Once upon a time, it was easy to point at an AMC Gremlin or a Ford Pinto and laugh at how bad they were. They were volume-sellers for sure, but that didn’t change the fact that they suffered from atrocious build quality and, uh, fire.
But now it’s 2018. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but cars are a lot safer and better built today than before, all across the board. Which is truly great news for the general public, but it also makes me wonder if there are any bad, modern high-volume sellers left?
I think the last bad car was probably the Dodge Caliber. David Tracy called it a “hateful machine,” which is really saying something because David Tracy is one of those good people who can appreciate something about everything. Of course, the Caliber he drove was falling apart, zip-tied, taped and had a CVT. He hated it.
What about you, what do you think? What modern car, intended to be sold in massive volume, is poorly designed, badly thought out, unsafe or inefficient? What will be our future Pinto?