The Ten Dumbest Imported Cars Ever Sold In America

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Here are ten cars that couldn't, shouldn't, live the American Dream. Mostly (but not entirely) because they were crap.


10.) Mercedes C-Class Coupe

"Luxury" and "hatchback" don't mix in America. Coming up: cheap interiors at a high price.

Mercedes returned to the formula with the CLA.

Suggested By: Ill_Mac


9.) Scion iQ

While it will baby, the Scion iQ offers less for more than any small car on the market. That might still work in Europe or Asia where space is very limited, but Americans are not buying.

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Suggested By: Kyle Cromer


8.) Merkur XR4Ti

The Belgian-built, German-designed, all-European Ford Sierra was a strong seller in its home market, but why on earth did the mothership think they could sell it, extra goofy name and all, next to their domestic American models?

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The Scorpio was a giant and quite outdated question mark as well.

Suggested By: Kate's Dirty Sister


7.) The Yugo

Cheap transportation is a good thing, but if you take an old Fiat, make it underpowered and build it by Yugoslavs, the end result might not work flawlessly in Cadillacland.

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Suggested By: ADabOfOppo


6.) Cadillac Catera

The V6-powered and rear-wheel drive Opel Omega was a good cruiser in Europe, not to mention the giant wagon version, but that didn't make it Cadillac material.

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Suggested By: themanwiththesouce


5.) Ford Aspire

It was a rebadged Kia available only with the smaller engine. Looks unstable standing still.

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Suggested By: leicester


4.) Eagle Premier

Also known as the Dodge Monaco, the Premier was developed at the final moments of AMC's Renault clusterfuck before Chrysler took over. It's quite a story (seriously, it's even got a high-level Cold War assassination)!

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Suggested By: Backus


3.) Sterling 800

It was a platform-engineered Honda known as the Rover 800 sent to America as the Sterling 825. Think of it as a classy but terrible Acura.

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Suggested By: Doctor-G-and-the-wagen, Photo Credit: free photos and art


2.) Pontiac Le Mans

The fairly decent Opel Kadett went to America as the Pontiac Le Mans after going through the Korean GM people who turned it into the Daewoo Racer. Pontiac deserved so much better...

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Suggested By: N2Skylark


1.) Renault Le Car

The Renault 5 was fine. The American R5 was not.

Suggested By:zakarious

Welcome back to Answers of the Day - our daily Jalopnik feature where we take the best ten responses from the previous day's Question of the Day and shine it up to show off. It's by you and for you, the Jalopnik readers. Enjoy!

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Top Photo Credit: aldenjewell