http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=310x221The "automotive" section on Skin's island seems always pretty stagnant; I think I'll pep up the automotive forum here, with the hopes that lurking primitives see we discuss motor vehicles here, and so it might encourage the primitives to pay more attention to their own little shed parked off in a remote corner of Skins's island.
CO Liberal (1000+ posts) Fri Mar-25-05 03:38 PM
Original message
What's the WORST Car Ever Sold in America?
My nominees:
Yugo
Chevy Vega (I had a '73 Hatchback.)
Ford Pinto (a Bic lighter on wheels)
I dunno.
I've owned a lot of different cars in my life.
They've all had their good points, and they've all had their bad points.
By the way, wasn't the Yugo made in one of those socialist paradises of the workers and peasants with free medical care for all? Should the primitives be criticizing this fine example of socialist craftsmanship?
onager Donating Member (1000+ posts) Sat Mar-26-05 01:17 AM
Response to Original message
1. Just trying to start trouble, aren't you?
Just kidding. I owned the Vega's little sister, the Pontiac Astre, and would certainly put that POS on the list.
Aside from the Magic Melting Engine, build quality was non-existent. GM rushed the Vega/Astre to market, and it showed. One of the biggest safety hazards in my Astre was getting hit by interior parts falling off...like window and door handles!
OTOH, I owned a Pinto "crusing wagon" for several years and never had a bit of trouble. The wagon was a Non-Exploding Model, since the gas tank actually had metal on top of it and stuff.
A few candidates for you...
Dodge Aspen/Plymouth Volare family: Chrysler engineers came up with drains that allowed water to come IN, not go out. These clunkers started rusting at the factory. And that wasn't their only problem by a long shot.
Renault Dauphine: the first, but unfortunately not the last Renault imported to the U.S. Advertised as the cheapest foreign car sold in America--guess why! Established a reputation for Renault's American imports that endured right down to the days of the miserable "Le Car." "Le Piece Du Merde" was more like it.
Bricklin--from the same guy who imported the Yugo, Malcolm Bricklin. Loaded with exciting features like gullwing doors that tended to fail suddenly, trapping the passengers inside. You can see one destroyed in Toby Halicki's movie The Junkman. If you ever owned a Bricklin, you'll probably stand up and cheer.
The British Invasion Of The 70's!!!--good grief, where would I start? Whether you invested your hard-earned money in a Triumph, MG, or a hoity-toity Jaguar, you could plan on investing a lot more in repairs. And probably sooner instead of later. Many problems were caused by the legendary electrical components from Lucas, a/k/a "The Prince Of Darkness."
The bonfire's pretty big, but it's an old bonfire, remember.
nedbal (655 posts) Mon Mar-28-05 09:42 AM
Response to Reply #1
4. you know you;re POS cars well !
I too owned a pinto and it did not deserve the bad over all rep it got, it ran great and was simple and reliable. A friend had a corvair and it too ran great.
Now the Vega is the car that to me stands out as a US made POS. 100k miles and that was it for the engine.
Add to this list all the cars with timing belts (not chains) and the interfering piston/valve design.
rzemanfl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Tue Jul-11-06 07:57 PM
Response to Reply #4
48. I'd believe in the Virgin Mary on a piece of toast before I'd believe a Vega with 100,000 miles on the original engine.
I dunno.
The American Motors Gremlin I had, parallel with the Chevrolet Vega, had 134,000 miles on it, before it went to the junkyard. I had purchased it used, of course, circa 85-87,000 miles on it, and was replacing the clutch every 1500-2000 miles (already explained in an original post over at the other place some months ago), but other than that, I found it an eminently fine vehicle.
SpeedwayDemocrat (339 posts) Wed Dec-28-05 04:51 PM
Response to Reply #1
32. Yep, the Vega gets my vote!
Dad owned a Cosworth Twin Cam Vega, a limited edition POS that they only made 4,500 of - and with good reason. Take your basic Vega and slap a Cosworth designed engine into it that NO ONE in the USA could fix.
Four GM dealerships and not one of them knew anyone trained to work on it. Spent more time sitting in the shop than out on the road.
Shame on Cosworth for getting into bed with GM on that one!
AndyA Donating Member (1000+ posts) Thu Jun-08-06 07:55 PM
Response to Reply #32
43. I have to vote for the Chevrolet Vega as well.
They literally were rusting on the showroom floor. I read an article that said the way the factory rustproofed them created a bubble on the underside somewhere, which was basically bare metal. Some brand new Vegas showed signs of serious rust before they were even sold!
On top of that, add crappy engines, poor quality control and poor construction practices, and you've got yourself one nasty little car.
Blue_Tires Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon Mar-28-05 01:06 AM
Response to Original message
2. Corvair?
the Edsel has to be near the top of the list, along with most of Chrysler's line in the mid-70s
Okay, I'm not into automotive history.
I was under the impression the Ford Edsel was an okay vehicle, mechanically; it was just the wrong style at the wrong time, much as a fully-upper-shelved woman wearing a low-cut dress at a funeral.
CO Liberal (1000+ posts) Mon Mar-28-05 08:09 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. The Corvair Was Actually A Very Good Car
The early 1960 models had a problem with broken fan belts, which was fixed by using deeper pulleys to hold the belts in place better. it also had unusual handling characteristics, which were fixed by different tire pressures front and rear. Once they made these minor adjustments, the Corvair was actually a very good road car.
The only thing that killed the Corvair was the bad publicity generated by Ralph Nader's book, "Unsafe at Any Speed".
This has always been confusing to me.
I read Ralph Nader's
Unsafe at Any Speed, maybe twenty years after the book came out.
Ralph convinced me.
But on the other hand, I knew of many commonsensical people, normal decent civilized hardworking honest people, who thought the Corvair was great.
It's an enormous--but old--bonfire, all the primitives having complaints about this make of car or that make of car.
Alas! the poor primitives! alas! never happy about anything!
