Written content from Martin Peter
What were they thinking? The following are some of the worst cars ever manufactured
These cars are so bad, they should never have existed in the first place!
The process of coming up with a car idea, designing it, building it, and finally selling it to the final customer can be long and laborious.
However, when done right, it can result in iconic vehicles like the Porsche 911, Ford F-150, Ford Mustang, or the Mazda MX-5 Miata, to name a few.
Unfortunately, for every great vehicle ever built, there are countless others that are just terrible. Even in modern times, when most manufacturers seem to have perfected the art of automaking, there are still awful cars rolling out of production facilities today. Ugly, unreliable, and terrible to drive: these are ten of the worst cars ever made.
AMC Gremlin
AMC designer Richard Teague will always be remembered for designing some of the coolest cars of the ’60s and ’70s. The AMC Gremlin is not one of them. Everything about this little car was terrible.AMC designer Richard Teague will always be remembered for designing some of the coolest cars of the ’60s and ’70s. The AMC Gremlin is not one of them. Everything about this little car was terrible.
For starters, the design looked cheap and unfinished. It looked like Teague basically chopped off the rear of the AMC Hornet with an ax and left it at that. Then there’s the build quality — the cheap interior with plastic made the Gremlin a terrible car to be in. A heavy six-cylinder engine and poor handling also made the Gremlin a pain to drive.
Ford Pinto
Ford introduced the Pinto in the early ’70s to take advantage of the growing demand for subcompact fuel-efficient cars. The Pinto was not a particularly bad car, but what earns it a spot on every’ worst cars’ list is its volatile nature.
The Pinto had a habit of bursting into flames if it got rear-ended, leading to multiple injuries and even deaths. Apparently, Ford had learned of the Pinto’s explosion issues during the crash tests, but chose to produce it anyway. This turned out to be a huge mistake, as Ford later lost millions in recalls and lawsuits.
Suzuki X-90
In the ’90s, someone at Suzuki thought it was a great idea to make a practical sports car. The result was the X-90, a two-seat SUV. The idea sounded great on paper, but when the X-90 came out, everyone realized how bad it was. The X-90 was neither practical to live with nor sporty to drive. It also was quite ugly, especially because it was hard to tell which side was the front.
Then there’s the engine — powered by a 1.6-liter four-cylinder with just 94 hp on tap, the X-90 took an eternity to accelerate to 60 mph.
Reliant Robin
The Reliant Robin is a car that always leaves people wondering — what was the manufacturer thinking? Voted the worst British car of all time, the Robin was another three-wheel car experiment that failed miserably.
The Robin had a few things going for it — it was super light thanks to fiberglass construction, had a fuel economy of 70 mpg, and could achieve an 85-mph top speed. However, anyone who managed to achieve such speeds would have to drive in a straight line, as any turns would almost certainly leave them overturned. The steering wheel would also pop off randomly while in motion.
Yugo GV
The Yugo was designed to be affordable for everyone, which means that the only thing designers focused on was ensuring that it could get from point A to B. Everything else was just an afterthought.
The exterior design was an eyesore, but the interior was even worse, with plastic components sticking out everywhere. A 1.1-liter engine generating 55 hp could barely move the Yugo. However, despite all its flaws, the Yugo still found its way to America. Read more from Hotcars
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