What do you think is or was the worst car ever made?

[Pastfinder]

Yugo, "It's almost a car!" and the Trabant, which was the German car of the year in 1989, when everyone drove them from the East to the West

 

[Turin39789]

Originally posted by: viking1966
amc pacer or the chrysler k car ..

you lie! Bought a 1987 dodge aries (k-car) for 500 dollars in the spring of 2000. It finally died last friday 40,000+ miles later. And I drove as hard as possible, pedal to the metal tires squealing the whole 9 yards. It finally died last friday, because it was 3 and half quarts short on oil and threw a rod. i have nothing but respect for that car

 

[Palek]

Whoever is calling Lada the worst car should hang their head in shame. Not because it is an excellent car, but because there was much-much worse crap produced in Eastern Europe back in the golden days of communism.

Take the Trabant, for example, a fine piece of East-German engineering. The car handled like a chair with wheels stuck on it at speeds greater than 50 kmph. The body was made of extremely strong cardboard, so when you had an accident, the car didn't dent but ripped. I'm serious.

Then there is the Dacia, Romania's finest. This car was incredibly poorly assembled from scarily sub-par components. We had urban legends floating around about Dacias being overtaken by their front tires. Most Dacias spent more time in maintenance than on the road.

And who could forget the Skoda, the pride of Czechoslovakia? The car that would boil all its coolant as soon as it hit a slope, any slope.

Ladas were actually relatively good cars. Sure, you needed some serious muscle to steer them, but they were the most reliable vehicles available in Eastern Europe. My family went through 3 Ladas in 15 years, and they didn't give us much trouble at all.

The reason most of you only know about Ladas and Yugos is that exporting any of the other cars outside the communist block would have been regarded as an act of war by the West.

 

[kalster]

for looks, aztek and escort

cavalier is overall pathetic

 

[kenshorin]

Originally posted by: Brutuskend
here you go

OK changing my vote. The Yugo was one I was familiar with. But the Trabant, holy hell what a piece of sh!t. Yugo > Trabant (not saying much)

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: TechnoKid
Aztek

 

[kalster]

ok guys look at it in terms of the timeline too, obviously a 25 year old top the line car will suck compared to today's worst car even, i think this needs to be in answered in terms of the timeline, how does the car compare to other cars that were around at the same time

 

[crab]

Originally posted by: Quixfire

Originally posted by: crab
Early-mid 80s GM Diesels

Oh please, let us see you convert a gas engine to diesel and make last longer than 300k+ miles.

I certainly can't, but I'd expect folks with the degrees needed to do such a thing to come up with something better.

 

[Squisher]

Worst I drove was a LeCar.

 

[Tab]

All SUVs.

 

[Senior Member]

Rebels 7: My first car was a Simca!! A true POS.

 

[Colt45]

Originally posted by: Palek
Whoever is calling Lada the worst car should hang their head in shame. Not because it is an excellent car, but because there was much-much worse crap produced in Eastern Europe back in the golden days of communism.

Take the Trabant, for example, a fine piece of East-German engineering. The car handled like a chair with wheels stuck on it at speeds greater than 50 kmph. The body was made of extremely strong cardboard, so when you had an accident, the car didn't dent but ripped. I'm serious.

Then there is the Dacia, Romania's finest. This car was incredibly poorly assembled from scarily sub-par components. We had urban legends floating around about Dacias being overtaken by their front tires. Most Dacias spent more time in maintenance than on the road.

And who could forget the Skoda, the pride of Czechoslovakia? The car that would boil all its coolant as soon as it hit a slope, any slope.

Ladas were actually relatively good cars. Sure, you needed some serious muscle to steer them, but they were the most reliable vehicles available in Eastern Europe. My family went through 3 Ladas in 15 years, and they didn't give us much trouble at all.

The reason most of you only know about Ladas and Yugos is that exporting any of the other cars outside the communist block would have been regarded as an act of war by the West.

trabant's were kind of neat in their own respect - a throw-away car. plastic/wool (IIRC) body, 2cyl 2stroke engine. the DDR even had a military version of the damn thing.

skoda is shaped up now.. VW bought them out, so now they are a VW pretty much. cheaper price-point though. (audi - vw - skoda)

I actually want to get a VAZ 2106 / Lada 1600 / Zastava 1600 / Fiat (?) some day, just for fun. maybe 2. put new suspension and drivetrain in one

Hell - 2106's are still made in russia, by izhmash (AK-47/74/10x anyone?) VAZ 2106
I wonder what a new one costs.

 

[conjur]

American: AMC Pacer

Rest of the world: Trabant or the Lada

 

[Jeff7181]

I think 75% of problems with cars are because of poor maintenance. Granted, some cars had some pretty bad design flaws, or faulty componants... but those cases aside, any car should last a good 20 years if it's well maintained.

 

[Palek]

Originally posted by: Colt45
trabant's were kind of neat in their own respect - a throw-away car. plastic/wool (IIRC) body, 2cyl 2stroke engine. the DDR even had a military version of the damn thing.

I totally agree with the Trabant being special. They were actually pretty rugged little beasts, excellent for off-road driving. But I have a feeling they would not pass about a dozen safety regulations today.

skoda is shaped up now.. VW bought them out, so now they are a VW pretty much. cheaper price-point though. (audi - vw - skoda)

Well, yeah, that did change everything. I was talking about the original Skodas. Almost everybody hated those, and we teased kids whose parents owned Skodas.

Hell - 2106's are still made in russia, by izhmash (AK-47/74/10x anyone?) VAZ 2106
I wonder what a new one costs.

Whoa, sweet! Flashback!!!

 

[thomsbrain]

K-cars!

 

[Siddhartha]

My criteria for choosing the worst car are poor design and poor execution in its intended function.

1970's Rover
GM's X cars
TR-6

 

[GreenGhost]

Although most did not have the pleasure of driving other eastern european cars, Yugo and Lada take the title in this side of the Atlantic. I've seen those Ladas in S. America. I had contact w/ a company that bought some to use in their farms, for their reputation of doing well in bad roads. They lasted less than two years, and were literally thrown away because they stopped importing spare parts soon after people stopped buying them. It appears they had good heating system, though.

 

[Nevada]

Originally posted by: TechnoKid
Aztek

agreed. the aztek is pretty damn ugly.

 

[GasX]

The Adobe

 

[Fritzo]

How the Yugo passed US safety tests is still a mystery to me. These cars were like one's you'd see in comedies where they guy drives a used car off the lot and the wheels fly off. I remember laughing at my neighbor after her father bought her one, then a week after owning it she opened the driver side door and the whole interior panel came off in her hand! She was just standing in her driveway holding the door handle with the whole door panel attached to it....funny as hell!

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: Brutuskend
BTW, "Things" are getting to be worth some good $$$ these days.

Yep..highly collectable. They're actually pretty rugged, they just suffered from that same underbody rot that plauged VW Bugs. There was a swamp green one in mint condition on a used car lot here last summer with a $8000 price tag on it.

 

[trikster2]

Originally posted by: thomsbrain
K-cars!

My vote too. But that's just based on the cars I have owned or drivin.

Did your CV joint go? WHat the heck is a CV joint. Found out when I had a K car.

I'm sure some of the others here are worse.

What is this?

A car thread with no comment from NS4?

Disagree with the "aztek" votes. We test drove one (they gave us $50) and it was a nice ride. Everyone who voted aztek but has not test driven one should hang there head in shame for besmirching the good name of aztek. You can not judge a book by it's cover!

 

[cavemanmoron]

Originally posted by: Anubis
yugo

closely followed by AMC renaults,they were front wheel drive,from the early 80's.

 

[FriedToast]

Car I learned to drive on was a Ford Granada. Called it Super-car, the Gutless Wonder. Was lucky to get it up to 70 (and that was pedal to the metal, going down hill).

Toss up between the Ford and the Chrysler K cars. Gah.
Also I have to agree, the Yugos weren't anything special and the Ford Tempos were definitely garbage.