Worst Cars on the Road
Worst Cars on the Road
According to Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/07/worst- ... ysler.html
Not sure I agree with the F-250 selection, I've always had good luck with Ford trucks.
gatorman
http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/07/worst- ... ysler.html
Not sure I agree with the F-250 selection, I've always had good luck with Ford trucks.
gatorman
Pretty tough on the Americans. It wasn't a condition of the bailout that they start, y'know, making good cars?
By the way, a fantastic story about American vs Japanese car manufacturing practices from This American Life. Highly recommend it. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-a ... /403/nummi
By the way, a fantastic story about American vs Japanese car manufacturing practices from This American Life. Highly recommend it. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-a ... /403/nummi
An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered. -- GK Chesterton
Surprised by inclusion of the F250. If I had to venture it guess, the bad reviews come from people buying what is a commercial grade, tough, stiff riding truck for personal use instead of business (construction) use.
The other vehicles seem spot on for inclusion.
The big Caddy SUV. Perfect for those with more money than brains. Why buy the Chevy / GMC version when you can spend more for the same thing. Handles like boat and consumes gas like one too.
The subcompact GM trucks are also awful. The engines run terribly rough. I believe they are five cylinders, which even the Germans can't make smooth.
The Aveo also deserves inclusion. Just an awful little car. And pointless when you can buy a slightly used Corolla or Civic for the same money and they are far superior.
Anything from Chrysler post Daimler seperation is also of highly questionable build quality.
The other vehicles seem spot on for inclusion.
The big Caddy SUV. Perfect for those with more money than brains. Why buy the Chevy / GMC version when you can spend more for the same thing. Handles like boat and consumes gas like one too.
The subcompact GM trucks are also awful. The engines run terribly rough. I believe they are five cylinders, which even the Germans can't make smooth.
The Aveo also deserves inclusion. Just an awful little car. And pointless when you can buy a slightly used Corolla or Civic for the same money and they are far superior.
Anything from Chrysler post Daimler seperation is also of highly questionable build quality.
Just having noticed or considered,.... I think some states allow alot of stuff on the road that you'd never see in other states. AZ being one, where you still see pinto's/ corvairs/ opal's/ and such, because they last forever out there with little deterioration except from the sun. Unrestored of course. I imagine it has to do with the states auto inspection. I've always thought foreign autos were superior. JMO -just sayin-
" Wealth usually leads to excess " Cicero 55 b.c
I think the Dodge Nitro should receive a special award for being the worst looking of the bunch...
Last edited by harland on Fri Apr 09, 2010 1:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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The automakers' responses are quite interesting. http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/07/worst- ... onses.html
Refreshing that no one attacks the methodology.
Refreshing that no one attacks the methodology.
An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered. -- GK Chesterton
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This is really interesting. After listening to the first couple of minutes of this I have no sympathy for domestic car companies' woes. It is sickening this level of incompetence was/is allowed because of an organization that holds an employer hostage *and poor management*.ryuns wrote:Pretty tough on the Americans. It wasn't a condition of the bailout that they start, y'know, making good cars?
By the way, a fantastic story about American vs Japanese car manufacturing practices from This American Life. Highly recommend it. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-a ... /403/nummi
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So if a car sells 10,000,000 copies (not an unreasonable number), and 3% have issues, then 300,000 cars will have problems. While the percentage of cars is small the number is large.tadamsmar wrote:They used Consumer Reports, in part.
A vehicle can get a black dot in Consumer Reports with only 3% incidence,
a black dot means between 3% and 100% and above average incidence.
So, a vehicle can get a black dot and 97% of the owners never see a problem.
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Every Escalade I've come across is plastered in political bumper stickers of the most ignorant kind. The drivers of these cars are fairly obnoxious on the road too and will cut anyone off. They are worse than the kids in riced-out Civics who think they are fast just because they have a noisy can on the exhaust and a huge wing spoiler and try to race everyoneDagwood wrote: The big Caddy SUV. Perfect for those with more money than brains. Why buy the Chevy / GMC version when you can spend more for the same thing. Handles like boat and consumes gas like one too.
Interesting in California I see Prius with bumper stickers and the such. However, very few Escalades with such things.atomiclightbulb wrote:Every Escalade I've come across is plastered in political bumper stickers of the most ignorant kind. The drivers of these cars are fairly obnoxious on the road too and will cut anyone off. They are worse than the kids in riced-out Civics who think they are fast just because they have a noisy can on the exhaust and a huge wing spoiler and try to race everyoneDagwood wrote: The big Caddy SUV. Perfect for those with more money than brains. Why buy the Chevy / GMC version when you can spend more for the same thing. Handles like boat and consumes gas like one too.
We are all worms. But I believe that I am a glow-worm.
This must be a regional phenomenon. The Scion xB is the only car I can think of with disproportionate # of bumperstickers of any kind. Nothing universal like where you live.atomiclightbulb wrote:Every Escalade I've come across is plastered in political bumper stickers of the most ignorant kind. The drivers of these cars are fairly obnoxious on the road too and will cut anyone off. They are worse than the kids in riced-out Civics who think they are fast just because they have a noisy can on the exhaust and a huge wing spoiler and try to race everyoneDagwood wrote: The big Caddy SUV. Perfect for those with more money than brains. Why buy the Chevy / GMC version when you can spend more for the same thing. Handles like boat and consumes gas like one too.
As for the ignorant bumper stickers in southern California, most that I see are affixed to Priuses (Prii? Priora?) and Subarus piloted by inconsiderate drivers holding up traffic in the passing lanes.
Escalades out here tend to have obnoxious subwoofers instead of bumperstickers.
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Don't forget the 24" wheels which the owner doesn't realize will only last a year and will most likely not be able to afford a replacement set. :roll:strafe wrote:This must be a regional phenomenon. The Scion xB is the only car I can think of with disproportionate # of bumperstickers of any kind. Nothing universal like where you live.atomiclightbulb wrote:Every Escalade I've come across is plastered in political bumper stickers of the most ignorant kind. The drivers of these cars are fairly obnoxious on the road too and will cut anyone off. They are worse than the kids in riced-out Civics who think they are fast just because they have a noisy can on the exhaust and a huge wing spoiler and try to race everyoneDagwood wrote: The big Caddy SUV. Perfect for those with more money than brains. Why buy the Chevy / GMC version when you can spend more for the same thing. Handles like boat and consumes gas like one too.
As for the ignorant bumper stickers in southern California, most that I see are affixed to Priuses (Prii? Priora?) and Subarus piloted by inconsiderate drivers holding up traffic in the passing lanes.
Escalades out here tend to have obnoxious subwoofers instead of bumperstickers.
This will certainly cause me to receive some bashing, and possibly a thread lock, but speaking of bumper stickers...I've always noticed that the number of bumper stickers is directly proportional to how obese the (usually female) driver is. At least in my area.
Last edited by tim1999 on Fri Apr 09, 2010 9:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
True. But most buyers will experience no problems. I had that experience with a 1997 Neon. It got black dots, the resale value went to pot, but the car was pretty reliable for me.kb0fhp wrote:So if a car sells 10,000,000 copies (not an unreasonable number), and 3% have issues, then 300,000 cars will have problems. While the percentage of cars is small the number is large.tadamsmar wrote:They used Consumer Reports, in part.
A vehicle can get a black dot in Consumer Reports with only 3% incidence,
a black dot means between 3% and 100% and above average incidence.
So, a vehicle can get a black dot and 97% of the owners never see a problem.
Of course, the black dot could be a real lemon, you have to investigate the black dot.
This is a known problem in measure theory with converting from numerical scales to categories. The meaning of a black dot varies from 3 to 100, a factor of 30-fold.
Last edited by tadamsmar on Fri Apr 09, 2010 11:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Another problem with the article is that Consumer Reports uses the NHTSA and/or IIHS ratings to provide safety ratings. But these rankings rank cars within weight categories and tend to ignore the fact that weight is a safety factor. That means the results will be biased in favor of smaller cars.
This is not the first time that Forbes has done this:
http://www.informedforlife.org/demos/FC ... pike...pdf
This is not the first time that Forbes has done this:
http://www.informedforlife.org/demos/FC ... pike...pdf
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Some of the Escalades I've seen are equipped with either chrome or multicolored light spinner things... they look so terrible that I can't imagine anyone wanting to steal them :lol:FCM wrote:With respect to the Escalade 24" wheels not lasting a year, is that because a thief will steal all 4 of them off the vehicle, similar to what happened to a neighbor of mine?
Yeah, I think/hope that things have changed in some ways, but it was interesting how the Japanese style/strategy was just so superior and how much trouble they had replicating it here. I'm not sure how far you got, but it was interesting to hear how they tried to replicate the success at NUMMI in an entirely American plant in Van Nuys and it failed miserably. Without the careful training, the trips to Japan, superior management, and better quality Japanese parts, they just couldn't hack it.3CT_Paddler wrote:This is really interesting. After listening to the first couple of minutes of this I have no sympathy for domestic car companies' woes. It is sickening this level of incompetence was/is allowed because of an organization that holds an employer hostage *and poor management*.ryuns wrote:Pretty tough on the Americans. It wasn't a condition of the bailout that they start, y'know, making good cars?
By the way, a fantastic story about American vs Japanese car manufacturing practices from This American Life. Highly recommend it. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-a ... /403/nummi
An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered. -- GK Chesterton
I had a 2010 Chevy HHR as a rental while my car was being repaired.
It's a 50's style retro panel truck style. I like it. The HHR is ~1 ft shorter than my Subaru. You ride higher and sitting up about the same as a Subaru Forestor and the seats have the *best* lumbar support. It's really easy to get in and out of compared to bucket seats. Since it's wider and higher the cargo space is still good. The milage is 22/32 which a few better than my Subaru.
The problem is the HHR is made by GM.
Paul
It's a 50's style retro panel truck style. I like it. The HHR is ~1 ft shorter than my Subaru. You ride higher and sitting up about the same as a Subaru Forestor and the seats have the *best* lumbar support. It's really easy to get in and out of compared to bucket seats. Since it's wider and higher the cargo space is still good. The milage is 22/32 which a few better than my Subaru.
The problem is the HHR is made by GM.
Paul
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I wound not say being made by GM is a problem. The problem is the HHR is just a Chevy Cobalt with a retro Suburban body. It has no where near the off road capabilities of a Subaru. I considered an HHR myself back in 07. I am 6 foot tail and during a test drive I found my right knee was uncomfortably bumping into the floor mounted auto shifter. The price of the HHR new in 07 was about $16K. I ended up with an 07 Chrysler Town & Country minivan for the same price. Mileage on the minivan is only 26 highway but it has a V6.stratton wrote:I had a 2010 Chevy HHR as a rental while my car was being repaired.
It's a 50's style retro panel truck style. I like it. The HHR is ~1 ft shorter than my Subaru. You ride higher and sitting up about the same as a Subaru Forestor and the seats have the *best* lumbar support. It's really easy to get in and out of compared to bucket seats. Since it's wider and higher the cargo space is still good. The milage is 22/32 which a few better than my Subaru.
The problem is the HHR is made by GM.
Paul
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