"All my life, I have searched for a car that feels a certain way. Powerful like a gorilla, yet soft and yielding like a Nerf ball. Now, at last I have found it."

I bought a 95 Chevy S10 new and it was falling apart by 2000. I got a decent trade in value though because they didn't test drive it long enough for it to start overheating

Not that I own any cars on the list, but the Element is nice, imo. From day one, I knew the Aztek would be a bust. Family did own both the Vega and Pinto, and both were crap.

I would also include anything from GM (sans the Suburban/Tahoe lines)

/and I own a Dodge Intrepid!!! :(
//Last Dodge I'll ever own.
///Why? Blue Book says my 20K ride, only 4 years old is worth a mere 4k...TOPS!!!
////Imports are in my future!!!

zafner wrote:

Is America, as a society, really that vapid?

Yes.
Yes, it is.

Un-great... really?

All things being equal though, I'm thinking of picking up a Landwind at Wal-mart next year during Black Friday. I think they'll start at 10,995

I find the list to be poorly thought out, probably reflecting the writer's opinion more than actual 'un-greatness'. The main beef against the Toyota Scion, for example: it's driven by older people than its target market.

they're both ugly but hardly failures in the market. The streets are peppered w/ both here.

the list is "crappiest cars" not unsuccessful cars, they are not mutually exclusive. Crap can still sell.


Vanilla Ice had a top selling CD, but most would put his music in the "crappy" category.

What about the Corvair?

Hah! In 1974 I was driving a Chevy Vega and my GF was driving a Ford Pinto.

Both were later totalled. The Vega by a West Texas hailstorm and the Pinto by a collision.

Those were the days.

strothgar

No, you probably wouldn't want one of those.

Re: Domestics vs Imports -

100K miles on an Import = 55K in reality.
100K on a domestic = Time to sell!!!

..though I do have my eye on a few domestics - (I never learn)

Mustang
H3
Suburban
Soltice

Imports -

FJ Cruiser
Nissan / Toyota full size trucks
Honda Ridge thingy
etc etc, blah blah blah

I just like the ad at the top of the page.

Waterbottle, who said I was getting it for me? I'd pick it up for the wife!!

/Honey look, I got you a new cell phone that you can Text on!!
//check please

BRAVO for including the Hummer H2! Those monstrosities should not be on city streets, and if you drive one it means that YOU HATE AMERICA!

This list actually tells you more about the source of the list, i.e. MSNBC is by and for idiots, than it does about cars.

One of my first cars (and still my favorite) was an orange '76 Vega and it was nice as hell despite being 19 years old. It ran beautifully, had no rust at all, used very little gas and was roomy and comfortable. It never gave me a bit of trouble until it blew out a head gasket (the original engine, no less). Well, I was 17 and couldn't afford to get THAT fixed at the time so some mechanic got a great deal.

/I still miss that car :(
//TFA says the Vega was discontinued in '74
///Author is a jackass

Site is annoying, forced to vote to see the pictures.

/I blame the "MS" portion of "MSNBC".
//got nuttin

Drove a Renault 5 for two years in Belgium. What a trip. Hit the brakes and the passenger (strapped to their seat) hits the windshield. And I was just TEARING up the autobahn at a sizzling 110k/h. Couldn't kill it...as long as you kept the hampsters under the hood well fed and watered.

Ford Excursion, because Ford is too stupid a company to have learned ANYTHING in the gas crisis of the 70s.


//SUV hater. could you tell?

Hey what about the Yugo????, never see any of those things anymore...


Or what about my 2001 chevy blazer?? , crappy plastic 4wd,
40,000 miles needed ball joints, heater went out twice. Gas valve went... geez some things never change...

Trabant



'nuff said

96-99 Taurus anyone?

Way too curvy, causing the headroom issues in the back. Throw in the springs issues and the overpowered engine, and you have bad design. The roofline issue was solved in 2000, thankfully, nad the other problem has been solved by discontinuance.

Behold, the shiattiest car I ever had:



A Citroen BX, 6 times to the dealers in one month, around 1500 guilders (still guilders back then) lighter and it still wouldn't work. It stopped at the side of the road and I sold it to some gypsies (seriously) for 25 guilders.

Good riddons.

Opel rules.

I stopped reading when I saw that the 2CV was on the list.

Aren't we forgetting something?



One ugly piece of shiat.

As much as I hate to do so, I have to step in and give defence to the Element. Its a plain, utilitarian, vehicle, designed to do work and not break. Its hard to find a simple, efficiant, utility vehicle these days. Cars have too many things that can stain up in them, so usually you're left with the big trucks and SUVs, which are dreadfully expensive, and still usually chock full of stuff to break. If I were dumb enough to buy a new car, I'd consider getting one. Personally, I've never spent more than $3000 for a car, and I don't plan to - I see no reason to spend $20k for something I'm going to load up with stuff and beat the living hell out of.

/drives a 1968 Plymouth Valiant slant six. Vinyl bench seats, rubber floormats - cleans with a water hose. Can tow a small boat or camper, carry six people, and gets 23-25 mpg when properly tuned and run on good gas.
//Will probably still be driving it when most of these plastic "new" cars are rat condos in the junkyard.

Whoa...a shiny new trabant. You CAN polish a turd!!

lordpwnalot We had a BX when I was younger and it was a fine piece of ass. Then again we did have the GTi version, yay us. Plus the variable suspension thing was great fun for the small child that I was.

yeah, the element's not so bad. it just looks like a Tonka Truck.

I found the list well thought out and insightful. I look forward to more debate inspiring stories from this trusted source of useful news.

IMO, the Vega richly deserved to be on that list, along with the Yugo and the Pinto. The rest of them, though?

Hummer: ugly, gas-guzzler, overrated off-road capabilities. OK, it could be added.
2CV: ugly but dependable... naah.
Element: ugly but very useful - and an interior you can hose down. Nope.
Aztek: the very definition of the word "ugly." Still, it doesn't really belong.
Scion: Too much of a shoebox to be ugly. Doesn't belong, though.
Landwind: Huh? When did they ever sell them here? It's a deathtrap, though, so it would belong.

So, the final list: Pinto, Vega, Yugo, Landwind, Hummer.

Siamese Bream... PT's are without a doubt a love or hate car... I love mine.

Mad Scientist

Norwegian car?

Merkur XRrTi - no question about it

Needs more Bricklin.

No mention of the 1963 Dodge Dart? Inconceivable!

I like this index better. It truly digs into the mound of steaming crap that were some cars.

waterbottle

Jebus. That truck just fell apart. Ay 40 mph. What good is an airbag if the whole damn steering column comes up and hits you in the face?

The Yugo. A friend bought it and the car was demolished in a 5mph crash!

A former owner described her Yugo to me: "It was a great little car, right up to the moment it burst into flames."

"...Yes, the points are like a fully loaded Yugo: they just don't matter."

-Drew Carrey, Whose Line...

I remember the day they bombed the yugo factory. That was a good day for automotive history, though i was never able to get an inflight video of the bombing. Or know which jet it was that did it.

This is a 1999 GMC Jimmy...




I bought one of them. I submit to you that GMC Jimmy's are, despite what the list says, the biggest hunks of shiat ever produced.

If you want to avoid nightmares, don't buy any GM products.


This is my new car...



It is an '04 Inifinit G35. I love her and she loves me. Not a single problem and drives like a dream. If you actually enjoy driving, get an Infiniti G35.


GMC = Evil
Infiniti = teh awesome!!!1

Don't be bustin' on the poor lil Trabbi.

Angelea Merkel might kick your ass.

sorry people, but K cars were the worst ever built.

Kelquin

Trabants (Trabis) were made in East Germany, I think. They had two stroke engines, terrible reliability, and body panels made from a phenol resin that polluted groundwater when they ended up in the junkyard.

Darkham :

Agreed. That list makes more sense

On the craptacular Landwind: If you're a Chinese car maker with ambitions to flood Western markets with your products, it's not a good idea to score very low marks in road safety tests. The Chinese-built JiangLing Landwind 4x4 suffered an abjectly poor crash test performance in Germany, providing very poor protection to its driver and passengers in front, side or rear end impacts. It has since reportedly modified its design to address these problems, but reports also say the car maker may face legal action -- its SUV is strikingly similar to one GM sold in Europe

Which GM SUV are they refering to?