Kia. Dihatsu. Are these companies still in business? I remember their big advertizing blitzes a few years ago, but I can’t honestly say that I’ve ever seen either one of these on the roads in America. They couldn’t possably be any worse than AMC’s line, but you still see a Pacer or Eagle every once in a while. My question was motivated by a trip to http://cartalk.cars.com , where they are taking votes for the worst car of the millenium :D. Check it out! You can nominate your own most infamous vehicle.
“I had a feeling that in Hell there would be mushrooms.” -The Secret of Monkey Island
I drive past a Kia dealership several times a week; they look pretty much in business to me. I’ve heard that they are a takeover target right now though.
“Drink your coffee! Remember, there are people sleeping in China.”
There are Kia’s EVERYWHERE- their S.U.V. seems to be quite a hit. I have never seen a sedan bearing that name, however. As for Dihatsu, I haven’t seen one outside of South Korea.
Cartooniverse
" If you want to kiss the sky, you’d better learn how to kneel"
I don’t remember what happened to Dihatsu, but it shouldn’t be hard to find out on the net. If they got bought up by another company, they might have changed their name. - The last big company that I remember leaving the US was Fiat, a couple years ago. - MC
Now that you mention it, I do remember seeing one or two Kia SUVs. The Kia sedans, however, are said to come off the boat already rusting, which may explain who they seem to be so uncommon where I live. (Where I live is Michigan, which salts the roads in the winter. Any car that doesn’t give serious attention to rustproofing will be rare as hen’s teeth here inside of five years.)
“I had a feeling that in Hell there would be mushrooms.” -The Secret of Monkey Island
I won’t be missing Peugot any time soon. An ex-GF had a 505 Turbo that blew an engine at 3000 miles and pretty much looked like crap by 30,000 (interior came apart, electronics shot after many repairs). When the warranty expired I asked my mechanics (BMW, Mercedes, Porsche guys) if they’d work on it and they said, “Ewww, no way!”
If you want to talk cars that suck, the word Yugo must be mentioned.
She caught your eye like one of those pointy hook latches that used to dangle from screen doors and would fly up whenever you banged the door open again.
this probably does not apply…but in Bozeman, MT. there is a car dealership that sold a few bad cars. One guy got so mad that he took the car they sold him and glued lemons all over it, then spray-painted “This lemon was sold at so&so’s dealership”. He parked the car on the main street of the town, very near the dealership. I really liked his reverse-advertising method.
I have to second the thing about Kias in California. That is, they are very popular because of the low price tag. I have a friend who just got rid of his Diahatsu, and indeed, said it was one of the biggest pieces of shit he’d ever owned. I’d say the same thing for my 1985 Dodge Daytona. I asked other people who owned the car and it was a universal phenomen that everyone’s fuel injection system seems to croak between 40,000 - 60,000 miles, causing the car to run rough and cause the engine to die whenever the engine got warm.
Thus far I’ve only ever owned American cars (1980 Thunderbird, 1985 Dodge Daytona, 1991 Thunderbird, 1996 Chevy Impala) and the one universal thing I have noticed with ALL of them is that the light that backlights the digital gauges (and the radio) in all of them blows out around 40,000 miles. And, of course, is impossible to replace without ripping apart the dashboard. You’d think someone would design this part so it could be easily pulled out and replaced. Now I can only read the damn thing at night when it is barely bright enough to see.
Kia’s big the the Pacific NW too. Their cars are tiny and tinny, but seem to sell well for the economy-minded. One guy in our office commutes 35 miles in his. The Sportage SUV even makes it over some muddy hills.
Yugo… don’t you think it was kind of unsporting of us to bomb a Yugo factory during this most recent “battle for Kosovo”?
I do recall Daihatsu quitting the US market two years ago. I dunno if they’ve come back.
My vote for “most improved” goes to Hyundai. My old GF had an 87 Excel… that was the year the US federal import laws required shoulder belts… so they put 'em in. Didn’t put in lap belts, though. I called it the “decapitamobile”. Once the right front wheel just turned right and left the automobile, along with it’s steering linkage.
I drive Fords, now.
Some folks like sex, money, and power. For me, there’s always sweet, sweet irony.
Howzabout that horrid bonding of Renault and AMC back in the 80’s? How the hell did that come about?
Let’s see…let’s take America’s worst car maker and accept a buyout from the worst French car maker (actually, most French cars suck) and see what happens! The Alliance. Makes great man-made reefs, though. As for Yugo, a local salesman took a couple out on a test drive (!) and the engine fell out!
The only Daihatsu (or however it’s spelled) vehicles that I’ve ever seen have been little microtrucks; 1/4 ton or less and presumably not street legal… think “golf cart with a pickup bed” and you’ll be pretty close.
How about the Kia rusting problem I’ve heard about? Any truth to it? Not that I’m thinking about buying one. I’m sticking with an American model for my next purchase. Saturn’s looking good. Re: Yugo. Blowing up their factory was the one worthwile thing that was accomplished in that war.
(Fiat design) + (eastern european quality) = Yumightgo. If you’re lucky.
“I had a feeling that in Hell there would be mushrooms.” -The Secret of Monkey Island
Daihatsu is still very common in Japan. Presumably they’re doing better than Nissan. I wouldn’t buy their car myself, but these tiny cars are useful and very cheap to maitain in Japan (much lower taxes).
Their newest model in Japan is called the Naked. (And I thought their Applause and Charade were bad enough…) The top of the line engine is a 0.66 liter, 3-cylinder, 12-valve engine with a turbocharger! You can even get an AWD model.
Oh yes, and their mini pickup trucks are very common and perfectly street legal in Japan. Several other companies make very similar trucks - Honda and Subaru, I believe. Looks like they’re popular with farmers and small shop owners.
I lived in Japan as a kid in the 50’s and 60’s and, amazingly, never picked up on the identity of the ubiquitous “pickup” trucks that brought us everything. They were 3-wheelers, generally IJA green, with a motorcycle frontend and a pickup bed, but with a cab. I suspect they were the genetic material for the Datsun and other small pickups that invaded our (US) market in the late 60’s. Who were they?