# 150 worst cars ever made (very, very long) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 18, 2006, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/150-worst-cars-ever-made-very-very-long/369187 "2006-08-18T03:25:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2006, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/150-worst-cars-ever-made-very-very-long/369187/61 "2006-08-19T21:26:06Z")
[QUOTE=Spartydog] Some other serious ommissions: As **Max Torque** pointed out, the **BMW Isetta**. Any worst car list that doesn’t include the Iseetta and the Vega makes you wonder if the author knew anything about cars. It’s like talking about the history of baseball without mentioning Babe Ruth. **Cadillac Cimmarron**. Nothing other than a cheap Chevy with Cadillac nameplate. They even used the same dashboard. It screamed, “We are GM and we are clueless and we think the public is stupid and we want to kill the Cadillac nameplate.” Now here’s one that will get me flamed: **VW Beatle**. Hugely popular but so were the songs “Honey” and “Mandy”. It was not really a small car. It’s just that passenger room was minimal, there was no luggage space and it just seemed small because it was a totally inefficient use of space (like it really needed running boards instead of an extra 10 cubic feet in the passenger compartment). The engine was always noisy because of the timing chain. If you wanted heat in the winter you had to fart because the engine didn’t deliver any (there was no blower). It always ran but it never ran right. The transmission was sloppy as hell. Really, the car was a crappy design that survived in spite of itself. It should have been killed at least 20 years before it was. It was underpowered and only got good gas milage on a comparative basis to the guzzlers of the time. What were people thinking? Flame away. [/QUOTE] You’re absolutely right about the Isetta and bug and completely wrong. They were so ugly and crappy that they were cute and undeniably iconic as moving art. Cost made them available and it was a badge of honor to have owned them. They were salad year cars. Of course, the Isetta was the ultimate death trap, much like the back seat of a mini-cooper. I still remember them from the movies. The Isetta showed up in Pink Panther Movies and the Bug was forever immortalized by Woody Allen’s “Sleeper”. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2006, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/150-worst-cars-ever-made-very-very-long/369187/62 "2006-08-19T22:50:41Z")
Did I miss the Suzuki Samari? They were recalled off the market for rollovers. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2006, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/150-worst-cars-ever-made-very-very-long/369187/63 "2006-08-19T23:12:07Z")
Nah, the Samurai wasn’t that bad. It’s just that people tried to drive it like a car, which it wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/150-worst-cars-ever-made-very-very-long/369187/64 "2006-08-20T07:11:59Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] IIRC, the Vega had a Cosworth racing engine in it (that leaked like a sieve), so perhaps why the author didn’t include it. [/QUOTE] You don’t recall correctly. 🙂 The standard Vega (Introduced in 1971) had a single overhead cam engine with an all aluminum block and a cast iron head. It did not have cast iron liners for the cylinders, and the engine had [issues.](http://yarchive.net/car/vega.html) Teh Cosworth Vega was built in 1975 and 1976c with a double overhead cam fuel injected motor. [Cite](http://www.cosworthvega.com/) Read the firt link, the first Vega motors very the worst of the worst. They made British, French and VW motors look good. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/150-worst-cars-ever-made-very-very-long/369187/65 "2006-08-20T07:23:28Z")
[QUOTE=Rick] You don’t recall correctly. 🙂 The standard Vega (Introduced in 1971) had a single overhead cam engine with an all aluminum block and a cast iron head. It did not have cast iron liners for the cylinders, and the engine had [issues.](http://yarchive.net/car/vega.html) Teh Cosworth Vega was built in 1975 and 1976c with a double overhead cam fuel injected motor. [Cite](http://www.cosworthvega.com/) Read the firt link, the first Vega motors very the worst of the worst. They made British, French and VW motors look good. [/QUOTE] Eh, I never cared for Vegas, so I’ll take your word for it. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/150-worst-cars-ever-made-very-very-long/369187/66 "2006-08-20T07:38:25Z")
Two big objections to the list. If the Dodge Dart was such an unreliable car, than why do you pass one virtually every day on the streets in good working order? As far as the Cadillac Seville being poorly styled, I’d like to note late 70s Cadillacs are a staple of hip-hop culture. So a lot of people actually liked the styling. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/150-worst-cars-ever-made-very-very-long/369187/67 "2006-08-20T09:55:37Z")
[QUOTE=mhendo] The first car i ever drove was a P76. I was about 10 or 11 years old, and a friend of the family who lived outside town in rural New South Wales (Braidwood, for those who know the area) gave me my first driving experience on the dusty back roads. It seemed a bit like driving a tank, although at that age probably just about any car seems like a tank. [/QUOTE] Must be an Australian right of passage, that. I have fond memories of being about twelve or so, and driving the Falcon around on dirt roads in the Bathurst region. I loved it, but looking at some of those roads today, they are tricky for an _adult_. No way I’d let my young bloke do it now. One little-known car that possibly should have made it onto the list was the [URL=“[http://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/car\_info\_lightburn\_zeta.htm](http://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/car_info_lightburn_zeta.htm)”]Zeta Lightburn\* of the 60s. Actually, it did well in a rally trial, but it was odd to say the least. It was designed as the ultimate econobox, and was manufactured by an Australian _washing machine company_ (which should be a warning sign in itself)!! One of its technical oddities was that it had no reverse gear. To go backwards, you’d kill the engine, flip a switch, and then the engine would spin in reverse. This meant that all the forward gears operated in reverse, and you could drive backwards at highway speeds if you were feeling sufficuently suicidal. Parking the thing must have been pretty low on the fun meter. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/150-worst-cars-ever-made-very-very-long/369187/68 "2006-08-20T22:11:28Z")
[QUOTE=El\_Kabong] Plymouth Horizon/Dodge Omni – attempted Chrysler knock-off of the successful VW Golf/Rabbit formula, but with considerably less style and reliability than than its already somewhat iffy inspiration; THE car least likely to ever impress a date. [/QUOTE] My wife owned a 1978 Horizon when I met her. Its VW engine burned oil like it was going out of style, but otherwse it wasn’t a bad car at all. Surprising amount of room, reasonably good handling. I replaced the valve stem seals for her, which solved the oil burning, and she drove it until 1989. It got great mileage for 1978. i liked it well enough that when I had to replace my trusty old Duster, I bought an '85 Omni, with the Chrysler 2.2 engine. Good fairly reliable car, and Chrysler had gotten over their styling giddiness phase, so, in dark gray with black side trim, it was a fairly purposeful and clean looking car. Drove it for 235000 miles, albeit with a new engine installed at 157000 miles. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/150-worst-cars-ever-made-very-very-long/369187/69 "2006-08-20T23:06:18Z")
Though it’s not on the market in the US, yet, I think that the [Obvio](http://www.obvio.ind.br/obviona/828.htm) will turn out to be a financial disaster if they don’t come up with a better paint scheme for the things. ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/150-worst-cars-ever-made-very-very-long/369187/70 "2006-08-21T01:10:43Z")
[QUOTE=Spartydog] Some other serious ommissions: **…** **VW Beatle**. Hugely popular but so were the songs “Honey” and “Mandy”. It was not really a small car. It’s just that passenger room was minimal, there was no luggage space and it just seemed small because it was a totally inefficient use of space (like it really needed running boards instead of an extra 10 cubic feet in the passenger compartment). The engine was always noisy because of the timing chain. If you wanted heat in the winter you had to fart because the engine didn’t deliver any (there was no blower). It always ran but it never ran right. The transmission was sloppy as hell. Really, the car was a crappy design that survived in spite of itself. It should have been killed at least 20 years before it was. It was underpowered and only got good gas milage on a comparative basis to the guzzlers of the time. What were people thinking? Flame away. [/QUOTE] :dubious: just like the TypeII…aka: Safari, Bus, Transporter, the real first MiniVan… ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/150-worst-cars-ever-made-very-very-long/369187/71 "2006-08-21T10:52:40Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] **UK** No mention of the Sinclair C5 [/QUOTE] Not really a car is it? No mention of the [Fiat Argenta](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_Argenta), a car on sale in the UK around the same time as the recent conflict with Argentina… ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/150-worst-cars-ever-made-very-very-long/369187/72 "2006-08-21T17:09:31Z")
[QUOTE=Rico] \*Toronado? [/QUOTE] \* Front wheel drive muscle car, who’s bright idea was that. And wierd like it or hate it styling. Makes it a fair member of the EVERYTHING ELSE section. [1966 Oldsmobile Toronado](http://encyclopedia.classicoldsmobile.com/toronado/66.html) [QUOTE=Rico] \* Seville?\* [/QUOTE] 1979: 6.0 liter V8 producing 170 hp through front wheel drive. That’s 0-60 in about 11 seconds, even Granny get’s bored with that sort of performance. 1997-2003 : Now I don’t know what’s to hate about these cars. The 1999 model gets good reviews wherever I look. [http://www.libertysoftware.be/cml/trivia/sevillehist/history.htm](http://www.libertysoftware.be/cml/trivia/sevillehist/history.htm) [QUOTE=Rico] \* Pacer?\* [/QUOTE] A rotary engine car without the rotary engine. I think that make it suitable for the DESIGN DISASTERS section. [AMC Pacer History](http://www.american-motors.de/en/pacer/history/) ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/150-worst-cars-ever-made-very-very-long/369187/73 "2006-08-21T18:08:48Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] Though it’s not on the market in the US, yet, I think that the [Obvio](http://www.obvio.ind.br/obviona/828.htm) will turn out to be a financial disaster if they don’t come up with a better paint scheme for the things. [/QUOTE] They should paint them all red to match the spot on the road after they hit an American truck. Don’t know what a \*\*Niess Eliptical Survival Ring \*\* is but Its gonna need a bunch of them. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/150-worst-cars-ever-made-very-very-long/369187/74 "2006-08-21T19:44:56Z")
Also missing form The List is the infamous Geo Metro Convertible. Basically, someone at GM broke a toy car off a kiddy ride, dropped a 1.2 liter engine in it, and sold it to the public. The convertible roof was manual, meaning you unlocked it and bumped it with your shoulder as you got out of the car to knock it back into its housing. I got stuck with one out of a shady rental car place in Florida once. It’s bad enough when 70-year-old joggers in West Palm point at you and laugh while you’re driving. It’s quite another when they do this and _out run the car at the same time._ [QUOTE=Rocketeer] My wife owned a 1978 Horizon when I met her. Its VW engine burned oil like it was going out of style, but otherwise it wasn’t a bad car at all. Surprising amount of room, reasonably good handling. I replaced the valve stem seals for her, which solved the oil burning, and she drove it until 1989. It got great mileage for 1978. I liked it well enough that when I had to replace my trusty old Duster, I bought an '85 Omni, with the Chrysler 2.2 engine. Good fairly reliable car, and Chrysler had gotten over their styling giddiness phase, so, in dark gray with black side trim, it was a fairly purposeful and clean looking car. Drove it for 235000 miles, albeit with a new engine installed at 157000 miles. [/QUOTE] I actually can’t complain about the Horizon. I had one as a company car once. They could go faster than you’d expect. How fast? Well, I reached the value of ‘P’ while driving it once\*. . . . . . \*The speedometer stopped its calibration at 80, but the needle was horizontal and pointing straight down at the ‘P’ in the middle of ‘MPH’. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/150-worst-cars-ever-made-very-very-long/369187/75 "2006-08-21T23:48:59Z")
[QUOTE=Count Blucher] . \*The speedometer stopped its calibration at 80, but the needle was horizontal and pointing straight down at the ‘P’ in the middle of ‘MPH’. 😃 [/QUOTE] But you never got a ticket, right? Maybe it was a busted speedometer. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/150-worst-cars-ever-made-very-very-long/369187/76 "2006-08-21T23:59:25Z")
[QUOTE=Count Blucher] I actually can’t complain about the Horizon. I had one as a company car once. They could go faster than you’d expect. How fast? Well, I reached the value of ‘P’ while driving it once\*. . . . . . \*The speedometer stopped its calibration at 80, but the needle was horizontal and pointing straight down at the ‘P’ in the middle of ‘MPH’. 😃 [/QUOTE] You got htat baby up to Plaid? I never knew they would get to plaid. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/150-worst-cars-ever-made-very-very-long/369187/77 "2006-08-22T01:00:21Z")
[QUOTE=Count Blucher] Also missing form The List is the infamous Geo Metro Convertible. [/QUOTE] I don’t know about the convertible, but there was nothing wrong with the hard top other than being a drag to drive up long grades. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Call_Me_Shirley)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2006, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/150-worst-cars-ever-made-very-very-long/369187/78 "2006-08-25T15:34:15Z")
> [@](#): > > Cadillac Cimmarron. Nothing other than a cheap Chevy with Cadillac nameplate. They even used the same dashboard. It screamed, “We are GM and we are clueless and we think the public is stupid and we want to kill the Cadillac nameplate.” Hey- the Cimmarron served its purpose. A buddy of mine bought one in college. That thing was a piece of crap. **But,** it came with a Cadillac key. He had a great move all worked out- walk up to a hot girl sitting at a bar, throw his keys nonchalantly on the bar and sit down next to her. You could watch the Caddy keys work their magic, and by the time the girl actually got out to the car and discovered what a piece of crap it was he was already home free. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2006, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/150-worst-cars-ever-made-very-very-long/369187/79 "2006-08-25T15:55:02Z")
I see the Chevy Citation made the list - I had the Pontiac badge variant of this - the [Pontiac Phoenix](http://www.barraclou.com/photo/automobiles/collection/pontiac_phoenix.jpg). We had to replace the transmission within the first year (NOT under warranty), and the thing fell apart at less than four years old. Replaced it with a Nissan pichup that I drove for 15 years. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2006, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/150-worst-cars-ever-made-very-very-long/369187/80 "2006-08-25T16:57:34Z")
[QUOTE=lawoot] I see the Chevy Citation made the list - I had the Pontiac badge variant of this - the [Pontiac Phoenix](http://www.barraclou.com/photo/automobiles/collection/pontiac_phoenix.jpg). [/QUOTE] I might have seen yours being made while visiting one of their plants. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/150-worst-cars-ever-made-very-very-long/369187.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/150-worst-cars-ever-made-very-very-long/369187.md?page=5)