Decade of Worst Made Vehicles

[mrsleeve]

^

I See what you did there

[VinniE30]

Just to note, I'm about to go check out a 2002 Honda CR-V, which appears to not have too many faults. If it's clean enough, problem-free, and I can work the price down, it will probably be our next vehicle.

Cheers!

I just bought a second gen crv for my girlfriend. (2002-2006 is second gen)
I did a lot of research too since this car is simply a point a to point b utility for us, and the main factor was reliability. They don't have any major known issues i've found in my research either and ours is problem free so far. And I get the impression that it's generally a well engineered and tested vehicle. Honda actually does do more longevity testing on components than other companies, there's some logic behind their reliability reputation.
That said, they have really high resale values... but for good reason!

[Wschnitz]

E34 525I touring?

[mrsleeve]

Its so apparent that almost NO one here has ever driven or ridden in a late 70's early 80's GM diesel full size CAR, with the 4.3l V6 diesel or the 350 Diesel. holy fuck what a Pile of garbage, Even the truck 6.2D were total shit then. My family growing up had all those, one of the things about growing up on a small farm in southern MI you did not buy foreign period, diesel was supper cheap and in the farm tanks and delivered every 14 days or so.

I am a GM guy and even I hate those things, they truly did build the worst things back then, and now the Japanese are doing the same thing coasting on the reputation they earned 2 decades ago while the big 3 were building that shit.

I know all that has been mentioned already just reinforcing it is all from personal experience, since I am old enough to not only remember these things, work on them, and drive the hunks of shit when I got old enough, the Ford and Chrysler shit from that time period was absolutely NO better.

[M-technik-3]

The 70's without a doubt.

Its so apparnte that almost NO one here has ever driven or ridden in a late 70's early 80's GM diesel full size CAR, with the 4.3l V6 diesel or the 350 Diesel. holy fuck what a Pile of garbage, Even the truck 6.2D were total shit then. My family growing up had all those, one of the things about growing up on a small farm, diesel was supper cheap and in the farm tanks and delivered every 14 days or so.

Yes, I have and not much was good post 73. That being said I do miss my 72 340 Cuda and I miss my Cosworth powered Capri RS.

[Threehz]

The 70's without a doubt.

60's and 70's are my two favourite decades of cars. The range of driver's cars was endless, economy boxes never looked better and fuel economy is just finally reaching what they were capable of, they were extremely easy to work on, and besides the later 70's models they lacked all the emissions crap and safety equipment.

[M-technik-3]

80's ecoboxes were better...I'm talk pre 85 before oil took a nose dive and the HP race started again. Not a bad thing for enthusiast.

[JasonC]

^

I See what you did there

hehe, yeah my family has had it's fair share of the GM cars thats talked about in this thread. I will exclude the diesels though since we never had any of them. But for the rest. I don't recall any major problems with these cars. And even more so, my grandma still has her 78 Monte Carlo she bought new as a daily driver. It does suffer from the saggy headliner lol.

[mrsleeve]

Well the old adage still holds true even though they built very shitty horribly styled POS cars then, they will run like total shit longer than most others will run at all.

[M-technik-3]

Like the T type and the Monte Carlo and the Olds 442 cars, but as far as Ford Maveriks and Granada's and Dodge Aspens and so forth the 70's were junk. Pinto engine is decent in a light chassis but other than that they were wheezers with smog pumps forced down their necks.

[rwh11385]

In the last few years, there's been a LOT of crossover alternatives to large SUVs developed in the ages of cheap gas, and wagons have come back into style as well. And there may be some not great 2000-2010 vehicles, but there were a TON of crappy cars in the 90s, and just low-tech ugly ones in the 80s. Like Corvallis or Charlie said... you can't really compare a bad modern car with the hunks of junk of yesteryear. And there is a big difference between "worst made" and well-manufactured but boring or cheap designs.

Designing cars for quantity and trying to be #1 in sales is what led to GM's fall from its top spot, ironically. Toyota's lean manufacturing is all about cheap and fast, not good. Targeted specifications could be precise, but that doesn't mean the design itself is good - reliable or well-performing. There certainly are more boring boxes out there today, but the technology and testing has enabled those vehicles made for enthusiasts to be on another level than a decade or two ago.

I actually think that for some car companies, notably GM and Hyundai, there has been drastic improvements in quality - both design and manufacturing. But they also admitted to prior poor performances and made a strong effort to improve, and regain trust.

Honda has actually gotten too boring even for Honda drivers, as no one wants the new Civic. People are desperate for the older TL because they hate the new one so dealers are paying over book for trade-ins on them.

OP's lookin for a safe car too. Nothin from the 70's or 80's can compare to today's standards!

Yeah, if people say "they don't make them like they used to"... they're right.

If it were up to the engineers to make all the decisions in the auto industry things would be very different. I'm sure they could create great performing and very reliable cars. But it's not under their control. Marketing and doing whatever it takes to improve profits, even if it's counterintuitive and not sustainable to the company in the long run - (decrease in durability and quality parts for costs savings).

You got a point there... but cars still have to be sold, no matter how awesome they are. And more than just the manufacturer (really usually an assembler), it's the suppliers who determine if their parts work or fail - and getting them to do well is vital to the overall reliability of the vehicle. Car companies can spec an awesome part and want it to be well made (as well done as their welding or interior installation may or may not be) but if Magna or Delphi drop the ball, then they have a hard time making the overall car work well. Obviously ensuring that the suppliers are on the ball is the responsibility of the car brand, but it doesn't always work out that way.

Back to original top, of finding a good mid-2000s car:
I know a lot of people very happy with their Subarus (and they advertise that the vast majority of their vehicles are still driving). Volvo also an obvious choice for safe family car, and some of the recent ones are boring boxes but a little fun too. Plus, both of those have a lot of wagon options. Mid-2000s Acura TL was also decently nice.

[camip]

My family has a 95 crv total fucking boring turd but runs like at champ at 200k.

[rustybullet]

No one in the 80,s and early 90,s didn't have internet to complain about car problems on. This is the reason cars in 99 have less reports then cars from 2000 and up.

I think you missed that part.

[MJCRO]

Every decade has had it's fair share of terrible cars.. but to argue that the first decade of 2000's was the worst time for cars is kinda tough. Ever since the automobile was invented, it's just been trial and error and will be for decades to come.

Look at the bright side, at least we know Chinese cars are REAL JUNK!

[blunttech]

actually it was the late 70's/early 80's when cafe standards were forced upon us
GM made their larger cars with 140hp 5.5 liter diesel V8's
real POS's
i was following one up a long hill, closer than he liked and he floored it
he didn't go any faster but the ungodly cloud of unburnt hydrocarbons that came out of his tailpipe killed all vision and i almost ran off the road until the daylight came back
plus the cars were butt ugly

This story reminds me of following a faded colorado Tii during Rollin the twisty's 2010