Yugo. Are they the worst car of all time?
Mr_Shiftright
Member Posts: 64,481
Right up there near the top, no doubt. Here are some of my candidates for Worst Car of All Time and Maybe for the Rest of Eternity. You may wish to add your own. I'm trying to stick to cars that actually were sold in the USA.
YUGO--a kind of Slavic Fiat, slammed together and shipped here thanks to the same man who gave us the Bricklin. The Yugo wasn't ready for US roads, and the parts and service networks were virtually non-existant. A recipe for disaster.
Austin America
Renault Dauphine
Jaguar XJ6 (Series One)
First VW Rabbits
Renault Alliance (marketed through AMC)
Chevrolet Vega
YUGO--a kind of Slavic Fiat, slammed together and shipped here thanks to the same man who gave us the Bricklin. The Yugo wasn't ready for US roads, and the parts and service networks were virtually non-existant. A recipe for disaster.
Austin America
Renault Dauphine
Jaguar XJ6 (Series One)
First VW Rabbits
Renault Alliance (marketed through AMC)
Chevrolet Vega
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Oh, and the Denbeigh Super Chauvanist was up there too ;-)
What else... Hmm...
Trabant
Wartburg
FSO
Bill
Don't let the good looks fool ya'
And I must be the luckiest guy in the world. I had a '79 Rabbit and it was great. Fun to drive and never gave me any trouble. I drove it for 85K miles and then gave it to my parents who drove it for several more years until a forklift ran in to it and ended it's life.
How about the Amphicar? It could be on both the worst cars of all time and the worst boats of all time lists.
As far as Jag's go, the inboard brakes and odd gas tanks are common to Series 1, 2, and 3, and the BW 65/66 transmissions traded off a lot of the S1's BW12's durability for smoother shifts. John's cars, (the same people who brought you the 350 V-8 conversion), also offer you a kit to put a GM THM transmission behind the XK engine, and loose the old BW unit (No affiliation, ect., ect., bla, bla, bla!). And when you consider the Series 2 was built during the heyday of British Leyland ineptitude, I still think they rate worse than the Series 1, although the 1 isn't exactly rivaling Toyota. (Well, maybe the Toyota's of 1969.)
Actually, the Jaguar engine is about the only good thing in the Series I. It's ironic that people spend a fortune to replace the one component that doesn't need replacing. It's all the stuff ATACHED to the engine that you have to worry about.
I have in my possession (hopefully brief possession) a Series II, along with, in my very hands, $38,000 in receipts to keep in running. And you know, it's still not a car I'd count on.
Okay, ENOUGH Jaguar bashing. May they live and prosper under Ford!
Lessee, other BAD cars....oh, OH....how could I forget....
The Maserati Bi-Turbo!!
Now there's a car that is basically not fixable....
Speaking of not fixable.....how about another one for the all time bad list....
Triumph TR7....with the completely bendable cylinder head (fold it up, put it in your pocket!)
At least the Dauphines had that nifty two tune horn, remember?
And how about the earliest rotary Mazdas? They would build up gas fumes and backfire loudly ten minutes after you parked them!
Oh, the early Mazda rotary had an excuse ....it was a pioneering car...and to Mazda's credit, they made good on those early lousy engines, replaced thousands of them for free, out of warranty. Mazda set a great example for automakers with the rotary....taking the hit for their mistakes, and eventually making a very decent car out of it, too.
Ah, yes, the Audi 100LS....actually, also a pioneer car, one of the very first 4-door Euro sedans, technically interesting, a great cruiser, but underdeveloped...overheated a lot, some bad trannies--it wasn't a very good car, that's true, but at least a trend-setter. Audi later made another dog, the 5000, but again, eventually made a great comeback with the 90, 100, 200, and of course, the Quattro system, which is fantastic and durable.
The TR-7... I knew that the Exec's had been out too long in the mid-day sun when they elected not to update the TR-6 (One of the most handsome designs of all time) and replace it with the door stop TR-7.
There must be a very complicated and interesting story as to exactly how they came up with such an ugly design.
Yes, I vaguely remember that the story behind the styling was complicated and interesting...that it was a nice design until the top execs butchered it, or until they brought in the Daimler SP 250 design team, or something like that.
But styling aside, the TR7 is still a car with lots of problems....no doubt they can be overcome, but a buyer shouldn't have to re-engineer the car he buys. At least the TR8, as homely as it is, got rid of the troublesome engine of the TR7, so it's a little better, and hence more valuable, maybe even collectible in 10-20 years.
OTHER HOPELESS CARS?
What was that car made for GM by Daewoo....a little Pontiac Lemans was it?
And of course the stunning Hyundai Excel of the 1980s!!
Anyone remember the Datsun F10? Or the Subaru FF1?
Oh, moving upscale here:
Any Rolls Royce from the 1980s
The Mercedes 600 limos of the late 60s, early 70s....could they stay out of the shop for two weeks?
Oh, the BMW 320i.....not really the WORST car in the world, but how about high priced and cheaply built. What a winning combination. And the poor yuppies ate it up (until the horrible truth came out). I especially liked the plastic heater valve piping that would burst inside the car....lovely.
Suzuki Samurai--designed as a cheap 4X4, it was cute and ran passably well, but OH, what a ride. The dream car for chiropractors throughout the world. How could they design such punishment for the driver? worst riding car made after 1950 that I ever drove in.
I'd like to respectfully nominate my '95 Firebird for at least honorable mention in this category. This was a car for the true connoisseur of rattles. Spent a month of the year-plus I owned it at the dealer "waiting for parts"--are small-block Chevy parts that hard to find? And it was a pig to drive. Taught me to be careful what I wished for.
A good number of Motor Trend's Cars of The Year would qualify: The Omnirizon, Vega, Alliance, Aspen/Volare [whatever happened to the "Bumper of the Year" Award?]the Mustang II,Chevy Citation, and others like the "Porsche 914"[Import Car of the Year] and the one foreign car that got it that sent the readers into a fury. I can't remember the name, but I think it was a Citroen with a Maserati engine. Can anyone remember the name?
That one's not a certainty about being worse than a Yugo, but.....anything by Fiat would be close.
The "Eagle" Premiere [and it's Dodge twin the Monaco]ooooooooooh bad!!!
Wasn't the Yugo a rehashed Fiat design. Fiat was bad enough, a Soviet Block copy of a Fiat was....well, a Yugo.
As far as the MT car of the year, I really think the advertising revenue collected has a lot to do with it. Or sombody is getting paid on the side.
Citroem SM....as one magazine put it, "Maserati and Citroen would have a hard time agreeing where to eat lunch, much less build a car together".
I liked the SM better than the XJ6 I also drove around that time. Both cars were owned by my boss and I bet he walked a lot.
I think it has something to do with the thinking that anything from overseas is automatically good; the "everyone knows" syndrome.There are some great Italian designs that I like better today [Alfa Romeo] than I did when they came out in the 70's,they look even better now, but HIS are dated. I think that's the way GM is going and it scares me and Ford as well with it's "New Edge"
stuff. The Farina styled Allante was a very ordinary design as well and Cadillac started basing all their cars on it. Por QUE! Senor?
Yes the Yugo was a former Fiat design, I had forgotten that.My brother had a Yugo, had the extended warranty. When the engine blew at 45,000 miles the dealer didn't want to make good on it,but my brother had EVERY receipt and they finally put a new one in. Only my brother would do maintenance on a Yugo like it was a Cadillac....but then he IS my brother. His wife got the Yugo in the divorce settlement! Steel fist, velvet glove!!Couldn't have happened to a nicer woman!
The SM was fun to drive, when it ran....a very spacey, out of the world experience to drive one....pretty quick, too, for a 6 cylinder auto. Sometimes mankind reaches too far and falls upon his nose.....I read that somewhere....
1. ZAZ (Zaporozhetz) Russian-built copy of NSU Pinz, even the german "parent" sucked, can you imagine how good the russian copy was? Engine had to be rebuilt after 20K miles if well maintained, otherwise - earlier.
2. Trabant - east german car. Germans say "it's built from band-aid". And you thought german cars were great... Not the ones built under communist rule.
3. Wartburg - the damn' thing is well worth the name.
4. AZLK (Moskvitch), Russian - built copy of '60s opel with russian version of BMW1500 engine. Annual transmission rebuild due to inability of a 40hp-rated '30s designed transmission to take the 'superpowerful' 67Hp engine
5. Yugo
6. RWD LADA - The infamous russian FIAT 124. Russians still build versions of this '66 fiat.
7. VOLGA - russian 'limousine'. Design is similiar to a downsized '60s american car with one half of the engine (Inline 4 2.5l pushrod) installed. Built to the highest eastern block standards (see Yugo) Nickname - 'boat'.
8. FWD LADA - russian 'simplified' VW golf I. FYI when russians started building this car, germans were building golf III. This is one of the most capable easten block cars to date. I'd give a credit to Porsche consultantants who made it happen
You're lucky to live in America guys, VERY lucky.
If you knew what kind of iron I was used to...I think I was driving a '69 Judge then. I don't think I'd graduated to the '62 Impala with 4.11s yet.
A neighbor used to have an SM in her garage, gold like the one I drove, and I was tempted. Fortunately I realized I didn't have the time or money to be on a first-time basis with an exotic car mechanic.
2. Yugo. This is the disposable razor of cars. I looked up the trade-in value for a 1987 Yugo GV on Kelley just for amusement and it came up as "SALVAGE." Another site listed a fair price for the Yugo as $37.00. I can go out and buy four Yugos right now with what's in my wallet!
3. Chevrolet Vega. Did you ever see a car with the A-pillars rusted through that wasn't sitting in a junkyard for 30 years?
4. Ford Pinto. I never seen the exploding fuel tank phenomenom, but they rusted just as bad as a Vega. My aunt got a new 1972 Pinto after graduating nursing school. Within two years the front fenders were so rusted they needed to be replaced. Until then, they were sloppily patched with sheetmetal and pop rivets.
5. VW Dasher. Should have been called the Trasher.
6. The Chevrolet...er "Cadillac?!?" Cimmaron. Even the dealers had a cynical attitude toward this car. When I went shopping for a Cadillac, the salesman, in reference to the Cimmaron, told me, "I won't even waste your time showing you that car!"
7. Ford EXP. My brother and I would joke that EXP stood for "Extensively Plastic." Ford had a lot of chutzpah to call this ugly mediocre vehicle a sports car.
8. 1980-82 Ford Thunderbird. This Fairmont-based 'Bird was the car at the lowest point in its history. My Dad had one of these and the gutless 252 V-8 would probably have a hard time propelling an Echo if it were around today.
9. 1980s Pontiac LeMans: Belive this car was built by either Daewoo or Kia. If you thought early-mid '90s Kias were bad, they are Lexuses compared to this mechanical marvel.
10. 1968-86 British Leyland products - the "Scions of Lucas" - hardly a flattering term.
Surprises: My best friend had a 1980 Chevrolet Citation from high school through college, graduate school and the first two years of his marriage. This car lasted twelves years and ran up an amazing 195,000 miles!
My mother had a 1987 Dodge Omni and this homely little car could go anywhere and hold up well even under the most adverse conditions. It was very economical and cheap and easy to service and repair.
Nuff said? Ugh...
Oh, and the Plymouth Cricket was really a Hillman Avenger.
And the Lada SHifty? That's probably a Niva. little Golf-Sized SUV. Supposedly very durable and capable and cheap. Well-Respected even by those who appreciate them for what they are in Western Europe.
Ugly, Noisy, Rough, Slow..etc.. But so is a Land Rover and they're amazingly good for what they are.
Bill
Yes, NIVA, that's it! I heard they were quite okay in a crude, brutal sort of way.
Boy, lemko has got his dogs down pat! Great list for the scrapyard!
I had a Citation as well and loved it, but it had been totally thrashed and wrecked and repaired at some point.Not as bad as everyone says especially when you consider how long the X based A bodies they spawned lasted:Olds Ciera and Buick Century 1982 to 1996.
Britain's "Car" magazine reported what was in leaked documents from Rover re: the new "Highlander" and how horrible it was even BEFORE it was introduced. Please, I'm not certain of the name so correct me about it, but the vehicle was a new low for them and inside the Company it was well known....and then they hit the roads......[I don't know what it's called here, but Discovery, Freelander]and THIS while under BMW's supervision, part of the reason they realized there was nothing more they could do but empty their wallets.
Hey, don't bag on the Cimarron...remember: It was the Cadillac Escalade of Cavaliers!
They used to build 4x4 jeeps and minivans. Both cars were powered by I4 2.5l pushrod engine with a carburator. The jeep had good off-road capabilities (after all it was a military piece of equipment) but the build quality was worse than that of a yugo. This was a "single use" piece of equpment, just like most of the russian military equipment is. According to the russian military doctrine, the average life expectancy of a tank in the "intensive combat" is 15 minutes. Why bother building durable stuff?
As for the "NIVA" - it had good offroad capabilities. Russian roads are BAD, some people say that there are no roads there. The NIVA was noisy, slow and as reliable as any other eastern block car. British cops in the countryside used them a lot in the eighties. It was so inexpensive that they would simply buy a new one after 20-40K.
Bill
These twins were very problematic except for the slant 6 engine. The slant 6 engine held up but the rest of the car rusted away.
I almost bought a '79 Volare coupe with a 360 4-bbl a few years ago. At the time I was driving a '68 Dart with a 318 2-bbl. Sad thing is, the Dart handled better, accelerated faster, and got better gas mileage! Chrysler might've been better off just keeping the Dart/Valiant instead of replacing them with the Aspen/Volare. Wait, I said I was going to defend those two didn't I? Oops ;-) Still, I think a '78-80 Aspen/Volare would be a better choice than a Granada/Monarch or Nova/Phoenix/Omega/Skylark. The sheetmetal was thicker, and those 225's and 318's were just about indestructible.
Yugo true story - a friend of mine (really a friend - not me) had a Yugo that vibrated horribly over 40 mph. It was not wheel balance, or other typical suspects. It was explained to him that the stock tires were not exactly round. They were a bid off - causing a very interesting ride.
It must be hard, actually, to make a square tire.
This is why I always thought that truly bad cars are underappreciated. It takes just as much effort to make something totally bad as it does to make it decently. So we have to give Yugo credit a great effort, albeit in a totally perverse direction.
I'm just guessing but I think a poorly-engineered car or tire is usually due to lack of talent and resources, and ignorance of or disregard for the fundamentals. Poor job performance, in other words. Come to think of it, maybe there's no need to celebrate something so common.
Bad styling seems to come from design by committee. Usually a GM committee.
Car seems typical of GM products.I felt it was really an excellent design,and was what a lot of people wanted back then.I had just come out of a 1971 Torino my father handed down to me in 1977.I did like a fairly big car.I raced bicycles back then,and either car would haul two bikes inside.It was ALMOST as roomy as the Torino,and got twice the milage.It was a shoddy car,but it was roomy,comfortable,quiet,and very economical.
It was exceedingly practical-too bad it wasn't made better.It could have been an American Accord.