12 most embarrassing cars to drive

[Bubba1]

Carinsurance.com commissioned an online-panel survey of 1,500 licensed drivers, who were shown a gallery of car images and asked which one would be embarrassing to be seen in.


Nissan snared two spots on this list, something that Carlos should be quite proud, and no, the 240SX was not on the list.


12. NISSAN MURANO CABRIOLET
11. Chevy HHR
10. Honda Element
9. PT Cruiser
8. Pontiac Aztek
7. Lincoln Town Car
6. Subaru Baja
5. VW New Beetle
4. Chevy SSR
3. Hummer H2
2. NISSAN CUBE
1. Smart ForTwo

Thoughts?

I assume there was a cutoff on model years because such timeless wretched cars like a Yugo, Gremlin, or Vega did not make the list.

[gwoods]

I think any of the early Hyundai's were pretty slightly ugly paired with very poor performance.
The Daewoo's also would be embarrassing to drive

70's color schemed Chrysler 4 door boat

[MinisterofDOOM]

Town Car and SSR? WTF? I know I have an unusual affection for the SSR, but even without it I can't imagine being EMBARRASSED driving one. Maybe confused. But not embarrassed.
I wouldn't consider the Element embarrassing, either. Versatile and square...not embarrassing.

My list, in no particular order:
Pontiac Grand Am (says "I know NOTHING about cars but I wanted something 'sporty'." or, alternatively "I bought the first pile of s*** within my budget I could find.")
Chevy "mild hybrid" pickups. Because extra batteries, crappy tires, and useless final drive ratios are EXACTLY what pickups have been missing for all these years.
Toyota Solara. Says "The box I was born in had a "batteries not included" label and no one ever bothered to read it."
Mitsubishi Eclipse. Because douchebags. Oh, and it's a POS.
Honda Ridgeline. Says "I don't really know what kind of vehicle I want, but if you stick an H on something I'll buy the Hell out of it."
Pontiac Aztek. It says the same thing as the Ridgeline, except that there's no actual justification for wanting a Pontiac just because it's a Pontiac.
Lexus ES. I shouldn't need to explain this one.

[skydragoness]

I'm sorry, but the Murano Cabriolet takes the top prize. Nothing looks so absurd or like an aftermarket afterthought. Everything else there's enough on the road to 'blend-in' except for maybe the SSR..which is a silly/dorky/useless thing to me but is probably really cool to some people. The Murano Cabriolet is an abomination and I've seen only one ...possibly two ever.

[AZhitman]

I MUCH prefer MoD's list.

In fact, toss the CrossDresserCabriolet on that list and it's perfect.

Cube? Weird, quirky, maybe even ugly and underpowered. But it's a winning formula for what you're buying. If they're just judging it based on being "different", they're idiots - it's a capable vehicle that does what it does better than anything on the market. Period.

[Jesda]

LEAVE THE TOWN CAR ALONE!

[flohtingPoint]

My first rental car with the company I'm currently with was a HHR, I can, without a doubt, confirm that it's one of the worst things created by man, right up there with sarin gas and whatever the red sauce with apples (I have no idea what it they are) is on some Arby's sandwiches.

[Bubba1]

LEAVE THE TOWN CAR ALONE!

Please don't shoot the messenger... The article mentioned the Towncar's most repeated comments were "grandpa car" and "prom car". I was mildly surprised to see it too, as it's somewhat innocous, but I could see folks viewing it as an anachronism.

My list of embarrassing cars that did not appear on the list include
the Subaru 360 (pathetic little thing, and happily Subie's got better)
AMC Gremlin ("where's 'da rest of your car, toots")
Yugo (should be tied at the top with Murano Cabriolet)
Chevy Vega (they didn't look that awful, just awful to own)
Renault LeCar, (the POS they imported, not the turbo charged one with flared fenders)
Chrysler K-Car, (huge seller, but there's a reason you don't see many now)
Ford Mustang II (almost killed the model)

[240hatchsx]

My family has own plenty of Lincoln town cars. I just had to motor swap one out if a junkyard car about three months ago and it running really strong. In fact the other weekend I was coming back from a trip in Orlando FL with four of my friends and the trunk was loaded full of luggage ( aka like 22 dead hookers in the back ) and I smoked this kid in a Toyota yaris hatch (which in my opinion is the most embarrassing car you could own) after hitting 80 he was just dust in the wind haha

[nissangirl74]

1- Nissan Cross Cabriolet
2- PT Cruiser
3- Smart Car
4- Chevy SSR
5- early 90s model Chevy Nova
6- Chrysler Sebring
7- Toyota Solara
8- Toyota Prius
9- 2013 Murano (based on the buck-tooth style front end)
10- Jeep Compass
11- Mini Coupe
12- VW Tiguan

With the exception of the Nova, I tried to keep it modern

[Looneybomber]

Hummer H2!? Replace that with the Kia Soul or Scion iQ. Both would make me feel everyone is pointing and laughing while driving down the road.

[Mr1der]

Probably say stetsons are embarassing to wear also...

[JTR32gtst]

1 - Pontiac Asstek
2 - PT cruiser convertable
3 - Chevy cavalier convertable
4 - Hyundai Tiburan (the first model)
5 - Chevy HHR SS (really?! an SS HHR)
7 - Ford Sporttrac/Honda Ridgeline/Mitsubishi whatever/any unibody "truck"
8 - SN97 V-6 Mustang (worst. sportscar. ever.)
9 - "enter any 80's American car really"
10 - Newer Beetle. (Only way the new Beetle would be cool is if it went back to rear engine/drive with a Baja styling)


Top 10 coolest (not in any specific order)

1 - 1970 Nissan GTR Hakosuka
2 - any R chassis really
3 - 90's Supra
4 - 90's RX7
5 - 90's NSX
6 - Toyota 2000GT
7 - 1986-7 Toyota pickup with the 22RE Turbo
8 - any older Jeep really
9 - 1955 Ford F100
10 - any 60-70's classic muscle cars really

[MinisterofDOOM]

7 - Ford Sporttrac/Honda Ridgeline/Mitsubishi whatever/any unibody "truck"

Sport Trac isn't unibody. It's an Explorer with a bed. Boxed ladder frame, proper 4WD, V6 or V8. The bed is even a separate piece, unlike the Avalanche/Escalade. It's a proper pickup. The Explorer had grown into a different, larger platform than the Ranger that originally spawned it, so Ford decided to make a pickup out of it and take advantage of its size and capabilities. Ranger was compact, Sport Trac was midsize, and F150 was full-size. Nice combo. Ranger wouldn't have worked well in crew cab configurations due to its size (being the only proper compact truck left in the US at the time), but the bigger Explorer was perfect for it.

[Jesda]

I can practically print money with Town Cars. They're durable, nice to look at, nice to be in, get 25mpg, and cost nothing to maintain. People in the midwest and south -love- them.

When I see a clean one I pounce on it.

[EriduofSumer]

7 - Ford Sporttrac/Honda Ridgeline/Mitsubishi whatever/any unibody "truck"

Sport Trac isn't unibody. It's an Explorer with a bed. Boxed ladder frame, proper 4WD, V6 or V8. The bed is even a separate piece, unlike the Avalanche/Escalade. It's a proper pickup. The Explorer had grown into a different, larger platform than the Ranger that originally spawned it, so Ford decided to make a pickup out of it and take advantage of its size and capabilities. Ranger was compact, Sport Trac was midsize, and F150 was full-size. Nice combo. Ranger wouldn't have worked well in crew cab configurations due to its size (being the only proper compact truck left in the US at the time), but the bigger Explorer was perfect for it.

The Explorer Sport Trac also has one of the highest rollover ratings in existence. The center of gravity is in the retarded range.

[AZhitman]

Somehow, we missed the car that screams, "I'm retired, but I haven't come out of the closet yet."

[Bubba1]

Somehow, we missed the car that screams, "I'm retired, but I haven't come out of the closet yet."

LOL. Totally forgot about that one.

[IBCoupe]

But I like the SC430.

[Kompresshun]

The Explorer Sport Trac also has one of the highest rollover ratings in existence. The center of gravity is in the retarded range.

I'm pretty sure you're talking about the older Explorers. The Sport Trac never had any rollover issues, because the rollover issues were solved by that generation of Explorers. If they did, I should've rolled my friends over numerous times with the way I drove it.

[Kompresshun]

Not much more embarrassing than one of these IMHO:









Also I can't believe we mentioned the Aztek and forgot about this:

[MinisterofDOOM]

The Explorer Sport Trac also has one of the highest rollover ratings in existence. The center of gravity is in the retarded range.

The Explorer never had rollover issues. It had inept driver issues, compounded by inept media issues, and then multiplied by inept government regulatory issues. THAT is the reason all cars must have TPMS today. Because a few morons couldn't tell their tires were underinflated and blamed Ford when they predictably failed when not used as intended on a properly-designed vehicle.
I personally have driven Explorers OFF ROAD with no rollover problems (even when I was far too young for a driver's license). Not quite sure how adult, licensed drivers manage to screw up driving on straight, flat highways. But I'm also not sure how they manage to have "unintended acceleration" problems that can't be solved by any of a dozen methods. So nothing new, really.
The C/G is no higher than any other truck ever made, and not even the worst among that group.

Not much more embarrassing than one of these IMHO:

Hideous and confusingly un-good. The exhaust note of the mini-V8-powered SHO pictured is quite nice, though.

[Bubba1]

[
The Explorer never had rollover issues. It had inept driver issues, compounded by inept media issues, and then multiplied by inept government regulatory issues. THAT is the reason all cars must have TPMS today. Because a few morons couldn't tell their tires were underinflated and blamed Ford when they predictably failed when not used as intended on a properly-designed vehicle.
.

Correct. From what I read the Explorer rates about mid pack for rollover issues. I think the Firestone debacle put more press attention to it making it appear worse than it was. If I'm not mistaken, the vehicle with the biggest rollover tendency was the 1988 Suzuki Samarai. I remember Consumer Reports ranked it not acceptable and had to fabricate bars with wheels in order for it to handle routine emergency lane change tests.

[AZhitman]

They use the outriggers on any vehicle with a CG above a predetermined number. Safety first, for the nimrods at CR.