MTs ten ten worst rebadges of all time.

Wally wrote: I love Stephen Colbert

I've heard he smells like funnel cakes.

EastCoastMojo wrote:

Wally wrote: I love Stephen Colbert

I've heard he smells like funnel cakes.

AMERICAN funnel cakes!

mtn wrote: They're missing the Chevy Prism? and Toyota Carolla. I don't think that there was any difference between the two.

The Prism didn't get 'oh E36 M3' handles, that's about it.

One thought,

GM is bad on it's rebadging, and the Escalade and the Cimmaron are sickening, but if we're talking about rebadging of vehicles with very little difference mechanically and interior wise I would point out pretty much every asian brand and it's luxo counterpart, the drivetrains are identical, almost all options are shared across platforms, there are some subtle differences between the base and luxo brand interriors and the sheetmetal is different but who cares, for example:

Straight from Wiki: The Lexus ES series is a family of mid-size luxury sedans produced by the Lexus division of Toyota since 1989. Now in its fifth generation, the series has been consistently built on the Toyota Camry platform with a V6 engine, automatic transmission, and front-wheel drive. For much of its existence, the Lexus ES has anchored the entry-level luxury car segment of the Lexus lineup in North America, a position it maintained until the introduction of the Lexus IS sport luxury sedans in 2001. For the past fifteen years, the Lexus ES has been the best-selling Lexus sedan in the United States.[1]

GM isn't the only rebadger, the asian brands have been doing it hardcore for the longest time, granted they at least massage the sheetmetal a bit...

They also did not include the rebadge of the Vega as the Astre or whatever.

I'd say this was the worst, if you mean, took the least amount of effort. Hell, they didn't even bother coming up with a new name for each badge.

^^^how many years did they offer a chrysler neon?

then again, this was part of the chysler line absoring half the plymoth models

I think the Chrysler may have been Canada-only.

Speaking of strange rebadges, I saw an Acura EL tooling about today in town.

Raze wrote: One thought, GM is bad on it's rebadging, and the Escalade and the Cimmaron are sickening, but if we're talking about rebadging of vehicles with very little difference mechanically and interior wise I would point out pretty much every asian brand and it's luxo counterpart, the drivetrains are identical, almost all options are shared across platforms, there are some subtle differences between the base and luxo brand interriors and the sheetmetal is different but who cares, for example: Straight from Wiki: The Lexus ES series is a family of mid-size luxury sedans produced by the Lexus division of Toyota since 1989. Now in its fifth generation, the series has been consistently built on the Toyota Camry platform with a V6 engine, automatic transmission, and front-wheel drive. For much of its existence, the Lexus ES has anchored the entry-level luxury car segment of the Lexus lineup in North America, a position it maintained until the introduction of the Lexus IS sport luxury sedans in 2001. For the past fifteen years, the Lexus ES has been the best-selling Lexus sedan in the United States.[1] GM isn't the only rebadger, the asian brands have been doing it hardcore for the longest time, granted they at least massage the sheetmetal a bit...

don't even get me started on Lexus aka "the fancy Toyota" Invariably I get singled out at family gatherings with the better half's asian family members as a "car guy" Generally I'm able to divert attention by answering a few mundane questions, until someone mentions the new Lexus xxxx and I respond with "why not buy a Toyota xxxx" they respond with saying the Lexus is better than a Toyota, etc. Until I tell them that Lexus is Toyota and it only exists here in America as a leather-clad Toyota. Some try to argue with me about it, so Iv'e even gone so far as to walk out to the parking lot to pop hoods. Doesn't take long to get them to realize that they bought a tarted up Camry, etc.

I don't have a problem with Lexus, I think they have had some nice cars, I just a have a problem with people thinking a brand is better no matter what without basing it on any research on why it may or may not be better.

bastomatic wrote: I'd say this was the worst, if you mean, took the least amount of effort. Hell, they didn't even bother coming up with a new name for each badge.

Well the issue is that the way the dealer network was, they had dealers that only carried one brand. so rather than insult people's intelligence by slapping a slightly different grill on the car (ala late-model Spirit/Acclaim/LeBaron 4-door) they just gave them all Neons. Makes sense to me.

suprf1y wrote:

Wow, Motor Trend lays down an intersting thoughtful piece here.

Interesting and thoughtful? What colour is the sky in your world? You actually read garbage like this, and take it seriously?

I am always amazed that no matter what you write in a thread there is always that one person that has to come along and insult you.

Interesting? Apparently...... there has been a lot of response so far.

Thoughtful? Someone had to do some research to come up with all those re-badges. It brought back a lot of memories for me that I hadn't thought of in a long time.

Is it going to change the world or set new literary standards?..........of course not. If you find it garbage then move along to another thread or preferably another forum.

Feedyurhed wrote: I don't think they mentioned the Holden Monaro re-badged as a Pontiac GTO. Even though it was a good car it didn't do well sales wise and was pretty well universally hated by GTO purists. Not quite as bad though as when they re-badged the Daewoo as a Pontiac Lemans. Talk about pathetic. Geeez.

Yeah I thought we'd see the GTO/Monaro, but I guess the rebadging didn't cross markets.

And as for being universally hated, I can vouch for that. I have an '05 and I let an old dude in a '69 or '70 convertible in front of me in traffic. I gave him the head nod, he looked down at my car, and rolled his eyes and looked forward again. Oi! So the '75 Ventura GTO is a "real" GTO and my Monaro isn't? Pfft.

What about those old Daimlers and Jaguars? Weren't they the same cars with fancier seats?

Passat/A4? Cayenne/Touareg? Solstice/Sky? Or just cars we can pick on? I'd offer up the Thema/164/9000, too!

Lugnut wrote: Passat/A4? Cayenne/Touareg? Solstice/Sky? Or just cars we can pick on? I'd offer up the Thema/164/9000, too!

IIRC, with the Cayenne/Touareg the platform is the same, after that was developed they were completely different.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong

The Chrysler Neon came with Rich Corintian leather

mtn wrote:

Lugnut wrote: Passat/A4? Cayenne/Touareg? Solstice/Sky? Or just cars we can pick on? I'd offer up the Thema/164/9000, too!

IIRC, with the Cayenne/Touareg the platform is the same, after that was developed they were completely different. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong

God I hope, The Cayenne/Q7/Touareg are all pretty expensive to maintain and it seems that the Audis all have different part numbers than the Dubyas, No P cars here any more so I can not speak to their brakes/electricals.

I don't have a problem with Lexus, I think they have had some nice cars, I just a have a problem with people thinking a brand is better no matter what without basing it on any research on why it may or may not be better.

Toyota is having a tough time convincing the Japanese that Lexus is better then Toyota in their homeland too.

Strizzo wrote: i think the article said something like they don't see any reason at all why people would buy the caddy.

But it's like the Cadillac of SUVs!

Vauxhall Astra > Saturn Astra ??

what happened with Saturn, they where this cool company that happened to be owned by GM, now we have GM's being rebaged saturns and some saturns being rebaged who know whats?

People have perceptions of certain things instilled in them. One of the funniest things I ever dealt with was a rather blueblooded lady who drove a Buick Park Avenue, roughly 1994 or so. She dropped it off for service and wanted a loaner car. Sure, we have Centurys and Lesabres. The Century was out of the question, she was simply not going that far down the ladder. So we bring her a LeSabre and her nose went even higher up, she was NOT going to have her neighbors see her driving something so declasse'. She proceeded to inform us of how the Park Avenue was a much superior vehicle, better engine/drivetrain/everything. It took all my willpower not to tell her that her beloved Park Avenue had the same engine as the oh so pedestrian LeSabre.

I have also had people tell me that GMC trucks are NOT the same as Chevrolets. Yeah, right. Go on believing that.

Jensenman wrote: I have also had people tell me that GMC trucks are NOT the same as Chevrolets. Yeah, right. Go on believing that.

They're not the same.

GMC is Professional Grade.

And it has a different grill.

And more cup holders!

One thing I don't get about the 3KGT/Stealth being in the "Honorable Mentions" list: Didn't MT award it their 1990 or 1991 Import Car of the Year?

Paul_VR6 wrote:

mtn wrote: They're missing the Chevy Prism? and Toyota Carolla. I don't think that there was any difference between the two.

The Prism didn't get 'oh E36 M3' handles, that's about it.

The Prizm had a different air filter and box, at least for some years.

Don't ask me why, but one is 1/2" longer and 1/2" narrower, give or take a little. Just enough that air filters have to be a different part number. And if you are shopping NAPA, the Corolla takes something available in a Silver (cheap) filter, while the Prizm is oddball enough that it's only available in Gold.

Go on. Ask me how I found out about this...

edit: PS - The Megasquirt still functioning awesome. Just picked up a chip upgrade for it so that I can do some of the more funky mods.

Amen