Poll on forbes.com: Worst Car Ever

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Your choices:

1975-1980 AMC Pacer 1970-1974 Chevrolet Vega 1970-1972 Citroen SM 1978-1988 Fiat Strada 1983-1989 Ford Bronco II 1957-1959 Ford Edsel 1971-1980 Ford Pinto 1978 Honda Accord hatchback 1971 Mazda RX-2 1979-1984 Oldsmobile Delta 88 1984 Pontiac Fiero 1956-1968 Renault Dauphine 1957-1962 Sachsenring Trabant P50 1981-1991 Yugo GV

Andrew

Reply to
Andrew
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I happen to like two of the cars on that list, and currently own one of the two. :)

JazzMan

Reply to
JazzMan

|> 1975-1980 AMC Pacer Motor Trend Car of the Year |

Ditto. But I'll take a Cosworth Vega today.

|> 1970-1972 Citroen SM Technically interesting, collectible. Maserati engine, 150 mph Change a tire without using a jack. Lots of strange hardware under the hood - spherical hydraulic reservoirs Don't buy it if you can't think like a French bastard by an Italian sire

|> 1978-1988 Fiat Strada It's a Fiat, whattaya expect. Save the ehad to upgrade your Yugo

|> 1983-1989 Ford Bronco II Now here's a good candidate!

|> 1957-1959 Ford Edsel Marketing failure, not a bad car

|> 1971-1980 Ford Pinto It was framed. Actually a solid car for the money. I raced one of these in 1997-1998, won Southwest Division SCCA with it.

|> 1978 Honda Accord hatchback Ho hum

|> 1971 Mazda RX-2 New technolgy, people did not understand Wankels

|> 1979-1984 Oldsmobile Delta 88 ? Pretty average car at the time

|> 1984 Pontiac Fiero Bum rap.

|> 1956-1968 Renault Dauphine See French, above

|> 1957-1962 Sachsenring Trabant P50 We have a winnah!! Absolutely the worst POS on the planet.

|> 1981-1991 Yugo GV A Fiat made by Slobodan Milosevich & Friends. But for the money, it wasn't that bad. | Rex in Fort Worth

Reply to
Rex B

Chevy Trailblazer 2001- present

Reply to
Nelahw1

Good luck finding a Cosworth.

The Vega was also a "Motor Trend Car of the Year".

Once they stopped burning, they were OK to drive.

Once they stopped burning, they were OK to drive. GM stopped building then as soon as they got them right.

Reply to
Jimmy

The Trabant really doesn't belong on thet list since it's not really a car at all. It's a covered motorcycle or bubblecar. Compare it with BMW Isetta, Messerschmitt and Fuldamobil and it still is a piece of crap. but not so much it makes the top 10.

There is never any problem with body rust on a Trabant (mainly because it's plastic). Since old Trabants are *very* cheap (I have seen them go for 50 euros (about 60 US dollars)) and a two stroke engine is very easy to tune (remove the exhaust and intake filter and you get a

40-50% performance increase) they have became quite popular to race with. Go to
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or
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and have a look on the photos.
Reply to
Staffan V

And..... the epoxy and sawdust body is biodegradable. Can't say that about many other cars.

Regards,

Marv

Staffan V wrote:

Reply to
Marv Soloff

Steel degrades naturally... The epoxy component I'll guess simply crumbles.

Reply to
Brent P

|And..... the epoxy and sawdust body is biodegradable. Can't say that |about many other cars.

I dunno, last time I was in the Northeast US I saw a wide variety of cars - Buicks to Volkswagons - in various stages of biodegrading.

Rex in Fort Worth

Reply to
Rex B

| snipped-for-privacy@REMOVEtxol.net (Rex B) wrote in message news:... | |> |> 1957-1962 Sachsenring Trabant P50 | |> We have a winnah!! Absolutely the worst POS on the planet. | |The Trabant really doesn't belong on thet list since it's not really a |car at all. It's a covered motorcycle or bubblecar. Compare it with |BMW Isetta, Messerschmitt and Fuldamobil and it still is a piece of |crap. but not so much it makes the top 10. | |There is never any problem with body rust on a Trabant (mainly because |it's plastic). Since old Trabants are *very* cheap (I have seen them |go for 50 euros (about 60 US dollars)) and a two stroke engine is very |easy to tune (remove the exhaust and intake filter and you get a |40-50% performance increase) they have became quite popular to race |with. Go to

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or|
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and have a look on the photos. Just goes to show that if it has wheels and there are more than one of them, a race will break out sooner or later :) Rex in Fort Worth

Reply to
Rex B

You need to define "worst." Mechanically it was about the same as any other AMC car of the era. I think it really belongs on the "weirdest" car list.

Definitely in the 10 worst for the last 40 years. I doubt it would make the ten worst if you go back to 1900 (see copper cooled Chevrolet for a worse Chevy)

No opinion.

Well it is a Fiat - maybe the whole Fiat product line should be listed as one entry.

Not a car. Only problem was that it is a tall short wheelbase vehicle which makes it unsafe for people to drive who think it is a Porsche. For sane people it is OK.

It wasn't a Ford Edsel (do you call a Mercury or a Lincoln a Ford Mercury or a Ford Lincoln?). Mostly a marketing failure. The car wasn't any better or worse than other FoMoCo products of the era.

Actually the Pinto should go on the list of 10 best cars for the money. My family owned two. Great cars for the money. Bad reputation mostly a result of lying scum sucking trial lawyer out looking for a quick buck.

Hmmm - hard to believe a Honda should be on this list. It might qualify for one of the ten worst Hondas. Of course there were the problems with head gaskets, rust, and transmissions. However, by 1980 most of these problems were solved. A co-worker owned a 1978 Accord and he loved it (despite having problems with head gaskets, rust, and the transmission). Honda fixed everything for free for as long as he owned the car (even the rusty fenders).

Hmmm - do you suppose there is enough data on this for anyone to know?

Typical GM car of the era. I can't see how you can single out the Delta

  1. Maybe they were talking about the diesel version? If so, I think that does qualify.

Maybe? But why just the 1984?

I assume the French loved them. I can remember seeing them around. Seemed like a poor copy of a Beetle.

No opinion. Has anyone in the US actually driven one.

Well since I think Fiats belong on the list, I can't see how I could not include a Yugoslavian built version of a Fiat.

OK - where are the Chrysler products? Any legitimate list would have to include at last three or four of those (New Yorker, Diplomat, Mirada, Cordova, Aspen, Volarie, heck, Chrysler should fill half the list). How come the Corvair got left off. It was at least as bad as the Vega and not as safe. Or the Chevette - a worse fire bomb than the Pinto ever thought about being. Where are the British Cars - Rover 3000, Austin Maxi, MGC, too many to name. Or the Mercedes 240D - one of the worst pigs ever sold.

I looked at the results. The Yugo was winning. However, how many people actually owned a Yugo? I assume the voting is based solely on what the media has fed people about these cars over the last 10 years.

Ed

Reply to
C. E. White

I just realized that in addition to the worst 10 cars, Forbes also had a worst "American Cars List." see

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. It is just as bad as the other list. One silly thing, the Pinto only made one of the two lists. How could the Pinto be one of the worst cars on a worldwide basis and not be on the worst American car list? And again, where are the Chrysler products? Any list of the worst American cars that does not include the Aspen/Volarie and related products is totally bogus.

The Worst American Car choices -

Edsel

- Just a marketing failure

Chrysler TC Maserati

- Only barely American.

Chevy Corvair

- Corvairs were initially very popular. They were weird, quirky, and unsafe for people used to driving Falcons.

Ford Maverick

- A very popular and reliable car

Chevy Citation

- Maybe?

Cadillac Eldorado

- Why?

Renault Fuego

- Yes

AMC Pacer

- Weird car, but not particularly unreliable

AMC Gremlin

- Weird car, but not particularly unreliable

1974 Pontiac GTO

- Why?

Chevy Chevette

- Yes

AMC Eagle

- Ahead of its time. A Crossover vehicle before there were crossover vehicles

Chevy Caprice

- Only if you hated the styling of the bath tub model.

Ed

"C. E. White" wrote:

Reply to
C. E. White

Actually the body of the Trabant was made of duraplast (a relative of fibreglass) and the problem is that it ISN'T biodegradable, not recycelable and you can't even burn it since the fumes are so toxic.

Reply to
Staffan V

Was told that by East Germans streaming into Hungary in 1989 in their Trabbis looking for a place to junk them. Ask the man who owns one,,,,,

Regards,

Marv

Staffan V wrote:

Reply to
Marv Soloff

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