What’s The Worst Car Of The 1980s?

The 1980s brought us Back To The Future, Purple Rain and a whole host of crap cars.

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An image of the rear of a Lada car with blurred tail lights.
Was this acceptable in the 80s?
Illustration: Lada

There are a lot of people, me included, who seem to think that everything from the 1980s is cool. The Prince album 1999, great. The final Indiana Jones movie, amazing. The space shuttle program, which returned to orbit in 1981, was incredible. But, not everything from the 80s can be remembered as fondly – especially the cars.

Sure the 1980s might have given us greats like the Ferrari F40, Lancia Delta and the mighty Fiat Panda. But, not every car to roll off the production line between 1980 and 1989 was a stone-cold-stunner. Some, as we’re about to find out, were awful.

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That’s what we want to hear today, we want to find out what the worst car of the 1980s really was. And we need your help.

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There’s a bit of everything from the 80s that’s ripe for recommendation here. Maybe you hate the Soviet-era Ladas for their woefully simplistic design, or perhaps you don’t agree with Chryslers idea for 1980s luxury with the Imperial.

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Or, you might be a heathen who thinks gullwing doors don’t fix everything, so could suggest the Delorean DMC-12 as the worst car from the 1980s. Whatever your ideas for the worst car from this decade, we want to hear it.

For me, it has to be something like the Pontiac LeMans from 1988. Originally designed as the European-market Opel Kadett, the ‘88 LeMans was a far cry from the mid-sized muscle the nameplate had adorned previously. It was killed off after just five years in the USA.

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But, what cars would you like to add to this list of 1980s trash? Head to the comments section below and let us know your picks for the worst car of the 80s and we’ll put together some of the best answers tomorrow afternoon.