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What Do You Think was the Worst Car Made?


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l remember having a Chevy Chevette in the early mid 80's and it was a very weak car when going up a hill the air conditioner would shut off until the car started picking up speed again. it was an automatic. Was not reliable and it never would heat up in the winter. l was told GM lost 600 dollars everytime they sold one...

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Well, that depends on personal knowledge as to it's utter "baddnes", opinion based upon visual or written issues. As to the fist, my experience says Chevy conversion van. As to the second, well that's a full folder....but Pontiac Aztek and it's Buick cousin are at the top of the list. The third has got to go to the Chevette for American cars, the Ygo for European cars, and any early Huyndai or Kia for the Pacific Rim.

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Definatly Yugo. I owned 2 Chevettes, never had a problem not of my own doing. We have 2 2000 Satlurn SL's, a SL and a SL2, both under full throttle will shut off the air to give the engine more power. Not a defect, it's in the design of the computer that runs the engine.

As far as a person being off their rocker for saying Ferrari, it's one's own opinion what's bad and what's not!

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You obviously have some deep psychological issues my friend.... Or you walk with a stick & a guide dog.... If you're serious that Ferraris can EVER be on a list like this...

Dan

heads up Danny, there are plenty here who insight with the comments which you've reacted to..

Be strong and ignore. you(we) with logic are seroiusly out numbered here .

Peugeot, Renault, Citroen,Simca, Talbot . have all had success in a variety of motorsport.

They share a few common trates, Comfortable. economical,style. they're dwon fall especially in the last 15 years (Simca, Talbot exempt) is electrical/electronics

ceasing the opportunity to lambaste east Geman or eastern european / Russian cars is due to the economic climate and standards they were constructed in.

My choice is the Austin Allegro

austin-allegro-02.jpg

this car epitomised the final nail in the coffin of so many British build..BMC. cars. in the late 70-80's

A combination of poor build quality,poor economy shocking road holding and no motorsport success.

Edited by Boreham
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You obviously have some deep psychological issues my friend.... Or you walk with a stick & a guide dog.... If you're serious that Ferraris can EVER be on a list like this...

Dan

Yes I do suffer from some serious psychological issues, PTSD (Military Service) as well as severe depression, I also have to walk with a stick due to disabilities I have...

You may have said what you said in jest, but think before you open your gob in future, everyone is allowed their own personal opinions, there is no need to slag someone off just because they don't conform to your ideals...

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Yes Andrew, you do have the right to your opinion, no matter what others think. If you dislike Ferraris, more power to you. I dont particularly care for them either.

Edited by midnightprowler
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Pretty much every car I've gotten to know had at least a few redeeming virtues, but I think the most disappointing one was the Chevy Vega.

Panel fit was awful, the interior panels were some kind of plastic that turned to dust, and to save money, GM used a linerless, aluminum-silicon block with a bizarre etching-process that finished the cylinder bores (and required special chrome rings), iron-plated pistons, and a cast-iron head to give the whole mess some rigidity. They seemed to wear out the bores / rings prematurely and begin passing large quantities of oil. One of mine that was dying anyway spit out the fuel-fitting that was a shrink-fit in the carburettor, incinerating itself in the process. I guess it preferred a quick demise.

Still, I thought it was a nice-enough looking little car, and they handeled reasonably well.

#2 on my particular list would have to be the poor old Yugo. Based on obsolete Fiat 128 mechanicals and tooling (I personally like Fiats, having had a bunch of good ones, though they required a lot of maintenence) with a new skin, the build quality was not good, but the worst part was the crankshaft. The Fiat version of the engine was a national class champion in SCCA racing and was very robust, but somehow, the wrong steel and hardening process got into the Yugo version of the crank, and they snapped constantly.

Edited by Ace-Garageguy
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Threads like this inevitably lead to confusion between "cars I hate" (which may or may not be objective based on experience, but is generally subjective) and cars that really are bad cars - in the sense that they were extremely unreliable or suffered serious handling and performance problems.

You really can't argue that the Yugo was a good car. Reliability, handling etc. were way subpar for even an eco-box. I see one on a route I walk frequently and I am excited at least one person is diligent and stubborn enough to keep one running.

As far as my own personal experience, the worst car I have owned was a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Engine and transmission gone before 90,000 - in addition to constant electrical problems from the day I got it.

My family purchased a 1974 Dasher brand new and that car had so many unsolvable problems it was unbelievable. They were so random and episodic that the techs could never figure anything out - but they charged us just the same. One day the car wouldn't start. Wait a few hours and it would. It would die and start up again or not, depending on the alignment of some foreign celestial body.

My wife had a 1978 Audi, same deal. The shop could work on that thing for a week and never solve a single problem.

My 2000 Subaru blew both head gaskets - 8 months past the recall date.

The best? Well, somebody can start another thread...

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Worst car? There are so many to choose from. What is the criteria? Styling? Then the Aztek or the Pacer wins. Reliability? How about anything British.

The most unreliable car I ever owned was a 57 Chevy. It was used and abused before I ever got it and it continued unabated until one day some friends and I destroyed it with an axe and a driveshaft! We smashed the roof down to the tops of the fenders! Don't worry kids! It was super rusty and all the good parts were gone already! It was a 150 two door sedan with 6 and automatic. That was back in 1974.

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FORD PINTOS (REAR GAS TANK EXPLOSIONS ON IMPACT), CHEVY VEGA'S EXTREME RUST ISSUES, AND DODGE CRICKET(NO PARTS SUPPORT),ANY 1970'S FORD MAVERICK WITH RECLAIMED TAWAIN STEEL ON THE BODY,(STARTED RUSTING FROM DAY ONE OF OWERSHIP)FORD ESCORTS WITH ALUMINUM HEAD 4 CYLINDERS, THAT OVERHEAT AND THEN WARP , THEN BLOW UP THE ENGINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

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FORD PINTOS (REAR GAS TANK EXPLOSIONS ON IMPACT), CHEVY VEGA'S EXTREME RUST ISSUES, AND DODGE CRICKET(NO PARTS SUPPORT),ANY 1970'S FORD MAVERICK WITH RECLAIMED TAWAIN STEEL ON THE BODY,(STARTED RUSTING FROM DAY ONE OF OWERSHIP)FORD ESCORTS WITH ALUMINUM HEAD 4 CYLINDERS, THAT OVERHEAT AND THEN WARP , THEN BLOW UP THE ENGINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

Oh, forgot - 1985 Dodge D-50 - similar deal with aluminum head and intake manifold - heat up and crack. I was fortunate to find a replacement manifold laying in the mud at the junk yard. Automatic hubs would also engage at highway speed at random times. Oil pump went out too.

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Mine personally was a Pontiac Fiero..........

When I was serving in the military, my XO (executive officer) bought a new '84 Pontiac Fiero.

rightfully proud of his new purchase, after our morning formation he decided to show off his new car.

I remember walking around the thing, admiring the rubber body panels and looking at the mid-engine design, listening to

the Captain telling us all the cool features.

Then when he went to start it up.....................nothing..........dead as could be.

what a POS. brand new car, less than 500 miles on it. if I remember correctly it was gone within a month.

and the XO bought a new Camaro.

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I remember in the '70s seeing Volare/Aspins less than 2 years old with the front fenders almost completely rusted off. I purchased a '95 Neon in 2000 with about 70,000 on it when I got rid of it 2 years later with 82,000. The AC didn't work, fuel tank was leaking, & it had a wrist pin knocking. That doesn't count the long list of things I fixed in that 2 years. Such a bad memory that my wife won't let me even look at a Mopar today.

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