The automotive world is infested with lists and rankings.
The 10 Best Here. The 10 Most There. Sometimes you may even find a 10 Least or a 10 Greatest. The range of expertise for such rancor can vary from truly knowledgable souls to borderline literary dope pushers with monetary agendas.
Personally, I enjoy the mental exercise. When you look at 20,000+ vehicles going through the lanes at the auto auctions every year for well over a decade, ranking becomes part of your work. The same is true for folks in traffic. Or those who take strolls through our streets. Or our junkyards.
Since every publication in the car business offers some type of “Best Car!” article, we here at TTAC have decided to do our own…
with your help.
When it comes to used cars, who is to say that the 2008 Lincoln Town Car offers, “The Best Luxury Ride For Those Who Miss The Ocean.” Or that the 2002 Kia Sportage is, “The Best Kia Ever Made… Before Hyundai Took Over.”
You for starters. So here’s the game. Help us develop a true “Best Used Cars” list for the car buying public.
Categories? Why only the best will do of course!. Although you can always do subcompact, compact, midsized, yadda yadda… try to be a bit creative.
“The Best Pre-Bankruptcy Subcompact Sold By GM, Beginning With The Letter A!”
may be a bit funny… perhaps too specific… while…
“The Best European Luxury Car, For Bankrupting Their Next Owner.”
Is far more broad and debatable. By the way, my choice for that honor would be a 2005 Jaguar S-Type R. (Editor’s Note: I’m tired of picking Maseratis for this honor.)
The contributor who makes the most compelling and hilarious submission will receive a free issue of “Hot Rod” magazine dated February 1957. Try to explain why you made the choice you did, and may the “Best Car For Using The Force” be with you.
Best Sports Car for Inciting Both Total Adoration And Total Rage From Competing Fanboi Camps On YouTube Comments: Mazda RX-8
“Best vehicle with an oddly self-aware name”:
Toyota Sequoia
Over $12K honorable mention: Nissan Armada
Reason: Although most big SUVs are named after travel, locations, or some other adventure word, Toyota’s tied-for-biggest SUV is named for a giant tree. Nissan’s biggest SUV is named after a naval fleet.
Get out of my mind!
I also like that the most famous “Armada” (in the English speaking world, anyway) lost.
Best car: Late 1990s/early 2000s GM H bodies with 3800 engine.
Second that. I’ve got a ’99 LeSabre with the 3800 Series II with 130k on the clock that I’ve been driving since 50k, and all it has required is fuel, oil changes, the serpentine belt replaced at 100k, and a set of tires. Everything electrical works, and the engine is as understressed as they come. Thanks to this ugly FWD beast, with its atrocious interior, AM/FM/Cassette, and Model T suspension, I’ll be buying my next vehicle with cash. The Buick’s getting handed over to my 19yr old so he can destroy it properly at college. And I’m a lucky man – he’s actually looking forward to the old boat being his car.
“Best car for confusing your local DMV/Registry”
My vote is for the 1993 Asüna Sunfire
First I’d like to see them enter ü character into the system. Followed by asking what the heck is an Asüna. Then topped with an argument with them trying to convince you that you really have a Pontiac Sunfire of some type.
Here is the car in question for those who don’t know. It was sold in Canada only. Think Isuzu Impulse.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveseven/5355819092/
The Passport Optima (really a Kia-built Opal Kadett) would be a good one too.
What about the Mazda Mazda3?
that sounds like a joyous time at the DMV i’d almost buy the car just to see the apoplexy on the local dmv clerk when the computer didn’t understand it so it must not exist.
Same thing happened a few years ago when I registered my Citroen DS-21 with the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office.
Best used car for out-dragging a vintage Ferrari 308: 2002 Toyota Camry V-6
Best rental car for out-dragging a vintage Toyota Camry V-6: 2012 Chrysler 200 V-6
I sorely miss the TTAC’s old TW4T awards, which was exactly this.
I also miss the podcasts, while we’re at it.
It’s pretty easy to dispute that the “2005 Kia Optima LX is, “The Best Kia Ever Made… Before Hyundai Took Over.”
It was made AFTER Hyundai took over, on a Hyundai platform.
True. Changed to Sportage. Thanks!
Bestest conveyance to placate a curmudgeon of the Disgruntled Old Coot variety:
Late 1960s Dodge Dart
2nd place: 1970-1972 Plymouth Duster
any engine-type acceptable.
The best of the best cancelled production vehicles.
Is…
The Honda Element of course!
The 10-best diesel wagons with manual transmissions?
#6: Mitsubishi Delica Star Wagon
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Mitsubishi_Delica_Star_Wagon_303.JPG
That you can buy in North America?
Check (sadly, I opted for the autobox in mine, and went with the less awesome, but more airbags L400 model)
http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr161/DrKool/Js%20Garage/Feb202012189.jpg
Lots of Delicas roaming around Vancouver.
That’s too far north.
Boston owns Vancouver. Does that count?
How far back do we get to go? Volkswagen Jetta MKVI, Volkswagen Passat MKIV, Mercedes-Benz 300TD w124, Peugeot 504D, Volkswagen Dasher are the obvious ones, did any Datsun 810/Maxima diesel wagons with sticks make it here? There certainly were diesel manual sedans. Oh, Ford Escort Wagons – drove those in courier service in college. As a stretch, my folks owned a 4×4 diesel manual Suburban for a while – a truly gigantic station wagon really.
If we’re not judging by absolute reliability, I figure it’s worth mentioning the 245/740/760 – VW D24 six in the former, eventually turbocharged to acceptable power levels. You could get an M46 with those, I’m sure.
The 10 best cars which make you look suspiciously like a drug dealer.
1. 2005-2010 Chrysler 300 with billet wheels, aftermarket grill and blacked out windows.
2. 2002- Range Rover in white, with billet wheels and blacked out windows.
3…
4..
5.
Blacked out and rimmed up LH cars seem to be popular in these parts.
Escalade…
Cadillac DTS on dubs.
Older Crown Vic/Grand Marquis on dubs
The best used car to get a low price on? A brown one!
“Lincoln Tow Car” as the picture states seems somehow appropriate…
I don’t agree with the Mercedes. Once they’re out of warranty, the service and repair costs can ruin all but the most liberal budgets and Mercedes don’t have the “unbreakable” reputation any more. It’s similar to the flood of BMWs that appear on the market when the four years of free service runs out.
How bout “Best Engine Given To The Least Likely Customer Demographic To Ever Use Its Full Potential And Kept In Production Far Too Long Despite Fatal Flaws”… (BEGTTLLCDTEUIFPAKIPFTLDFF) And the award goes to…
The entire Northstar Engine Family from 1992 – 2010!
+1000, would have been much better off just dragging the 4.9 for years revising every so often.
Five best Grandpa cars that are secretly awesome:
1. Chevrolet Caprice (5.7L)
2. Buick Roadmonster Wagon
3. Buick Park Avenue (supercharged)
4. Any well kept Panther Platform car, 2003 or newer
5. […]
Lincoln LS?
Lincoln LS?
Lex LS400?
olds 88 LSS
Buick Lacrosse Super
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2008/04/2008-buick-lacrosse-super-review/
Here’s another:
The best vehicles never made!
(I just checked this only to find that there are already numerous lists out there about this…)
Every GM Motorama car of the 1950s and 1960s…
Dan,
I’m rereading the Motorama book and some of those cars, like the Biscayne, were godawful ugly or funny looking.
My personal choice for such a list would be Virgil Exner Sr’s Chrysler Falcon roadster.
http://www.carstyling.ru/resources/concept/large/1955_Ghia_Chrysler_Falcon_04.jpg
Mazda Protege 5: Honest to goodness the best practical go-kart money can buy……as long as you dont mind a spot of rust as an accent color.
Protege5 = A strong contender for “Least Corrosion Resistant Car of the Early 21st Century”…
Ten Best Cars for demonstrating that rationality played absolutely no part in your vehicle-selection process:
1. BMW X3
2. BMW X5
3. Hummer, H2 or 3
4. Mercedes M-class
5. Mercedes GL class
6. Lexus GX series
7. Cadillac Escalade EXT
8. Lincoln Blackwood/LT
9. Infiniti QX56
10. […]
Range Rover?
10. 2007+ Mustang Shelby GT500
BMW 128i Convertible w/Automatic
I can understand the rationale behind the QX56/GX/Q7/X5/GL-class, but why X3? It’s just a lifted 3-series wagon so it’s still not flying off the handle on the practicality meter.
What about the smaller end of things? Oh God my wife would love to get one of the following:
– BMW 1-series
– Mini Cooper
– Smart
– Fiat 500
– Scion iQ
The best vehicle for those with more money than sense….
Any V12 Jaguar.
Best luxury vehicle for those avoiding exes, process servers, or paparazzi:
2005+ Acura RL
Any pre-beak RL meets that description, but let’s be honest, if it’s “I am not interesting” you’re after, there’s always the Toyota Corolla.
Best used car for making your neighbors think you’re a celebrity or billionaire *(provided they never go inside or look under the hood): Mercedes G-Class. They’ve been made for 33 or so years, so you can buy a well-used military-spec one, take it to Maaco, put some wheels from a newer one on, go to Pep Boys and buy some tacky chrome trim (and LED strips if you’re serious about simulating a 2013!), buy some “Kompressor” badges from eBay, and presto!
Ah dang, I just bought an XJR. I figure once I go completely crazy I’ll trade it on a quattroporte in need of a timing belt.
Best example of a major car maker showing it knows how to build exciting new cars? Honda NSX. Best example of a car maker that has lost its way? Advertising the new NSX in mass market media when the car is: 1) a limited production “halo” car; and 2) is 3 years away from production
Best small truck whose badges will keep spelling dictionary words even as the letters continue to fall off with old age:
RANGER
RANGE
RANG
RAN
RA
ANGER
FOR. Then, inevitably, OR.
(The early ones seem to lose the tailgate letters more often than the Ranger lettering somehow.)
I’ve been playing with the idea of buying an older Ford pickup, and switching the letters on the front to DORF.
I was going to do that with my ’75 back in high school, but the mounting points were in different locations, and I didn’t want to screw anything up. Thought it was a great idea though.
Best CUV to deliver fresh corpses to a hot dog plant?
Chevrolet Traverse. So blob like any potential witnesses wouldn’t be able to identify it other than “A large SUV/CUV thingy.”
Best sedan? A lightly colored Chevy Impala, huge trunk and has had the same body style since 2005. Again unless they get the plate # the cops will be lost.
I’d expect a Mercury Monterey van or Chrysler Aspen SUV to be pretty hard to accurately identify.
Dodge Magnum. No contest. It just looks like a hearse.
The Worst Car Your Girlfriend at the Time Drove
My 16 year old girl friend in high school had a… Ford EXCURSION!
I don’t see the downside.
+1. The only thing that would be better is a conversion van.
Well… she was a 5’0″ 16 year old girl who had just got her drivers license. Trying to park the largest vehicle ever made in a high school parking lot. = terrifying
Well, the girls I went out with before I got my driver’s license had cars like Pintos and Monzas, so I’d say that crashing into something in an Excursion would be about as scary as being threatened with violence by a five year old. If you turned the radio up, you wouldn’t even be able to tell if she hit anything or not.
a beige mustang II……..same girl, 74 or so vw 412 wagon. not good taste in cars, but she sure knew how to handle a shifter though.
The best “Budget & Green” Small Car (or Fuel Sipper) under $20K to tie IKEA flatpack furniture on the roof using white string and carry four small children in the rear seat…
The lowest True Cost of Ownership for a hatchback with a bicycle mounted on the roof that is driven into a multi-level parking garage.
Hint: It’s not the Mark V GTI. Trust me.
Nor is it a 1st-gen Acura CL on lowering springs. Trust me.
1974 Chevrolet Nova Hatchback.
Duh.
My best based solely on the name – the Dodge Charger Daytona Turbo Z. How cool is that? A good friend just gave his away because he couldn’t sell it.
Best smog exempt car to keep running until the end of time as a daily driver.
Plymouth Valiant Wagon?
76 Cadillac?
Sqareback?
65 mustang?
Best car to solicit comments from a casual car guys that you are mistaken about the size of the engine in your car: Anything with a GM 3.3 V-6 (’89-’93)
Best car for those that like to jump into things too early: 2010 V-6 Ford Mustang
Best car for those insisting they want to replace their Buick Skylark with something ‘a little sporty’: Corolla S
Best car for those who want to give the wrong impression to people when they say they drive a Scion: Scion xA
Car with the worst seats: Any pre 2005 Mitsubishi excluding Evos
Also, the Crapalier – I mean Cavalier and Sunfire.
Though they are comparable to a certain ubiquitous pest insect, but I can’t name which one without paying a royalty to “Geozinger”…
Lots of good submissions so far. Three of the leaders at this point are…
Lahru
Lampredotto
Dave7
The night is still… well… middle-aged. So feel free to keep posting.
Best Dead Car Companies
Dead after November of 2008
Saab. Yeah, I know, but lets be honest, they’ve been Dawn of the Dead material since the 99.
Sure, they twitch and moan and can occasionally pull off something exciting and terrifying, but there’s been no brain activity for a loooong time and are no danger to anyone who isn’t criminally, Darwinically stupid (eg, like General Motors)
The Teutonic vehicle 2nd most likely, Volkswagen is 1st by default, to need a new wiring harness at 100,000km.
Why? Because EVERYONE and I do mean EVERYONE I know who has owned one of these overrated, overpriced pieces of junk has ended up playing electrical system whack-a-mole from 100km on until they trade it in (for pennies on the dollar) or sell it to some rube who they hope won’t come back and poison their dog.
The Teutonic vehicle most likely to make you a winner on ‘A Minute to Win It’ if the contest involves changing a blown light bulb.
Why? Because the one time I had the misfortune to buy a Benz I stocked the console with 4 types of bulbs and got so good at changing them I could do it at a red light without getting honked at (no, I am not colouring my story).
The Teutonic dealership experience most likely to find you standing in front of a judge pleading ‘No Contest’.
Why? Because, seriously, has anyone had an experience that suggests they give a damn?
The British luxury car maker most likely to prove that your ratio of money to brains is close to infinite.
Why this category? Toronto.
Best vehicle to flaunt your sub-500 beacon score: 2009-2012 Mitusbishi Galant, with three or fewer hubcaps still in place.
Best vehicle to immediately notify bystanders they are in the presence of a complete f*****g imbecile (White Trash category): Fifth-generation Camaro
Best vehicle to immediately notify bystanders they are in the presence of a complete f*****g imbecile (New Money category): Volt, duh
Best vehicle that even I can’t really say anything bad about just because it’s so damn competent: 2006-2012 Impala
Most flagrant failure to identify a current vehicle’s strengths, and not go ridiculously overboard with the redesigned model: 1996 Taurus/2013 Impala (tie)
’13 Impala is still the W body for a short model run. Get them while they’re hot.
The best car killed off after finally getting it right….Pontiac Fiero V-6
Saab 9-5.
Best cars made horrible by redesign? I don’t really have an answer, but I’ve seen about 1,000 TTAC reader posts on the subject.
Best model name sullied be sticking it on a totally different car? Mustang/Mustang II, GTO, Cutlass, too many to count.
Mazda3
best model of used car according to me is 2012 Ford Mustang GT
when i was searching the best model of used car, i got this site http://www.wheelslot.ca, here you will get thousand of options of used cars at affordable prices..really its great site….
Best sleeper car at the rental agency:
Dodge Avenger/Chrylser 200 with 283 Hp V6. Can you say Camry V6 beater. With break in miles in place these things are 0-60 in 5.5-5.6 second cars. Everybody who raced us in our rental Avenger V6 lost including said 2010 Camry XLE V6 with a hyper kid behind the wheel that thought he could take us.
How was the car otherwise? Quiet? Comfortable?
Most Fun Car That Is Also Most Likely To Bring Your Sexuality Into Question For No Actual Reason: Mazda MX-5/ Mini Cooper S (Tie)
Best Dealer Profit Margin: Suburban LTZ
Car Most Likely To Beat Your Civic Si Off A Stoplight So Badly You Sell It And Buy A WRX Because “HOW DID I GET SMOKED BY A RENTAL CAR?”: 2012 Impala LS with 3.6L 24v V6
Best PT Cruiser That Isn’t a PT Cruiser: Chevrolet HHR
Best Automotive Impersonation Of A Dog Defecating: Chrysler Crossfire Coupe
Most Disappointing Successor Award: Nissan Sentra SE-R, 2009+ Mazda 6, Ford Thunderbird
Hottest Car Of The Year (Literally) Award: Ferrari 458 Italia, and Chevy Volt After Being T-Boned at 50mph and Parked For Two Weeks In Your Garage (tie)
Least Appropriately Named Vehicle Award: Dodge Sprinter, Ford Aspire, Mitsubishi Endeavor, Mini Countryman
Proctologist’s Car Of The Year (1993 Edition): Ford Probe
Great writing as always Steve. I guess your following will learn “the truth about steve in Atlanta very soon!!
#1 car in Mendocino county before the folks from the cities moved up there. Mostly found on back roads and muddy tracks. 77 to 91 Subaru DL/GL preferably with rust, mushrooms growing out of the floor, smelling of musky wet dog and skunky pot.
#2 Car in Mendocino county driven by the locals before the yuppies moved in. Any Volvo that was made before 1989. Must have rust, and preferably is a pre 1973 model.
#3 Car … see above SAAB 900
#4 Car …. See Above BMW 2002
#5 …
#1 car that everyone has owned, or known someone that has owned one.. 3rd generation Honda Accord.