The Worst 10 Cars

[RangerBob]

Car Talk Worst 10 Cars


I drove a Pinto once, but don't tell anybody.

Bob

[JL8Jeff]

That's an insult to the Vega! Drop a 350 or 454 into a Vega and it would destroy anything on the street or strip. And the Cosworth Vega was years ahead of its time with the overhead cams and fuel injection. The rest of the list is pretty funny with the comments.

[Joe 1320]

Renault LeCar..... funny thing is in Europe it was known as the Renault R5. The turbo model (R5 Turbo) was known as atomic chipmunk and was a total bad boy rear wheel drive stormer. Go figure the French actually did something right yet were too dumb to bring it to the states.

[00 Ragtop Z]

Wait a minute guys!! I had a Vega hatchback the first year it came out--1971.. I LOVED the car. It was quick, it shifted well and handled decently for a stock gas mizer.

The all aluminun engine had it's problems (not mine but then I cared for it teh way I do my Ragtop). If my soon to be wife had been able to drive it (she never drove a stick, and though I tried she could never get teh hang of it) I would ahve kept it much longer.

I think teh Vega has gotten a bad wrap that it didn't really deserve.

[wolfdogs]

i owned a pinto wagon for 8 months as an eDD in 74...... POS! bought it used dirt cheap.

[Joe 1320]

Originally posted by wolfman
i owned a pinto wagon for 8 months as an eDD in 74...... POS! bought it used dirt cheap.

OMG... we had one too. A blue wagon with a woodie kit. Even had a luggage rack on top. I wanted to wear a bag on my head while riding in it.

[Roger in Kensington]

My wife's first car was a 1974 Vega. Kept it until 1986 when we bought a Celebrity wagon. Of course, I had replaced the original engine with a sleeved one.

I think of that car every time I open the hood on my daughter's '92 Buick Skylark and my mother-in-law's '97 Chevy Malibu. So many similarities.

[Kevin - Blown 95 TA]

Originally posted by JL8Jeff
That's an insult to the Vega!

Vegas were crap. I remember a friend of mine had starting problems with his and asked me to look at it. The starter bolts had fallen out and all of the bolts except one that held the bellhousing to the engine were missing. Only the trans mount was keeping the tranny from falling out. When he pushed the clutch in, the engine separated from the trans about 4". Damndest thing I ever saw that was still on the road.

Pintos were worse. Had to take my friend's fat wife and baby somewhere in their Pinto and it wouldn't go up a 5° grade with a 60 mph running start. It was 20 years ago and I'm still ashamed I had to drive it.

[JL8Jeff]

That's why you were supposed to put a 350 into the Vega! Then you would't have any problems other than needing new rear tires each week. I don't know if you guys know this, but Chevrolet experimented with an aluminum 302 option for the Vega! That's a 350+ hp engine in a tiny, light car. How cool would that have been.

[pete]

Aw! they trashed the GREMLIN! I had ordered and bought a brand new '74 Gremlin! It had the big six (258 cu. in) and a 3 -speed stick. It was faster than the Datsun 240z my cousin had at twice the price.

They raced them in the Trans Am series at the time, red, white and blue sections of the car (mine was black, a $73 option).

Kept it for 2 years until at 44k the electrical gremlins started to eat batteries, alternators, and voltage regulators on a weekly basis.