10 Worst Cars

Here's an article from The Street, describing the author's position on the 10 worst cars ever produced. I take some exceptions to the list, of course, as some of them made the list because of bad styling or bad timing of the release. And yes, a couple of them just shouldn't have been done at all.

What makes a car good or bad? I'm thinking that it should start and run reliably, not leak in the rain, not fall apart, and have a reasonable life expectancy. Obviously engineers are not slaves to fashion.

That said, the Trabant, the Vega, and the Yugo all belong on the bad side of the list. The Trabbi was a molded fiberglass kids suitcase with a snowmobile engine. It was completely designed and built in the East Bloc during the cold war, and it showed. The Yugo was a Fiat, made in the same conditions. In it's defense, the Italians franchised several plants to the commies, presumable on the condition that the name FIAT should never be mentioned when marketing the cars. Of the Yugo, Skoda, Dacia, and Lada, the Yugo was the best of the lot. Scary.

The Chevy Vega was in effect, a hand grenade whose pin was removed when it rolled off the lot. An otherwise good idea, ruined by doing everything wrong it was possible to do. The engine had a life expectancy of about 60,000 miles before it began burning oil. Repairing the engine was a waste of time as the body rusted out in about the same timeframe.

Taking exception to the list begins with the Edsel. There was really nothing wrong with the car, aside from the quirky grill, and it was intended to be an upscale version of the Fords it was built on. Introducing an ugly upscale car at the beginning of a recession was just bad luck.

The Isetta 300 was introduced in Germany as cheap transportation for people in a country still clearing the rubble of WWII away. Smaller and less powerful than the Beetle, it would still get you where you were going, reliably and dry. 55 years of engineering expertise applied to the concept later, and we have the Smart For Two. If you're 20-something and immortal, it's reliable enough and fashionably funkey.

Ford could have dropped the Pinto and kept the Mustang II, and in so doing, driven Ralph Nader away, notwithstanding both cars were one and the same. This also would have returned the Mustang to its roots as an entry-level pocket rocket. Easier to rebadge the Capri, I guess.