10 Worst Cars Currently on the Market

[Nicotine]

Posting this here because armed with this you might get a few extra hundred knocked off if you are in the market for a car (just carry a copy of the magazine under your arm when entering the dealership):

Hooptie DeVille 2005 (http://biz.yahoo.com/weekend/worst_1.html)

[ES_Revenge]

Well it all depends on your definition of "worst" and here the definition goes two ways for the cars in that slideshow thingy...

One is safety and the other is resale value. It doesn't account for cars which might be "the worst" based on other factors. Like for example I submit the stupid Toyota Echo, a ******** car to drive. Takes the joy right out of driving because it is such a lame excuse for a car. There are many others of course, just thought I'd mention the Echo becuase I had the unfortunate "pleasure" of having to drive one once as a temporary insurance replacement.

On a side note I also drove a Nissan Sentra in recent times and while it wasn't great, I thought it was a pretty good car from a driving standpoint. Unfortunate to hear it scores so low on the safety tests and is one of the "10 worst" in that list above, however.

ALSO: Why is this in the Hot Deals section, I think it should be in another forum!

[rawkeJaw]

lol...the SportTrac got pwnd...good thing I didn't buy one

[sgtshultz]

Moral of the story??? Don't buy American cars??

[cozmo]

The first thing that came to mind for me was the Kia Spectra/Spectra 5 because of the safety issues. I definitely didn't expect to see the Sentra or the Lancer on that list.

[Wiseman]

I know a couple people with lancers :eek:

[yatko]

WOW. LS has also lowest residual value?
I kinda liked them so perhaps I can afford one after 5 years :)

[cummer]

mistubishi is own by GM/Chrysler so it's american. The Rio is just pure garbage just like any car that comes out of korean

why would cars depreciate 50% after driving off the lawn? answer: it's a hyundai or kia or dawesood.

[midget_man]

Moral of the story??? Don't buy American cars??


Seemed to me there were plenty of Asian cars on that list. Regardless of who owns who, seems that they are pretty even in their shiteness, just in differing categories. And wait until those Chinese cars hit the market. They will have to make a bigger list.

[afong56]

i'm surprised that there's so much venom about korean cars when hyundai has consistently ranked above most north american brands for quality and reliability, and has done so for many years.

furthermore, the link clearly identifies chrysler cars as the worst on the issue of depreciation.

i'm not even korean, but would readily buy a hyundai before a dc

[Topher]

Moral of the story??? Don't buy American cars??

Is that because many of them are made overseas? And the foreign cars are made over here?

[d_jedi]

Low resale value = CHEAP USED CARS!
Sweet.. I'm getting me a 2000 Neon @ 18% of it's original sticker price :->

[konfusion666]

Seemed to me there were plenty of Asian cars on that list. Regardless of who owns who, seems that they are pretty even in their shiteness, just in differing categories. And wait until those Chinese cars hit the market. They will have to make a bigger list.

Many here would not consider Mitsu to be Asian since it's owned by GM - who presumably has a lot of influence in how the company is run and how their cars are designed (now, anyways).

Likewise for Mazda, who is owned by Ford.

Therefore, there's really only 1 Asian brand on the list, versus 9 American or American-surrogate brands. ;)

BTW for those who are pro-American and anti-Asian; I ask you why all the major American car manufacturers are "represented" on that list while Honda and Toyota are conspicuously absent?

[DragonZealot]

Many here would not consider Mitsu to be Asian since it's owned by GM - who presumably has a lot of influence in how the company is run and how their cars are designed (now, anyways).



IIRC Mitsu is owned by DaimlerChysler.

[bluetroll]

the hyundai tiberon is also the most stolen car behind the WRX...

it doesn't have a theft immobilizer....

[gh05t]

IIRC Mitsu is owned by DaimlerChysler.

Read a recent article in the newspaper that Mitsubishi was breaking ties with daimlerchrysler after a long partnership as both companies decided they wish to head in different directions.

The Endeavour/Jeep Grand Cherokee must have been their last project together.

[pluto]

WOW. LS has also lowest residual value?
I kinda liked them so perhaps I can afford one after 5 years :)

that's what I was thinking too :)

LS is a classy looking sedan but I think is more for the over 40 crowd

doesn't mean the car is unreliable/unsafe just not that popular at resale.

Edit: I take it back. CR rates the LS reliability as poor

[gh05t]

that's what I was thinking too :)

LS is a classy looking sedan but I think is more for the over 40 crowd

doesn't mean the car is unreliable/unsafe just not that popular at resale.

The V8 Ls might hold it's value better than the V6.

Heard that the Ls and jaguar S-Type shared or had certain things in common.

[Mike71]

Interesting stuff, I'm just glad my car wasn't listed there.

[yatko]

Read a recent article in the newspaper that Mitsubishi was breaking ties with daimlerchrysler after a long partnership as both companies decided they wish to head in different directions.

The Endeavour/Jeep Grand Cherokee must have been their last project together.

You heard it right. DC now concentrates on the commercial vehicle section of Mitsu as trucks etc(they are the stake holder) but dropped back-up of other vehicle section.

[rexseven]

thanks for the link
i better keep away from those cars on the road

[jimmyzaas]

I can't believe the LS only retains 19%. I'm guessing any non-import car will not retain value. It does look very hot in the photo though.. nice chrome wheels.

Anyone happened to know anything about the reliability of the Ford V6 engines in Mazda6 sedans/wagons? Just knowing Ford makes the V6 engines for Mazda was a real disappointment for me.

[afong56]

I can't believe the LS only retains 19%. I'm guessing any non-import car will not retain value. It does look very hot in the photo though.. nice chrome wheels.

Anyone happened to know anything about the reliability of the Ford V6 engines in Mazda6 sedans/wagons? Just knowing Ford makes the V6 engines for Mazda was a real disappointment for me.

i think the problem for mazda was the tranny on the 1993-1995 engines that they borrowed from ford--they apparently had tonnes of problems and really, the brand hasn't recovered from that poison pill--ask any mechanic, and they will automatically say that mazdas have bad trannies.

my wife currently drives a new generation mpv with the ford duratec v6 in it. the engine and tranny, knock on wood, have been okay so far.

[CSR]

Alrite.. no toyotas on there.. my family loves TOYOTAS

[Hybrid88]

Moral of the story??? Don't buy American cars??

Wow, another educated conclusion. Gosh, I wonder how many ppl who respond to Car threads actually drive or own a car.

"Don't buy american cars??"

Does that mean American/North American assembled vehicles? So, Toyota and Honda is out of the question then.

Why don't you elaborate on your statement there. I'm interested in what you have to say about Don't Buy American cars..

[nx2k]

GM owns Subaru, not Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi as far as i know, is not owned by anyone, Mitsubishi motors is owned by the Mitsubishi corporation who manufactures a lot of other things much like what Siemens does in Germany.
DSM did have ties with daimler chrysler but i don't know if they still do, but as far as ownership goes, nobody owns them.

[JimG]

I don't think it's that American cars are constructed crappily, but it's more that they're not as well engineered as Japanese cars. You can build a car perfectly to specs, but if the car isn't well designed, it's still going to have problems.

Jim

[trini]

All cars are good it's just that when your money is done the car will be done.
either way you'll be a pauper.