What makes a car good? Is it its reliability? Or the great service at the dealership? Or can it go on for miles without needing a break, or even a gas fill? Maybe it’s about the electric components being so attentive, that merely looking at them makes them work. Or how about the insane acceleration and a massive engine that can take the car just about anywhere, and at any time? We all have different needs from a car – and that defines our version of a good car. Some look at the power the car packs under the hood, while for others its safety and comfort that is paramount. Still, others care about only the monthly expense that goes into maintaining the car so budget rules the best vehicle for them.
But basically, any well-made car that an automobile manufacturer thoroughly tests before putting out in the market usually fares well. Even cars that have a few flaws but counterbalance with redeeming features tend to do okay. But every now and then, the auto giants make and try to sell a massive fail on wheels. Like these 25 spectacular duds. These cars were definitely envisaged on a very bad creative day, and run almost as bad as they look, or vice versa. There was no reason for the public to fall for these eccentric things on wheels, and thankfully not many were sold, or made for that matter. Check out the 25 worst made cars ever, with dismal sales to match.
25 The Infamous AMC Pacer
AMC (American Motor Company) had more misses than hits – and the Pacer did nothing to pace their downfall, so to speak. We understand that compact cars were becoming the next big thing in 1975, but did AMC have to bring out a car that had hysterical rollouts during normal turns taken at normal speeds?
Hard stops and tight turns sent the AMC Pacer into dizzying spins.
It was not helped by the fact that these were nothing more than soccer mom cars. When Pacer went kaput, so did the future of AMC.
24 The Bug-Eyed Fiat Multipla
Honestly, this has to be the worst looking car, discounting mods of course. The 1998 addition to the Fiat family should have firmed the footing of this auto giant, instead, it put on slippery footing. It's one horrible and weirdly put-together design that rides on wheels that look too small for it. And let’s not even talk about its backside. Performance wise it was just about average but it was so ugly that no one ever wanted to be seen in it – so this particularly peculiar design definitely made a dent in Fiat’s rather storied legacy.
23 The All-Name No Fame Edsel Corsair
In 1958-60, Ford made another marque called Edsel – that was to make luxury cars and make inroads into what was GM and Chrysler’s domain.
Unfortunately, they chose to do this with the Edsel Corsair – to cut it short, the Edsel didn’t sell!
In fact, even now, the Edsel case study is used in marketing courses to show “how not to sell a product!” The car was actually okay, just over-hyped so much that it fell flat on its face, despite the rather unusual hood.
22 Trabant P50: The Spark Plug With A Roof
So if you took a spark plug and built a car around it – you got the Trabant P50. Once upon a time, it was a popular car. Not just in Germany but in the domestic market as well. It had a hard plastic body mounted on a monocoque chassis, sported a front-wheel drive, a transverse engine, and also came with independent suspension. Why did it fail? Firstly, East Germany failed, and secondly – this car threw up enough smoke to still be polluting Berlin.
21 Ford Mustang II: The Ponies Ran Off
To the hordes who thronged Ford dealerships to get to the 1974 Mustang, we have to say – you bought the unworthiest pony of them all. 1974 was the time of the big oil crisis, and all bigger cars were put on a diet.
Unfortunately for the Mustang, they stripped it off of all original components and turned it into a glamorized version of the Ford Pinto (more on that later).
To top that, this was the first and the only the Mustang did not sport a V8, but a V6. So didn’t look like a Mustang, didn’t drive like on and certainly did not sound like one. Need we continue?
20 FSO Polonez: Next Level Cheap
The only reason anyone bought this excuse for a car was that it was dirt cheap. But as many experts would agree, it’s better to buy a dirt-cheap used car than get a new Polonez. The name, by the way, comes from the Polish dance, Polonaise. Despite having been designed by multiple brainiacs, it was godawful. The long wheelbase, narrow track as well as the strangely extended front and rear overhangs made the car look saggy. And while it did pass safety tests, the sheet metal was as thin as thin could be.
19 Saturn Ion: Negative Energy
So Saturn was a rather sunny automobile brand before it finally slipped in retrograde. They started out full of the dreams and sunshine, hoping to break into the domestic market. They did for a bit, but then the bubble burst and the Ion sort of helped it go pop.
The Ion can be best described as an underperforming car with a weak engine.
It also had a body flimsy enough to completely be decimated in a crash. Bland and poorly made, by now the GM-acquired Saturn had to recall 2.6 million Ions to fix faulty ignition switches – and that’s all the Saturn Ions ever made!
18 BMW Isetta: An Embarrassment Of A Car
Isetta wasn’t BMW made – in fact, it was made by the Iso S.p.A, an Italian manufacturing company also responsible for the Iso Grifo. But BMW acquired the license for it and it became a blob on the company’s otherwise stellar record. The three-wheeled car’s engine cranked out only 12horsepower, and the car came with just one door in the front and no reverse gear. Which meant that if you nosed into a tight parking spot, you would be stuck. The door wouldn’t open and you could not back the car out either. Talk about tight spots!
17 Cadillac Cimarron: Nearly The End
Can you imagine what the American automotive history would have been like minus the Cadillacs? Well, the Cadillac Cimarron nearly ended the Cadillac marque, simply because it wasn’t just a bad car; it was a full-scale disaster! While the car looked good, all that was good about it started and ended with its looks. It was built upon the failed J-platform sedan and with an underpowered engine, things slid from bad to worse in no time. GMs attempt to breeze into the small car market nearly blew up in their faces.
16 Zundapp Janus: Childish Design
Remember when our parent used to “aww” over those absurd cars we drew as kids? Well someone at Zündapp breathed life into them – and made the Janus. Seriously, motorcycle manufacturers should stick to two wheels!
Instead of side doors, it had front and rear ones that technically should have made it innovative.
But what good is an innovative car when you cannot tell the front side front from the back? And since the company was all about scooters, the Janus sported a scooter-sized engine – probably the straw that broke this camel’s back!
15 Davis D2 Divan: Another Three Wheel Flop
The Davis Motorcar Company was perhaps doomed from the very start due to its owner’s penchant for not paying the workers, not paying the bills and not paying the taxes. The owner went to jail, and the Davis prototype forever remained just that – a prototype. Only 11 cars were ever made, which means this is one rare disaster as well. The car had an impressive turning radius of just 4m and a 63-horsepower Hercules 4 engine mated to a 3-speed manual transmission. But it seemed cursed because a second attempt to revive it also died in ignominy.
14 Chevy Vega: What Happens In Vega, Stays In Vega
Initially, the Vega was thought to be mankind’s answer to all of mankind’s problems, in a car. But what goes up must come down and in the case of the Vega – the initial fame soon turned to notoriety. The Vega turned out to be a car that was more of a problem and less of a car – massive engineering flaws, perpetual reliability issues and of course the eternal battle between car and rust soon made it an unpopular choice. Flower power was all well and good in the 70’s, but even the hippies side-stepped the Vega.
13 Plymouth Prowler: The Hot Rod That Wasn’t
So much like the PT Cruiser listed below, the Prowler was a misnomer. It couldn’t prowl, in fact, it could barely run at all.
It looked so strikingly powerful that everyone assumed it had to be packing under the hood.
Sadly, it was the opposite. The weak 3.5-litre engine clunked out 250 horsepower which fell sorrowfully short of making the Prowler a muscle car. It ultimately turned out to be sheep in wolf’s clothing – and no car has ever survived on looks alone!
12 Citroen Pluriel: Bad In Many Ways
Call it the Pluriel, or the C3. In fact, you call it supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, but even then there would be nothing multidimensional about this sorry excuse of a car. Top Gear called it “about as useful as a chocolate teapot”; which is a very polite and roundabout way of saying that this car was an out-and-out junker from the start. In fact, it had so many problems and issues, that people started calling the snags as features. Barely any car came without a glitch or two, and the performance could only be described as below average.
11 Chevrolet Corvair: Unsafe At Any Speed
The Corvair did have a safety issue – and that was the lack of a standard anti-roll bar which in certain situations made the Corvair oversteer and “tuck under”. However, it was not significantly unsafer than the other muscle car on road at the time. However, when Ralph Nader wrote the book “Unsafe At Any Speed” that dissed the Corvair – it tarnished this car’s reputation forever. Even after Chevrolet installed the anti-roll bar in 1965, the sales just never picked up. Corvair was forever known as an unsafe car and that sealed its fate.
10 DeLorean DMC12: Back To The Drawing Board
The greatest feature of the DeLorean DMC12 was its gullwing doors. The second greatest thing it did was appear in the Back to the Future movie. And that’s where the greatness ends and the grate-ness begins. The DMC12 had a stainless steel body which made it a heavy car – however, the engine was too small to lug the weight as sportily as the car looked.
Plus there were plenty of electrical failures, especially with the gullwing doors.
Since the company was failing, the owner John DeLorean thought it would be a good idea to become a drug mule to raise some investment. The company went kaput, and DeLorean almost went to jail. And that was the end of the DeLorean dream…
9 Renault Dauphine: Slow And Rickety
The French do make great cars. But when they err, it’s usually catastrophic. The Renault Dauphine was one such cataclysm of automobile engineering – to begin with, it was actually named the Corvette. What’s even funnier is that unlike the muscularity of the Corvette, the Dauphine was emaciated. The car seemed woefully undersized and had a weak body, the engine barely spluttered through normal everyday driving and with no seat belts – this car was a one-way ticket to heaven or hell. Depending on how good or bad you were in life...
8 Lincoln Continental Mark IV: Road-Going Boat
Once upon a time, the Lincoln Continental was a great car – the best in luxury and style. Then they introduced the Lincoln Continental Mark IV. Suffice to say, it did not leave its mark in the car market. In fact, it didn’t even make a dent. It was boring, slow and lumbered on the road like a middle-aged clunker with just about no personality be it in looks, sound or performance. No one wanted this car because it seemed to have no redeeming feature about it. Plus everything just seemed a tad off about it.
7 Reliant Robin: Not Reliable
For years, I thought the Reliant Robin was nothing more than a silly prop for the Mr. Bean movies – till I actually saw one. In the series and the movies as well, every time the Reliant Robin makes a turn to avoid a crash with Mr. Bean’s crazy driving; it turns turtle. Apparently, this is what happened to this unreliable car in real life also.
The shape and the fiberglass body earned it the moniker “the plastic pig”.
So this little piggy tended to just fall over onto its side. Luckily, it was light enough for the driver to scramble out, put it back upright and then just drive on.
6 Aston Martin Lagonda: Razor Sharp But Only In Looks
This isn’t the first flop from the Aston Martin stables (remember the Cygnet?) and it may not even be the last. Introduced in the 60s when everything was about Disco and cutting razors, the design of the Aston Martin Lagonda was perfectly in the sync with the OTT-ness of it all. Plus the makers put in every kind of gadget and interface they could think of in the car, presumably for it to be remembered as a technological marvel. Instead, it was laughed at for being a technological disaster because none of those new-fangled thingamajigs ever worked.