The Worst Cars of All Time

[yinyang]

The Ion’s intentions were good. Saturn wanted to make a rival for the likes of Honda and Toyota’s popular compact sedans, so they issued this: the Saturn Ion. Unfortunately, it caused more problems for Saturn than it did solutions. It was outdated, boring and slow the day it came out of the factory. Very few people decided to take the plunge and buy one. We truly feel sorry for those folks. It has been named as the 2nd worst car of the millennium by multiple magazines and reviewers. It didn’t look good, had poor build quality, the interior was rattling and the engines were anything but compelling. The Ion was the final nail in the coffin for Saturn, completely bankrupting them and closing down the manufacturer.

 

[yinyang]

If you were wondering what’s one of the most popular, modern worst cars, look no further. The X6 isn’t considered an SUV, but rather a self-acclaimed SAV (short or sports activity vehicle). If you thought SUVs were bad, wait till you read up more on the X6. Designed to look like a sedan, and ride like one too, it completely manages to not do either of those things since it’s also trying to offer a taller driving position and off-roader characteristic. In essence, it’s trying to be two completely opposite, contradictory things at once. Needless to say, it doesn’t do either one of them right, let alone both.

 

[yinyang]

Although Pontiac’s engineers had good intentions with the Solstice, the execution was way below par. The Solstice was supposed to be this entry-level sports car which would revolutionize the market and rake in massive profits for Pontiac, but it turned out to be a massive disappointment and the start of their demise. It looked alright, but it lacked the performance, not to mention the fact that it was built from parts stolen from other GM products. In short, a car which could have reached iconic status, had it not been for the poor execution.

 

[yinyang]

It’s a great looking car, we’ll give it that. The Fiat 124 was an elegant thing, but it never remained in that state for long. This awesome little coupe had everything going for it, apart from the quality of its materials. The Russian-made steel wasn’t just bad for the time, but bad full stop. Reviewers, and unlucky owners, joked that the car came pre-rusted from the Fiat factory. Yes, it was completely plagued with rust, so you won’t see a lot of them around today. Still a gorgeous car though.

 

[yinyang]

Korean made Daewoo

American-made cars are stereotypically thought to be poorly built, but when it comes to fit and finish, the Daewoo Nubira was in a class of its own. Had it remained for sale in Asia the car may have enjoyed decent success, but Daewoo’s decision to ship it over to the U.S. ultimately ruined it and their reputation. It was slow, cheaply built and experienced reliability issues like no other. Cheap toy cars were better built than it, and we’re not kidding when we say that.

 

[yinyang]

The Vigor was a redesigned Accord sold under the Acura brand, which initially promised a lot. The longitudinally-mounted inline five-cylinder sounded like a great concept on paper, but once again, the deliver was nothing short of disappointing. It was slow and ten times worse than the Acura, plus the engine didn’t sound that good for a five-cylinder.

 

[yinyang]

Pontiac too??

The ingredients: rear-wheel drive, 5.3-liter LS4 V8 and four doors. It sounds good, doesn’t it? Well the 303-horsepower Grand Prix GXP had several major issues, including having larger front tires than the rear. It made the thing hideously unpredictable as it liked to oversteer, and then there’s the entire thing about cabin build quality. Not Pontiac’s finest hour then.

 

[yinyang]

Wah, sport car also made the hit list

Not every small manufacturer’s story turns out to be as successful as Pagani.
The Vector W8 had great potential, but the small team of several engineers couldn’t deliver on the promised.
The 625 horsepower powertrain was awesome, but this $400,000+ monster never managed to run properly.
All of the 17 customer cars built had to be ferried to and from the factory on a truck because they wouldn’t drive right.
Such a shame, because the car had undeniable cool factor.

 

[yinyang]

Ford (Kia badge off) not spared either

In all honesty, we have no idea what Ford was up to when they came up with this: the Aspire.
Underneath, it’s actually a Kia. No, really. The entire thing is built by Kia, down to the body panels and the engine.
Ford just took the Kia badge off and slapped their own on the grille.
It’s a 1.3-liter shoebox on wheels, with no performance, practicality or reliability whatsoever.
At the time, Kia was able to get away with it because it was so cheap, but it was inexcusable for a company such as Ford.

 

[yinyang]

Suzuki Swift in another name?

Again, we don’t know why Americans had such an obsession with rebadging Asian cars and selling them as their own.
The Metro was, for all intents and purposes, an old-school Suzuki Swift.
Built to move the masses, the original Swift was a noble thing which didn’t cost much to run.
Geo managed to ruin the thing with worse build quality (as if that was possible), and catastrophic chassis failure waiting to happen with the convertible version.

 

[AhMeng]

Ford (Kia badge off) not spared either

View attachment 60575
In all honesty, we have no idea what Ford was up to when they came up with this: the Aspire.
Underneath, it’s actually a Kia. No, really. The entire thing is built by Kia, down to the body panels and the engine.
Ford just took the Kia badge off and slapped their own on the grille.
It’s a 1.3-liter shoebox on wheels, with no performance, practicality or reliability whatsoever.
At the time, Kia was able to get away with it because it was so cheap, but it was inexcusable for a company such as Ford.

looks like Subaru R1.

 

[yinyang]

Fake Jaguar? Ford Mondeo covered up as a Jag??!

Although Jaguar is one of the greatest manufacturers at the moment,
they went through a shaky period back in the 1990s and the early 2000s.
The lack of any reliability with their own cars meant they had to resort to rebadging
other people’s creations much like the Americans. Ironically, they chose to rebadge a Ford Mondeo
and sold the thing as the Jaguar X-Type.
It was an insult to Jaguar fans everywhere, and one the company struggled to recover from for years after.

 

[nightsafari]

Wah, sport car also made the hit list

View attachment 60574
Not every small manufacturer’s story turns out to be as successful as Pagani.
The Vector W8 had great potential, but the small team of several engineers couldn’t deliver on the promised.
The 625 horsepower powertrain was awesome, but this $400,000+ monster never managed to run properly.
All of the 17 customer cars built had to be ferried to and from the factory on a truck because they wouldn’t drive right.
Such a shame, because the car had undeniable cool factor.

In the 80's it would be called a Vector W8. Today it's called the Tesla Model 3.

 

[syed putra]

View attachment 60520

By 293.xx.xxx.xx – Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2996898

So far, we’ve covered cars built in the 80s, or even before that. The Prowler was originally released in 1997, and with a name like that, people were expecting a beast of a car, something which offered excitement, fun and demanded skill and respect. What they got however, was a retro roadster/speedster mix with a “futuristic” look and an open-wheel front end. It resembled a squashed bug, especially with the mandatory bumpers which looked ridiculously out of place. The 3.5 liter V6 produced 250 hp, alright in a car its size, but not enough to make people want it.

I am a big fan of the prowler. It just reminds me of the rock band "ZZ top".

 

[yinyang]

Rover? Brits taking a mickey of Yanks

It may have a 3.4-liter V8 under the hood, but it makes just 133 horsepower.
England likes to make fun of American cars for extracting ridiculously small amount of power from large engines,
but the SD1 doesn’t appear to be any different.

What’s more, it would rot if you as much as drove it through a puddle.
If you left it in your garage and forgot about it for a year,
it would have probably rotted away by the time you remember about it anyway.

 

[nightsafari]

Fake Jaguar? Ford Mondeo covered up as a Jag??!

View attachment 60577
Although Jaguar is one of the greatest manufacturers at the moment,
they went through a shaky period back in the 1990s and the early 2000s.
The lack of any reliability with their own cars meant they had to resort to rebadging
other people’s creations much like the Americans. Ironically, they chose to rebadge a Ford Mondeo
and sold the thing as the Jaguar X-Type.
It was an insult to Jaguar fans everywhere, and one the company struggled to recover from for years after.

That was a joke. And the designer at Jaguar at the time was a total zero. Geoff Lawson. His only qualification for heading Jaguar design at the time was that he shared the same nationality as the carmaker.

 

[glockman]

Wah, sport car also made the hit list

View attachment 60574
Not every small manufacturer’s story turns out to be as successful as Pagani.
The Vector W8 had great potential, but the small team of several engineers couldn’t deliver on the promised.
The 625 horsepower powertrain was awesome, but this $400,000+ monster never managed to run properly.
All of the 17 customer cars built had to be ferried to and from the factory on a truck because they wouldn’t drive right.
Such a shame, because the car had undeniable cool factor.

Trying to imitate the very successful Lamborghini Countach.

 

[eatshitndie]

That was a joke. And the designer at Jaguar at the time was a total zero. Geoff Lawson. His only qualification for heading Jaguar design at the time was that he shared the same nationality as the carmaker.

the ford and jaguar shotgun marriage also produced the s-type. my siglap ah pek neighbor showed off his 6.9-day old red s-type to me by parking outside his gate and washing it while talking and beaming with pride. i told him it was a ford thunderbird or lincoln ls inside and asked him to open the hood when he refused to believe it was a ford. he reluctantly opened the hood, and viola....the 2.5l v-6 engine block had ford written all over it. in u.s., minimum engine capacity was 3.0l for the s-type. the next year when i met him again, he was no longer driving the s-type. he sold it and bought a (red) honda accord.

 

[JustLikeThis]

Lada Samara
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lada_Samara

Soviet Union brand Lada (model Samara) was introduced into Singapore as a budget car at the turn of the eighties/nineties. Relatively cheap, the hatchback was, however, unreliable due to our hot climate. The brand lasted in Singapore well short of a decade. Lada Samara had the unwanted reputation of being the worst car ever to run on Singapore roads. https://www.allsingaporestuff.com/article/100-things-singaporeans-love-about-80s


Subaru Viki was an iconic car in the same era.