I even posted that as the WORSE car I ever drove. But the Omni came out AFTER the Vega and Pinto. There might have been a 1-2 year overlap of when the Omni was introduced and the Vega/Pinto was introduced. I’m Not contending that the Vega was a UNRELIABLE car…IT WAS…but it wasn’t a bad car to drive. It was fun…sporty…cofortable…handled well…just that it was very very unreliable. So was the Pinto. The Omni was probably more reliable then either of those…but lousy to drive.
That’s pretty much what I said…except in 2 sentences.
The worst car I ever drove was actually a recent rental, but it was far worse than a borrowed '80s K-car (in the late 90s), stripper Neon from rent-a-wreck with 150k miles on it, etc. It was probably even worse than one of the later Omnis mentioned (my parents had one), though it may have been better than the early one (they had one of those too) by virtue of actually being able to climb up a large hill without overheating.
It was 2008 Chevy Uplander. The combination of lots of power, boat like handling and suspension that caused wallowing and seasickness makes it the worst car I’ve driven. If it weren’t for the need to actually carry 6 people on a trip, I would happily trade it for any POS clunker I’ve ever driven. I was never so glad to give back a rental car!
That poor car shook, rattled, and rolled. Front heavy, serious understeer, pieces that didn’t fit right, the hatch sprung open on me going down the highway and refused to latch closed again!
The Metro vans we drove on the flightline in the Air Force handled better!
We had a 1990 Dodge Caravan that blew through four transmissions in less than six months (the car had less than 75,000 miles on it). It was so bad that Chrysler finally bought it back from us after we threatened to sue them. In comparison, we have owned a Honda Odyssey for 8 years. It has 115,000 miles on it and has yet to require anything other than routine maintenance.
Appreciate your post VC! In 1974 I worked with an engineer whose family had owned Volvos since the P444 that looked like s shrunken 1940 Ford. These old one were well built, simple machines. Both father and son “upgraded” to 1974 models, as did another engineer. I was tempted, but when th problems started appearing I went for a tried and true Chevelle. I must say the two good things about these 240 series machines were the great seats, and the very sturdy and rust-resistant bodies. US manufacturers had not started rustproofing their cars yet at that time.
PT Cruiser. A ride so harsh it felt like you were being dragged over the actual road surface on your butt. Pathetic suspension had the car in the air on a rough road more than it was in contact with the road. Terrible blind spots. Car looked like a toy and only shouild have been used as such.
In all the years I’ve been renting cars, I’ve never returned one after the first day until I recently rented a Caliber - the rear (and front/side pillar) visibility was so bad I was sure I was going to get killed in an unfamiliar town. The CVT was a joke. And I was initially excited to rent it – after 220K miles on my VW Golf, I have started looking around for my next hatchback - but I can assure you, it won’t be the Calber. (To be fair, the fit, finish, and design of the rest of the car was acceptable IMHO). The Toyota Yaris I almost rented to replace it looked like the visibility was about as bad. I ended up with a Dodge Caravan and was very happy with it. Form over function, time and time again. Will they ever learn?
Dang thing handled like the Queen Mary on Valium, guzzled gas like an alcoholic at a distillery, and was flat out impossible to park.
The rapper Sir Mixalot did a song about a vehicle like that one - “four door nightmare, trunk locks stuck / big dice on the mirror, grille like a truck”. (Yes I know that the Electra he was rapping about was a 1969 model, but what he said still holds for the '72)
Doc–You did find the two good points about that car. The seats were incredibly good, and I have never again found car seats as supportive and as comfortable as the Volvo seats were. And, I guess that the body was good too, although I had never really thought about it before. Even though the paint was totally chalked w/in a little over a year, the body did not sustain any rust damage in the 7 years that I had the car.
However, the entire fuel system was quirky and problematic, the engine burned oil excessively after 60k despite regular 3k oil changes, the transmission defied attempts to reseal it, and the electrical system was a nightmare of bad grounds that were affected by a drop in temperature. Unfortunately, sitting in comfort was not sufficient to make the car enjoyable after the first year or so.
This car, called the Mondeo in Europe, was considered a “good” car over there. It was very popular in the UK and Germany, Holland, and Belgium as the standard business car.
It demonstrates the different ways Europeans evaluate cars; good handing and fuel economy are paramount. Since cars are not kept very long and mileage driven is about half that in North America, reliability and long life are not valued as much. The fact that a Honda will outlast a Contour (Mondeo) 2 to 1 does not register with drivers over there. Japanese cars usually get a mediocre rating in Europen car magazines!
VC, you have my sympathies! There is a guy a few houses down the block who inherited a bottle-green 4 door Volvo of that era from his aunt. I do not know what was in her will, but it has been sitting in his very wide driveway since we moved into the neighborhood in 1984! He has current plates on it (to keep the cops from calling it a “derelict” vehicle, and towing it away)although it has not moved for the last 15 years. And yes, there is only a little bit of rust on it, although the green paint is getting chalky.
It reminds me of someone who was left a parrot to take care of for the rest of its natural life (very long).
In the early 80s, I decided we needed a second car. I got enamored with a Renault LeCar (it had a sunroof!).
Shortly after we got it, my 5 year old daughter dubbed it the “Junkmobile” The first thing to go wrong was that the odometer quit working. I pulled the dashboard apart and found the end of the cable chewed up. I went to the dealer to get a new one. They needed the VIN to know which cable. After about 3-4 tries, we finally ordered every cable that they made that year. Once I got it all back together, it worked for about 15 minutes. The problem was the odometer itself.
I took it to the dealer for my free oil change. It ran like crap on the way home. I raised the hood, moved the spare tire (it sat on top of the engine) and found one of the spark plug wires dangling. After the next change, I opened the hood to see what they might have done and found the dipstick bent double.
The voltage regulator failed and fried all kinds of things. I lost my fog lamps and headlights. Of course, the dealer couldn’t get a new one and I had to find someone to rebuild it.
Then the pin holding the driver’s side door cracked while I was driving the kindergarten car pool. The kids got a big kick out of that. The dealer, of course, didn’t have one in stock.
The frame on the driver’s seat broke, so I just moved the passenger seat over until I could get it fixed.
The final straw was when one of the front calipers froze up. It had to be ordered from France. Came in a can. Looked sort of like I was getting Spam. It also cost about a gajillion dollars just for the part.
At that point, I got rid of it and bought a Dodge Aspen. Enough of its own problems, but this post is long enough.
Remember when Car Talk did a 10 worst Cars of All Time? I actually had at least four of them.
The Renault 5, aka Le Car was your entry level French family car. Frenchmen drive about 7000 miles a year and most live in cities where parking space is very cramped. Gas costs at least 2.5 times what it is in the US. Thus on paper this is a great little and versatile car. In fact from a space-efficiency point, it was leading edge!
Unfortunately, durability and reliability is something Renault is only now learning, thanks to Carlos Gnome? Most of those lessons come from Nissan.
When Renault bought AMC way back they never learned from their North American experience. All their cars (Alliance brand)were substandard, and even a brand new plant in Toronto, Canada could not produce a decent car.
Adding to the worst cars ever made, I would like to add the Renault Dauphine, and its sporty version the “Gordini”. The Gordini was fragile in every respect; the body disintegrated with the road salt, the engine was feeble and overstressed, and the electrics had dime-store quality. A friend of mine bought one in the sixties, and was glad he totalled it in a snow storm; He took the Dutch-made Philips radio (the only good thing) out and called the wrecker. With the insurance proceeds he bought a Dodge Polara, a Rolls Royce by comparison.
My experience with the Le Car was similar. Very underpowered, would not move unless I was the only one in it. A friend got excited from the looks of mine and bought a new one (mine was used and bought at a bargain price at least). The second day it would not start. The wire to the started had fallen out. It took the dealer one half day to get access to the wire to put it back in.
1984 Pontiac Fiero SE. It was fun to drive when it ran but it NEVER ran. It wouldn’t start if the temperature was below 30 degrees. One night the accelerator cable broke on the way home. What I thought would be a minor repair turned into several hundred dollars because they had to take apart the interior of the car to replace the $60 part. Another day it developed a hole in the valve cover and oil streamed out all over the hot engine. I was afraid it was going to catch on fire before I made it home. After the 2nd transmission and third clutch I traded it even for a rusty, ugly 1981 Plymouth Reliant and was thrilled. To this day I am grateful to be rid of that car every time my car starts on a cold morning.
This car must have been really bad for when a Pontiac engineer announced the new Solstice, he said: “This is the first time Pontiac has built a mid-engined car!”. He was either too young to remember the Fiero or Pontiac really wanted to forget this car!
The Fiero was built on a budget from the powertrain of the very poorly engineered X-cars. I’m pleased to hear you actually got it to run at all.
Picture this:duct tape over the air vents,beach towels for back windows,two five gallon bottles of water in the back seat for the over heating radiator.Right front tire bent precariously inward due to a damaged axle sustained during a night of “glee”.A wire coat hanger attached to the right windshield wiper fed through a window that’s stuck 3/4 of the way up…and my prom date and I in surgical masks so as not to be overcome by the fumes…drum roll please…It’s none other than the 1992 Ford Tempo!
I used to really like fieros, i thought they looked nice and always thought they must drive great. As a mechanic I got a chance to work on one, and drive it. It was a total piece of junk, it handled ok, but if felt like the whole chassis was loose it was a rattle trap, thrashy motor, shifter felt cheap it had no shift feel at all, the doors felt floppy when you closed them…ect. The one I drove had about 67k on it. It was also a total pain to work on.
