I did a diary on this topic a few years ago, and people seemed to have fun with it, so let me do some recycling. It's sometimes fun to walk back down memory lane & remember that rust colored piece of shit that you insanely spent thousands of dollars on, as well as that great car that you spilled food & drink all on the carpet & generally treated like crap, but never failed to start.
It can be argued that the automobile is one of, if not the most significant invention in recent Human history. If you look at the impact on culture, commerce and the environment of Earth it becomes astounding. On another level a car becomes a projection of self. Why else do middle-age men buy sports cars & Hummers in order to make themselves feel better about getting old? Back in 2004, the Republicans used market research looking for a correlation between automobile buying habits & political views.
What about those particularly great & shitty automobiles from the days of yore, or present (i.e. the gas guzzling Hummer H2)? What are some of the best & crappiest cars?
Before getting into all of that, a little automotive news.....
Over at AutoblogGreen, they have some news on the Chevrolet Volt. The Volt is Chevrolet's plug-in hybrid concept car, which the company plans to put into production in 2010. The design combines an electric motor and 16 kWh lithium-ion battery with a 3-cylinder 1.0L Turbocharged engine powered by gasoline, linked together to a 53 kW generator.
The electric motor has a peak output of 120 kW (160 horsepower), with a range of 40 miles on a full charge. When the car's battery starts running low, the gas engine kicks in to provide forward momentum & juice to the Volt's electric generator, charging the car's battery pack as you drive.
Now General Motors has always had a stated goal of the car's price point being below $30,000. However, the cost of the Volt's 400 pound lithium-ion battery is still a little expensive. So GM is lobbying Congress to extend new tax credits for plug-in vehicles.
In order to help make the Volt less financially painful both for the manufacturer and consumers, GM is lobbying Congress to pass a new batch of tax breaks for plug-in vehicles. There has been on-going debate in Congress for some time about tax credits for plug-in hybrids and GM wants to make sure that ER-EVs are specifically included. A credit of $7,000 for the purchase of such a vehicle seems to be the target point. According to GM sources cited by Automotive News a $30,000 price seems unlikely unless tax credits are passed by Congress and the White House. The House of Representatives already passed a bill last week that included PHEV tax breaks but the White House has threatened a veto. More than likely, nothing will happen until early in 2009 when a new President is in office.
I love lists, and debating lists. And like music, film, comedy and almost everything else that's based on a subjective opinion, someone's worst can be someone else's favorite. However, there are those things where most people have come to a consensus as to its greatness or whether it was crap. So lets get all nostalgic. For example, even though I wasn't alive yet to see it, I do find it interesting watching Hoss, Little Jo, and the rest of the Cartwrights sell Chevys in the middle of Virginia City, with Samantha & Endora stopping by too.
Earlier this month the Senator from Illinois let his pick for worst car be known.....
"The car I learned to drive on was my grandfather's Ford Granada. ... It may be the worst car that Detroit ever built," the Illinois senator said in an interview with Indianapolis radio station WFBQ. "This thing was a tin can. It was during the '70s when oil had just gone up, so they were trying to compete with the Japanese," Obama said. "They wanted to keep the cars big, so they made them out of tin foil. It would rattle and shake. You basically couldn't go over 80 (miles per hour) without the thing getting out of control."
Time magazine compiled a list of "The 50 Worst Cars of All-Time", but it does have some weird choices on it (Ford's Model T is one of the worst cars ever?).
Some years back, Forbes compiled a list of the worst vehicles from around the world. Among their picks....
- AMC Pacer
The Pacer was a dud in terms of quality, execution and particularly styling. Make your own assessment about its bizarre proportions, but don't miss the one door that's bigger than the other.
- Ford Pinto
"You don't want to talk about the Pinto," said a Ford official. "Leave that one in the cemetery." Apparently, Ford has not forgotten the lawsuits and the public relations disasters forged by its Pinto hatchback and sedan. The Pinto's famous safety flaw, of course, was that it was prone to blowing up if rear-ended.
- Yugo GV
Yugos, priced below $4,000 when first introduced, came to America as a great benefit to comedians, and at the expense of value-conscious customers. The GV was Yugo's bread-and-butter model, and owners complained constantly about engine problems, steering problems, problems with the stereo, problems with the floor--basically, everything. What worked in a Yugo worked as poorly and cheaply as possible.
- Ford Bronco II
Although many people loved them for their ruggedness, in the 1980s Ford's Bronco II sport utility practically invented the phrase "prone to rollovers." How bad did things get? The vehicle's drivers realized they probably shouldn't pilot the Bronco II up a steep hill; Ford's employees said as much in an inter-office memo that was circulated in 1986, according to the Center for Auto Safety. Ford sent out 288 service bulletins on the 1985 Bronco II alone; reading them spotlights a vehicle whose engines--and other major components, like alternators and ignition systems--failed often.
- Chevrolet Vega
The first time General Motors tested this car on the track, its front end reportedly broke off from the rest of the vehicle. When the Vega did reach the market, it was one of the most unabashedly no-frills cars in history. Starting at $2,090, the Vega offered little space with its 97-inch wheelbase (the distance from the center of the front wheel to the center of the rear) and had disturbingly little horsepower, 90, out of its four-cylinder engine.
- Mazda RX-2
There's a good reason that rotary engines never really caught on. Rotaries--which run in circles, unlike pistons, which run up and down--are like diesels; they had major problems early in life, creating a buying populace that to this date does not fully trust them. Mazda's RX-2, one of the first rotary-engine cars, had problems with catching on fire. It also raised the classic problems of rotary engines: bad fuel economy and emissions. Rotary seals would wear out early in an RX-2's life, leaking fuel and emissions along the way.
Over at
Car Talk, they compiled
"The Worst Car of the Millennium", with this list being based on audience feedback. Some of the comments are just hilarious, although I'm sure it wasn't hilarious for the people involved when the bad shit was happening.
- VW Bus
"If everyone had to own one of these as a first car as I did, there would be no traffic jams anywhere. At least half of us would be so turned off by the experience of owning a car, that we would seek alternate means of transportation."
"There was no heat--unless, that is, the auxiliary gas heater caught fire."
"The bus had no heat, blew over in the wind and used the driver's legs as its first line of defense in an accident."
- Renault Dauphine
"This car topped out at 45 mph. Since the minimum speed on the Florida Turnpike is 40, patrol cars would follow me, waiting for me to hit a hill so they could ticket me."
- Cadillac Cimarron
"GM thought they could take a Chevy Cavalier, slap some Cadillac stuff on it, add an extra $5,000.00 and sell a bundle. Tragically enough, they pulled it off-for a while."
"When we traded it in my wife was upset because we didn't keep it long enough for her to buy a gun and shoot it."
"Hands down, worst car for the money spent. Yugos were junk, but at least they were cheap. This heap had a Caddy price tag!"
- Dodge Aspen/Plymouth Volare
"The stalling problem was so bad that I had to take a clockwise route to work so I could make all right turns, and not risk stalling on a left turn in front of oncoming traffic."
"After the floor boards rusted out in the rear, they would fill up with water and freeze. I ended up putting soda crates on the floor in the back to keep people from falling under the car."
- Renault LeCar
"I'm convinced that the body metal for this car was supplied by Reynold's Aluminum."
- Chevrolet Chevette
"An engine surrounded by 4 pieces of drywall!"
"If I got on the Interstate without being run over, the car would creep towards 55. About an hour later, I'd reach it. Then, the shaking would begin."
- AMC Gremlin
"Calling it a pregnant roller skate would be kind."
"It was entirely possible to read a Russian novel during the pause between stepping on the gas and feeling any semblance of forward motion."
- Ford Pinto
"The car would do 75 mph in 2nd gear, shaking apart and sounding like a bat out of hell. In fourth gear, the top speed was 70 mph. What's wrong with this picture? You do the math."
- Chevrolet Vega
"When the rear end went on my Vega, the Chevy dealer accused me of racing it. Racing who? My grandfather in his wheelchair?"
"As near as I could tell, the car was built from compressed rust."
- Yugo GV
"I once test drove a Yugo, during which the radio fell out, the gear shift knob came off in my hand, and I saw daylight through the strip around the windshield."
As for the best ever, back in 1999 automotive journalists & enthusiasts participated in the "Car of the Century" to find the most influential car of the 20th century. A list of 700 cars was whittled down to 26 nominees.
From there, a jury picked the top five.
- Porsche 911
- Volkswagen Beetle
- Citroën DS
- Mini
- Ford Model T