Okay. Whenever I post Top Ten [Worst/Least X/etc.] Cars, I get hate mail. Might as well shoot for the moon with this one. Here's the Top Ten list of cars I hate...
1. Toyota Prius. A.K.A. the car for people bad at math. For an extra $10K, you can save $600 a year!
2. Ford Excursion. Not because Ford made it, but because they discontinued it. WUSS!
3. SMART Car. Tiny, two seats, and barely 30MPG on the highway? WTF?
4. Honda Fit. It's significantly smaller than the Civic, yet gets the same gas mileage. Um... FAIL.
5. Cadillac Escalade EXT. Look! A Chevy Avalanche! With $25,000 worth of badges!
6. Ford Explorer Sport-Trac. Whose bright idea was it to equip a truck with a 3' bed?
7. Hummer H3. Um, isn't it just a Chevy Colorado with a different shell?
8. MINI. For being so damned big. I want a car with 10" rims again!
9. Jaguar. Because, dude. Your quality improved when you got bought out by Fix Or Repair Daily...
10. Chevrolet Corvette. Because it no longer has a big block and sidepipes. Or pop-up headlights. I want the head of the person responsible for civilizing the Corvette...
So there's my list of top ten cars I love to hate. Some of them deserve to be on this list, some are just personal preference and maybe shouldn't make it. I'm certain I missed others that most decidedly belonged on the list; I tried to keep it to current(ish) cars otherwise the list would have been three damn pages long...
What cars do you love to hate?
That is all.
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26 comments:
i'm right there with you for all but the Mini. i like the new Mini, and my SO can actually fit in it now. if i didn't have the ProjectImpreza, i'd get a Mini for a toy.
i'd love to add anything made by Toyota, due to the company failing at being interesting. every vehicle in the line looks the same. all the SUVs look identical, all the sedans (save the Prius) look the same, and whoever's designing things found a way to make the ugliest new truck (see: Tundra) and hybrid on the road.
way to fail, Beige of Japan.
OH, and Subaru butchered the Impreza in 2008, with no signs of stopping the failure. i blame their partnership with Toyota - the Beige is seeping into Subaru's lineup. if i were looking for something in the WRX slot, i'd be going with a Lancer. at least Mitsubishi figured out what WRX fans want...
Part of the Wussification of America. The current generation of performance car enthusiasts are into 4-cyl. The Corvette got wussified along with it.
I like the sport track although I thought it was a 4-ft bed. Hmmmm. Although the 3-rd world 4dr ranger is cooler with a 4cyl Land Rover Deisel.
Any entry-level sedan with a massive after-market spoiler attached (yes, I'm talking about you, Dodge Neon) and stock everything else. If you're going to mod your car, at least finish the job and go full rice-burner.
Also - car with spinning rims. Especially when, just like with spoilers, that's the ONLY mod.
My buddy has a Z06, that's not wussified, that's over 400 HP of 180mph, back end losing goodness.
Stopping making the new GTO was the only good thing about that Honda Civic with a 8cyl with a man's label on it.
I wanted to go around with a knife and remove the plastic part where they labeled it a "Goat".
I know Goats and you sir, are no Goat.
The others ones I think are crap are the new generation of boxy EUnik-mobiles.
Like that Kia with the annoying, "You can go for this or you can go for that..."
I can't understand who would be impressed by poseur hamsters.
Idiots who buy a EUnik box I guess.
I was gonna say something about the Mini, because, come on. For being so small, my 6'3" self doesn't have to put the seat all the way back in that thing. And there's something almost dangerous about how fast that little thing moves and handles.
Oh, wait. I said something.
Anyway, the 'Vette doesn't technically have a big-block, but the Z06 is rolling a 7.0L, and the damned thing is hand-built.
There. Rage-hate complete. Carry on.
tweaker
Going by your "they don't make it any more" rule, I'd add the last Ford T-Bird. Oh, and you get double hate on the price point (which is what killed it).
I loved my Sport Trac.
It's a four door Ford Ranger. Small truck, big cab = short bed. With the bed extender it basically had a standard size bed, but could carry 4 people instead of 3 or 3.5.
I'm going to take issue with the Fit and the Vette.
The problem with the Fit vs Civic comparison is the Civic, not the Fit. The Civic has a much larger wheelbase, but no more rear legroom, and vastly less capacity for cargo, especially oddly sized or shaped cargo. And yet the Fit can match the Civic's mileage just fine. In retrospect, I wish I had been buying a year or two later, I would have gone for the Fit not the Civic.
As for the Vette, I do miss the popup headlights. But I can't deny that when they 'civilized' it, it got a hell of a lot faster. If you're going to hate how civilized a car has become, the Mustang is much better target.
I see you're upset, so I will pretend you didn't say my Jalopy was civilized.
It only seems civilized until you get into areas where other cars cannot go at all.
Oh, and it gets the same mileage as a SMART car AND it has cargo room.
Big block? I've been helping a friend keep his '68 running. I am officially over the romance of the big block; and carburetors. Besides, that 427 makes LESS stated power than my 376 and his numbers are gross mine are SAE net.
I'll take civilization, thank you very much.
Teke175 - i'll go back to loving big block motors when i can afford the gas. unfortunately, that ain't gonna happen anytime soon. there's a reason we love our 4bangers. ;)
My currently hatred is for my 2002 Chevy Blazer, but thats mostly because there is something fubar with it that as of yet neither myself nor my mechanic can figure out. However my deepest hatred is reserved for the dodge caliber. It looks all wrong and has a goofy transmission that is more expensive to maintain without any real noticeable benefit.
devietro - when was the water pump replaced? seems like all GMs from like...2005 and older have that one fail point.
"Civilizing the Corvette"? Jay, have you seen those crappy interiors?! LOL. I bought a used 987 Boxster S for a reason... But I still miss my old real Mini from being stationed in the UK.
Car I hate? Any Buick- they're always driven slowly. For that matter, any non-GTO Pontiac and even the last gen GTO because they were named for races (Bonneville, Trans Am, Grand Am) but such beige cars. The Chevy Aveo, which is just a re-badged Daewoo. Mercury, for being a useless mid-tier brand. And while I don't hate the Mustang, every time I test drive the newest model, I go out and buy something else.
Any of the Road Toasters, you know those square things Hip Hop Hamsters drive.
I'm waiting for a giant English Muffin to fly out of one as I follow it down the road.
Gerry
Having used a Fit (2007) as my daily driver, the ugly little sucker actually is much better than you think. The rear seats actually can fold UP, and that allows me to easily load my dogs, bulky square items like an aquarium, etc. Plus, I can sit in the drivers seat and still have head room. You know how big I am. But the wife and I can sit next to each other with plenty of room. Visibility is excellent, turning radius is a manhole cover, and I still get 35 MPG. It is actually one of the best cars I have ever owned.
Cars I hate? Mini vans. I want my station wagons back!
I don't know where you got your numbers for the Smart - the EPA rates the 2008 at 33/41 (36 combined) and the absolute WORST I've ever gotten out of mine was 35 (maxed at 47). Numbers calculated by dividing trip odometer reading by pump reading at fill-up, database of recent fillups says 37 mpg average; and my commute is mostly surface roads. Of the non-hybrids it's likewise the cheapest to operate on any reasonable assumption of gas costs I've plugged into their calculator - though it barely edges the Yaris due to taking 91 octane or higher.
I wouldn't own it as a sole household vehicle; but it makes a decent commuter box, and since the other car is a Ford Taurus well over 100K, it ends up being used for everything that doesn't demand significant cargo space (I don't yet have kids).
The "Smart for two". Every time I see one of these things I look for the wind up key on the back. I have never driven one so I don't know if the abysmal acceleration from a stop light is a designed feature, or just a reflection of the driver.
I'll join in the chorus of love for the Fit. Passenger volume between fit and civic is almost identical. Cargo volume in the fit is double the civic, and that's with the seats up on both. The flat folding seat across the full width makes the Fit quite the cargo hauler for a subcompact. Also if you match up features, the Fit is a few grand cheaper.
Not sure the real world fuel economy of the Civic, but over almost 30,000 miles, my Fit has averaged 37.66.
Renault LeCar, need I say more?
Reflection of the driver, most likely. I find that the acceleration is adequate, certainly no worse than my old Ford Ranger with it's 4-cylinder engine. It's no sports cart, I will admit. Top speed is governor limited to 90 or so, which is better than that Ranger by a bit. I have yet to have had the gas pedal floored and still found myself in need of more acceleration, at any rate, and I have had to deal with some of both New Jerseys and the DC areas best on ramps with short acceleration lanes in rush hour.
One problem the 08 model had was a poorly-tuned transmission control program, so the shifting in "automatic" mode was poorly-timed and somewhat rough. This was fixed by a software patch in 09, and the "automatic" holds gears longer and drops gears earlier with the pedal down. Or you can drive it in manual mode...
For the price (only a little more than I paid for the Taurus in 2003) I got a nice example of German-engineered car, with some nice luxury features, and notably reduced my fuel bill.
Follow up: delta-v in the Smart feels stronger than it is due to the short wheelbase, and incautiously flooring the pedal without thinking about what gear you're in can cause the car to lurch while the transmission control program goes hunting for an appropriate gear. If you want to drive snappy, learn to use the manual mode, and to know what gear you're in without looking. Since both of hose items are (broadly) true for any manual-transmission car, I don't think we can count that against it. The short wheelbase thing is a limitation, I will admit.
Second the HATE on the Smart Car. Seen one blown on it's side as it came out of the shelter of trees. Another got sucked into an oncoming truck. There are easier ways of committing suicide than driving a Smart Car on the interstate.
Even though out of production I still hate the Pontiac Aztek. Gag every time I see one.
Had to have been more to those experiences than just wind/atmospheric effects. My morning commute is along an interstate highway with heavy and high-speed truck traffic (I break 80 mph passing them sometimes) and while I don't like to be in a big truck's wake, there's not a noticeable effect if I'm not driving in the same lane as they are.
The car's light, but not that light - it's still a short ton of metal, plastic, and human driver. Any wind strong enough to blow that over or to pull it into oncoming traffic is more wind than I'd be driving anything without caterpillar treads in. Certainly too strong to be driving, say, a motorcycle in.
Um, Ian?
"The car's light, but not that light - it's still a short ton of metal, plastic, and human driver."
Curb weight on the Smart Fortwo is about 1600 pounds. When having an average-size adult male as driver adds more than 10% to the weight, the car is too damned light.
Hunh - I had read 1800lbs curb weight. Plus 1 200 lb driver (that's me) and it's a short ton. I know the US model is larger and heavier than the European model, that might account for it.
Nonetheless; I drive one every day. I stand by my statement that the wind/suction alone (or even primarily) didn't do in those cars that @Stretch saw. Any wind strong enough to do that would have long since cleared the motorcyclists off the road and into the emergency room, and would be blowing many more cars than the Smart around to the level that travel by automobile would be unsafe.
If you want to hate on it, do it for the right reasons - I don't dispute it's a tiny 2-seater with limited cargo space and unimpressive performance. And for all the fuel efficiency, it does take 91+ octane fuel and a small gas tank leaves it with a shorter range than any other car I've owned. My biggest complaint about the car is the lack of rear-corner visibility (which is mostly, but not completely, compensated for by having the biggest factory mirrors I've seen on a pasenger car). Hate it for it's looks; I like them, but I will admit they're a matter of taste, and even I find them a little goofy to look at from certain angles.
But the seats are relatively roomy (I've had 6"+ guys in the passenger seat, one at a time), the cargo space will hold a standard shopping cart full of "stuff" or a long weekend's worth of luggage for myself and my wife, the acceleration, top speed, and handling make it more than adequate for driving on the interstate highway system anywhere in the US. I've driven many vehicles with the same level of pep, and most of them were less maneuverable.
Call it the .380 of the automotive world :)
(VW: trant - this is t rant all right)
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