Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! It's a tradition in my family to go around the table and talk about what we're thankful for. One of the things I'm most thankful for is this job -- the fact that I can make my living doing what I love, which is driving and talking about cars. That's only possible because of you, the readers, the folks who visit this site regularly and tell your friends about it. So thank you, each and every one, for your support.
About... oh wow, has it been four years already? Oh my. Anyway, four years ago, I followed my message of thanksgiving thanks with a question: What's the biggest automotive turkey of all times? I suggested the Suzuki Verona, and you came up with some great answers, including the Hummer H2, the Pontiac Aztek, and -- of course -- the Yugo. Four years have gone by, and a lot of new cars have been introduced... not all good. So I think it's time to revisit the question: What is today's (or yesterday's) biggest automotive turkey? Click the comments link below and have your say. -- Aaron Gold
I’m gonna have to go with the Ford Excursion. The 8 mpg soccer mom’s bus that was too big to fit in a standard home garage and may have been made from the recycled parts of the other smaller vehicles it killed while lumbering down the highway. The Ford Excursion, because every family needs their very own tank (howitzer sold separately).
Apart from the once DFI and you mentioned I had following in mind. The AMC Pacer (ouch), Ford Pinto, AMC Gremlin (a true gremlin!!!), the Yugo, The Chevrolet Vega. And that is just the beginning….. Happy thanksgiving
Wow, so many turkeys, so little time! Any American car from the mid-1970’s falls into this category, but especially the Uber turkeys from Chrysler. The Cordoba comes to mind (Remember the “soft, Corinthian leather” ads?) These cars were obviously engineered by actual turkeys, rather than skilled humans. The same goes for the late 1990’s products, especially the Dodge Durango.
But on a lighter note: “Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours Aaron, and thanks for the great blog!”
Hey Happy T day Aaron,
As to the car turkeys, my first hand memory for cars extends to the sixties so I’m unable to comment on anything prior to that point so here goes. Eliminating what’s already mentioned, anything with Lucas electrics, the Corvair, the 1976 Buick Skyhawk I owned ( actually throw in most any post oil embargo car all anemic), GM’s X-cars, Porsche? 914’s, the first Honda Insight, it had a 365# load capacity, for Americans, LOL. Those come to mind quickly. As to new I’ll nominate the Volt, $41000 for a Chevy Cruze, I don’t see anyway way it will be a success. A technological gem, yes but a marketing failure I’ll predict.
The 2011 VW Jetta – because it has given up everything it is. The last generation Jetta was a tight, well-built German sedan. It was fun to drive, had, by far, the highest quality materials in the class. The new one has less sophisticated suspension parts, completely bland design, and features really unattractive plastic pieces on the inside. It feels Japanese in its character-less cheapness. Plus, the entry model has 115 horsepower. Yes, ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN! What a turkey!
Another turkey was the Geo Metro convertible from the early ’90s. A 52 horsepower, 3 cylinder death trap.
Alas, my Automotive Turkey is also a Suzuki…the X90, which only sold about 2600 units in three years(96-98). Google this ugly duckling and it’s bound to bring back memories! As for Thanksgiving a few words…
***With our men, women and children overseas in harm’s way, we should pause as we sit at a beautifully arrayed table. If not for them and the myriads before them, our fate would be quite different. Let us give thanks to them and all those who daily extend the hand of human kindness to others, shirking their own comfort and security so others may prosper as well. That is the principle upon which America was created and shall be preserved in the future. Remembering this shall truly ensure that God will bless America! Happy Thanksgiving!!!
I echo Don’s sentiments for Thanksgiving. May all of you have a memorable holiday season.
As for the automotive Turkeys, there were so many made, particularly from the 70’s thru today that we probably could never capture them all here. Even with all the quality improvements that have been made by nearly every manufacturer in the recent past, there are a ton of late model cars that are at the very least, design/aesthetic Turkeys. I’ll say ALL of the “Transportation Pod” cars out there (Prius, Insight, Fit, Smart ForTwo, among others), along with most of the boxy “Social Networking” cars (Cube, Scion Xb).
Add to those, the Four-door Fastback Hatchback AWD CUV SUV car….truck……..things (BMW, Honda, Toyota et al), nearly every Toyota product, nearly every Acura model, nearly every Chrysler model.
So Eric, let me get this straight… you think every vehicle available today is a turkey? Perhaps you should have responded with the one and only car you DO like.
From a design standpoint, there are very few new vehicles I like. Not to say that there aren’t several that I do like. The ones I mentioned above I have a particular dislike for. Acura makes some dynamite cars, but their designs of late completely negate however good the machine underneath might be. Same goes for Toyota. There are about 4 Chrysler products I like, the rest they can keep until/unless they substantially redesign them or replace them. The “Pod” cars I mentioned may get great fuel economy and be supremely practical, but the day I have to start driving a transportation pod is the day I turn in my drivers license. The Boxy cars like the Cube and the rest of their genre are simply ridiculous looking to me and not worth my time to even consider. Thankfully, they’re mostly fads that will go away in a few years.
I tend to lean more toward the mid-size market, and there are a number of cars there I DO like. Having said that, I DON’T like the fact that they’re only available in the U.S. as 4-door sedans. There are few if any wagons, and only a handful of 2-door sedans or convertibles. There are several European makes/models that I like, but they’re so expensive that I’ll never afford or be able to attain any of them.
Today the choices in new vehicles are almost unlimited. Yet, it’s sort of like Cable TV. With all the choices there are out there, it seems there’s very little worth watching.
Apparently “turkey” means “cars that I personally don’t like”, based on most of these comments. I won’t waste my time defending the 914 or cars with Lucas electronics (some of them are quite amazing, actually). So far, Peter Dejong is probably close to the mark, with some legitimately terrible cars.
How about anything with GM’s ’70s diesel engine, which killed diesel as a viable passenger car fuel source for decades?
If you want recent cars, the Chevy HHR would have to rate high on the list; I had the unfortunate experience of driving a rented one for a few days last year and it was really, truly awful.
The Hummer H2 of course gets a mention as an all-time turkey, because of the way it “gobble, gobble, gobbles” gas, and many people would only want it one time a year.
One mans turkey is another mans dinner.
The Aztek gets a lot of hate but the people I know that own them still love them.
The Tragic turkey award must go to the the Chevy Vetts from 72-82 or so.
A sub 150 HP big block Vette…. tragic.
The GM diesels. The engine wasn’t bad at heart it was the fact that they didn’t put in a water separator. Racers to this day look for those blocks to make super small block gas motors.
The 4-6-8 motor… Talk about bleeding edge. Works great today but in the 70s it was a step too far.
The Vega also is very high on the list. Bad motor and they would rust on the showroom floor.
The Pinto frankly gets too much hate as well. If you look at the insurance data it was no less safe than other small cars of that time and a good deal safer then some of the Japanese small cars of that time. All jokes aside it really wasn’t the death trap that people made it out to be and the motor was great. the 2.3 SOHC was in production for a very long time and has a good number of hot rod parts for it to this day.
And to be honest some of the most loved cars actually where real turkeys.
Anything British can fit in that category.
Peter Egan summed it up best when he talked about the time his jeep got hit in Vietnam.
“It was the only time I have had car just explode that wasn’t British.”
So many of the Turkey’s seem to be more myth than fact.
For me I would say that just about every car from 72-83 or so could fit that category. The US was pushing worlds most strict emissions controls so everything was new. We didn’t have the small cheap computers that we have now to run things like fuel injection and ignition systems like we do today. Throw in the bad state of rust proofing and you have ten years where every car love in the US longed for the old days or wished we could get the cars the had in Europe without all the smog gear.
Every time I see a SmartCar I want to find the biggest Hummer I can find and smash the POS and it’s smug driver into an unrecognizable cube from a car crusher.
The Ford Windstar. I took a financial beating to unload the thing, and I’m glad I did! It’s a shame. It was roomy and drove nicely, if and when it worked right. One issue after another.
I’m thankful for my Range Rover in the winter, my Jag in the Fall and my BMW and Porsche cabriolets in the Spring and Summer. I get the best of all the seasons. Most of all though I’m thankful that my country didn’t experience the terrible economic hardships that befell the US and other countries. There is definitely something to be said for financial conservatism.
I’d agree with the Gremlin and the Vega were dogs….The Vega with the aluminum engine was especualy bad…the Cosworth much better. But the biggest money loser of all had to be the ill-fated Edsel line. A loser out of the box back in the laste ’50s.
Roger;
Actually,the Vega engine was an aluminum block with an Iron head. I know this because I had a ‘75 Vega GT wagon I really liked,but I spent about a year and a half swapping blocks,heads and complete engines before I finally got a good complete engine in it. It ran great,had plenty of power,got 30-35 mpg on the highway and was pretty reliable. It even handled relatively well,considering the thrashed steering linkage it had.
As far as the turkey issue,I have a hard time generalizing,since I’ve owned a lot of cars I see mentioned here,but pretty much all the AMC autos would be my selections. Homely,awkward handling,uncomfortable,short on power,not so good mileage,they remind me of driving a cinder block. But-as long as you stay away from the automatic transmissions,they seem reliable enough.