We had some tough competition here, and you may or may not agree with our choice, but here are our winners: Peel Trident, Ford Pinto, Fiat Multipla, Chevrolet Vega and Yugo were picked as the worst cars ever made. You can check why after the jump.
Yugo (1981-1991)
The cheepest car of the 80's, produced in Yugoslavia and came to the USA thanks to Malcolm Bricklin in 1986. The sales went well, since it was quite cheap comparing with other cars. But in the 90s Zastava had to withdraw the car from the US market. The list of the problems with this car is quite long. Owners complained basically about everything – engine problems, steering problems, problems with the stereo, problems with the seat belt, problems with the floor. The car could stall and fail to restart without prior indication or warning. Since it was very cheap, it could probably be expected to work that bad.
Ford Pinto (1971-1980)
One of the best selling cars in the 70s is famous for something much worse than a plastic bubble and three wheels. It was involved in a serious safety scandal. Ford's main problem with the Pinto was the fuel tank, which would burst into flames in rear-end collisions. Of course, Ford knew about, so they made a little cost-benefit analysis to decide whether to fix the problem or just to leave it as it was. You can look at the famous and often mentioned in business ethic texts cost-benefit analysis below:
BENEFITS
Savings: 180 burn deaths, 180 serious burn injuries, 2,100 burned vehicles. Unit Cost: $200,000 per death, $67,000 per injury, $700 per vehicle. Total Benefit: 180 X ($200,000) + 180 X ($67,000) + $2,100 X ($700) = $49.5 million.
COSTS
Sales: 11 million cars, 1.5 million light trucks. Unit Cost: $11 per car, $11 per truck. Total Cost: 11,000,000 X ($11) + 1,500,000 X ($11) = $137 million. As you can see, Ford management came to the conclusion that it was much cheaper to pay the law suits, medical expenses, certain amount for pain and suffering, only $49.5 mio. Comparing it with $137 mio. for fixing the tank, it is absolutely logical that they decided not to! Right?
Peel Trident (1964-1966)
Is it a toy? Is it a spaceship? No, although it looks like it just popped out of the Cartoon Network channel, it is a real car. It was made on the Isle of Man, located between England and Ireland, and released in 1964. It is not the only one in this class, and surely it was hard to choose the worst one between Trojan 200, Bond Bug, B. M. A. Hazelcar, 1942 Peugeot VLV and many others, but Peel is our winner. With his charming plastic bubble, 183 cm length and 107 cm width, 90 kg weight and his engine which produces 6.5 horsepower and 75 km/h top speed is our champion in his category.
Fiat Multipla (1997)
Okay, maybe it's got a lot of space, and maybe the performance of the minivan is not all that bad, maybe it is a multipurpose car and maybe some people say it is the most design distinctive car in last ten or twenty years. But this car is just ugly. And that's why it is on this list.
Chevrolet Vega (1970-1974)
It was referred to as "the car that began rusting on the showroom floor”. Owners often complained about corrosion. The car was literally falling apart. Things were so bad that someone even reported that his car broke in half when going on railroad tracks. Besides the corrosion, it had problems with oil burning, engine overheating, just poor design. It was just a terrible car.
