50 worst cars of all time

Time has put together a list of the 50 worst cars of all time, and got it very very wrong.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1658545_1659833,00.html

i can point out at least 20 cars i would love to own.

These lists always suck.

And how dare they call the (original) Lotus Elite one of the 'worst cars of all time'?

I like how they trash the Explorer for causing America's "vehicular obesity" problem and then on the very next page they say the EV1 "was a tiny, super-light two-seater, not exactly what American consumers were looking for." Sheesh, pick an editorial slant and stick to it!

J

The guy makes it clear on the Model T, he hates cars. He hates what it did to society, the environment, etc.

Still, it was kinda fun to go through a few pages and laugh at some of the cars.

GRM should write a "50 Worst Automotive journalists" article bashing all of these car-hating ding-dongs.

Wow. What a Douchebag.

Excuse the language... but douchebag none the less.

Its easy to try (and fail) to be funny by pointing out failed inventions. I guess he thinks Edison and Einstien got it right on their first try?

"enough copper tubing to provide every hillbilly in the Ozarks with a still" Into stereotypes much?

"The first V8-powered vehicle ever built in Detroit, so you could argue it is the beginning of an even greater folly. "

Oh, and apperently Lotus was a Failure. Hm. Someone let them know.

I'm speechless. I'm done reading this crap.

the 1980 Corvette be replaced with a wholly inadequate 305 V8, putting out 180 hp of pure shame

That is pretty funny when you think of it. My wife had a 1979 Camaro 305 V8 and it probably pushed out 140hp......

Repost.

idiot said: [the LM-200] gets on the list — well, my list anyway — purely because of its appalling clientele

And this makes it a bad car how???

C'mon bud. People kill people. Not guns.

P71 wrote: GRM should write a "50 Worst Automotive *journalists*" article bashing all of these car-hating ding-dongs.

+1

Where do I start? Did any of you Lotus folk ever see an Elite (or an Elan) with suspension coming through the body?

mel_horn wrote:

P71 wrote: GRM should write a "50 Worst Automotive *journalists*" article bashing all of these car-hating ding-dongs.

+1 Where do I start? Did any of you Lotus folk ever see an Elan with suspension coming through the body?

i was wondering the same thing. He said it won the 24HR of LeMans and that it broke in the same sentence... Does not compute.

This kind of crap is the reason I do not subscribe to or particularly care what TIME magazine has to say about ANYTHING.

The original Elite: granted Chapman was a notorious tightwad.He was, however, experimenting with an entirely new way of building cars. That car paved the way for a LOT of the innovations we take for granted. For instance, it was 'monocoque' which is another word for 'unibody' which was truly unique and cutting edge in a ladder frame world.

Ditto the Airflow. Legend has it the Airflow's designer was puzzling over how to get better performance and gas mileage from the engines of the time and he was staring out of his office window when he realized that cars of the time were more aerodynamic if they were turned around and driven backwards. Thus the far forward looking concept of the Airflow was born.

The Car Talk guys said the Yugo rated the Yugo as the "Worst car of the Millenium". That's why I drive one!

I concur that the author is a raging eco-nut of the "let's all move back into caves" variety.

"OMG look at these technological advancements that revolutionized our way of life and BURNED FOSSIL FUELS! I just want to berkeleying cut myself at the way these things have changed all our lives for the better, if only I could go back in time and undo all this awful progress! WAAAAH!!!!"

Honestly I'd expect someone with such viewpoints to be living in the woods, employed only by their organic vegetable garden.

He might as well hate computers (turn electricity right into heat, and aid in the design and control of fossil-fuel burning machines) and, most of all, science (started and constantly advances the design of fossil-fuel burning machines) as well.

My wife's on the phone with the mother-in-law. I told her to let the mother-in-law know that her car's on the list.

This kind of crap is the reason I do not subscribe to or particularly care what TIME magazine has to say about ANYTHING.

I was waiting for somebody to make that observation.

Let's put the bastard on the Shoeleather Express for a month and then see if he'd like to drive any one of the cars he listed as an alternative.

It gets better, though. IIRC, this is the same guy who wone the Pulitzer Prize for journalism based on his car reviews for the L.A. Times.

Nothing good comes outta that rag

I have a great book on the "worst" cars of all times. The author tells it like it is about the cars; some are great cars that came at a bad time, others featured technology not ready for prime time, others were too expensive or rusted too quickly. No sweeping generalizations, just solid reasons WHY the car was considered bad: mechanical, sales disappointment, performance, whatever. This guys list is laughable.

On the plus side, this is the first car-related question to which the answer was not Miata!

GameboyRMH wrote: I concur that the author is a raging eco-nut of the "let's all move back into caves" variety.

He makes lot of eco-nut comments then goes on to say he owns an MG

TIME writer said:

A point of personal privilege. I own a 1960 MGA that I restored with my own two hands, and it is a fantastic British sports car, with lovely lines penned by Syd Enever, a stiff chassis, and a floggable character.

So It's ok that he belches smoke and drips oil everywhere but no anyone else. Then again I have an organic Veggie garden next to my raging tire fire so I guess life is full of inconsistancies.

I kinda liked the Lotus "Failure is always an option comment". It reminds me of doctor Hess' stories. A man who by day only drives Toyotas because they are as reliable as the sun, but by night owns several Loti that will probably kill him in a fire of some sort.

calm down.. its in TIME magazine.. Hard hitting auto journalism

"What killed the Hotshot was its engine, a dual-overhead cam .75-liter four cylinder, not cast in iron but brazed together from pieces of stamped tin. When these brazed welds let go, as they often did, things quickly got noisy, and hot. "

He's doing it tongue in cheek clarkson esque..

And yes we should all move back into caves, but first, I'm going to buy all the caves and then you'll rent them from me.

"The worst of it came in California — dang hippy librels! — where stricter state regs required that the barely adequate 350 cu.-in. smallblock in the 1980 Corvette be replaced with a wholly inadequate 305 V8, putting out 180 hp of pure shame. On top of that, the "California" Corvette sucked its pitiful rivulet of horsepower through the straw of a torque-sapping three-speed automatic transmission. That gave the Corvette — the very totem of hairy-chest, disco machismo — acceleration comparable to a very hot Vespa."

ignorant wrote: He's doing it tongue in cheek clarkson esque..

See, theres the issue:

If you try to be like Clarkson, but you are not funny... Then you're just an ass.

You know one thing I agree with in that article is the bit on the Explorer: It started the safety arms race and the SUV craze. Cars would probably look very different today if the Explorer never happened.

BobOfTheFuture wrote:

ignorant wrote: He's doing it tongue in cheek clarkson esque..

See, theres the issue: If you try to be like Clarkson, but you are not funny... Then you're just an ass.

stick out of ass please. It's not the best comedy, but E36 M3 you guys are taking this way to seriously..