What's the Worst Production Car Sold in the US during the 1990s?

"hethoughtofcars" (hethoughtofcars) 03/23/2014 at 00:06 • Filed to: Tragic Cars

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In which the Koreans have some competition...

After the response I received from last night's post: !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! I figured we should keep it going. By the way, most of the nominees were Korean (Hyundai/Kia/Daewoo) or Suzuki but some (in my opinion) were crazy like the e39 540i and EVERY Pontiac (including the GTO, Solstice, and G8).

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I don't know how well this one will go, because I've noticed that quite a few members of the OPPO community weren't even born until the 1990s. Still, I'm pretty sure there are some of us who remember the Bush/Perot/Clinton debates, so here goes.

I actually don't have much experience owning cars of the 90s. I had a 1995 Del Sol, which to this day is the most reliable car I've ever owned. Perhaps that's because there was very little to break....The car didn't even have power steering! Still it was a fun car, a great commuter (mid-to-upper 30s mpg), and a lot of fun. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! I took it to college, then sold it to my sister, who took it to her much larger college, where it got all sorts of damage just sitting parked on her street. (I'm thinking it was probably a lot of drunken college kids "bumping" their vehicles into it). My sister then gave it to my dad in exchange for his 2000 Accord and he promptly traded it in for a 2010 Camry hybrid. I miss that car and I wish I'd saved it from being traded in for a grand or whatever he got for it. I'm sure its new owner has put all kinds of stupid mods on it. Oh well.

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The only other car I spent significant time in was a 1992 Mitsubishi Expo. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the car I took my driver's test in, and it was actually the only car I ever convinced my dad to buy. I guess I was swayed by the commercials? (I certainly knew nothing of cars in 1992) Apparently it wasn't terribly reliable, I remember my dad trying to jump it and frying the computer instead, which turned out to be a $2000 fix. But it took us across the country from Portland to Washington, D.C. and back, and I have fond memories of it.

So my nominee for Worst of the 1990s is a car I never owned, and in fact can't ever remember seeing:

The Yugo GVX was the sport version of the standard Yugo GV (Great Value). Notice an actual hood scoop(!) for this 1.3 litre engine connected to a 5 speed manual or optional 3 speed automatic. The GV came with a 1.1 with a 4 speed manual. Why is the GVX worse than the GV? Basically the only thing the GV had going for it was price. In 1986 you could get one new for just under $4000. The GVX added "ground effects" and "fog lights" along with the extra 200cc and extra gear. The new engine gave you a massive 64 horsepower and took the GVX to 60 in around 13.5 seconds (19.38 seconds in the quarter mile). A standard GV made it in a little over 14 seconds. So how much did these extras add up to? Over $3000! Turning the cheapest car available at $4000 to nearly doubling it at as high as $7500. Why so much? Well Yugo America had the parts bought in Detroit, shipped to Yugoslavia for assembly of the GVX and then they sent the cars back to America. Shockingly, the GVX flopped.

Of the 141,651(!!!) Yugos sold in America, only a tiny amount were the "Sport" model. Despite the fact that so many Yugos were sold, spotting one on the road today is extremely rare. While 80s Japanese and American cars have managed to stay road-worthy, I honestly can't ever remember seeing a Yugo.

So what does OPPO think? What was the worst car Americans got in the 1990s?

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > hethoughtofcars 03/23/2014 at 00:10

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GEO Storm

hethoughtofcars > Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire 03/23/2014 at 00:11

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LOL

Singhjr96 > hethoughtofcars 03/23/2014 at 00:19

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i'd say the yugo, but the fact that it was so cheap is what made it appealing. I'm going to try and see if I can't buy a yugo I saw on craigslist for a few hundred bucks and just go to pick and pull and replace everything in that car. Sort of a see how cheap I can make a car sort of project for my senior project.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > hethoughtofcars 03/23/2014 at 00:25

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This fucker right here, a hopeless, depressing pile of Korean scrap metal with a blue oval slapped on the grill. The only thing the driver of this car could "Aspire" to is dying in a crash to escape the misery that is this vehicle.

trynthink > Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire 03/23/2014 at 00:27

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As a kid, I always thought the Storm looked so cool . Actually, I thought all the cars in that segment looked kind of cool.

evil2win > hethoughtofcars 03/23/2014 at 00:27

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Behold the the Deawoo Lanos!

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > hethoughtofcars 03/23/2014 at 00:32

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Also the body panels on the GVX weren't bolted on, they were held on with glue that would start letting go after just a few years.

hethoughtofcars > evil2win 03/23/2014 at 00:33

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The Daewoo Lanos is going to take both the 90s and 2000s, I believe. It should be enshrined in the Hall of Fame for Cars against Humanity...

trynthink > hethoughtofcars 03/23/2014 at 00:34

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Someone is going to be upset over this but I nominate the Toyota Paseo.

The body was writing checks the performance couldn't cash, and unlike the JDM Toyota Sera, it didn't have trick butterfly doors. It was probably reliable transportation for a lot of high school students, but it was a car that you owned because you wanted something that wouldn't break down even when you didn't do any maintenance for 50,000 miles. I wouldn't be at all surprised if a lot of Paseo owners just knew they had a "two-door Toyota." This car was also sold alongside the two-door Tercel, so presumably people who bought this new thought "I'd like to pay a significant amount of extra money to get a basic economy car with marginally improved styling." Ugh.

hethoughtofcars > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 03/23/2014 at 00:35

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It even featured one LESS horsepower than the Yugo GVX at 63 hp.

hethoughtofcars > trynthink 03/23/2014 at 00:39

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Really? I didn't know it was sold alongside the Tercel "coupe". I thought it just was one, a la Solara.

evil2win > hethoughtofcars 03/23/2014 at 00:41

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It was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the question. I doubt any are still on the road.

trynthink > hethoughtofcars 03/23/2014 at 00:43

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But is the Leganza worse? Both had $50 left in residual value in two years, but the Leganza cost a lot more new, so the person who bought one was even more upside down on their loan when they finally decided to dump the thing.

And that Giugiaro styling isn't doing it any favors. If anything, it places it in a not-very-exclusive club of ignominious cars from Giugiaro – the Chevy Aveo and the Yugo come to mind (not to mention all of Daewoo's other offerings).

hethoughtofcars > trynthink 03/23/2014 at 00:46

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True, I hadn't considered that and no one has mentioned the Leganza (I did throw the Nubria out there in the worst of the 2000s). I remember watching Mythbusters a few years ago when they were going to wreck a couple cars for their "experiment". The logos were covered, but they were clearly Leganzas.

trynthink > hethoughtofcars 03/23/2014 at 00:47

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Yep, the Tercel was sold as a 2-door coupe and 4-door sedan. The coupe was a very honest cheap car. The Paseo was the same platform and powertrain, but with lots of window dressing.

JasonStern911 > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 03/23/2014 at 00:54

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the aspire was a fine car. it fit a niche "poor person who favors practicality over what they are seen in" market, but it basically had the same rock solid reliable B series motor as the Miata.

JasonStern911 > evil2win 03/23/2014 at 00:55

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you know you're screwed anytime a car's claim to fame is Queen Latifah saying in a bomb of a movie "Eeew! I got Daewoo on me!"

JasonStern911 > trynthink 03/23/2014 at 00:57

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"it was a car that you owned because you wanted something that wouldn't break down even when you didn't do any maintenance for 50,000 miles."

which exempts it from worst car status, even if the rest of your post does justify putting the Paseo in a "what was Toyota thinking?!" category.

thebigbossyboss > trynthink 03/23/2014 at 01:13

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The grill of the daewoo looks like whale balleen!

Birddog > hethoughtofcars 03/23/2014 at 01:13

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Jeez. The comments cover a lot of bad cars.
Compared to today's cheap cars all 90s cars are crap.
I'll second the Aspire. That was just wrong.

JasonStern911 > hethoughtofcars 03/23/2014 at 01:15

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not getting why the 540i was that crazy of a suggestion last time when you factor in its MSRP, the inline 6 and M variants, and, huge point, my "from personal experience" comment. that said...

two candidates here. you either have any dark era Mercedes, or any American designed and manufactured economy car that was trying to compete with the Japanese.

what's a dark era Mercedes? well, when Mercedes merged with Chrysler, everyone hoped that Mercedes would bring efficient German engineering to Dodge/Chrysler/Plymouth. instead, Dodge/Chrysler/Plymouth brought cost cutting measures at the expense of build quality to Mercedes. sure, the AMGs were more reliable due to being hand built, but AMGs were the minority. so... CL500? not as awesome as a V12 CL600, but still requiring dealership services that cost more than the Yugo.

and pure American 90s economy cars... ugh. I had a Ford Escort LX. now, had I had an Escort GT with a Mazda motor, I probably would have more fond memories of the car. but instead, I remember repairing things like the suspension springs snapping in half and an exhaust seat deteriorating and taking out a piston, all with under 100k on the car. but that was a time when Ford wasn't looking to establish itself as a reliable car manufacturer - it was trying to undercut GM when it came to selling fleet cars to rental agencies. I mean, regardless of quality, people aren't going to buy a Toyota or Honda over a Ford, right? and who keeps a car past the warranty period? poor people?

hethoughtofcars > Birddog 03/23/2014 at 01:19

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No one has picked the Metro convertible yet...

3 cylinders, 55 hp and a slushbox with three gears

Jay Lauer > hethoughtofcars 03/23/2014 at 01:26

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There's a special place in my heart that contains my hatred for the Dodge Neon.

They actually had the audacity to make a Coupe version of this car. For someone who wants a sporty image driving his Neon. Horrible power, useless gear box, plastic by Hasbro, gaps you can lose your cat in. Utter shitbox.

hethoughtofcars > JasonStern911 03/23/2014 at 01:31

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Well the 540i to me was out there, because the e39 is so revered. I've certainly thought of owning one with a six speed manual. Of course I don't have any experience with having to repair one, so it is definitely possible that it is a very bad investment. Worst car, though?

Agreed, though, that Daimler Chrysler merger was good for precisely no one.

trynthink > JasonStern911 03/23/2014 at 01:50

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Fair enough. It wasn't a terribly serious suggestion because I knew some Daewoo or an imported rebadge like the Aspire would take the prize, and because the Paseo wasn't a willfully bad car in the way that the Aveo was. It's mostly just that the Paseo is a bit insulting, just like the Geo Storm and all of its other competitors – basic FWD cars dressed up with 'look at me' styling and a higher price, presumably to raise profit margins on what is otherwise a razor-thin segment, but with the same limp-wristed driving dynamics of the cars they're based on. All of them look awesome and are terrible to drive. Moreover, FWD cars based on econoboxes need not be awful to drive (see e.g. VW Corrado)...

Mmm Corrado.

Boxer_4 > trynthink 03/23/2014 at 02:01

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However, you can fit a 20 Valve 4A-GE in the Paseo, so it can't be the worst.

Birddog > hethoughtofcars 03/23/2014 at 02:23

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It can drop it's top. The Aspire can't.

feather-throttle-not-hair > hethoughtofcars 03/23/2014 at 02:41

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Dodge shadow or anything related. Hateful car from before America was really willing to believe small cars were the future.

D > feather-throttle-not-hair 03/23/2014 at 02:51

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it's got good proportions tho

feather-throttle-not-hair > Jay Lauer 03/23/2014 at 03:00

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Woah there I disagree with at least uhm...one or two of your points. 150hp in the good ones and sixty in the low 7 second range. When you're buying a bargain basement econocar that's a hell of a lot better than how things could be. Even the crappy engine made like 130 hp.

Plus, truth be told, they kinda drove really well. I hate to say it because god did I hate these for most of my life, but when I actually drove one, it was about fifty times more entertaining to flog than your average econo car. That said, yes there is much to hate here, but there's also too much potential entertainment value to consider it the worst car of the 90s.

feather-throttle-not-hair > D 03/23/2014 at 03:03

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Really?

JawKnee > feather-throttle-not-hair 03/23/2014 at 06:36

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As long as you have a case of head gaskets for it.

Xentron Holy Reaper of Worlds > evil2win 03/23/2014 at 10:05

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"You just got killed by a Daewoo Lanos, motherfucker!"

epidemike > hethoughtofcars 03/23/2014 at 10:10

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I still stand by my Pontiac comments Jeff. :)

Based on my personal experience I would have to say that he Chevy Corsica would have to be considered in the list.

?v=0

Jay Lauer > JawKnee 03/23/2014 at 13:07

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Eh, we're just at a difference of opinion. God made a fun little terrible eco-car, called the Saturn. I've driven like 12 of these different Neons, and I've hated them all.

JasonStern911 > trynthink 03/23/2014 at 14:59

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well stated. you definitely identified the worst category of cars in the 1990s.

LongbowMkII > Birddog 03/24/2014 at 22:19

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So youll actually be seen in it.

the only problem is that metros became cool again.