There’s been countless cars worthy of celebration over the years, from the boundary-breaking McLaren F1 to the Tesla Model S, which has helped usher in a new wave of electric cars.
But what about the vehicles that aren’t quite as admirable, what cars are better left forgotten? With that in mind, we asked readers what cars they would like to strike out of the automotive history books. These were some of their answers.
Nissan Murano Cabriolet. It was the worst of both worlds. CUV and Convertible. Bad at Both. It opened the door to the ugly car design era we are living in to this day.
This drop-top monster was based on the Nissan Murano crossover, which was unveiled in 2002.
For some reason, Nissan decided the people wanted a convertible crossover, and the Cabriolet version arrived in 2011. The high-riding Cabriolet didn’t win many fans for its looks, and no doubt paved the way for other questionable convertibles, like the roof-less Range Rover Evoque.
Suggested by: Javaray
An abomination that’s as ugly in actuality as it is in the JPGs. Truly terrible looks. And didn’t the abomination bring Pontiac to its knees — leading to Pontiac’s decapitation?
So yeah, if the Aztek never existed, that would’ve been a giant plus for automotive history and Pontiac’s existence.
Strong words there, but it really is an ugly machine. In the ‘80s, Pontiac ran with the slogan, “We Build Excitement”, and it’s a pity those words weren’t echoing through the design hall when the Aztek was made.
Despite regularly being branded as one of the ugliest cars in production, Pontiac sold more than 115,000 Azteks while the car was in production.
Suggested by: The1969dodgechargerguy
As bad as the PT Cruiser was, the Chevrolet HHR was more shameful. GM literally just hired the designer from Chrysler and had him make an even uglier version of the same car 5 years after the original was surprisingly popular.
The natural successor to everything the PT Cruiser stood for, the Chevrolet HHR was clearly an example of GM not learning from its mistakes. Marketed between 2006 and 2011, the HHR was available as a five-door family car and a panel van. Neither will be remembered fondly.
Suggested by: Nakam
It was a pretty pointless gas-guzzling overweight vehicle that ushered in the era of excessively sized vehicles designed to intimidate other drivers.
And I say it’s pointless because it’s not actually good for off-roading, and the main benefit for the F-superduty chassis it sits on is high towing capability. But here’s the thing... when you get into the kind of towing that chassis is capable of, you actually want to use a 5th wheel. And of course, you can’t use a 5th wheel with the Excursion.
It appears big SUVs aren’t popular among Jalopnik readers, as the Excursion is the first of several to appear on our list.
Derived from the F-250 pickup truck, the Excursion was marketed towards outdoor enthusiasts and people that needed to tow big things. At the time of its launch in 1999, it was also the longest SUV in production.
Suggested by: Manwich
The first real “mass-market” hypercar for the children of dictators?
I dunno, I just never saw the appeal of the Veyron. Sure, it’s fast and has more power than one would ever need, but I always thought it extremely ugly. Like an old bar of soap on wheels.
While many regard the Bugatti Veyron as an engineering marvel (myself included), one Jalopnik reader thinks it’s best forgotten.
Its target market was understandably small, but the car’s 1,000-horsepower engine and eye-watering top speed were no doubt unnecessary to anyone who could even dream of owning one.
Suggested by: Forkish
The last-gen Lincoln Continental. They used a glorified Ford Fusion (not a bad thing) platform to make a FWD model of a flagship that should have been a dedicated RWD platform. Then, when nobody was fooled, Ford used the example to convince themselves that nobody wanted a luxury sedan. So now Lincoln offers SUVs only.
Killed off in 2020, one Facebook commenter believes the final iteration of the Lincoln Continental deserves to be struck from living memory as well as the order books.
The 10th generation of Lincoln’s luxury sedan, the final Continental shared a chassis with the Ford Fusion and Lincoln MXZ. It was also the longest-wheelbase sedan produced by Lincoln since 1979.
Suggested by: Joe Stricker (Facebook)
It’s not the first massive SUV, but I think that Suburbans really opened the door to todays monster SUV/truck craze. There were other massive trucks you could buy at the time but these had AC, auto gearboxes, and could be had with leather seats etc. So, it told people that now you can be the biggest thing on the road... and be comfortable.
Another excessively-sized vehicle, the Chevrolet Suburban is a popular option to remove from the records of history.
Chevrolet’s luxury SUV epitomizes American’s love of large cars, and the current model measures almost 19 feet! While the Suburban has come a long way since its origins as a 1930s station wagon, it’s the models from the 80s and 90s that ushered in the SUV arms race that Jalopnik readers think are better left forgotten.
Suggested by: The_Aught
Nissan Almera. Inoffensive, bland & a sign of an owner’s absence of imagination. Farmers in Ireland loved them as field cars, so many were on the road past the point they should, driven with abandon because they were disposable & incapable of stirring emotion, even negative ones.
There’s not a lot to actively hate about the Almera, but there’s also not a lot to love. And that’s why one reader wants it struck from the register. Launched in 1995, the Almera shared a lot of similarities to the Pulsar in Japan, except for its engine.
Suggested by: Philip Dunlop (Twitter)
“The International CXT trucks. I cant think of a more wasteful pickup truck that I have yet to see to be used as intended. Ive never seen one ever tow anything for one. They aren’t advanced at all either, nor basic or affordable. They bring nothing to the table.”
By far the biggest page to remove from the history books, the International CXT was a beast. Produced between 2004 and 2008, the CXT came in two- and four-door configurations. The largest model measured 22.6 feet long and weighed more than 10,500 pounds.
Suggested by: Travis Olson (Facebook)
The Ford Model T. I think it would be interesting to see where vehicle design would have gone without having the first major automobile. We may have ended up with something completely different than what we have today.
A different way to look at today’s question, but an interesting answer nonetheless.
The Model T didn’t exactly set the benchmark for automotive design for years to come in terms of its controls, but you do sort of wonder where we’d be today if the first major car to motorize the world had a tiller instead of a steering wheel, or two wheels in the front and one in the back. We would no doubt have created cars without the T, but would those vehicles be dramatically different to what we see on the roads today?
Suggested by: Pekoboo2u2 (Twitter)