Home » A Defense Of Every Car On MotorTrend’s ‘Worst Cars Of The 1990s’ List

A Defense Of Every Car On MotorTrend’s ‘Worst Cars Of The 1990s’ List

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It’s President’s Day so we’re sort of taking the day off, but we wanted to leave you with something fantastic. Something you couldn’t get anywhere else. Something you didn’t know you needed but once you see it you can’t imagine life without it. We’re talking, of course, about a defense of every single car on this almost year-old list from car-coding periodical Motor Trend of what they’re calling “The Worst Cars of the 1990s.” It is, as you’d expect, a list of bangers.

Just to clarify, this is not really a critique of Motor Trend (though click-y slideshows that make you see a bunch of ads is not great). We have many friends there and it’s important to keep at least one car magazine on the West Coast to represent that side of car culture. It just feels like a list hastily put together by an intern because an SEO expert said that Semrush wants more ’90s content. Fine, but someone needs to speak up for the unloved cars and that’s what we do here at The Autopian.

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Is every car on this list stellar? Have we driven every car mentioned? Nope to both. Objectively speaking, some of them are mediocre when compared to a NA Miata or a ’90s Camry. What’s curious about this list is most of the cars are actually quite cool. Plus, you’re not less of a car person because you like the Plymouth Breeze and someone else likes a Lancia Delta Integrale.

So, here you go, a defense of each car on the list.

The 1996 Ford Taurus

Taurus Sho

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This is probably the peak of ovoid ’90s Ford, with nary a right angle to be found anywhere on the inside or outside of the car. The crux of MT‘s argument is that people didn’t like the way it looked. It was distinct, but so distinct that you can’t not look at when you see one on the street. It has presence. Plus, in 1996 you could get it as a V8-powered SHO model. Hmm… what could one say about this car? Let’s go back to someone in the mid ’90s and ask them:

The ’96 Taurus SHO is clearly a fully refined and exceptional car-now, apparently remade for a more sophisticated role in a European tradition. From all appearances, it should be a world-class high-performance automobile, one we’re eager test against the best the world has to offer.

Who wrote this praise of the car? Why, Motor Trend of course. I had the V6 model in 1998 and it was a totally fine car. – MH

The 1991 Saturn S-Series

Saturn Sl

I admit that I was surprised to see Saturn claimed to be “one of the worst car companies.” Saturn pioneered a concept that a number of companies use today. Do you know how you can walk into a CarMax or click on Carvana and buy a car without haggling? Saturn did that first. Sure, no haggling meant that you couldn’t get that sweet deal that you might have gotten elsewhere, but as CNN pointed out in 2006, it also meant that, depending on the Saturn dealer, you could have driven home in a Sky for MSRP while Pontiac dealers marked up the Solstice. In today’s era of nutty markups, I’d take Saturn’s concept.

Back then, it was reported that Saturn’s customers loved the no-haggle concept. That’s not surprising; unless you’re a lawyer, chances are you don’t find negotiating with someone who negotiates for a living to be fun. And it wasn’t just the no-haggle model; buying and owning a Saturn was so good back in the 1990s that the brand consistently rated high in J.D. Power owner and customer sales satisfaction surveys, and at one point it ranked just second in owner satisfaction behind Lexus.

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The cars weren’t bad, either. I learned how to drive stick in a 1990s SC1. Back then, just as I do today, I loved how futuristic Saturns looked. Sadly, the S-Series wasn’t what many would describe as thrilling and sure, the S-Series was buzzy and perhaps a little unrefined. But you weren’t buying one of these because you’re looking for a fine sports car. These were supposed to be the American equivalent of the import competition; efficient and cheap to keep going. Taking off those rosy nostalgia shades, even a Japanese economy car from 1991 could be described similarly to how MotorTrend describes the Saturn S-Series. In fact, the publication calls the 1991 Toyota Previa loud, so it wasn’t a complaint limited to Saturn.

Saturn was also GM’s experimental brand, from distributing the then novel GM EV1, its dealership model, and its cars that used a spaceframe construction draped with those plastic panels. Now, more than 30 years later, something I admire about Saturn S-Series cars is how well they take a beating year after year. Sure, Saturns still rot like anything else, but the plastic panels do make for cheap beaters that at least look better on the surface than an old Mazda with rust-deleted rockers and crusty doors.

Sadly, what made Saturn unique didn’t last, and the brand died slowly through a thousand cuts of neglect and rebadging. I’d put that blame on GM, not on Saturn. Perhaps the best example of how good Saturn and those S-Series cars were is the fact that the brand has a strong following today, including a woman who owns 17 of the cars. I have to meet her one day. – MS

The 1995 BMW 318ti

218ti

What do you call an E36 with no ass? How about joyful, composed, and friendly. On paper, the 318ti sounds brilliant. Many enthusiasts would kill for a compact rear-wheel-drive hatchback with three pedals and an available limited-slip differential. Sure, the 1.8-liter M42 inline-four may have only put out 138 horsepower, but reasonably long gears made for perfectly acceptable freeway cruising. What’s more, despite the strange blend of E30-esque trailing arms out back and E36 McPherson strut front suspension, handling is excellent.

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Not only does this little car do a great job of absorbing mid-corner lumps and bumps, it will happily rotate under trailing throttle or trail braking, a huge benefit for keen drivers. Car And Driver claimed the 1997 model was the second-best handling car in America under $30,000 ahead of the Eagle Talon TSI, Ford SVT Contour, Chevrolet Camaro Z28, and Mazda Miata.

Nearly thirty years later, the 318ti makes a great base for many builds, partly because of its lively handling and partly because its engine bay can accommodate a ton of engine. From M50 inline-sixes from 325is to S52s from Euro-spec M3s to LS engines, there’s space to throw a ton of power at these things and the chassis will take it. Formula Drift legend Chelsea Denofa has an S52-swapped 318ti that he adores, and that’s a man who knows a thing or two about driving hard.

Despite its merely sufficient power output, the BMW 318ti represents an interesting time for small BMWs. One where a front-wheel-drive Mini platform wasn’t even an option, one where driver engagement reigned supreme, and one that set the stage for the incredible M2 CS. This now-classic Bavarian still knows how to dance, and its continued lineage proves its worth. – TH

1991 Toyota Previa

Previa1Look at this baby! How could you not love a 1991 Toyota Previa? To be fair, it’s not as fast or as efficient as a Dodge Caravan. Who cares? At one point, you could spec this minivan with all-wheel drive and a five-speed manual. My buddy Phil had access to one of these in high school and we used to blast to his Trip Hop Mixtape on CD while lazily cruising the suburbs and it was awesome. All of the alt-minivans of the ’90s deserve respect, genuinely, but the design and Previa I think stand up to scrutiny even without the hot coral-colored glasses of ’90s nostalgia. – MH

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I have pop in to add some more here, because it’s worth remembering: The Previa was a minivan that you could get as a manual, supercharged, mid-engined vehicle with a clever “jackshaft” system to drive the ancillary stuff up front. On paper, the mechanical layout felt more like a supercar, and yet here it was, a big ovoid minivan ready to swallow a whole bunch of people and all their crap. I mean, look at it:

Previa Cutaway

That’s incredible. There’s nothing “worst” about this at all, unless were talking about “the minivans worst at not delighting anyone who loves cars,” in which case, sure, it’s the worst at that. – JT

1996 Suzuki X-90

Suzuki X 90

Every so often, a manufacturer builds a cult classic by taking a good car and transforming it to make no sense at all. On paper, the BMW M6 Gran Coupe is a four-door version of a two-door version of a four-door car. Mad. The Range Rover Evoque Cabriolet is a bizarre open-top version of an otherwise competent crossover. The Toyota Sera is a Paseo with billionaire doors and more glass than The Shard. Objectively, these cars all sound a bit daft, but they’re all enjoyable in their own ways.

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The Suzuki X-90 is also a member of this club. It started life as a Suzuki Sidekick, the father of David Tracy’s infamous yet brilliant Chevrolet Tracker. This means that it’s objectively capable off-road, available with proper four-wheel-drive and a manual gearbox for climbing up rocky hills and bounding through streams. However, Suzuki then decided to make it look like a Honda Del Sol viewed through a funhouse mirror, a sport utility vehicle with extra sport and little utility.

Guess what? It works. Despite having 95 horsepower and feeling happiest around the double nickel, this thing can embarrass Jeeps off-road and offer compact t-top motoring in the city. The X-90 the exact same length as a 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage, so you can park it virtually anywhere, and the hard t-tops mean you don’t run the risk of having your soft top cut by thieves like on most other small, open-top 4x4s of the time. Even Motor Trend appeared to like it upon first sample, claiming that “Overall, during our excursion through the Washington countryside and Mount Baker foothills, the X-90 proved to be a fun, competent runabout, both for street and light off-road use.”

The Suzuki X-90 may have made no sense, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t absolutely rule. It’s certainly a weird package, but the roads are so much better off with it on them. It was never destined to be a high-volume product, but Suzuki sold thousands of them in America and storage space aside, there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with them as vehicles. – TH

I’m going to pop in again here because I think you need to see an behind-the-scenes look at how just the idea of someone shitting on an X-90 affected us in our Slack channel:

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X90defense Slack

Seriously, how dare they. – JT

1993 Honda Del Sol

Honda Del Sol

For such a small car, Mazda’s MX-5 Miata sure cast a long shadow when it was introduced in 1989. It had essentially no competition, apart from Alfa’s ancient Spider, and left other automakers dumbstruck by the release of pent-up demand for tiny convertibles. Ford was quick to counter with its Australian-built Mercury Capri, ironically half Mazda. The Capri caught flak for being front-wheel-drive, but so did Lotus for their new Elan, so Ford was in good company. 

Honda’s Civic Del Sol was likewise driven from the “wrong” end, but so was its predecessor, the celebrated CRX. Instead of a full convertible, Honda went for a targa roof, with a clever roll-down back window and a nicely-designed storage rack for the roof panel. (Here in the US, we didn’t get the Del Sol’s coolest party trick: the TransTop automatic targa roof, with a little robot buddy in the trunk that came up and stowed the roof panel for you.) With the roof off, it was a little flexible, but no worse than a Camaro with T-tops. And unlike a Camaro, the Del Sol was squeak-and rattle-free at 200,000 miles. At least, the one my wife and I owned was.

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Strangely enough, while shopping for the Del Sol, we happened upon a Miata with just as many miles on it. My wife liked the Honda, I preferred the Mazda, so we did the only logical thing: We bought both. How did they compare? They didn’t, and that’s the point. The Miata was sharper, it’s true, but the Del Sol with its 125 horsepower VTEC engine was quicker, and got better mileage. And the Honda was practically a Town Car on the highway compared to the Miata, even with the roof off and the rear window down. Its only Achilles heel was the drainage system for the rear window; the drains clogged up from time to time and you could hear water sloshing around in the trough behind the seats. Disconcerting, but easy enough to clean out.

1991 Mercury Capri

Merucry Capri

It’s no Miata, sure, but it has that one magical feature that makes anything more fun on a nice day: the top goes down. It was available with a turbocharger and a stick. It can also be found dirt-cheap used, which you know appeals to me. Is it brilliant? Maybe not. Is it fun? That’s up to you. You can complain about it not being as “good” as a Miata, or you can put the top down, turn the stereo up, and go for a drive. – MT

Dodge Ram Van

Dodge Ram

I mean, c’mon:

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1995 Chevrolet Cavalier

Chevy Cavalier

I can’t argue with many of Motor Trend’s criticisms of the 1995 Chevrolet Cavalier. The 2.2-liter pushrod four-cylinder engine felt like it was running on gravel rather than gasoline, the cabriolet had the structural integrity of wet newspaper, and a bicycle running into the side of a Cavalier could prove fatal to the car’s driver due to an abysmal side crash structure. I’ll even give Motor Trend more fuel for the fire by writing that the interior was a bleak, greyscale interpretation of accountants’ contempt for working Americans. In 1995, the Cavalier constantly reminded you of your $7.25 an hour wage, your meager pension, or the fact that your upper-middle-class buy American parents were too stuck in their ways to help get you into a Honda Civic.

However, as years of rust belt ownership rolled on, a funny thing started to happen: Civics started disappearing but Cavaliers were still everywhere. Flip to page 13 in the 1995 Chevrolet Cavalier brochure and you’ll notice a little line buried deep within the body copy that says “All Cavalier body panels except the roof are constructed of rust-resistant two-sided galvanized steel.” It seems that GM’s home base in Michigan was good for something after all.

What’s more, the 2.2-liter four-cylinder engine featured a timing chain, long-life platinum spark plugs, and the ability to run badly longer than many engines will run at all. It all adds up to a car that could be kept on the road for decades without much in the way of upkeep. Change the oil, slap on the cheapest set of Autozone brakes every so often, make sure the tires aren’t bald, and you’re good to go. Even the rear dampers were designed to last 100,000 miles, so whether you bought a Cavalier brand new, certified pre-owned, or for $500 off Craigslist, you could have a car that would always take you to work and back no matter how little money you had for maintenance.

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The 1995 Chevrolet Cavalier wasn’t a great car when it was new, but it remained a car long after many competitors simply decomposed. It was a true peoples’ car, sold new for cheap and imbued with everlasting qualities. No matter when you bought one or how little you paid, it represented freedom on four wheels, which made it the absolute essence of the car. Mediocre cars can do great things, so long as you can put a few gallons in the tank and make enough memories to last a lifetime. They’ll get you out of your hometown, get you to work, or help you get back on your feet. Put some respect on the 1995 Chevrolet Cavalier’s name because if you’re down on your luck, it just might do everything you need it to until life deals you a better hand of cards. – TH

1996 Nissan 200SX SE-R

200sx Se R

The early ’90s SE-R is one of the best sleeper cars of all time and the replacement 1996 SE-R is, clearly, not. Most significantly, the car’s independent rear suspension was stupidly binned for a twist-beam rear. Maybe this is blasphemous, but the car looks a lot better and still keeps the SR20DE inline-four that every Nissan fan goes crazy for. One of these sold on BringATrailer a couple of years ago and this comment stood out to me:

I had one of these in college, brand new 96 in Black over black and it was an absolute gem of a car. Till this day (I’m now in my mid 40s) it was one of the easiest cars to drive long distance, and the motor made such a great noise. Not as fast in a straight line as I’d wanted, but I had the ECU, S1 Cams and Cold Air Intake and headers on mine and it was PLENTY fun and way quicker than I was a driver. These are getting extremely hard to find and I’ve always wanted to get another one.

A quick, five-speed coupe cannot be one of the worst cars of the ’90s! – MH

1990 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Convertible

Olds Cutlass

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I grew up in a family that definitely preferred Ford products, leaving me with a slight bias against GM products. The Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Convertible, though, was undeniably cool to the seven-year old version of me. Today? They still look absolutely cool. The long W-body droptop featured the sweet basket handle, pop-up headlights, and crisp styling. These cars also came with some weird options, including the first-ever Heads-Up Display in a car, which looks like this:

Technology! – MH

1990 Yugo Cabrio

Yugocab

Is there anything lazier than throwing a Yugo on one of these lists? I mean, I get these are just some crap generated for SEO content or whatever dark web alchemy farts these things into being, but still, come on. The truth is the Yugo just wasn’t that bad. Not great, sure, but what the hell do you expect from something that was literally the cheapest car you could buy in America? You could plop down about four grand and get your ass everywhere you needed to go. The design was extremely rational and effectively no different from any number of other small FWD hatchbacks being sold all over the world.

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Yes, it was from a country most people didn’t associate with cars, and the quality control wasn’t great, but, let’s be honest here – was a Chevette or a Hyundai Pony dazzling anyone with stellar quality? Hell no.

And for this entry here, the Cabrio, the MT blurb states it was “America’s cheapest convertible ($8,990!)” That would be about $20,577 today, still pretty damn cheap. To compare, a convertible very similar looking and in basic layout and design, the Golf/Rabbit-based Volkswagen Cabriolet, would have cost you about $15,500 in 1990, or about $35,500 today. The Yugo Cabrio was about half the price, and didn’t need the clunky roll bar and had rear windows that rolled down all the way, unlike the VW, and that alone should keep it off this stupid list. Seriously, I had one of those Rabbit convertibles, and the rear windows not rolling all the way down never stopped being annoying.

Was it more dangerous if you rolled it? Probably! So don’t roll it, dummy! It’s half the cost! You’re going to have just about as much fun in the thing, even if it’s slower or whatever, but who cares? Were you going to buy a VW Cabrio to win races? No, you weren’t. You wanted to drive around with no roof and enjoy life, and a nice new Yugo Cabrio would let you do just that. So stop being a jerk. – JT

1998 Daewoo Lanos, Nubira, and Leganza

Sure, Daewoo’s sales tactics may have been borderline criminal and the implosion of the Daewoo chaebol was one of the biggest scandals in South Korea, but Daewoo’s cars also helped give us this scene right here. Long after all the lawsuits were settled, “You just got killed by a Daewoo Lanos, motherfucker” still remains one of the most quotable automotive lines in 21st century cinema. Think about how often you’d say it if you owned one. That alone should be a good enough reason to keep one around. -TH

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1990 General Motors “Dustbuster” Minivans

Dustbuster

So, what’s the matter with these, again? They look too cool? They look too much like a spaceship? You can’t handle having a minivan that looks like a spaceship? And somehow that’s the van’s problem? No. No no no. Look, these may not have been everyone’s cup of Earl Grey, hot, but there’s no reason for them to be on any “worst” lists. They were spacious and useful and, importantly, non-boring.

They got more potent engines over time, and yeah, it’s a long dash, but you know all cars have their quirks. I’m not going to give a company shit for attempting to make a minivan something a bit more interesting. Nope. Grow up. – JT

1992 AM General H-1

Hummer H1

You know what? I actually agree with the vast majority of Motor Trend’s writeup. This section in particular is hard to fault:

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Despite being as wide as the Panama Canal, the H1 offered next to no passenger space, primarily because its hapless occupants had to share the cabin with the engine.

That engine was GM’s utterly wretched 6.2-liter naturally aspirated diesel, which made up for its stupendous lack of power with an overexuberance of noise—though to be fair, it fought an exuberant battle trying to out-shout the H1’s moaning driveline and roaring tires. AM General tried to address the noise problem by fitting a gas engine, Chevy’s venerable 5.7-liter V-8, which only succeeded in making the painfully slow H1 even slower

But the reality is that automotive greatness is not rational. Some of the most legendary machines in history have been noisy, impractical rattletraps. Just think about vehicles like the Jeep Wrangler, Dodge Viper, older Honda Civic Type R, most Kei cars — these are cars that people drive and say “Yeah, this thing has issues, but I just don’t give a damn. Because my god does it have soul!”

That’s very much the case for the H1. It’s unlike anything else on the road, with its wide stance, absurd ground clearance, humongous 37-inch tires, simply-stamped body panels, and just menacing overall profile. The interior is definitely tight given the machine’s size, and overall, I don’t think the packaging is great, but it makes for a memorable driving experience, especially off-road.

Speaking of, it’s not just “soul” that gives the aforementioned “rough around the edges” machines value, it’s their ability to dominate at a very specific task. The loud and harsh Viper is a track monster, Kei cars are efficient and cheap and easy to maneuver, the Type R handles way better than it should at a reasonable price — you get the idea. The Hummer H1 aligns with the Jeep Wrangler (particularly the older ones) in that, sure, it’s a bit of a nightmare to daily drive, but it’s unbelievably good in the dirt. It’s a damn supercar, in a way.

For a vehicle to be that good at one thing pretty much disqualifies it from the list. It’s a purpose-built off-road beast. That’s what it was built for, and that’s what it does, beautifully. Sure, if you daily drive it, it’s not going to be great, but that’s like putting Lebron James on a “worst athletes of the decade” list because he can’t bowl. -DT

1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo

Monte Carlo

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1993 Volkswagen Eurovan

Caravelle

All this minivan-bashing on this list is just embarrassing. The Volkswagen Eurovan does not deserve to be on a “worst” list. The Eurovan was big deal, remember: this was Volkswagen’s first attempt to make a van without using the proven rear-engine/rear-drive formula that had served them so well for decades, so there was pushback. But VW handled the moving-all-the-oily-bits-to-the-other-end switch with the same rationality that made them do it the other way all the way back in 1950: it just made sense.

The basic idea was the same: put a big useful box on wheels and make it go, and that’s what the Eurovan was, and it was damn good at it. It was an honest approach, driven by practicality. And, unlike previous VW Transporters, this generation was not slow! You could have a Eurovan with the narrow-angle, single-head VR6 engine, making over 200 hp, pretty damn good for a van in the mid 1990s.

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Plus, it was pretty much the only minivan you could buy a full-featured camper conversion of, right from the dealer, as was VW tradition, complete with pop-top and sink and everything:

A camper you could easily commute to work in! A van that was crazy spacious and could hold a ton of people or stuff! It looked pretty decent! It wasn’t slow! It doesn’t deserve to be on this list! – JT

1994 Ford Aspire

Ford Aspire

As the youth around here, I’m declaring the Ford Aspire ironically cool. In the era of MGK recycling Warped Tour tropes and Gen Z largely borrowing nostalgia for the ’90s, this non-threatening glass house hatchback is button-cute enough to be a fashion accessory without conjuring up all the Simpsons jokes and neckbeardy images of Geo Metros. Are Metros great cars? Yes, but they have popular culture baggage. The Ford Aspire itself was jettisoned from the minds of the general public around the time LMFAO and Mitt Romney got into an airport altercation, so the jokes about how it aspires to be a real car are now taken with the same level of seriousness as people saying that nobody wants to work anymore. The result is a fairly rare car that’s as adorable as any of the Moomins and gets solid fuel economy. That sounds alright to me.

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In the context of 1994, the Aspire also sounds alright. Standard dual airbags, available anti-lock brakes, a surprisingly attractive steering wheel, and dirt-cheap cost of entry made this thing a real contender against base-model Toyota Tercels that didn’t even offer a fifth gear in their manual gearboxes. Interestingly enough, a major threat to the Ford Aspire species was Mythbusters, as several of these trim little hatchbacks were unceremoniously destroyed for television. Bugger. -TH

1995 Honda Odyssey

Honda Oddyssey

Now, I’ll admit that the Odyssey wouldn’t be my first or even second choice for 1990s vans; those would be a Honda Acty Street and a supercharged Previa, respectively. MotorTrend is also correct that the Odyssey got destroyed by Chrysler’s vans in sales. But is it really a worst car?

The Odyssey was different take on the minivan formula, giving buyers a vehicle that could be filled with six people, but still drove like an Accord. MotorTrend‘s own review praised the Odyssey’s carlike handling and fuel economy, while still boasting the ability to carry more people than an Accord:

Along with an Accord engine came a sedanlike ride, made possible by the sophisticated four-wheel double-wishbone suspension. This space-efficient design incorporates upper and lower control arms, coil springs, shock absorbers, and anti-roll bars to produce a comfortable ride with responsive handling. The Odyssey squirmed through our 600-foot slalom at 61.4 mph, stacking up well against the Chevrolet Venture (61.0 mph) and Dodge Caravan (62.0 mph). A strong showing was also made around the 200-foot skidpad, where the Odyssey managed 0.74 g of lateral acceleration.

Instrumented measurements aside, 98.7 percent of survey respondents felt the Odyssey’s handling was above average, no doubt influenced by the positive steering feel and relatively compact dimensions. Numerous owners expressed similar sentiments; as an Illinois woman wrote, “I like the fact that it’s a minivan that definitely drives like a car.”

And despite the van being a slow seller, those who bought one loved it, from MotorTrend‘s review:

Honda’s engineers were guided by the design goal of creating a vehicle with the versatility and capacity of a minivan and the comfort and performance of a car. This seemingly opposing goal was met with admirable success; an astounding 97.4 percent of surveyed owners reported that they would recommend the Odyssey to others, and an impressive 98.3 percent claimed they would purchase another Honda, making the Odyssey the most highly recommended long-term vehicle by owners in the past year.

With the power of hindsight, we know that American minivan buyers were willing to sacrifice some driving dynamics for more space, thus making the first-generation Odyssey a niche vehicle.

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But does falling into a niche make you among the worst? No! More choice is always better. – MS

1994 Saab 900

Saab 900 N G

While some may argue that the NG 900 was the beginning of the end for Saab, it’s proof that even under the iron fist of GM’s accountants, Saab just couldn’t stop being Saab. While the bean counters gave the Swedish subsidiary the GM2900 platform, Saab changed the wheelbase, used its own four-cylinder engines with its own engine management, installed its own instrument cluster, altered the crash structure to its own specifications, and changed so much else that the NG 900 is only an Opel Vectra in theory.

What’s more, it drove well. This is a car that will keep up nicely with modern traffic, track dead ahead on gravel roads, and lean towards gentle understeer when you overstep the limits of adhesion. What’s more, the steering is rather quick for the era, especially if you’re used to German luxury cars and their built-in sneeze factor. The 1994 Saab 900 may have been born from troubled circumstances, but it was still a proper Saab. -TH

1997 Cadillac Catera

Caddy Catera

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The Cadillac Catera was, basically, an Opel for this market. It’s an odd-duck that doesn’t fit with any of the Cadillacs that came before it or any of the Cadillacs that came after it. The marketing, though, the marketing was great.

First, you get:

It’s the Caddy that zigs!

Second, you get the most insidious product placement of the ’90s with the TV show “Chicago Hope” creating a character named: Dr. Lisa Catera. Get it? LEASE-A-CATERA. This is a real thing I’m not making up. – MH

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1997 Acura CL

Acura Cl

With a beltline as trim as its American owners’ wasn’t, the CL was—and is—a perfect runabout for a regional sale manager with a File-o-Fax full of dreams and a backseat filled with regrets. There isn’t a late-20th century Honda that wasn’t at least inoffensive to drive at worst, and most were downright lively. The CL was even available with a 5-speed transmission, as long as you were willing to somehow slum with one of the famously inefficient and unexciting 4-cylinders Honda made in the ’90s. Hey wait… (Okay, the 2.3 in the CL wasn’t one of the all-time Honda greats, but still.) – JJ

1996 Plymouth Breeze

The great thing about this one is that I don’t really have to defend it – the legend, John Davis (of Motorweek fame) describes in no uncertain terms in the video above that the Breeze is actually a fine automobile.

And how the heck could it not be? It’s basically a Dodge Stratus – which was in a family of revolutionary vehicles for Chrysler, with its fully independent suspension (double wishbone up front, multilink in the rear) and most importantly its space-efficient “cab-forward” design – but stripped down. After all, Plymouth had by the mid 1990s become Chrysler’s budget brand.

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Motor Trend maligns the manual windows and locks, as well as the basic 2.0-liter inline-four and lack of aluminum wheel options. But John Davis drove a completely bare-bones model (base price under $15,000) in the video above, and that model paired that transverse-mounted inline-four to a five-speed stickshift with a sweet accordion-style shifter.

Fully independent multilink suspension, a five-speed, a roomy interior, and a low base price? This thing sounds decent until you look at the fuel economy, at which point the Breeze sounds more than decent:

Screen Shot 2023 02 20 At 1.37.48 Am

33 MPG highway!

The 1996 Plymouth Breeze just seems like good, basic transportation. Who could hate that? -DT

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1992 Jaguar XJ-220

Xj220

I must be stupid because I’m baffled at how the XJ220 can be on this list. It’s so wrong in its wrongtitude the author must have gotten out of bed with the sole purpose of being deliberately the wrongest person on the internet this week, and that, my friends, takes some fucking doing. First of all, the XJ220 retailed for £470k in 1992, not £270k as stated. Second of all, just look at it. Look at it and then go for a cold shower. The big cat wasn’t a tarted up 911 like the 959, or stripped out widow maker like the F40. It might not have come with the promised V12 and four0wheel drive, but that’s because the original concept was an after hours, off the books lash up to investigate the possibility of a Group B Le Mans attempt.

Jaguar found themselves buried under blank checks for a production version, so the actual car was developed by Tom Walkinshaw Racing with a V6 engine distantly related to the Cosworth DFV. You weren’t exactly being shortchanged in the engineering pedigree department. No wonder it went like all bloody hell, with Andy Wallace wringing one out to 213 mph making it the fastest production car in the world at the time. They only managed to sell 281 out of a proposed run of 350 cars because just as it was launched the world fell into a massive recession. You know what else was a total business failure around the same time? The McLaren F1, which didn’t sell in it’s intended numbers either, and I don’t see any automotive hot-take chucklefuck putting that on any worst car lists. – AC

All photos Manufacturer unless otherwise noted

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Mustardayonnaise
Mustardayonnaise
1 year ago

this list sucks

TriangleRAD
TriangleRAD
1 year ago

Oh my, where to begin on this list?

About the only car I can even remotely agree with is the Monte Carlo, simply because nobody asked for a 2-door Lumina. On the other hand…3800 V6!

Oh and the Daewoos..yeah they were a joke even when new. But so were Hyundai and Kia, and look how far they’ve come. Daewoo just never got that chance.

As the former owner of a ’96 B14 200SX SE-R, I can vouch for that being a gem of a car. Sure the handling wasn’t quite as good as the B13, but that’s really the only strike against it, and since the B13 ranks as the best-handling FWD platform I’ve ever experienced, that’s a pretty high bar. What uncultured smoothbrain thought this car, or the Honda Del Sol, or the Odyssey or the Previa belong on any Worst Of anything list?

Everything said by the Autopian staff about Saturn and the Cavalier is true. They weren’t particularly refined but neither was most of their competition. They were honest cars that excelled at being cheap basic transportation.

The Oval Taurus was indeed polarizing when it was introduced. That didn’t stop it from continuing to battle the Camry and Accord for the best-selling car spot throughout the ’90s. One interesting thing I remember from MT’s own article on the introduction of the Taurus, was their noting that even the stereo opening was an oval. They noted that this greatly complicated the task of installing an aftermarket stereo, and wondered if this would become a trend, and what it would mean to the aftermarket stereo industry. We’ve seen how that has played out since. The aftermarket stereo market is a fraction of what it was in the ’90s.

Lastly, the GM dustbusters..I have limited experience with them, since mine was a Chrysler minivan family. But I will say am thrilled to see the pic of that particular white Oldsmobile Silhouette, which was taken at the ’80s/’90s car show that I hosted on Saturday. There was an X-90 there, too! Not to mention TWO Suzuki Cappuccinos, a Toyota Sera, an LS-swapped Chrysler Conquest, an ’83 Diesel Toyota pickup, and a certain Nissan Pao that we were all very glad to see back on the road.

JDE
JDE
1 year ago
Reply to  TriangleRAD

well they did have a 2 door Euro lumina actually. it often came with the heinously packaged 3.4 DOHC Euro Tech engine. I think you misunderstand the era, there was still interest in 2 door personal luxury cars at the time with Psuedo performance expectations.

Citrus
Citrus
1 year ago

Saturn customers at that time were so obsessed with the ease of buying that they actually had an episode of Ellen that was built around the Saturn concept. The Saturn analogs were Nissan Maximas with some plastic glued to it.

It was weird that at the time they were so famous for their dedicated customers and how they killed that good will.

GreatFallsGreen
GreatFallsGreen
1 year ago
Reply to  Citrus

I think it was MADtv that also had a skit on the cultlike owner following – no car mockups though, just a spoof on the owner events and Homecomings and the like.

Robert Pridgen
Robert Pridgen
1 year ago

They can’t be serious with this list.

F1, NASCAR, Ford GT40, Saturn SL. All built on a space frame, but only 1 gets 40+ mpg.

Robert Pridgen
Robert Pridgen
1 year ago
Reply to  Robert Pridgen

Here’s five I think are worse than all 10 on this list: 1991 Yugo GV, 1993 Lincoln Continental, 1994 Dodge Intrepid, 1995 Chevy Van with a 6.5 Diesel, 1998 Kia Rio.

S13 Sedan
S13 Sedan
1 year ago

It’s funny seeing the discourse around the XJ220. When I was a really little kid in the mid to late 90s, it was still in all of the coolest cars books and stuff like that intended for kids. Maybe there were more critics at the time but I wouldn’t know. I was in elementary school and thought it looked neat and it was in all of the car books so that means it must be good.

Then throughout the 2000s, it seemed to constantly get shit on because it didn’t have the V12 that it was originally supposed to get. Then once people started really caring about cars from the 80s and 90s, it got cool again. Yes, the V12 would have been cooler but 550 hp out of a twin turbo V6 that’s still street drivable in the early 90s is still extremely cool. Plus it’s still fast with the V6 so who needs the extra 6 cylinders anyway.

Just Jeepin’
Just Jeepin’
1 year ago

I drove a del Sol as my daily driver (and mostly my only car) for 15 years. Wonderful car, although I’m curious how you cleaned out the water!

Mine just leaked over the hot exhaust and thus I went through multiple mufflers and exhaust systems.

Mark Tucker
Mark Tucker
1 year ago
Reply to  Just Jeepin’

There were two drain tubes in the corners of the window pocket. I only found them after I disassembled the whole thing inside. After that, I traced them to where they came out the bottom of the car, and just periodically cleaned them out with a pipe cleaner.

Andy Individual
Andy Individual
1 year ago
Reply to  Mark Tucker

This would make a great basis for an obscure tech article. What are these drain tube issues I see so often? Generally they are mentioned about sunroofs. Why is there water penetration in the first place? I mean, I know nothing is porfect, but shouldn’t these be designed to be water tight, or if not, then not be there at all?

I guess I’m happy to have a basement floor drain, so I’ll never have to worry about a leak in my roof. 😉

Boxing Pistons
Boxing Pistons
1 year ago

At least there were no entries featuring a 360 AMC V8! Ole John would have been stalking their houses!

Boxing Pistons
Boxing Pistons
1 year ago

The XJ220 is kind of out of left field, altogether. All of the other models mentioned were very mainstream, known quantities. How the hell did they go from shitting on crusty Cavaliers that were sold by the millions to an uber-exclusive supercar that only hundreds of people have any experience with? Eitger way, that was one of my favorites in Gran Turismo 2, so f* ‘em.

MATTinMKE
MATTinMKE
1 year ago

“automotive hot-take chucklefuck”

Shakespeare could never write so beautifully.

Mike G.
Mike G.
1 year ago

I disagree about this statement regarding the Cadillac Catera: “It’s an odd-duck that doesn’t fit with any of the Cadillacs that came before it or any of the Cadillacs that came after it.”

This was followed up by multiple generations of CTS and was the spark that brought us generations of decent-driving Caddy’s to replace the floatmobiles of the 80’s and 90’s.

Did you know that the ‘C’ in CTS stands for Catera? Catera Touring Sedan (look it up on Wikipedia if you don’t believe me). As the CTS grew bigger he ATS and now CT4 are more in line size-wise with the old Catera, but it started it all, and now we have the CT4/CT5 Blackwings.

Thank you Catera.

GreatFallsGreen
GreatFallsGreen
1 year ago

I’ve been getting served ads for this article and saw the Dustbuster in the art, and figured best to avoid it (plus MT’s site has always rivaled the German lighting site in pushing ads and device slowdown for me.) Thanks for saving me the time, it’s actually a little more irritating than I would have guessed.

I never care for the revisionist history poking fun at the product after the fact. Sure there’s a “what were they thinking” element sometimes, or “what they really should have done” – but then leaves little room for experimentation. The minivans are a great example, because while consumers pretty much made up their minds on preferred minivan design layouts by the time the first Odyssey went on sale, there was still some experimentation along the way.

I will say I think the Catera deserves to be here just because every attempt to take a “regular” Euro brand car and pitch it here as an upscale car seems to flop. Only Honda seemed to crack the code with the Euro Accord as the TSX.

I’ll note that the Eurovan didn’t have the VR6 til the “return” in ’99, and then didn’t put out the 200hp for another year or two.

Some are a little too boring for their presence on the list to be worthwhile. Like the 1995 Monte Carlo which was fine enough – not really any worse than the legacy names that were on its counterparts and IMO better looking than the later Montes that attempted retro cues. Or the original Acura CL – I remember a C&D comparo at the time putting the Solara ahead of it in a head-to-head comparo. Trivia fact: the first CL was the only Honda* with 16″ 4-lug wheels. I considered finding a set for my ’01 Accord I4 if I had decided to keep it and upsize the wheels.

(*AFAIK/at least in the U.S., and maybe I’m thinking just in what would fit the bolt pattern for Accord/shared vehicles.)

Mercedes Streeter
Mercedes Streeter
1 year ago

The part that makes me laugh the most is in arguing why these vehicles are the worst, the slideshow manages to ignore MT’s own period reviews of said vehicles. It’s like they’re trying to retcon their own reviews. lol

Barry Allen
Barry Allen
1 year ago

“the ability to run badly longer than many engines will run at all…”
Nope, I’m sorry, hard disagree on the 1995 Cavalier. For that sentence alone. That is the definition of a car that brings misery to the world. Of a car that’s a penalty box meant purely to make you want to get a better one as soon as you could afford it. Sticking around that long just meant sharing that misery with more people, making more folks live sadder, angrier lives. This car is a twelfth term senator hanging on for sheer spite.

Maymar
Maymar
1 year ago
Reply to  Barry Allen

I’m sure it would have been far more awful with an automatic, but I had a ’97 Cavalier with the 5-speed, and it was perfectly adequate. I later had a pair of mid-2000’s Hyundai Accents with half the mileage (albeit automatic), and still would’ve rather had the Cavalier back.

Dalton
Dalton
1 year ago

This article just kept going and going and going, and I enjoyed the whole damn thing.

Good job!

GreatFallsGreen
GreatFallsGreen
1 year ago

While never tested, I have to wonder if the original Dustbuster vans would have been not as bad as the ’97-05 gen in the IIHS test. GM was toying with space frame construction elsewhere and it fared well in the S-Series (an “acceptable” rating for a structure that was several years old by when IIHS testing rolled out was pretty good for the time).

The 2nd-gens were narrower (to better suit what would prove to be a brief attempt at European sales as the Sintra) and built to accommodate the driver’s side slider, so pretty decent structural differences even though the tested van was a 3-door. The Windstar and the Quest/Villager also went backwards in their IIHS tests from their first to their second generations when adding a driver’s slider – so quite possible.

Not to mention…that longgg front nose adding some space.

GreatFallsGreen
GreatFallsGreen
1 year ago

It was a space frame, they touted that in advertising and part of the pitch of it with Saturns was that the body panels could be plastic because they weren’t structural. Even in the less strict NHTSA test, the 2nd gen vans lost a star in the driver score over the first gen.

GM never canceled the vans, they kept on selling it for years after the test in a full generation as I’m sure you know, and only then redid the vans quickly including the improvements to the front for the safety ratings, to tide them over until some type of replacement (Lambdas, which had a minivan under consideration before just going all-in on the crossovers).

Theotherotter
Theotherotter
1 year ago

The B14 SE-R wasn’t as good as the B13, but it was better than it’s given credit for. In 1995 my dad needed to replace his 320iS and we went car-shopping one morning in my then-relatively-new ‘93 SE-R. The two cars on his list were an E36 318i and an Infiniti G20. He was driving, and had driven my car plenty before, and when I mentioned the 200SX SE-R it occurred to him that maybe he should consider it, as he liked mine so much. He loved it, and decided it was all the car he needed. He bought it from the same salesman I had gotten mine from at Hickman/Peachtree Nissan. My interest in modifications rubbed off on him, and he eventually put a Jim Wolf ECU, Hotshot header, Jim Wolf intake and Stillen strut tower brace on his car. He owned it until he died in 2005, when I had to dispose of it. Unfortunately, not long before he had hit something in a construction zone that cracked the transmission case; I ended up filing a claim with State Farm, who totaled it. But not before I took a couple of pieces off (unfortunately not including the wheels and tires.)

Lincoln Clown CaR
Lincoln Clown CaR
1 year ago
Reply to  Theotherotter

I can’t believe they put my my SE-R on this list. No wonder I dropped my Motor Trend subscription 35 years ago.

Also, the picture is an SE, not an SE-R.

Rollin Hand
Rollin Hand
1 year ago

The del Sol with the 160hp DOHC VTEC (YO!) Engine was a great car, and the engineering of the roof and roof storage was absolutely top shelf. My uncle had the SOHC version, and it was a great car.

The Taurus was the incredible combination of “meh” and “outlandish” so rarely seen in autodom. I still want one of the damn SHOvoids though.

My cousin had a Cadaverlier of that vintage. It was actually a decent car. He was doing a lot of miles at the time, and it never let him down. Drove OK too.

An M3 swap on the 318i made it haul the ass it never had.

I drove one of those Cutlasseses once and liked it with the 3.4. Not a gutless Cutlass at all: comfy, decent power, lots of the exact same buttons they were still using years later. I think Mr. Clarke would enjoy it.

Plymouth Breeze: “Hey, Chris Bangle was just looking at your butt and making the ‘Dat Ass’ face.”

The Saab 900: I wanted to like these so bad, but GM screwed it up.

The Monte Carlo: Um…yeah. Next!

Cadillac Catera: LS swaps are your friend. And Calling it the Caddy that zigs” probably turned off older Cadillac buyers (“No zigging on my watch!”) and younger (“Caddy? I want something more youthful. Like a Buick.”) buyers.

I am shocked that the Ford Contour isn’t on this list. Too small for North America and for its price, but I still miss and love my SVT.

TXJeepGuy
TXJeepGuy
1 year ago

Cheap cars were allowed to be fun and cheerful in the 90’s… something that many seem to have forgotten post the 2008 recession. These days everyone expects all cars to be a luxury car, or at least be able to cosplay as one to the uninformed.

There’s a lot of cool stuff on this list.

EXL500
EXL500
1 year ago

I miss the first gen Neons. They were a blast, and I rented them whenever I needed to rent a car. I particularly remember a dark green DOHC 4 door I had in Wisconsin on those delicious back roads.

Astrass
Astrass
1 year ago

Most of these vehicles are either a little odd and outside of the mainstream, older designs that held on for too long (looking at you, Ram Van) or are just routinely maligned by “common wisdom.” Good on the Autopian for coming to their defense. Now this makes me want to see a list of the worst cars of the 1990s as written by Autopian writers. What would show up there? The 2nd-gen Explorer with the automatic? Any Chrysler with the 2.7 V6? The last Oldsmobile Cutlass, for literally just being a Malibu with a higher price tag and different badges? Curious minds want to know.

Andrew Bugenis
Andrew Bugenis
1 year ago

Thaaaank you! I had the, uh, fortune to be served that on Facebook. I was like, “Is Saturn on there? Yes? Then I can safely ignore the rest of the list.”

I mostly know of the Civic Del Sol from the person that painted theirs like an X-wing and mounted R2-D2’s dome to the rear deck.

And I laughed way too hard at your response to the Monte Carlo. (Though on the merits of large touring coupe, I’d be interested to hear serious thoughts. Also they came in a ton of special editions, one near me when I was a teen was decked out in Dexter’s Lab livery.)

Drew
Drew
1 year ago

I wanted several of these when they were new, I want several of them now, and there is some overlap in those two lists. I owned a 3rd gen Cavalier coupe, and I understand the criticism, but it was fine. And it had a lovely little glow-in-the-dark escape handle in the trunk with a helpful diagram showing a stick figure running away from the car. If someone stole my car and shoved me in the trunk, I’d know to run away from the vehicle my kidnapper used, and that is important for dummies like me.

Double Wide Harvey Park
Double Wide Harvey Park
1 year ago
Reply to  Drew

I rented a cavalier and have not driven a car with worse visibility except for a 2010 Mustang.

Drew
Drew
1 year ago

I don’t remember poor visibility, but it has been a bit. The worst visibility I ever experienced was a newer Camaro. Runner-up goes to a Solara convertible.

Mike F.
Mike F.
1 year ago

“…I don’t see any automotive hot-take chucklefuck putting that on any worst car lists. ”

Good to see you going easy on the guys at Motor Trend. 😉

Mike Smith
Mike Smith
1 year ago
Reply to  Mike F.

I literally LOL’d at that one; I’m officially stealing ‘chucklefuck’ for use in my own personal lexicon of vulgar insults.

Andy Individual
Andy Individual
1 year ago

When it comes to the H1, you are confusing soul with odour.

The first gen Odyssey was often deployed at a taxi cab. I was impressed by how well suited it was for the job. They seemed just the right size, roomy with the third row removed and depute the beating taxis take, never seemed to be falling apart and rattling. I had a knee injury for a while and found them easier to get in and out of than a Crown Vic or a larger minivan. I miss smart sized people movers.

Piston Slap Yo Mama
Piston Slap Yo Mama
1 year ago

Oddly, they didn’t mention its badge engineered brother the Isuzu Oasis.

Bizness Comma Nunya
Bizness Comma Nunya
1 year ago

Not all of those Neon windows were powered though haha….

…but your point remains true, the Neon was the better value at the time.

EXL500
EXL500
1 year ago

I preferred the 4 doors. The doors on the 2 doors were too long, and the 4 door had better proportions to me. Then again, I was already in my early 40s when they came out.

Bizness Comma Nunya
Bizness Comma Nunya
1 year ago

haha ok ok, I’ll accept your stance on 4 door Neons if you accept that I refuse to acknoledge that any 4 door G-Bodies existed. My dad had a wagon and not only where there no power windows in the back….THE WINDOWS DIDN’T GO DOWN IN ANY OF THEM (sedans or wagons). <This should be a short Autopian article

It was really fun during a hot summer being a car-sick kid in the back of one of these, A/C didn't work (or didn't have it), 350F shiny metal GM belt buckles roasting your skin, velour interior that smelled like a lifetime of cigarettes, and all you wanted was to roll down a window just like you could on a GM car that was made 50 years prior….

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