Jalopnik 
Enter your username and password.
Detroit, 6:11 AM
Sun Nov 8
6 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip your editors:
tips@jalopnik.com
Editor-in-Chief:
Ray Wert | Email | AIM
Road Test Editor:
Wes Siler | Email
Weekend Editor:
Murilee Martin | Email
Associate Editor - Houston:
Matt Hardigree
Associate Editor - Detroit:
Ben Wojdyla
Editor-at-Large:
Mike Spinelli
Contributors:
Mark Arnold
John Krewson | Email
Andy Didorosi
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
11/04/09
11/04/09
My bottom line: I want a Tucker. Cd: 0.27. Name a modern car that can match _that_. #uglycars
11/04/09
11/04/09
11/04/09
11/04/09
11/04/09
11/04/09
;-D #uglycars
11/05/09
11/04/09
And also a Seven. #uglycars
11/03/09
I think that's a challenge.
Oh Wartburg 353, how do I wuv thee, wet me count da ways...
1.) You are red. Red is the most awesome color ever. It's in sunsets, fire, fire engines, clown noses, and ketchup. It's also a popular sports car color. Shame on BusinessWeek for hating on not one, but six red cars.
2.) The engine. It's a two stroke with just seven moving parts. SEVEN. I can count that on my fingers, even after the heavy casualties Lefty took in the Battle of Cannes-Opener. I can even wiggle my fingers to signify that they are moving parts. Spirit fingers go!
3.) It was made in East Germany. I mean, the country no longer exists. People love orphaned cars, right? Except in this case, not just the company went under, it was the whole communist block. I mean it would be like if Yugoslavia had made a hip-to-be-square car before it went away. Oh wait...
4.) It was made for twenty three years. In East Germany. It's like the Wartburg 353 and the Volkswagen Beetle were sisters. All the boys chased the curvy, older, just-wanna-have-fun Beetle, while the poor young tag-along Wartburg got stuck with the embarrassing name, the thick geek glasses, and 23 years of braces. Poor underdog. Gotta love them underdogs!
5.) The fact that the jalopnik article ([jalopnik.com]), the businessweek article, and the wikipedia page ([en.wikipedia.org]) all have the same picture of the car. It's like only one of them existed to be photographed, meaning it must be SUPER RARE!!!
So BusinessWeek, you suck for saying a rare underdog red car with an awesome engine that comes from East Germany is ugly, and then copying your picture straight from wikipedia, without checking your facts and realizing how wrong you are. I'm subscribing to you just so I can cancel my subscription!
11/03/09
11/04/09
First of all: <3
Second of all: ?
I haven't seen anything specifically about Wartburgs having Duroplast bodies, only Trabants. They COULD be Duroplast though.
Still, another thing to add to ze list...
6.) Traburgs. A three-cylinder engine is swapped INTO a car rather than OUT OF it. Who does that!? And when does it result in such an awkward name!? #uglycars
11/04/09
11/04/09
11/04/09
@Jim-Bob: The resemblance... #uglycars
11/04/09
@Plasma X: ...is eerie. I see what you're saying, but it's only in the front fascia.
11/04/09
11/04/09
11/03/09
11/03/09
How can he include the Lightburn Zeta? Everyone knows the Lightburn Zeta Sports was the ugly one! #uglycars
11/03/09
Some of the cars on their list actually are pretty damn ugly. That said, can anyone with a straight face say that an El Camino is uglier than this? #uglycars
11/03/09
11/03/09
The Tata Nano is strange yet appealing, the Ferrari Enzo is very bold yet nicely proportioned, and one of this young century's most desirable cars, and the Plymouth Prowler is nice to look at, but would have benefited from a V8 or even a turbo'd four or V6.
The Lamborghini LM002 is an acquired taste for sure, but a fast and comfy one at that, the DeLorean DMC12 is easily one of the Malaise era's best designs, the best car to come out of Northern Ireland save the Crossle Formula Ford race cars, and was engineered in part by Colin Chapman, and the Subaru Brat is what washed the rancid tastes of 360 and FF1 out of Americans' mouths in the 70s and went on to make Subaru a household name.
The Aston Martin Lagonda is not for everyone in many ways, but is a stellar alternative to a Rolls or Bentley, the Volvo 240 is reliable, safe, comfortable, makes a great first car (or LeMons racer) and lasts nearly forever, the Bricklin was dramatic and had proven mechanicals, but was the answer to a question no one asked, and the El Camino was and is a great design and ideal for someone who needs or wants a truck but doesn't want a full-size rig or even a compact.
Oh, and a financial magazine should NEVER write anything about cars. It's just not their field of expertise. #uglycars
11/03/09
11/03/09
11/03/09
Now I could understand that the ordering was off. #uglycars
11/03/09
Holy crap, the toyota van #uglycars
11/03/09
11/03/09
11/03/09
11/03/09
11/03/09
11/03/09
11/03/09
Another idea: Create a top xx of journalistic screwups about cars. #uglycars
11/03/09
Ugliest cars:
1) Post-1995 Toyota Camry
2) Post-1995 Honda Accord
3) Post-1995 Ford Taurus
etc. #uglycars
11/03/09
11/03/09
But I've been riding motorbikes for years, and Volvos are my #1 pet hate. There is nothing more brain dead than a Volvo driver. #uglycars
11/03/09
11/03/09
11/03/09
I'll count you as two, as I've yet to meet a "bad" driver whose also ridden motorcycles for years. For some reason, the two seem to be mutually exclusive.
I'm pretty sure it's not an Australian thing, that Volvo drivers are considered the worst drivers. I know a lot of riders put it down to a "safety" thing. ie. I'm in a safe car, so I don't have to look where I'm going, indicate or anything else a reasonable driver does.
Volvo actually created a (very successful) advertising campaign around the bad rep their drivers had. #uglycars
11/03/09
11/03/09
But I'm not kidding about their drivers. And there's plenty of people who agree with me. Considering, this is the internet, that's no big surprise. I did hear about a serious study (over 10 years ago) that was undertaken in Europe to try and work out why Volvo drivers were so bad. I couldn't find any references to it, so I'm writing that off as an urban myth.
However, even Volvo acknowledged how bad a rep the drivers of their vehicles had in their advertising here: [www.autoweb.com.au]
11/03/09
Clarkson's review of the S60 R showed him driving around with his right blinker on. No Buicks over there, so the driving-challenged end up elsewhere. #uglycars
11/03/09
11/03/09
11/03/09
It's funny, but I think the reputation of Volvo drivers has slowly improved. I suspect there is a direct correlation with the increased affordability of BMWs. But apart from the bad rep of soccer moms in X5s (a very small sub-category of bad driver), I don't think there is any vehicle driver that has earned quite the rep that Volvo drivers earned. #uglycars
11/03/09
Wow, i just realized I own a grand total of 1000 HP. #uglycars
11/03/09
11/04/09
The worst:
BMW
Audi
Panel vans, contractor trucks and landscaper trucks #uglycars
11/03/09
How anyone can hate an El Camino, of any vintage, is a mystery and proves how little value should be ascribed to this arbitrary list by those with no taste in vehicles.