It was classed by the Guiness book of world records as the worst car ever made. 1 in 3 cars had a major defect. Engines seizing, doors falling off, you get the picture.

Lada Niva, that's the one I was trying to remember. 1 in 3 faults!?!?!?! That's crazy! Even the Matiz can't match that! They're still a piece of shit, but I'd hate to be the local Lada dealer!

 

INTERESTING FACTOID: Supposedly (I said supposedly, so I obviously don't know all the details) it used to actually be cheaper in Russia to buy a Lada from Canada and have it shipped back to Russia, rather than buying your car in Russia where Lada's were built. This was due to some strange taxation system used by the government. Remember I said supposedly, so I can't provide proof of this, it's just something I read somewhere once upon a time (in Wheels, I think).

"....This became painfully apparent when Warnock planned to launch the Edsel. Automotive journalists were to drive 75 Edsels from Dearborn, Michigan, to their local Edsel dealers. The cars had to perform without mishap, and couldn't reveal any defects. After all, the car had been the subject of nearly two years of hype, and expectations were high. After a comprehensive testing procedure that took two months to complete, 68 cars were handed over to journalists and driven to their respective destinations. The other seven had to be cannibalized for parts. The average repair bill for each car came to roughly $10,000, which was more than twice the price of the top-of -the-fine Edsel. "

Ah. Okay. Although Toyota Australia had a similar thing happen (on a much smaller scale) with the Corona when they got a bunch of journalists to drive them across the country. I think there were 12 cars to start with and only 5 made it. Of course the Edsel story is much worse.

Oh, and nice way of cheating redwarf. Using facts to win an argument. Huff. :D

Actually, I went googleing to see if I had my story straight, and you were also right, they primarily were a marketing disaster...

Oh I never said I was wrong. I'd never say a silly thing like that. :D

No worries, Fonzie! :D

AEY!!!

actually the niva was rather good....

 

for lemons id look at:

mitsibushi

holden combo

late 90s izusu bighorn

izusu/holden piazza

rx7 :D (ok so thats a wind up :D )

the biggest danger with the piazza is the dangerous handling.

like lifting the rear wheel soff the ground under heavy braking....

i drove one once. i parked it and walked home.......

actually the niva was rather good....

 

for lemons id look at:

mitsibushi

holden combo

late 90s izusu bighorn

izusu/holden piazza

rx7 :thumbsup: (ok so thats a wind up :y: )

What the hell is wrong with Mitsubishi's??? Okay, so not every model is perfect, but I'd hardly call any of them lemons. So Colts are a piece of shit (the old 80's model), but look at other cars from that era and the Colt's on par.

i reckon Ford had a winner with the AU falcon. apparently it was a bigger flop than the Edsel they released in the 50's or 60's.

 

suzuki carry van under heavy braking.

i heard this story from a suzuki guy when i was in japan.

the early carry van, before it was released. under heavy braking fell onto it's roof.

 

ford mondeo.

ford transhit (transit)

Edited June 30, 200521 yr by TRD ke70

No, the AU went WAY, WAY better than the Edsel. It'd be very hard to beat the floppy-ness of the Edsel nowadays with all the research car makers do. If a car flopped like that today, not only would all the people that worked on it be fired, pretty much everyone else in the company would probably go as well, just to be sure.