Just a quick reminder that we’re still accepting nominations for TTAC’s Ten Worst Awards. As a pro and anti-Toyota Prius debate hijacked the original thread– unquashed due the passion and quality of the kerfuffle– I’ve decided to open a new post to allow more nominations in a cleaner, fresher, kindler and gentler commentarium. So if you haven’t chimed-in with your favorite worst vehicle sold in American (as new during calendar year 2008), please do so below. Again, please make your comments as pithy as poss, as we will be quoting the best in our list of final nominees. To refresh your memory, I suggest a cup of Clover-brewed Ethiopian Sulawesi. Woo-hoo! Sorry, what I meant to say: here’s the complete timetable via our dearly-departed though-not-dead-by-any-means Frank Williams. Note: we reserve the right to screw it up.
Thursday Dec 4: Nominations start
Sunday Dec 7 Nominations close at 12 PM
Monday Dec 8: List to writers to select semifinalists
Wed Dec 10: Writers have their selections back by midnight
Thurs Dec 11 : Voting on finalists starts as soon as I can get the poll built
Sunday Dec 14: Voting closes at midnight;
Monday Dec 15; Winners sent to writers for comments
Thursday Dec 19: Writers have comments back
Friday Dec 20: Winners announced
My suggestions:
’09 Acura TL – yikes… Yes the TSX is also astonishing ugly. It’s as if the two designer teams were trying to see who could make their product uglier. TL wins.
BMW 1 Series – Inspired by the saggy mattress look. Convertible looks like a tub with wheels.
BMW X6 – Beems have been getting uglier and uglier. Can’t wait to see how they are going to top this dreadful design next year.
BMW 5 Series – They’ve finally mastered that elusive “Pontiac look” they’ve been apparently seeking all this time. The secret turns out to be bulbous panels, random lines, and lots of plastic.
Dodge [just about everything] – Too easy to pick on. No sense on kicking them while they are down. I’ll wait post bailout for them to collect themselves first.
Infinity FX50 – For a base price of $58,400 you get something that resembles a poorly executed pinewood derby car. Seriously – ugly…
Jeep Compass – Inspired by mixing the “style” of the AMC Gremlin and a mail jeep.
Nissan Armada – These have always resembled some kind of Studebaker reject to me. I’ve never gotten used to them. Eash……
Saab 9-7X – Since when is a Chevy Trailblazer a jet fighter…
-C
worst
–adjective, superl. of bad and ill.
1. bad or ill in the highest, greatest, or most extreme degree: the worst person.
2. most faulty, unsatisfactory, or objectionable: the worst paper submitted.
3. most unfavorable or injurious.
It seems to me that a great many of the nominations show a lack of understanding of this concept.
In particular many of the mid-size sedan nominations are laughable.
First of all, the mear existance of the Avenger/Sebring twins would seem to absolve every other vehicle in the category in virtually everyway.
There is a group that is critical of some of these cars because they are not sporty enough.
Hello! that’s why the sports sedan exists. Volume alone seems to indicate that many people prefer a softer ride and less caffinated handling.
Get over your enthusiast hubris. That is not bad, just different.
Secondly, several cars (Maz6 and Accord in particular) have been slammed for their “bulk”.
I looked at some stats, they are a whole two friggin inches longer than the Malibu! Horrors!
Heck, they are also about 200 lbs lighter, and considerably bigger inside. This is bad?
Now I wish to nominate the VUE BAS whybrid for worst hybrid.
IIRC, in a recent MT test this porker tied for Worst mpg and slowest acceleration in a test against conventional small SUVs.
That seems to fit in with the definition of worst.
Regards,
Bunter
I’d initially have to go with Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep everything sans *maybe* the Grand Cherokee but if we’re going to talk about cars that people are actually considering buying:
Chevrolet Equinox: Great for ’97, not so much for ’09.
Saab 9-7X/Trailblazer/Envoy: Talk about letting things rot on the vine.
Toyota Corolla: I’m generally a Toyota fan, but I feel like the ’09 refresher was not a significant improvement from the last model. I’d expect more from Toyota.
Mazda Tribute: It just doesn’t make any sense.
But honestly, I think that if we’re going to be fair, these have to be on the list:
Sebring/Avenger
Dodge Nitro
Durango/Aspen
Caliber/Compass/Patriot
Caravan/T&C/Routan
I already named 10 cars, but after reading some of the comments from others I have to agree with those who mentioned the 5-cylinder Hummer H3 and the 3-cylinder Smart ForTwo. Just about anything with an odd number of cylinders sucks. I would add to the list all of the 5-cylinder Volkswagens, the New Beetle, the Rabbit and the Jetta.
Add any Audi to the list.
Better yet, add all Audi models to the list.
That Audi do the trick to sate my general despisement of Audis.
Many reasons for my assuredly subjective beliefs.
Last Audi I drove was a 1980 5000.
Still despise that car.
I tried to post my nomination last night, but for some reason it wouldn’t go through. So… I nominate the Toyota Prius. My reason? No other vehicle I can think of can turn regular people into self righteous douche bags. I’m going to be sorely disappointed if it doesn’t make the list.
The Prius and Smart ForTwos may seem like crapshoots right now with cheap gas but don’t forget it’s not gonna be this way forever. Times of sky-high gas prices are gonna be back before you know it…
(I know the nominations are over, but I wanted to say this.)
See, I don’t think the Prius should be nominated. I don’t disagree with anything you said about it, but still, it’s not on of the ten WORST CARS. Why? Because it definitely succeeds at doing what it’s trying to, namely, provide excellent fuel economy and have a decent amount of space and seating capacity. It’s boring, it’s ugly, etc., but at least it succeeds at what it tries to do.