Reader Question: The Worst New Car?

Here’s the latest reader question, along with my reply!

Tommy asks: What’s the worst car on the market right now? I have several in mind but was curious about which you’d pick. Love the rants; keep ’em coming!

My reply: Objectively speaking, there aren’t any bad cars; at least, not in the way we used to think about that – or rather, define that. If you are less than 30 years old, you probably don’t remember – and so cannot imagine – just how bad some cars used to be. And by “bad,” I mean unsound. Literally falling apart in some cases.

A good example being the infamous Yugo – but also first-generation Hyundais (e.g., the original Excel, which didn’t), Daihatsus and a few other memorable lemons. These cars weren’t afflicted merely by piddly problems such as door pulls that pulled off when you pulled on them; the entire car was a rolling defect. Engines that spat parts – or used as much oil as gas – before you finished making the payments. Paint that peeled like Zsa Zsa Gabor’s makeup.

These cars would just stop running sometimes – including times when you’d just pulled out into traffic. Reverse would stop reversing and you’d have to Fred Flintstone the car out of a parking spot.

There is no modern analog. Minor bitches, sure. Random electrical glitches. A leaky sunroof. But wholesale catastrophic failures and fundamentally shoddy designs are pretty rare.

My gripe with new cars is general and isn’t defined by the usual/historical criteria of slipshod engineering and quality control. Rather, I dislike the over-complexity, disposability and absurdly high cost. I rise in protest about the terrible visibility and nannying technology.

But the cars are – unlike their predecessors – fundamentally sound.

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