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Earlier today I told you that the Mitsuoka Orochi will be leaving Japan in search of oil-rich markets. I also mentioned that pig is ugly. Seriously, heinously, irredeemably butt-faced ugly. Surprisingly — and I really am surprised here — you folks, our readers, think differently. So here I am, trying my hardest to think of an uglier vehicle and… I simply can't. Nothing, nada, zilch, zip is popping into my head. If you're talking almost as ugly then I guess the misshapen Buick Rendezvous. But really, only from behind. Truthfully, even that larded hippopotamus of a Buick can't compete with the scorched-retina styling of the (barf) Orochi. Can it?
77 Comments on “Question of the Day: What’s the World’s Ugliest Car?...”
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I’d put the Orochi right behind the Aztek/Rendezvous and Uplander vans. They get a few bonus points for using a catfish for a model.
Pontiac Aztek, the vagina-faced Subaru B9 (Benign?) Tribeca and Audi Q7 goes to the top of my list.
I mean, the Aztek simply MUST be the most wrongfully executed car of all time, including the Edsel. Even if the Edsel had a vagina on its face. It’s so bad, on so many levels, one wonders how it was produced in the first place. Must have been a glitch in the matrix.
As I said on the other page re: the Orochi, I believe any 1958 Olds will fit the bill
But then again, there’s the 57 Mercury Turnpike
Cruiser
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1957-1958-mercury-turnpike-cruiser1.htm
Ssongyang Rodius. It sounds like a disease, and it is.
http://www.pistonheads.com/pics/news/12107/ssong-yang_rodius-L.jpg
Cadillac Cimarron.
It wasn’t ugly, per se, but I’m always reminded of the fable, The Emperor Has No Clothes whenever I’m told that Cavalier is supposed to be a Cadillac.
With the Mitsuoka at least I can be called eccentric. The Cimarron is just crazy.
sean362880 :
March 31st, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Ssongyang Rodius. It sounds like a disease, and it is.
LOL, I bet if you look closely, you can see the weld marks where they joined the piece to make it a wagon
So many, so offensive… but how ’bout the AMC Matador circa ’74 or ’76, I believe. At the time either M/T or C&D proclaimed the most beautiful American car in that production year. Perhaps there’s a market for restored version in Sandoland?
I am not kidding here, the Cadillac SRX Crossover is the ugliest car currently for purchase in America. It’s not done yet. They should put it back. It’s so obvious to me the designers were smoothing the sides of the clay model, getting ready to do something cool, when it got snatched away and put into production. It’s not finished.
@VerbalKint:
I think you were referring to the Matador Coupe. The sedan was more generic, except for the wart between the headlights.
Other entries for excessive ugliness
– 3rd gen Civic Wag-o-Van. Worst Honda design of all-time.
– 86 Nissan Stanza wagon. Designed by a kindergardner in art class. Just FUgly.
– Toyota Previa, the rolling watermelon
– Scion xB, one man’s coolness is another’s dorkiness.
– AMC Pacer. Everytime AMC tried to tweak the design, it became a bit more hideous.
I rented a Ssongyang Rodius in Israel last year. It looks much better in person and I was in fact quite surprised- stunned actually- at how nice it is inside. Corolla quality or better. Powered by hamsters on a wheel but that is normal in the local market where gas is taxed highly. All in all, it shouldn’t be on the ugly list.
I’ve been mulling this one for decades, and my mind is always changing, but the Datsun F-10 Coupe from the mid seventies is today’s candidate. Unfortunately, no good pics on the web, especially the bug-eyed grille:
http://home.pon.net/hunnicutt/images/DatsunF10.jpg
@FunkyD– that (and this) am it:
http://www.cascaderamblers.org/images/70/43090161b2f8d.jpg
Scion box thing. And Honda Element.
Both offensive to the eyes.
Pontiac….. Astre!
Fugly car, and definitely close in the gene pool to the Aztek. It looks especially heinous in Orange.
Oh yeah, look at this POS!
http://www.tocmp.com/brochures/Pontiac/1973/Astre/pages/73Astre%20Canada%20Page01_jpg.htm
I keep looking at the linked pictures and thinking “oh, that’s not that bad” and coming back to the Orochi, Asstek, and Element as the 3 most capable of visual assault.
Ugliest Current: Ford Focus Sedan. Channels the worst of the Ford Anglia of the 60’s and the Datson B210 of the 80’s…mundane AND ugly..
Ugliest of All-time: there are so many, but the 1971-73 Mustang was just hideous….overlong, out-of-proportion, bloated like a Rhino with a Thyroid conditions, absolutely unusable backlight, monstrous C-pillars, atrocious grille, etc. ad infinitum, ad nausuem.
Honorable mention: 1970 Thuderbird. The story of how Edsel Ford added 6 inches to the nose just to spite Iacocca is classic Ford history of HOW NOW TO DESIGN CARS>
I assume most of you haven’t seen a Citroen Ami 6 or otherwise it takes the contest
http://www.delest.nl/media/img/DCP_8309.JPG
Well, the Citroen Visa and Citroen BX can also enter the contest :)
The Aztek.
The second-generation xB (1st gen is kind of cute).
Just about anything Detroit built in the mid-1970s: underpowered, unsophisticated cars with overstated chrome, “formal” grilles, hood ornaments, vinyl-half-roofs with opera windows and carriage lights, thick plastic rub-rails down the side of the body, designer-disco interior accessory groups in garish colors, and other touches of pseudo-elegance that perfectly communicated the car’s cheapness, moral decadence, and inability to get out of its own way.
Example 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:1976_Mercury_Cougar.JPG
Example 2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ford_LTD.JPG
Example 3: http://www.moparautos.com/images/78aspen.jpg
Example 4: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:1973BuickCenturyGSlarge.JPG
# Dave :
March 31st, 2008 at 3:12 pm
I assume most of you haven’t seen a Citroen Ami 6 or otherwise it takes the contest
http://www.delest.nl/media/img/DCP_8309.JPG
Arghh…!!! Don’t ever do that in public again. BONK!
How could any list be complete without the Daimler SP250?
http://www.jdch.nl/nl/alge/model/gr_daim-sp250.jpg
I saw these things in Europe. It’s some kind of Fiat. Utterly hideous.
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/100-greatest/03-large/40-fiat-multipla.jpg
None compare though to the utterly without merit Aztek. Somebody at GM was on crack.
How about the mid-’80’s Chrysler 5th Ave, Dodge Dynasty? Or for that matter ANYTHING from Chrysler in the 1980’s? The first car my son ever drew when he was 4 years old looked better than anything out of Chrysler-that’s how hard it was to improved on Lido’s “3 Box” design….
RoweAS
I was also thinking of both those cars – the ’57 Turnpike cruiser and the ’58 Olds. The “51 Packards are pretty bad as well.
I submit the Eagle Summit. It’s an ill-proportioned mini-minivan if you have had the blessing of never seeing one before. Google it.
From the front, the new Murano is woefully ugly. Looks like the puffer fish version of the Orochi.
As for vehicles on US roads at the current time, it has to be the Pontiac Aztek every time. My wife, normally quite polite, essentially verbally points and laughs at the drivers of these hideous rolling jokes.
All time butt-ugliest? Wow, anyone would have a tough time beating out the Citroen Ami.
I don’t know quite what to say about the Citroen Ami. It is amazingly ugly, yet it’s ugly in an interesting way. It looks as if it’ s supposed to be amphibious. And when I look at a picture, or even just think of it, I can hear its distinctive putt-putting in my mind’s ear.
I am appalled that someone mentioned the ’57 Mercury. As a four year old child, that was my first favorite car, and I still see the wonder I saw in it then–not that I’d ever want to own one. But I’ve taken lots of photos of them at car shows.
The Aztek certainly vies for ugliest, along with the B9 Tribeca, and the Ford Focus. I guess Pontiac and Ford can’t afford to pay for decent stylists. As for Subaru, I’d love to know the story of how the first Tribeca got out the door looking the way it does. Echch. And the Murano is also awful. And don’t forget the Matrix! Or just about any Mitsubishi! There is so much ugliness on the roads today, it’s a cornucopia of eyesores.
But one should be spared ugliness if one spends a lot of money, yet the Cayenne is very expensive and ugly.
May I submit:
The gawdawful Suzuki X-90
Opus:
Good choice
@ BabyM
The ’70s were certainly a come-down from the ’60s. But I think the ’80s were even worse, and the ’90s worse than that, and it’s stayed bad. Yeah, the ’70s were big and bloated, but they at least still looked like cars. And that Aspen–POS though it was–was not bad looking in any decade.
I love that auto enthusiasts (people reading and posting here) are not in line with the generic public. I recall every year when CNN, USA TODAY, ect. do this same question they alway list the Gremlin/Pacers at the top.
I disagree every year thinking those funky cars were forward thinking and daring in a good way, not an Aztek way.
My list of modern cars includes:
1. Aztek
2. Subaru Baja
3. Avalanche (everything is wrong with this plastic monster
4. 1975 Mustang II
And since my list is close to this link I must mention it because they use the Gary Busey scale of ugliness (you cannot argue with that!)
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=ugly_cars
(FYI Maddox’s website rocks)
4.
Aztec Story: My wife actually had the guts to ask a co-worker if they won theirs in a contest because it’s so ugly. She said that her husband likes unique cars. My wife knowing my love of Saabs, Vw Vanagon Syncros and land Rover Defenders said “no” your husband just likes ugly cars my husband likes unique AND ugly cars!
I tell that story every chance I get when I start talking automobiles with anyone…
I don’ tthink the mid-70s Matador is as nearly as ugly as most of what’s on the roads today. I rather like it. It looks like a frog.
Thanks Dynamic88, ironic since thats an Olds. I kinda like the Citroen Ami and would gladly drive it to Funkytown .
I agree with most of these, but I like the AMC Matador.
If one-off or low-production cars are considered, the Aurora has got to be it.
Or how about the Les Dunham Corvorado? Thanks goodness only 7 people had such poor taste as to buy one. This car is based on a Corvette with Cadillac bodywork grafted on.
http://www.madle.org/ecorvorado.htm
I had another car in mind, but I forget the name. It had six wheels and looked like a giant cockroach, or a stretched Toyota Solara. Only two were made.
As for more mainstream cars, the 1960 Plymouth Belvedere or Savoy. Looks worse than the Merc Turnpike Cruiser, IMO. I’ve always detested the bodyline, which starts at the front and promptly wraps around the front fender. It looks particularly bad with two-tone paint. Also, I’m a fan of finned cars, but not THOSE fins.
The 1958 Packard Hawk and 1960-62 Plymouth Valiant had some unfortunate styling too.
As for current production cars, the Jeep Compass is also pretty ugly.
BTW
Orochi means snake or serpent in Japanese. Perhaps it should be renamed the Assp for the American market
The vehicle that freaks me out the most when seen on the road is the Izuzu VehiCross (google image link). It looks home made.
I agree with many of these, but I like the AMC Matador.
If one-off and low-production cars are considered, the Aurora has got to be it.
Or how about the Les Dunham Corvorado? Thanks goodness only 7 people had such poor taste as to buy one. This car is based on a Corvette with Cadillac bodywork grafted on.
http://www.madle.org/ecorvorado.htm
I had another car in mind, but I forget the name. It had six wheels and looked like a giant cockroach, or a stretched Toyota Solara. Only two were made.
I agree with most of these, but I like the AMC Matador.
If one-off and low-production cars are considered, the Aurora has got to be it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/automobiles/collectibles/23UGLY.html
Or how about the Les Dunham Corvorado? Thanks goodness only 7 people had such poor taste as to buy one. This car is based on a Corvette with Cadillac bodywork grafted on.
http://www.madle.org/ecorvorado.htm
Toyota FJ cruiser BARF !
And I loved the comment above about the generic 70′ styling, padded half roofed vinyl covering with “opera windows”, and other exterior clues seeming lifted from medieval castles. Truely a dark age in automobile design.
I like Paul Niedermeyer’s choice, the Datsun F10. The first time I saw one of these “things” it was coming towards me, and I slowed down to look at it, unsure what backyard mechanic had cobbled this bag o’shite together. The headlights, omigod! As more aesthetically challenged buyers bought them, apparently thinking it was the 510 replacement, I was amazed that a real car company could put these “things” on sale with a straight face. The F10 metamorphosed into the Datsun 310 with a bland front end, losing the incredibly ugly original. No wonder nobody has eternalized the look on the web with an image.
The Ciroen Ami 6 is probably worse, but it was French and therefore expected. The current Fiat Multipla is incredibly ill-proportioned (see it on Wiki).
All these cars make an Aztec look handsome, lol.
What’s more relevant to me is that in general, cars are really ugly these days. Take all SUVs bar the Mazda CX7; every car with a hog nose giganto grill a la Audi; all BMWs bar the 3 series, and the latest Acuras. Let’s face it, dreck is too kind a word to describe most automotive styling these days.
Oh yes, I second the Avalanche vote, expecially the first edition. The fargile but “tough looking” plastic cladding was a self parody worth of GM
I can`t find a single amateur feature in Buick rendezvous exterior. By the way, proportions are well done too, what is out of touch is the too low rear chassis that is visible like dropped panties. As for ugly car I could mention a lot of german ones. porsche 911 ( until 1995) unproportionally small rear, or VW Beetle any generation . Mini Cooper- a lot of amateurism, Mercedes CL coupe previous gen- with an unproportionally long and skinny rear,all these Vw boring corrados and puke provoking Golfs, Bimmer previous generation z3 ugly little amateur bastard, 6- series lame duck-tail or a lot of bastard british cars like all these range rovers with bastard sized cheap plastic claddings near all pillars. or all these small barn companies cranking out Nobles with old Ford Mondeo taillights , all these gap-infested jaguars that Clarkson declares to be ubergreat.Wouldn`t call Smart with plastic gap-rich panels exactly an ethalon of beauty as well.From other side, buick Lucerne interior looks like an Michellangelo of professional industrial design compared to any Ferrari or Bentley of mid 80ies until turn of millennium.
RoweAS :
Orochi means snake or serpent in Japanese. Perhaps it should be renamed the Assp for the American market
Orochi sounds too much like orchiectomy. They’d be nuts (no pun intended!) to bring it here with that name.
True story.
My best friend’s wife used to work in the advertising biz at a fairly high level. When the brand manager for the Rendezvous at Buick was retiring they gave him a going away luncheon with a David Letterman style Top Ten list of alternate names for the Rendezvous.
#1 was
“Not as ugly as the Aztek”.
The people inside GM knew how ugly the Aztek platform was. The Rendezvous was just awkward. The Aztek, with its multitudinous nostrils, was butt ugly.
Dick Teague did the Matador. That character line along the flank and the rear end mostly came from the beautiful AMX/3 show car, which, according to a guy who owns one of the styling pushmobiles, may enter limited production.
The ugly sisters Prius and Aztec rule for the current mainstream available models. The Prius gets a pass for the fuel economy, but if it wasn’t a hybrid everybody would be exclaiming how awful this thing looks.
For the ugliest of the last 20 years:
2nd runner up, the ’91 Caprice (with the enclosed rear wheel wells)
1st runner up, the Chevy ‘dustbuster’ Lumina vans
Grand Prize: Ford Bronco II Plus
This might not be fair since it was an aftermarket conversion. But then again, there is nothing fair about how awful the results were:
http://gallery.fordforums.com/showphoto.php/photo/5404/ppuser/3700
PT Cruiser for most ugly .. and most obnoxious drivers. Tailgating the PT are the Pontiac Aztek, Prius, Ford Focus …. all the wanta be a car cars.
And the Ford Pinto? Just plain forgettable?
Dave :
March 31st, 2008 at 3:12 pm
I assume most of you haven’t seen a Citroen Ami 6 or otherwise it takes the contest
http://www.delest.nl/media/img/DCP_8309.JPG
Wow…did a very fat person sit on the hood?
I can see the Orochi’s advertising copy now.
‘Brought to you by the Marianas Trench design school’.
In terms of the ugliest ever, well, I think it’s time for a contest, preferably one divided into coupes/convertibles, sedans/wagons, and truck/SUVs/CUVs.
That being said, I will secure first place by nominating the Matador X in the coupe category and the early 60s Imperial in the sedan category.
Porsche Cayenne. It is physically hideous, not a good angle on it, a total defilement of what was one of the purest brands, totally incapable of using any of its capabilities, and utterly pointless.
Its the ugliest car of all time.
edit: and provided the funding for Porsche stray as far as possible from its mission and buy VW instead of re-investing in better brand faithful products like they said they would.
Ugliest car in the world? That’s easy, the Chevrolet Volt!
Aztek
Gremlin
Pacer
F10
Honorable mention: Edsel
Nissan has certainly had some whoppers. It’s a bit shocking how the same company that managed to produce some timeless designs such as the original Z could also create some rolling horrors.
The original Fiat Multipla was mind-bogglingly ugly — far moreso than the Gremlin or Pacer. Brilliantly packaged and functional, but it looked like a character from Finding Nemo. Renault’s Dacia Logan is a good contender for the ugliest sedan currently on the market (along with the Kia Amanti), and the Daihatsu Copen is probably the ugliest roadster.
While the 1961 Plymouth/Dodge lineup was pretty bad, I’d have to go along with the guy who said the 1960 Plymouth. The 1960 was worse.
Others that seem to have been overlooked are the bullet-nosed, “Is it coming or going?” wrap-around rear window 1950 Studebaker Commander. I didn’t see the Toyota Echo, either.
Aside from those, it looks like the usual suspects (70’s AMC products, Edsel, Mercury Turnpike Cruiser, F10, Multipla) are all here.
However, the problem with all of this stuff is that, like a really bad movie (a la Ed Wood), they’re actually good in a perverse, interesting sort of way, the same way passing motorists stare at a bad car accident.
The only one that really transcends the morbid curiosity factor is the Aztek, an absolutely sterling example of being able to combine not only astoundingly poor styling with blandness, as well.
It’s as if in their effort to be as ‘utilitarian’ as possible to appeal to the Jeep/Hummer crowd, the Pontiac stylists decided to use a slab-sided garbage truck as their model. What they ended up with was something that looked like the offspring of the unholy mating of a garbage truck and the old Korean Daewoo Pontiac LeMans (a little car that was plenty ugly in its own right), combining the styling of two already bad looking vehicles.
The mediocrity of the Aztek’s appearance is what takes bad auto styling to a completely new level.
Since I may have triggered this thread. I want to renominate the Gremlin as an all time looser. The pacer wasn’t nearly as ugly. the Gremlin was just misshapen.
More recent cars: All of the Nissan/Infinity CUVs are egregious. The BMW 7 series is and was an offense against good taste. The early 1990s M-B S class were also hideous. I called them the pig cars.
Ford usually took an ugly stick to what ever it was building before they sold it as a Mercury. The Mercury Cougars of the 60s and 70s were especially hideous.
I have always hated the Volvo P1800 The greenhouse was to small, the rear too short with ridiculous little tail fins, and the snout disproportionately long.
The Dodge St. Regis (if you’ve never heard of it, that’s quite alright). I’d also name the 75-79 Cordoba based for it’s awful accumulation of 70s styling affronts with the desecration of a hallowed name. The Dodge Omni 024 and the Charger based on it…words fail me.
I always thought the mid-70s LTDs were hideous. The only right angle is a right-angle school of design. Less than 200hp out of 460 cubes was the icing on the cake…but I digress.
Datsun B210, I remember Road & Track said ‘looks like an atomic cockroach and has the outward visibility out of a bomb shelter‘
And what as the Toyota wagon that had the instant teller on the back?
BTW, sorry about my almost identical repeat posts. Something screwed-up when I tried to insert weblinks and my posts didn’t show-up at first after I clicked on the submit button.
I’d vote for the Dodge Caliber out of current production vehicles. Like a Tonka toy enlarged by nuclear radiation.
The 1990 Dodge Dynasty used to make me despair for the future:
http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/1990-to-1993-dodge-dynasty-5.htm
Those right-angled Consuliers of the ’90s. I don’t care *how* capable they were… Godaaaaam they was ugly.
Ah yes, I ditto the Dodge Caliber for current-production.
With the Jeep Compass as well.
But my least appealing vehicle from current-production is hands-down the new Subaru Impreza in five-door guise. It looks like a mistake.
Good god. Okay, yes, I gotta say that Citroen Ami is seriously hideous. Thanks for the link (I think).
The 1971 BMW 2002 has got to be one of the ugliest vehicles ever produced.
@ schempe:
Blaspheme!
“I’d vote for the Dodge Caliber out of current production vehicles. Like a Tonka toy enlarged by nuclear radiation.”Or like an Aztek that had shrunk in the wash.
Seriously, did someone at Chrysler look at the Aztek and say, “Hey, what a great design! Put it on the Neon platform and it will work!”?
I am really surprised nobody mentioned the Weber Supercar. It may not beat out some of the other choices, but, it is still very very ugly.
With all these designs it’s hard to imagine the design team exclaiming, “Look what we have done” with pride in their voices.
I forgot about the Caliber. why did people have to remind me. Ugh.
My son (age 17) believes the styling of the Caliber is a vast improvement over the Neon.
Is it me, or is it him??
It’s him, as the Caliber doesn’t have styling.
@schempe
Saying such things is grounds for jail! If we don’t have them already, we need legislation to prevent such statements about the 2002.
Did I mention the 1967 through 1970 model years were ugly too? Well, they are. I can say that because I have a current model in the stable now (330ci). Sorry but the late sixties and early seventies models are butt ugly!
For those of you who know Canadian comedian Russell Peters…
At Shempe: “Somebodya zgonna get hurt reala bad!”
My favorite:
1958 BMW 600
Some more contenders:
1770 Cugnot – one look tells you it won’t handle like a BMW 3-series (picture)
1934 Chrysler Airflow
1956 Fiat Multipla
1967 Mohs Ostentatienne (picture)
1977 Renault 14
1980 Morris Ital – a mediocre design ruined by Ital Design
1999 Fiat Multipla
2004 Peugeot 307 CC
2006 VW Fox
All other cars can be seen on cardatabase.net.
Ford Scorpio. If a car can be said to have a ‘face’, this one has fetal alcohol syndrome:
http://www.robiko.co.uk/images/others/usmiech/IMG_2695.JPG