Sorry about this, but the winners of TTAC's Ten Worst automobiles will now be announced on Monday morning. The reason for the delay is simple: me. As you probably know, this website is, to paraphrase Battlestar Gallactica and Dire Straits, a ragtag fleet of high school English class survivors flying through cyberspace in search of a fabled refuge known as… money for nothing and your chicks for free! And that means a great deal of the work in these parts falls on my shoulders. I'm busier than a… Yada, yada, yada. Anyway, it's also true that our shy, self-effacing PR person said WHAT ARE YOU NUTS? NO ONE SENDS OUT A PRESS RELEASE ON A FRIDAY! So, in the interests of riding this annual no-love fest for all its worth, I had to demure. I appreciate your understanding in this matter, and look forward to the hue and cry on Monday. Hint: they're all domestic. Uh-oh.
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Well, the White House sends out press releases on Friday, …when they want a story to be buried. Given that these cars deserve to be buried, perhaps Friday is appropriate. ;)
–chuck
http://chuck.goolsbee.org
I’m one of your six (seven? eight?) listeners here and it’s been bugging me lately that these aren’t showing up under the Podcast section.
The PR guy is right, again.
If all of them are domestic, that means the Jaguar X-Type isn't on there! Yay! I can't believe people here think the X-type is a bad car. It is one of the best cars on the market today! Why buy a BMW 3 series (boring!) when you could have an X-type?! It makes no sense…..
I can’t believe people here think the X-type is a bad car. It is one of the best cars on the market today! Why buy a BMW 3 series (boring!) when you could have an X-type?! It makes no sense…..
I’d rather have a (new-gen) european Mondeo than an X-type: half the price, much better looking, and, since the X-type is based on the previous Mondeo, better driving too. ;-)
Why buy a BMW 3 series (boring!) when you could have an X-type?!
Because I like to drive my car, not push it around?
Seriously, Monday is a better idea. Make sure a copy goes to Cerebrus (and Buzz Hargrove of the CAW).
I thought people would bring the reliability factor into play.
There was a survey of the most reliable vehicles of the last decade. And guess what was the highest rated non Japanese brand? I’ll give you a hint: It wasn’t the Ford Mondeo or the BMW 3 series……
In fact, in the survey the Jaguar X-type was much higher that the Ford Mondeo. Which goes to show you that Jaguar can engineer a car with better reliablity than Ford can with the platform which the car was designed for!
Source: http://www.reliabilityindex.co.uk/tophundred.html?apc=3128339010848601
Katie, I noticed when I linked on the tophundred that the top 10 cars were – gasp – wowzers, Japanese brands!!!
I guess reality is slowly going to set-in for Detroit’s 2.8 in bankruptcy court one of these days…. To me, as a Michigander and car nut all my life, it’s embarassing for the US to always be trailing in this reliability comparison metric.
I recall a Brit car magazine we had here at the office from about 18 months ago and it took a look at fleet vehicles, virtually all of the top vehicles there were Japanese, too.
BMW did “pretty well” (in comparison to the Japanese best – i.e. Toyota, Honda) and obviously did far, far better than did M-B (which Joe Sherlock says must = “Miserably Built”) http://www.joesherlock.com
I also noticed that the car said to be the MOST RELIABLE SOLD IN THE UNITED STATES by Consumer Reports was neither on the list you just linked, nor the British list last year. That’s the Toyota Prius. But I got a wake-up call about how the dieselization of Britain has gone since I left the UK 14 years ago when I was on hols there 2 years ago – saw only something like 3 Prius cars total.
Considering the price of petrol and diesel (now running at about $7.50 to $8.00 USD for US gallons equivalent) in the UK, I have to say I was surprised that more people didn’t buy Prius’s. I understand that in London due to the congestion charge being “zero” on a Prius, the sales is picking up, and I also realize that some nitwit called Jeremy Clarkson has repeatedly taken the micky out of the Prius (and had one shot to bits in California for the BBC show, Top Gear). Bad form, Jeremy. Not everybody is a poser like you.
Of the 10 (all domestics) I bet at least half of them will not be around in another 1-2 years anywayas they have planned deaths already in the bag (read: Grand Prix, Mark LT, Monte Carlo, TrailBlazer Commander etc etc etc.)
Without a doubt, the awards will garner some hearty laughs for all of the elitist anti-domestic types.
But really—if TTAC is all about pushing the envelope to gain attention and resultant action (Subaru did change the grill of the B9 didn’t they ?) I am afraid this will not be accomplished this year. Oh well—hopefully it generates good PR for TTAC so we can all be around next year to enjoy another round of voting.
Mr Glenn126,
The amount of Priuses on the road is increasing. But the UK has succumbed to the diesels from Germany. As I mentioned in a previous post, Germans are dragging their heels over hybrid technology still trying to push their stupid Bluemotion diesel powertrains even though the hybrid technology is far superior for emissions and fuel economy.
Still, I think I proved my point about how great the Jaguar X-type is! It’s a sensational car!
As for Mr Clarkson, don’t be too harsh on him. I saw his review of the Prius and it was flawed, but he’s been on the money about many other things:
“If you buy a BMW 3 series what you’re saying to the world is ‘I have no imagination!\'”
umterp85 : Without a doubt, the awards will garner some hearty laughs for all of the elitist anti-domestic types. But really—if TTAC is all about pushing the envelope to gain attention and resultant action (Subaru did change the grill of the B9 didn’t they ?) I am afraid this will not be accomplished this year. If you guys want to start a debate about the methodology used for these awards (which has been transparent from the git-go), let's get it on right here and now (or email me @ robert.farago@thetruthaboutcars.com). I will NOT allow that discussion underneath the post announcing the winners. Meanwhile, I want to make a general point: TTAC does NOT have a hidden agenda. We have not and are not manipulating the awards to position the site as the "bad boys" of the autoblogosphere. In this as in all things, we simply let the chips fall where they may. When you see the final 10, any inherent bias you perceive– that is NOT a bias against crap cars– is a projection of your own "issues." Personally, I voted to include the BMW M5 and Scion xB on the list of 20 finalists. But they didn't make the cut– because 19 TTAC writers felt other vehicles were worse. I am satisfied with the process. I stand by the results.
RF: Any coherent person who reads the top 10 on Monday should have little disagreement with the cars selected. The only redeeming quality many of them have is cheap transportation…thats about it.
My suggestion to NOT include cars that are on the chopping block is clearly for NEXT YEARS consideration (I think it would make the process more interesting)and not meant to undermine this years results—as you said the rules were transparent from the start.
# KatiePuckrik:
November 2nd, 2007 at 4:53 am
” Why buy a BMW 3 series (boring!) when you could have an X-type?! It makes no sense…..”
why? maybe things are different on your side of the pond, but over here, jag dealers are not nearly as prevalent as BMW. Also, I’m happy to keep a pickup truck for 15+ years, but a car like the X-type or 3-series, etc. is something that i’d probably dump after 5-7 years. Resale value matters, and around here I’d lose my shirt on the Jag. Fantastic car or not, it better hold its value, and I’d better be able to get parts for it easily.