The worst cars of all time

[The Dude]

Some of these are horrid


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/Default.aspx?id=4063790&p1=0

[dxnemo78]

The front wheel drive pioneer Dodge Omni (and corporate twin Plymouth Horizon) would have to be a contender. The one my Dad bought new in 1980 was anyway. Nothing major for about 60,000 miles, then all hell broke loose. Transaxle first, then a couple of fuel pumps, starter, major charging system snafu, and even countless broken door handles. My Uncle had a '79 model and experienced similar headaches until he traded it for an '82 Rampage, which was a little better.

In quiet amazement, I still see an Omni or Horizon sputtering down the road every so often. Just yesterday morning there was a powder blue Horizon parked in front of the diner I went to for breakfast. Should have found the owner, he would have probably said "Yup, best dang car I ever owned. Twenty-five years and still goin' strong!!"

[KeithE4]

Chevy Vega (Rust, Aluminum engine that leaked oil, rust, overheating, rust, transmission problems, rust)
Chevy Corvair (At least, Ralph Nader thought so)
Chevy Chevette (Just an all-around cheap piece of crap)
Chevy Citation (Front-wheel drive problems - the wheels were known to fall off the car)
Ford Pinto (Ka-boom!)
Ford Crown Victoria (See Ford Pinto - ask the families of the cops who died or were maimed in one of these rolling bombs)
Ford Edsel (Ugly, but considered a classic today)
Mercury Merkur (Pretentious faux-European name, not a very good car either from what I remember)
AMC Gremlin (Ugly, overly-large engine with poor acceleration & gas mileage)
AMC Pacer (Really ugly)
Plymouth Reliant (Too-small engine, trouble starting in the winter - nice looking, though)
Yugo (You had to buy two - one for parts)

Sad to say, I once owned a Vega & a Reliant, and my folks owned a Gremlin, a Reliant & a Citation.

[johnnyu]

I had a Plymouth Reliant company car.  Put 100,000 miles on it in three years.  Never had a minutes trouble with it.

[voicetrack]

Keith, you've got sometruly awful cars on that list, however I'm going to have to disagree with you on the Ford Crown Victoria. I think the industry would back me up on this. Throughout the 80's and early 90s, the Crown Vic was rated one of the most reliable, cost-efficient, and well-built automobiles on the road.

I owned 2 Pinto's. One was given to me, the other belonged to my wife when I met her. Both were complete junk. Owned an Omni for a couple of years and suffered some of the problems mentioned.

[nightfly61]

Later model Chevettes...the early ones were tough except when the shock towers & floorboards rusted through,
The Chevy Spectrum
'75 Dodge Royal Monaco
'82 Pontiac Trans Am(that year was a bigtime lemon, they got better though)
Any silver painted Olds Cutlass  or Cutlas Supreme, Bumpers rusted out from the underside & the silver paint had a chemical that made it look horrible.

[Oldbones]

The front wheel drive pioneer Dodge Omni (and corporate twin Plymouth Horizon) would have to be a contender. The one my Dad bought new in 1980 was anyway. Nothing major for about 60,000 miles, then all hell broke loose. Transaxle first, then a couple of fuel pumps, starter, major charging system snafu, and even countless broken door handles.

I had an '81 Horizon and while it wasn't the most refined car on the road you couldn't kill it.  Put over 200k on it, and that's in northern New England (rust country).  The carburetors were crap, and couldn't be rebuilt (or at least I never had any luck doing it) and the heater was wimpy but other than that I had very few problems. 

I think the worst POS to ever darken my driveway was the '91 Corrola my wife had.  Electrical problems up the wazoo, real rust bucket, IIRC there were transmission troubles.  Most damn uncomfortable car I've ever driven too.  Dealer was arrogant and generally useless.  Oh what a feeling indeed.  Never bought another Toyota after owning that piece of crap and never will.

[Jay F]

I bought a new Plymouth Horizon in 1990. It looked old and outdated from the moment I drove it off the lot. Some people thought it was around a 1983 car, that's how dated it looked. About 3 years latter I started having lot's of mechanical problems with it.

In 1977 my mom bought a 1976 Chevy Vega. About 1 month latter it was constantly in the repair shop.  Like Keith said, overheating, engine, and transmission problems. A horrible car that I will never forget.

[nightfly61]

My first car...76 Ford Elite- Not Simonized so RUST... and all that Ford pollution crap on the engine making it hard to work on that 351 Windsor...plus I didn't know the oil gauge was gummed up & didn't work- therefore I didn't know the oil was about empty next thing..."tic-tic-tic"...a rod knocking. I put motor honey in it & it lasted another 2 months or so but the "tic-tic-tic" had grown to a "BANG BANG BANG" from the hood. Then 1 day my sister was on an overpass bridge at the very top & the rod shot through the hood like a small missile & that was the end of the Ford Elite. I got $25 for it at the steel recycling place we pushed it to.

First year they made the Ford Escort- my gf's caught on fire when she wasn't even in it! Car was totaled & we never knew what made it heat up like that after her just driving it home from work.

[KeithE4]

Keith, you've got sometruly awful cars on that list, however I'm going to have to disagree with you on the Ford Crown Victoria. I think the industry would back me up on this. Throughout the 80's and early 90s, the Crown Vic was rated one of the most reliable, cost-efficient, and well-built automobiles on the road.

There are a lot of cops that will disagree with you - at least the ones that survived after being rear-ended and having the gas tank explode.