The Worst Cars Ever

AMC Gremlin (1970-79)
Why an automaker would choose to name a car after a mischievous creature with a penchant for gumming up mechanical devices is baffling. And as if to mock fate, AMC premiered the Gremlin on April Fools’ Day in 1970. While they say you can’t judge a book by its cover, the adage doesn’t apply here. This AMC abomination looked hideous from every angle. Worse, it was appallingly built. Various gimmicks didn’t save the car, either. The Gremlin X, for example, could be ordered with the optional Levi’s denim interior. We’re not making this up.

Ford Pinto (1971-80)
A PR disaster for the ages, the infamous Pinto had a tendency to explode when hit from behind, thanks to the pipe leading from the fuel filler to the tank rupturing on impact. While this engineering failure was bad enough, more appalling was the fact that Ford knew about the glitch in advance but didn’t want to recall the Pinto. The fuel filler problem would’ve cost Ford $11 per car to fix. The result: People died in faulty Pintos, and Ford was hammered with multimillion-dollar lawsuits.

DE LOREAN DMC 12 (1981-82)
John DeLorean was a catalyst behind the performance car boom in the 1960s (GTO, Firebird) when he was with Pontiac. So it’s nothing short of mind-boggling that his DMC 12 was such an “all show, no go” kind of car. Yes, the stainless steel coupe turned heads when it debuted. But a heavy Renault V6 engine was an underwhelming power plant, and build quality was dreadful (those famous gull-wing doors sometimes wouldn’t open, trapping occupants inside.) The DMC 12 would later be featured as a time machine in the “Back to the Future” movies. Such a shame John De Lorean couldn’t obtain a “flux capacitor” in real life so he, too, could go back in time and prevent the DMC 12 from being built.

RENAULT FUEGO (1980-92)
Renault no longer sells cars in the North American market; the Fuego is one reason. The Fuego was unreliable and used antiquated technology. Even the name was unfortunate: “Fuego” is Spanish for fire, and this French coupe had an alarming habit of bursting into flames because of dodgy electrical wiring.

CADILLAC CIMARRON (1982-88)
A word comes to mind when one gazes upon the Cimarron. That word is “brandalism.” This is when the custodians of a brand – in this case, the people heading up GM’s Cadillac division in the early ’80s – were so incompetent they ended up essentially vandalizing their iconic luxury brand. The Cimarron was given the green light when GM noticed that small luxury cars made by the likes of Mercedes and BMW were gobbling up increased market share. GM could have attempted to make a good, small luxury car to compete with the Germans. Instead, the General chose to tart up a Chevrolet Cavalier with leather seats, marking up the base price by thousands in the process. Bottom line: It’s a minor miracle the Cadillac nameplate didn’t perish along with the Cimarron.

SUZUKI X90 (1996-98)
Talk about a vehicle suffering from an identity crisis. Was the X90 a 4x4 that could tackle the Jeep Jamboree? Or was it a sports coupe? Turns out it was neither, even though Suzuki billed the X90 as “the world’s first two-seater sports car off-roader.” The car’s exterior design was also baffling: The front and rear ends were virtually identical, prompting some observers to quip that it was hard to tell if the X90 was coming or going.

PONTIAC AZTEK (2001-05)
Next time you’re behind a Pontiac Aztek, gaze upon its rear end. You might just notice the Aztek’s posterior is virtually identical to the backside of a garbage truck. How the Aztek – which embodies an incomprehensive mishmash of curves and odd angles – ever went into production will remain a mystery for the ages. Still, to this day, stand-up comedians are grateful GM had the chutzpah to hatch such an ugly duckling.