Top 10 Most Disliked Cars

 

My Top 10 Most Disliked Cars

I’m sure we’ve all got cars that we hate but here’s my list of my most disliked cars. Please bear in mind that this is purely opinion based and not a list of the objectively worst cars ever built, though aspects like reliability, value, performance, looks or the car’s history are deciding factors.

But first it’s time for Dishonourable Mentions. These are the cars that whilst bad weren’t quite deserving enough of the top 10. So here goes:

Ssangyong Rexton- I’m just going to say it, this is the 2^nd ugliest car ever made, I mean look at it. Ssangyong has never had a good track record when it comes to designing cars but this thing is just repulsive. Your probably familiar with the Rodius but frankly this makes that old barge look like a Ferrari 355. But let’s also not forget that Ssangyong still has no street cred or recognisability even after being in the UK since 1996, if you buy one of these you either know nothing about style or taste or are just really gullible for whatever a salesperson tells you.

Suzuki Jimny- Who the heck was buying this wobbly, old fossil in 2018? As that's when this thing finally went out of production, 20 years total and to answer my question, old people. A majority of people I have seen driving these things are old people, which is weird because my understanding was that this was a junior 4x4 for amatuer green laners yet like many cars targeted towards young people it's become coveted by old people. Slow, rattly and not that good off-road, never deserved to be on sale for as long as it was.

Volkswagen Beetle (original)- I will be honest, without the Beetle, we wouldn’t have either the Porsche 911 or the VW Golf, so we should be thankful for that. But the sole reason I dislike the Beetle is it’s connection to Nazi Germany. The German people were promised the Beetle if they worked hard enough only to never have their cars delivered, not to mention the design was stolen from a Jewish Czechoslovakian. It’s fundamentally the product of a fascist regime that coerced it’s people into working for nothing.

Mini Paceman- The Paceman and it’s derivatives represent exactly what is wrong with the new Mini. I mean it’s not even mini anymore it’s what I call a “Biggy”, I mean the car looks so sad with it’s downward grille and enlarged proportions makes the Paceman frankly a miserable sight. But worst of all, what’s the point of it? If there’s nothing I can’t stand, it’s car’s that seemingly have no purpose in being built without passion. Passion and emotion gave us the Audi Quattro, McLaren F1 and the Lamborghini Miura, I doubt the designers or engineers put passion or soul into making this sad site.

Peugeot 4007- This is the ugliest car in the world ever made. Enough said.

Ford Mustang II- Living up to the original Mustang would be a tought act to follow and unsurprisingly during the Oil Crisis, it didn’t. Based on the unloved Pinto instead of the Falcon, the Mustang II had little to offer save it’s name, I get Ford were limited by said Oil Crisis but they should have just waited to make one that could live up to the original like Dodge did with the Challenger, but I guess that’s capitalism for you, sod being sensible, gotta make money. Sure a V8 version came out later but by then, the damage was done and the Mustang was no longer the king of the affordable performance cars.

Now on to the list.

Number 10: Land Rover Discovery MK1 Facelift 2 (2003-2004)

Whilst the Discovery may have brought Land Rover’s offroad capabilities in a more family friendly package, by the turn of the millennium it was fundamentally a design from the 80s competing with Jeep Cherokee’s, Toyota’s RAV4 mk2 and the BMW X5. Whilst the original Discovery did improve over it’s lifespan the final one’s (distinguishable by the Range Rover headlamps) were frankly rubbish. The design had grown old, the V8 was thirsty and highly inefficient and then there’s Land Rovers image. Put bluntly most Discovery’s look worse for ware and their owner’s don’t scream sophisticated human being. I know Land Rover’s aren’t generally bought by diplomats or professors but the cars look so lower class even in the company of other 4x4’s. Plus, it suffers from typical Land Rover reliability problems and neither has the global expeditions of the Defender or the luxury of a Range Rover. At least the mk2 Discovery was a major improvement over this old donkey.

Number 9: Peugeot 307 (2001-2008)

The 307 has to be the worst of the 2000’s Peugeots which does include some proper stinkers like the 807 and 607 but that’s beside the point. My main dislike for it is similar to that of the Mustang II as it just failed to live up to the 306 as, think about it. People still talk about the 205, 306 and 504, but no one talks about the 307, why? Well it came at the time when Peugeot build quality really went down hill and unlike its predecessor, there was no GTi version just a 2.0 Xsi which really just signified that Peugeot had forgotten everything that made the 306, 205 and 106 such great car’s, in ordinary spec they didn’t have much to write about but the GTi versions are what make them so legendary, the 205 especially. But what makes the 307 a bigger disappointment than the Mustang II? Ford had the issue of the oil crisis impeding them from making a proper sequel to the Mustang, Peugeot didn’t have that and yet churned out thousands of this ultimately forgettable family car that couldn’t hold a candle to the good old Ford Focus.

Number 8: Dodge Nitro (2007-2011)

Now Dodge’s plan to sell car’s in the UK started good with the Viper SRT-10 but then decided to sell conventional cars in the hope of being an alternative to Chrysler (who’d been around for over a decade in the UK selling Jeeps and the original Viper) but all their offerings which also included the Avenger and Caliber but the Nitro was the worst of the trio. I mean look at it! American cars always feel a little out of place in the UK but this car has to be the most vulgar car ever made. I mean, who thought that would sell to people? Who would buy such an atrocity? Well some people did, thankfully it was only around for a few years and sold in tiny numbers so at least you don’t have to look at very often.

Number 7: Lada Riva (1980- 2012)

Initially it was hard to hate the old Lada but to be honest it is probably the objectively worst car ever built. I mean it fails on every front. Reliability, performance, looks, refinement, everything. And yet, I guess I feel sorry for it above all else. Though one version (the 21079) did come with a rotary engine and some did become rally cars, so that’s something. But still, it’s a truly awful car and thus deserves a place on this list.

Number 6: Vauxhall Frontera (1991-2003)

Now on paper, the Frontera was a good idea from 90s Vauxhall alongside the sleek Calibra and funky Tigra but was unfortunately badly executed like most of Vauxhall’s ideas. The Frontera was a cheap and rugged “lifestyle” vehicle but once owners got a taste of Vauxhall build quality and lack of customer service, the good idea quickly faded away. Upon it’s debut in the UK JD Power survey it came last with a score of 62 beating even the notoriously badly built, Lada Samara, Ford Escort and Rover Mini. And for the rest of it’s life it spent skulking in the bottom corner only mildly improving to a score of 75 in ’99 only to go right back down again the following year. It was also badly designed, particularly the tail-gate which opened out rather than up and it was painfully slow and not exactly safe in a crash either. What frustrates me so much was the fact it was around for so long but failed to improve and above all else disappointed a lot of customers who were probably convinced it was the car for them, only to be brought back down to earth when the head gasket went.

Number 5: Nissan Serena (1991- 2002)

 I’ve never liked people carriers except for the Ford S-Max which had the decency of being available with the 2.5 litre turbocharged 5-cylinder Volvo engine used in the Focus ST. My main reason for disliking them was because I feel that they were chiefly marketed towards what I call “motoring dunderheads”. In other words, people who know nothing about cars and will believe anything a salesperson or advert will tell them. I believe that very few people who bought one actually needed 7 seats and would have been better off with a conventional hatchback, saloon or estate. Not to mention that MPV’s were notoriously unreliable with the exceptions of the Toyota Picnic, Honda Stream & Shuttle and the Mazda Premacy, all were dreadfully unreliable especially the: Renault Espace, Peugeot 807, Ford Galaxy, Volkswagen Sharan and the Nissan Serena. Built in Spain alongside the Terrano and unbelievably on sale at the same time as the Skyline, 200SX and the Primera. It really is hard to believe that Nissan could make such an excellent car as the Skyline and at the same time be in charge of the creation of a rattly and slow (the diesel took 31 seconds to reach 60 MPH) box on wheels. 

Number 4: Austin Allegro (1973- 1982)

Ah yes, the good old Austin Allegro, you’ve probably heard it all before but let’s get down to business. If you’ve ever seen the concept drawings for the Allegro, it actually looked pretty cool, only to be spoiled by managements request to use the bigger heater from the Morris Marina and a bigger engine too. These changes then resulted in the car you know and loath. It went from being semi-futuristic to being as square as could be, even the steering wheel was square, and it only got worse over time. The thick black bumpersmade it look even cheaper and the Vanden Plas’ radiator grille looked like a cruel joke above all else. The Allegro represents everything wrong with British Leyland: bad management, lacklustre build quality and the worst part was that it could have been great only to be let down right at the end.

Number 3: Kia Rio mk1 (2001-2005)

If you ask me, it sort of looks like a knockoff Focus Estate. Why do I dislike it so much? Simple, because Kia thought they could charge you £5995 for a car with no radio. Why the hell would anyone buy a new car even 20 years ago with no radio? Now sure, both the Perodua Nippa and Suzuki Alto didn’t have a radio but both of them were tinny little mites that few intelligent people would or should buy. But the Kia is worse because it was a 5-door hatch in a price range full of 3 doors and could be bought with a £1 deposit. Which sort of proves how crummy it must be. Frankly, if you were thinking of buying one of these I would have said “don’t, go and buy a second-hand Focus 1.6 or Primera 2.0 GT and you’ll be buying a much more refined, well-built and higher specced car than you’d ever get with one of these”.

Number 2: Ford Fusion (2002-2011)

As previously mentioned, I hate cars that were seemingly made with no purpose and the Ford Fusion epitomizes that perfectly. It was supposedly made to appeal to young people. But chances are only old fogies bought it. Underneath it was the current Fiesta only slightly taller and boxier, frankly it’s not too far off a Metro, but at least that came as a GTi and was meant to replace the Mini. This has nothing, nothing unique, special or interesting, it’s just a Fiesta with all the character and charm washed away and replaced with a layer of dullness. Never should have been made and yet a tonne of these things still roam the roads probably because Ford forgot to stop making the damn thing even after the mk5 Fiesta came out in 2008.  

Number 1: Nissan Qashqai (2007-2023)

This is my least favourite car of all time (as of writing) why? What’s the point of the thing? Nissan already had the X-Trail and the Murano, why did they need to make another soft roader? (this time in co-operation with Renault). And yet, people bought them and then other manufacturers started making their own and then they started axing their older models in favour of these copy cats. It’s the people carrier trend all over again, except this trend shows no sign of stopping anytime soon. Consider the fact Ford has axed the Fiesta, Mondeo and soon the Focus, why? Chances are because the Qashqai and it’s clones sell so well and the gullible motoring dunderheads who previously bought people carriers are now buying these damn things instead of conventional hatches and saloons despite the fact that all these things have to offer is a slightly taller driving height. How shallow are people to buy a car purely for being taller? A lot as it turns out so I guess you win Nissan and Renault executives, I hope your happy.