Top 10 Most Questionable Car Designs

[SunDude]

Released today by Haggerty Insurance...

The Top 10 Most Questionable Car Designs of All Time (as voted by 2500 respondents.

1. AMC Pacer – The Pacer’s interesting styling prompted one respondent to wonder “I’d like to know what planet the designers were from.”
2. Yugo – Mechanical flaws and poor quality put the Yugo near the top. “My Yugo improved my mechanic skills greatly,” said one respondent. “Somedays I miss that car, but then I remember the bad ride, poor brakes, no guts and bad interior.”
3. Ford Pinto – The majority of respondents cited a notorious design flaw that caused explosions in rear-end collisions. “Underpowered, cheap plastic, bodies prone to rust and, oh yeah, they blow up too,” said one.
4. Pontiac Aztek – The unique styling of the latest model on the list prompted its addition, according to most respondents. “There must have been a front-end design team and a rear-end design team. And the two teams never spoke to each other,” said one.
5. Chevrolet Vega – Poor design, construction and mechanical failure were the main reasons behind its inclusion. “There seemed to be a competition between the engineering and assembly teams as to who could be the bigger screw-up,” claimed one respondent.
6. AMC Gremlin – Commenting on its styling, one person called it “the most hideously ill-proportioned car of all time.”
7. Chevrolet Corvair – For most, it was mechanics rather than appearance at issue. “Reliability and safety mostly, as it wasn't that bad looking,” was the reasoning of one respondent.
8. AMC Matador – Design was the main reason behind the Matador’s inclusion. “Even as a kid in the '70s, I recall it being particularly offensive to the eye, from its bug-eye headlamps, through the overly thick landau roof, ending with a droopy decklid and taillamps that appear sourced from a boat trailer,” said one respondent.
9. Edsel – A notorious design and marketing failure, one respondent said the Edsel “equals the standard by which all other automotive brand failures have been judged (and ridiculed) for fifty years.”
10. Chevrolet Chevette – Mechanical unreliability was the reasoning of most who voted for the Chevette. “When the car went into any type of water puddle it would suck water into the engine. They fell apart after 40k miles,” said one.

Not a bad list, but it's missing some of my "favorites":

• SsangYong Rodius
• FIAT Multipla
• VW Thing
• Consulier GTP
• Plymouth Valiant, 1960-62
• Toyota Prius Mk I
• Toyota Echo
• Renault Vel Satis
• Citroën 2CV
• Ford Taurus, 1996-1999 (a face only a fishmonger could love)
• current BMW 6-series

The list could go on and on.

Do you have any other pugs worthy of such recognition?

[computerworks]

Mod Note-
...moved to the Lounge

[Buzz]

ANYTHING with a vinyl covered roof or fake wood stickers on the outside! How the buying public let the marketing nimrods convince them that a make believe convertible top in the permanently up position or false wood stickers were desirable automotive design elements is waaaay beyond me.

[4RE KLR]

How about some of the seventies model Dodage trucks. They sounded like a can open when you tried to start one.


Note:
The Vega (with a frame kit) did make a nice race car though.

[Roscoe]

Family Truckser?

[trularin]

OMG, I used to work on several of those.

Pintos with small V8 under the hood were a nightmare for guys on Woodward. Light weight and short wheel base.

I must have done at least 100 Chevette engines in my life.

Dang, this thread is making my hands hurt just thinking about all the crap you had to do to work on some of these.

Forgot the transverse 6 Pontiac, what a piece.

[Wayne Maybury]

I once heard some one say that a Yugo was the only production automobile that could be expected to have a major mechanical failure within the first 5000 miles.

Wayne

[Cobrabill]

Originally Posted by trularin

Forgot the transverse 6 Pontiac, what a piece.

What were these in?

[Cobrabill]

I knew Pacer owners back in the day that would get Windex and paper towels as gifts at Christmas.I always thought,guppies don't drive.So why design it like a fishbowl?
And the problems with the Corvair were WAYYYY over blown.

[bomelia]

Fiero, I think (transverse 6)

[Cobrabill]

O.K.-the GM V-6 mounted transverse in the Fiero GT.They might have been a b.itch to wrench on but by then(88)GM had all the bugs out of the Fiero and it was a good car.

[Sharroll Celby]

Have you seen the grilles and lights of the new Chevy and GMC Colorado and Canyon trucks......shades of the Aztek, as in "butt-ugly!"

[Stentor]

Not a bad list, but it's missing some of my "favorites":

• SsangYong Rodius
• FIAT Multipla
• VW Thing
• Consulier GTP
• Plymouth Valiant, 1960-62
• Toyota Prius Mk I
• Toyota Echo
• Renault Vel Satis
• Citroën 2CV
• Ford Taurus, 1996-1999 (a face only a fishmonger could love)
• current BMW 6-series

The list could go on and on.

Do you have any other pugs worthy of such recognition?

You include the BMW 6-series on your list? Seems a bit out of place to me.

[M164285]

Chrysler Airflow of the late 30's has my vote.

[SunDude]

Originally Posted by Stentor

You include the BMW 6-series on your list? Seems a bit out of place to me.

You know what they say, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

But to me the new 6-series is the ungainliest example of Chris Bangle's "flame surfacing" styling to hit the streets.

[cobra de capell]

Of the new cars, I'd say the Honda Ridgeline is sort of strange looking.

[trularin]

Well, those transverse 6 Pontiac were unbelievable to work on and when they died ( and they did ), you almost always had to jack the engine to do anything.

I was reminded of this wonderful experience doing a timing belt in a PT Cruiser.

[496fe]

You guys are missing the early 80's Sevilles with the 8-6-4 engines, or even worse, the aluminum V6's. These cars had parts literally falling off as you drove.

[Scott S]

Lexus 330 RX, I hate my wifes car.

Scott S

[trularin]

Yes, the aluminum V6s were less than reliable over the long haul.

I think the mentality was "it only has to last three years".