Aron9000

So there have been a million threads about worst car ever with the usual crap coming up:

Yugo
Vega
Ford Pinto
Diesel Oldsmobile
Geo Metro

etc, etc, etc

But what about newer cars? Whats the worst car made, model year 2000 or newer in your opinion?

Daewoos were pretty much bottom of the barrel, poorly made crap. Company went bankrupt, with no warranty support, parts supply, etc. GM bought them out then proceeded to give us the equally miserable but more durable Aveo, made in the same S Korea factory as the Lanos, etc.

I also nominate the 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse. Granted the previous models weren't particularly well made, but the 2000 redesign made the old cars feel like a swiss watch. Defective paint, interiors that fell apart if you looked at them funny, defective brakes, smoking engines, the whole car was a total pile of crap. Plus they totally killed what made the old car great, a tuneable turbocharged engine, awd, light weight, and great hanlding. Instead they put the boat anchor V6 from a Galant under the hood, made the car a nose heavy pig.

mmarshall

By my standards, the worst 21st-Century vehicle I have reviewed was, hands, down, the gas-powered, American-spec Smart-for-Two (I have not sampled the European or full-electric versions). Ironic, too, considering that it came from a generally well-respected manufacturer, Mercedes (Daimler). In fact, Mercedes itself, at first, must have been apprehensive about the car, since they left the first American-spec versions to Penske Automotive to import rather than importing the car themselves. This vehicle had two nice features....One, you could maneuver and park it virtually anywhere (it would fit into some standard-sized parking spaces sideways). Two, the snap-on-off thermoplastic body panels, (pre-colored from the factory) resisted dents/corrosion and made accident repair and body-color changes simple. There, the Plusses stop.....just about everything else is a joke. IMO, it is simply too small for most American roads outside of dense urban conditions, it wasn't really intended for the American market, and a credible argument can be made that it should not have been brought here. The tiny (generally under 1 liter) three-cylinder engines burn premium gas, so part of their inherent economy gets lost with more expense at the gas pump. Ride-comfort on rough roads is akin to participating in a rodeo. The tall, stubby, narrow, and short design produces a very high center of gravity and Roly-Poly handling, with copious body lean, even with moderate steering-input. Significant braking produces a marked pitch forward, even with the rear-mounted drivetrain and weight-bias. At lower speeds, the crude automated-manual transmission lurches the car back and forth like a child's rocking-horse while shifting. The car's ultra-small size, even with the much-hyped Mercedes Safety Roll Cage, means that, in a crash with a larger vehicle (which, of course, includes just about everything else on the road larger than a motorcycle), it almost guarantees that its occupants will come out second-best. And if that weren't bad enough, to add insult to injury, Penske, while they imported the car, offered only a 2/24 warranty, including the drivetrain (Mercedes itself has since taken over the importing). The somewhat similar and (slightly) larger Scion iQ, with its in-line four and CVT, was a little better-designed and more tolerable overall, but also, IMO, was basically not designed for American roads.

So, in most cases, given a choice between a Smart-for-Two and walking..............I'd say it's time for some exercise.

tex2670

Pontiac Aztec.

bagwell

agreed, the 1999 and older Eclipse were actually pretty cool cars! I almost bought one. 2000+ sucked - and was part of Mitsubushi's downfall. Galant also suffered a similar fate in 2004, 2003 and older were decent cars.

mmarshall

The 90s-vintage Eclipse/Talon/Laser, especially turbo GS-T and AWD GS-X versions, were certainly popular with the tuning crowd, but were poorly made, and suffered from a lot of paint, body, and hardware defects. Mitsubishi took a LOT of complaints after they were dropped and the unimpressive 2000 FWD V6 version was introduced, but remained stubborn and would not bring back turbo and AWD versions of the Eclipse, preferring instead to introduce the Evo sedan.

(No offense, guys, but I still don't see how anything could be worse than the Smart for Two).

LeX2K

I tried to think of a worse car that is a current model and failed. Simply dreadful.

doge

Im sure there are some soviet cars that would fit the bill, maybe some current Chinese cars

blacksc400

iTrader: (4)

Hyundai Accent

JDR76

It's hard to come up with just one. The Aveo and the HHR keep coming to mind, among the others mentioned above.

ThaDRD

PT Cruiser

Justin2JZ

The Pontiac Aztek

Aron9000

2007 Chrysler Sebring, especially those with the 2.7 V6. Throw away car if there ever was one, like the Eclipse, it was a new model that was worse than what was made before it.

UDel

3rd Gen Chevy Cavalier or Toyota Echo are my nominations, had them as rental cars and even a few days in them was too much. I could not wait to get back in my early 90's Eclipse which seemed like a luxury coupe in comparison to those cars which says something

Toys4RJill

My vote goes for the Chevy Astro van with the front frame cut off from the rear which has not frame.

Or the Buick Lucerne....

Perhaps the Chevy S10

balMaster

Pontiac Aztek is the first car that came to my mind. Then I saw two people already said it. Already 3 votes