Cars that failed due to poor aesthetics.

[Orfy]

I'm not sure how you can state the Smart car. (Benz micro) Is a failure?

 

[dibby33]

Mods!
I may have been drinking but the above post may need to be moved

 

[Orfy]

Mods!
I may have been drinking but the above post may need to be moved

Yes and Yes.

 

[Laurel]

Geo Metro?
And the New Super Mini Daimler-Benze offering. The "Smart".

There are a number of cars in this thread that were immensely popular, regardless of their horrid styling. I believe that BOTH of the cars you posted weren't failures. The Metro was a crappy cheap car but sold well. The ForTwo is ugly but there's a waiting list.

 

[the_bird]

I used to own an element. It was actually a very well designed vehicle. It had rubber matting for washing out the floor boards with a hose. Water proof seats, a metric **** ton of leg and head room. The back seats had more than enough leg room for my lanky self.

The rear seats were as easy to get into as the front seats, due to the suicide doors. It also had alot of cargo room.

I had a single color burgandy. not the stuipid looking two tone with roughed up fiberglass. It was the AWD version, which did extremely well in the ice and snow. It tracked well and with the FWD prominantly helping during slick conditions.

my only complaint was that the motor was a little bit underpowered. It really could of used another 100 Hp to balance it right. It also was limited on seating, it sat 4. Which is the main reason we sold it. My wife and I had one son, then she became pregnant with twins. Which would not of worked for us. So we traded it in for a Honda Pilot, Which is less roomy.

+1. I *love* my Elm. Function over form, which is beautiful in my book every day of the week. I'm constantly shocked at how much stuff I can fit in there, it's basically my pickup truck. I've brought how hundreds of bricks at a time, I've lugged 16' lengths of 4x4s, a 27' extension ladder. Pretty much anything. Take out the backseats and it's like a cargo van, and it's pretty comfy for long drives. I'm also pretty tall, and I've got a good 6" of headroom. Oh, and the turning radius is incredibly tight, it's great for parking or hell, I can just turn around in the middle of the road if I need to.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

There are a number of cars in this thread that were immensely popular, regardless of their horrid styling. I believe that BOTH of the cars you posted weren't failures. The Metro was a crappy cheap car but sold well. The ForTwo is ugly but there's a waiting list.

Both were, the Smart most recently, listed as "Worst cars of" on a couple lists. That alone, gets a FAIL. Only difference is that the Smart is still in production.

There was a wait list on the Geo Storms too, til' they started to spontaneously combust.

If you want to get nit-picky, the Scions have had better sales than "most" everything else in the thread.

 

[Laurel]

Both were, the Smart most recently, listed as "Worst cars of" on a couple lists. That alone, gets a FAIL. Only difference is that the Smart is still in production.

There was a wait list on the Geo Storms too, til' they started to spontaneously combust.

If you want to get nit-picky, the Scions have had better sales than "most" everything else in the thread.

And for that reason, the Scion isn't a failure either. The Geo Storm was a massive success too, lots of them had sold.

This is about cars that didn't sell due purely to aesthetics. The ForTwo, Storm, Metro, and Scions have all sold fantastically, so they haven't failed. I'd argue that the DeLorean wasn't an aesthetic failure either, it failed because of production issues and John's drug trafficking charges. I think the Edsel's issue wasn't one of aesthetics either.

 

[the_bird]

There are some cars on this list, like the Element and like the Scion (which I also love) which are really designed to be almost anti-aesthetic. The boxy Scion, I can't remember the numbers, is basically a big "Eff You!" These cars KNOW that they will be considered "ugly" according to the conventional wisdom. You drive a Scion, people are going to notice. No one noticed the Element anymore because at least around me, there's a ****ton of them on the road; people around here seem to love them.

The Aztek tried to be in this vein, but somehow... they just overshot. That was just an epic fail of Biblical proportion, perhaps because they didn't have the credibility of the Honda or Toyota/Scion engineering behind them.

The cars to ME that really *are* ugly are the things like that Skylark, that were always dull and, at best, would be described as emminently forgetable.

 

[ChshreCat]

My last car before my Vibe (Pontiac's second try at the crossover after the Aztek. This time they got it right.) was a Geo Metro. It was a great little car. Perfect for us. We took a trip down the coast and I just reached 50 mpg for the trip. Fantastic. It has more room inside than you realize and could hold the three of us and a week's worth of luggage on a road trip. And so long as you weren't trying to drive over a mountain pass, it was actually a pretty zippy little car. I cracked 400k miles on it before moving on and the guy I gave it to is still driving it, just not on the freeway.

I checked out the Element when I was car shopping and that car makes complete sense. Everything in it was well thought out towards utility. I just couldn't bring myself to buy one due to the fugly factor.

I completely love my Vibe.

 

[Cheeto]

1991-1994 Mercury Capri

a dressed up 1990-1992 Mazda 323
they both were failures
the 323 was called a Japanese Pacer

 

[the_bird]

I completely love my Vibe.

That is SO sig-worthy....

 

[ChshreCat]

That is SO sig-worthy....

Now I'm happy I don't drive a Ford Probe...

 

[Homercidal]

And I think the Edsel actually looks nice, even though it also looks like it has a vag jammed into the front grille. I thought it was the internal workings that made it fail.

The Edsel actually looked quite a lot like the other cars out at that time, except the funky grill, but there was plenty of funky stuff out during those years.

The mechanics were sound and actually they had some groundbreaking engineering, but the problem was that they were building Edsels on the same lines as the Mercs. At the same time. It was like every third car on the line was an Edsel, and it had slightly different equipment, so they often got the wrong parts on the car.

The biggest reason for the failure was the HUGE buildup in marketing, keeping it all secret, then when they unveiled it, people thought, "Jeez, not that special" Plus the name.

Ford just wanted a car line to fit between the mercs and lincolns. Like GM had.

I have a 1959 Ranger 2-door hardtop. Really not a bad car for it's time.

Can't believe I didn't see a SAAB in this list.

 

[BigKahuna]

Anybody Remember Steve Urkel?

It's a BEAMER BABY!

He He He SNORT!

 

[Evan!]

I remember when I first laid eyes on the VW Thing. It was the Married with Children episode where Bud and Kelly get a car, and it was that car. And I remember thinking that they were just using a prop car that they built out of cardboard from around the soundstage. But then, one day some time later, I saw one on the road, and I was never the same.

But yeah, the Aztek still ranks at the top of any ugly car list. HOWEVER, I cannot believe nobody's mentioned this yet...

The last Chevy Monte Carlo's rear end looks like, well, I used to call it the down's-syndrome-mobile. Ugh...

 

[Chriso]

Awww, Kahuna, don't dog the Isetta!!!!

I will admit, I have a huge soft spot for both the older Subaru Brat, and also the more recent Baja. I was very sad when they disco'd the Baja because I was hoping to custom order one with all the options and a manual transmission.

This has nothing to do with cars that have failed, but I've really hated the Ford Focus redesign. The older ones were very nice, the newer ones not so much. :/

I'm jealous of you Element owners. I'd really like to replace my truck with one.


Now... Maybe this is just wishful thinking... but I hope the new Chevy Malibu's fail. I really REALLY hate the design. And I liked most of the prior Malibu's.

Also... F*** THE TRIBECA.

 

[GroovePuppy]

IIRC that's the car with no reverse. You have to avoid parking it facing a wall or you're hosed!

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

IIRC that's the car with no reverse. You have to avoid parking it facing a wall or you're hosed!

I was about to say the same thing! Weren't they made by Messerschmidt in the 60's?

 

[CBBaron]

Geo Metro?

And the New Super Mini Daimler-Benze offering. The "Smart".

I had a Metro, one of the best cars I've owned. Reliable, cheap, easy to drive, good in the snow and consistently got 50mpg.

I want to get a Smartcar. I think they look pretty cool and one would free up half of a bay in my garage for my bikes.

Yugo was a pretty bad car but it looked like pretty much every other subcompact from the era. Its aesthetics were not the reason for the failure. Personally I also find the Edsel to look pretty cool. Over the top aesthetics but cool.

Those Skylarks were pretty ugly and of course Aztecs. Its amazing that the Vibe has so many of the same style cues as the Aztec but the Vibe is a great looking vehicle but the Aztec looks all wrong. My SWMBO currently drives a Vibe.

Craig

 

[jds]

I see your Aztek and raise you a Le Car

With a follow-on of the Dodge Colt Vista Wagon, which was built by Mitsubishi, and ws ugly as sin. Sadly enough, my mom had one, and I ended up driving it a lot back in my high-school days.

 

[Orfy]

IIRC that's the car with no reverse. You have to avoid parking it facing a wall or you're hosed!

It was so light you could handle it like a wheel barrow and manoeuvrer it by hand. Hence the "Grab" handles

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

It was so light you could handle it like a wheel barrow and manoeuvrer it by hand. Hence the "Grab" handles

Not from inside the "car" you couldn't!

Now, be a good lad and post a pic of Del Trotter's Robin Reliant.

 

[mnadamn]

Can't forget this one...

 

[GroovePuppy]

It was so light you could handle it like a wheel barrow and manoeuvrer it by hand. Hence the "Grab" handles

Clarkson did a nice Top Gear review in it.

Not from inside the "car" you couldn't!

Now, be a good lad and post a pic of Del Trotter's Robin Reliant.

 

[Orfy]

Not from inside the "car" you couldn't!

Now, be a good lad and post a pic of Del Trotter's Robin Reliant.

Okay so I'm living proof that logic suffers after a few.

 

[Docapi]

I see your Aztek and raise you a Le Car

I had one of those!

55mpg and freaking indestructible.

 

[downreactor]

I saw an old Chevy Monza on the road today and thought it deserved to be mentioned here. I dun know how to post pictures so I won't.

 

[Bob]

Ford Festiva. I don't know if they were sales successes or not - they certainly sucked in safety ratings - but I used to own one and I hated the hell out of that %#$@!! piece of junk.

 

[HighPlainsDrifter]

Fiat Multipla:

 

[Bob]

Clarkson did a nice Top Gear review in it.

Actually, Clarkson drove a blue version of this:

a Peel P50.

[ame="http://videos.streetfire.net/video/Top-Gear-Peel-P50_139353.htm"]Top Gear - Peel P50[/ame]

I want one.