, I think these ones are the ones that were "bad" cars in the traditional sense of being unreliable and just plain bad cars...

10) 1979 Oldsmobile Diesel
9) 1957 Trabant
6) 2003 Saturn Ion
5) 1971 Chevy Vega
4) 1987 Yugo

The rest fall into the not necessarily a bad car, but bad in terms of sales or as a representation of a companies misdirection...

8) 1982 Cadillac Cimarron
7) 1958 Edsel
3) 1955 BMW Isetta
2) 1974 Ford Mustang
1) 2001 Pontiac Aztek

The Cimarron wasn't a bad car it is just the perfect example of what was wrong with Cadillac in the 1980's. Their solution to competing with BMW and Mercedes was to re-badge a Chevy Cavalier.

The Edsel was an absolute disaster for Ford as a spin-off brand, but again, the cars themselves weren't bad. The biggest issue there was the styling that was extremely poorly received. A lot of people speculate that if Ford had not made such a big deal out of how awesome the Edsel would be, people may not have been so harsh towards it.

The Isetta often makes these lists, but it is very hard to justify IMO. No, it is not a "great" car, but it was a very important car at the time it was produced. The Isetta was designed by the Italian company Iso and then built under license in virtually all of Western Europe in the post-WW2 years. Fuel was scarce at the time and people needed an efficient car for short-range trips. The Isetta fit the bill perfectly and birthed the entire "city car" segment which is still popular in Europe. On top of that, they have become very collectible to boot.

The 1974 Mustang is another one that always leaves me scratching my head. It was not a bad car by any stretch. It basically makes these lists as the representation of how the Oil Crisis and emissions regs killed muscle/pony cars in the 1970's. While it was certainly a shadow of its former self, it's not as if it was a horrible car.

The Aztek is usually listed at number one on all of these, but again it was not a bad car. People hated the styling, but the car itself was actually pretty good once you got beyond that. The Aztek pretty much set the template for crossover car based SUV's and packaged a lot of really cool features for the time. People who actually bought them, loved them and it enjoyed a high owner loyalty rate. The underpinnings of the Aztek were shared with the much more succesful Buick Rendezvous CUV and GM's minivans. A lot of the packaging features and lessons learned from the Aztek found their way into GM's much succesful Equinox line of CUV's.

I also really question the statement, "it killed Pontiac". I think it's absurd to think that a vehicle that was expected to constitute a small percentage of Pontiac's line is what ended up doing the brand in. What killed Pontiac wasn't the Aztec, but the same thing that these authors criticize the Cimarron for, badge engineering. By this time, Pontiac had become nothing more then a fleet of rebadged Chevy's and one re-badged Toyota. A brand that had built its reputation as the "excitement division" was now nothing more then run of the mill Chevy's with Pontiac emblems and red gauges. What little effort they made with the GTO and G8 (which were both great cars) was too little too late.

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by ram2

A German Yugo. The Chevette was designed by GM's division in Germany, Opel, and sold for several years in Europe before coming to the USA. So much for German engineering.

I think the Chevette platform originated in South America back in 72-73?

It was to be the world car and the rear wheel drive platform was sold all over the world...

I remember seeing one at the local Dealer Service area with a Diesel... under $2500 msrp and 50 mpg thirty years ago.

[SluggoF16]

I agree with the above post regarding cars that were not bad but not representative of the maker or the model, and shouldn't be on the list. The Mustang II, as noted, was not a Mustang, and that stuck under the craw of most car magazine writers and auto enthusiasts. They also sold like ice cream in July. I owned a 1974 2.8L model in the early 80s, my wife a 1975 2.3. You couldn't kill them if you tried. And two years ago, in Mineral Wells, TX, I had the opportunity to drive an Aztek that the airport keeps for intinerant pilots to go downtown. Roomy, good visibility, handled well, but clearly beaten with an ugly stick.

As far as redirection is concerned, I've always had problems with the new Dodge Charger. It's not the Charger I grew up with. It has FOUR doors, what's up with that?

In 1986 we shoe-horned 5 people into a Chevette in Savannah, GA. Could NOT get to 60 on I-95, where it was flat and sea level.

My personal worst car? 1984 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z, purchased new in May 1984. Great looks, decent performance, good fuel economy, and 22 trips back to the dealer in 21 months of ownership.

[jtur88]

Actually, I went on two 3,000 mile trips with my boss in his Olds Diesel, about a '79, and then 5 years old, and I though it was a very nice car. As far as I know, he never had any problems with it.

[Mistermobile]

Men and their cars.

I almost shed a tear when I traded in my old Camry. At the dealer's I went over and gave it a pat. That car fit me like a glove.

My Dad's '63 Chevy was so shoddy that the rod for the sun shade snapped off (pot metal) and hit me in the bridge of the nose.

Driving on the interstate I, and everybody else, passed a YUGO going flat out at 55 mph and shaking visibly. Later saw a lady driving a SMARTCAR being passed in rush hour traffic where it finally lets up and everyone just flies. That lady had green eyes and was in a flop sweat.