There is something about a bad car that just makes it stand out like a sore thumb.
You can only wonder how they ever got beyond the idea stage. From wonky designs to outright unreliability, there’s something about it that just grinds your gears.
Car design and performance have come a long way in recent times. Think back to what the average car was like 30 years ago. Fuel consumption tended to be higher, the seats were not as comfy and the cabin technology was more or less non-existent.
We’ve had a good look through the internet and were not surprised see that every list of bad cars looked rather different. And why wouldn’t they? None of us will ever have time to go out and drive everything available in the marketplace, so there will never be 100% agreement on the worst car of all time. Although, a few vehicles were certainly mentioned more than once, like the Yugo Zastava.
Everybody has a different opinion about what exactly constitutes a bad vehicle. It may be a lousy exterior design, an unreliable motor, poor stability, excess fuel consumption or a combination of all these things.
We decided to produce two lists. One’s from an international vehicle review website, while the other is from New Zealand’s top newspaper.
Here is the Auto Express list…
- Mahindra REVA G-Wiz (it deserves to be here just for the name!)
- Austin Allegro
- Chrysler PT Cruiser convertible
- SsangYong Rodius
- Alfa Romeo Arna
- Rover CityRover
- Morris Marina
- Reliant Robin
- FSO Polonez
- Vauxhall Frontera / Isuzu MU (Mysterious Utility)
Their list looks rather different to the one compiled by the NZ Herald and ranking.com a few years ago…
- Yugo Zastava
- Ford Pinto
- Hummer H2
- Pontiac Aztek
- Chevrolet Chevette
- Smart Fortwo
- Hummer H3
- Toyota MasterAce
- AMC Pacer
- Ford Aerostar
Do you agree with these lists? What car would you add to the list? Let us know in the comments section below…
I imagine that it is possible to beat the various 1970s editions of the Vauxhall Viva for unreliability, but any vehicle that can challenge them would be a most interesting specimen. Regular and intermittent problems with the Viva that I had to deal with included clutch, radiator and heater hoses, steering column, clutch, battery earth, heater hoses, battery, radiator cap, fuel pump, radiator hose, gasket and a stubborn and continual refusal to start. Since 1992 I have owned Mitsubishi, Toyota and Hyundai cars. The clutch of a second-hand Tredia failed, perhaps because of the previous owner’s misuse. The remainder have been faultless. Why, I wonder, would anyone buy a British-made motor vehicle?
Oh dear. Rust! I forgot to mention the rust. The windscreen pillars on the Viva rusted every couple of years or so, along with panels beneath the doors, and the paint work gave up, died and fell off after seven years or so. An 18-year old Mitsubishi Lancer I bought looks pretty much as it did in the show room apart from the odd car-park scratch.