The worst new vehicle for sale in the USA today - nominations

I nominate the Chevrolet City Express Van.

Along with its twin, the Nissan NV200, this van loses 100% of all comparison tests among small commercial vans. It's slower and rides & handles worse than the competition.

It is based on the mechanicals of a 2007 Nissan Versa - which was outdated in 2007. It is insignificantly cheaper, and gets insignificantly better gas mileage than the competition, while being entirely miserable to drive.

The City Express edges out its twin, the Nissan NV200, because Chevrolet dealers have no idea how to sell it or service it. Of the 4 Chevrolet dealers within 100 miles of me, only ONE even bothers to stock them. Of the whopping FOUR units they have in stock, TWO of them are leftover 2015(!) models.

Anybody got another nomination?

The small Mitsubishi. Mirage as hatch and G4 as sedan. A true third world offering.

In reply to EvanR:

That is a good one. It is also super ugly, IMO. Not Ram Promaster ugly but pretty bad.

Chevy Spark with the CV transmission. Undrivable in snow, even with the defeatable nannies turned off, I've never had a car try harder to get me killed in winter.

I imagine the 6spd. would be lightyears more fun.

I see the NV200 as the vehicle you buy for other people to drive.
That is, for your employees to drive, not yourself.

Both the Spark & Mirage are cheap and you expect them to be cheap. The City Express sells for approximately the same price as its competition and is far worse.

JohnRW1621 wrote: I see the NV200 as the vehicle you buy for other people to drive. That is, for your employees to drive, not yourself.

My company has one if the Chevy versions of the NV as a parts runner. WORST. ERGONOMICS. EVER.

JohnRW1621 wrote: I see the NV200 as the vehicle you buy for other people to drive. That is, for your employees to drive, not yourself.

I agree. Nobody who actually had to drive this themselves would actually pay for it.

And I'm pretty sure the only reason a fleet buyer would pick the Chevy over the Nissan is if they already had a good relationship with a Chevy dealer from buying other trucks.

I see a lot of munipalities with the Chevy Version. It may be because of previous relationships but I suspect it has some to do with "patriotism" to the American brand as well.

Appleseed wrote: Chevy Spark with the CV transmission. Undrivable in snow, even with the defeatable nannies turned off, I've never had a car try harder to get me killed in winter.

The CVTs are also failure prone and then it's a several month wait to get a new one.

I'm going to nominate the Kia Rio. Only 40% of buyers say they would buy another.

Dodge Journey Jeep Compass or Jeep Patriot

All evidence that FCA will design something not for a particular target buyer, but under the premise that everyone needs to purchase some sort of vehicle.

In reply to NickD:

I wouldn't buy another Hyundai accent (same thing as a Rio) because I outgrew it. Its basic but was a very very solid car. Would not hesitate to reccomend one and the newer ones, at least on paper, fix most of the complaints I did have about my 2009. Interior much improved too.

Now the versa...those have got to be pretty low on the list.

dodge journey.. why? Because if everyone else has a CRV sized cross over we must as well?

Toyota Yaris Hatchback.

4 speed automatic? Check.

Incredibly old engine design? Check.

Ugly? Check.

Poor road manners? Check.

Generally miserable interior materials and layout? Check.

Rather poor fuel economy? Check.

Disappointing amount of both passenger space and interior storage space? Check.

Literally advertised as "It's a Car!" when it came out? Check.

Hideously expensive for what you get ($17,285 US for a 5 door with a tilt-only column and rear drums)? Check.

It's a car that has nothing redeeming about it other than the Toyota name, and is actually worse than the car in which it's engine debuted in (the Echo). Oh how the mighty have fallen.

G_Body_Man wrote: Toyota Yaris Hatchback.

You forgot to add "Made in France".

I haven't driven an NV200, so I can't say from experience, but it sure looks and seems like an awful place to spend time. The Ram Promaster City doesn't seem much better, if any.

I have spent time at the wheel of all the cars in the "cheap 4 door" category that have been mentioned above. I shopped them a lot recently, as a 130+ miles per day of driving will force you to consider a disposable car. I didn't particularly love any of them, they're cheap cars, but I will say that they aren't the penalty boxes they were 20 years ago. I didn't like the Yaris per se, but I couldn't disagree more with G_Body above. Sure, it's bland and boring, and isn't the latest technology, but that doesn't make it a bad car. It's solid, basic transportation on the cheap. It's a better car than the Spark or Mirage. Of all of them, the Mirage probably comes close to the worst car made, for me. I actually didn't hate it, but it's at the bottom of the rankings in my eyes of that class. The Versa wasn't far behind.

I know some people love them, but I'm not a fan of the Fiat...in any of its' forms.

NickD wrote:

Appleseed wrote: Chevy Spark with the CV transmission. Undrivable in snow, even with the defeatable nannies turned off, I've never had a car try harder to get me killed in winter.

The CVTs are also failure prone and then it's a several month wait to get a new one. I'm going to nominate the Kia Rio. Only 40% of buyers say they would buy another.

Wow, so FCA isn't the only one who seems to have completely forgotten about logistics and parts supplies.

I nominate the Range Rover. Any vehicle that starts at over $95K base, and climbs to $200K with special editions should at least equal the quality and reliability of your average Toyota, but this tank makes AMF-era Harley's look good.

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: dodge journey.. why? Because if everyone else has a CRV sized cross over we must as well?

And lets cram a 3rd row into it, so we can claim "seats seven" without telling people the rearmost passengers must both be double leg amputees

Appleseed wrote: Chevy Spark with the CV transmission. Undrivable in snow, even with the defeatable nannies turned off, I've never had a car try harder to get me killed in winter. I imagine the 6spd. would be lightyears more fun.

My wife just picked up one as a rental for work last night. It's feels a little like an aircooled beetle. It's upright. All of the body motions feel very upright. Where a pothole might push you left or right, in the Spark, it feels more like the whole cabin travels up or down. It's so narrow, from the passenger seat, you're pretty sure the driver has decided to commandeer half of the oncoming lane. You're sitting left of the center line. You have a lot of engine noise that doesn't seem to relate particularly well with the amount of power provided.

The interior in the rental was beat to hell, but I liked the look of it. Materials were nice. It looks like maybe a 7" screen in the dash, but somehow, that screen doesn't connect to a camera.

I thought this was going to be a thread about Jeep's entire product line.

eastsidemav wrote:

NickD wrote:

Appleseed wrote: Chevy Spark with the CV transmission. Undrivable in snow, even with the defeatable nannies turned off, I've never had a car try harder to get me killed in winter.

The CVTs are also failure prone and then it's a several month wait to get a new one. I'm going to nominate the Kia Rio. Only 40% of buyers say they would buy another.

Wow, so FCA isn't the only one who seems to have completely forgotten about logistics and parts supplies.

Nope. The CVT exploded in a woman's Spark with 1500 miles and then it sat for at least 2 months while we waited. And this was this year, so it wasn't like when they first came out and GM might not have had a parts supply for Sparks established yet.

These people would nominate the Aygo We don't get that here in some way shape or form, do we? Although 2 engines and 4 clutches in 22000km makes me think it's something the owners might be doing

The e-NV200 is super popular around here as a fleet van, I wonder how horrible those are?

The Mirage isn't just cheap, it is cheap in ways that make sure to remind you that you are poor. The Versa is cheaper and still a penalty box, but not as much as the Mirage.

Every time I see a Mirage on the road I just want to pat the driver on the shoulder and say "there there, I've made bad life choices too..."

slefain wrote: The Mirage isn't just cheap, it is cheap in ways that make sure to remind you that you are poor. The Versa is cheaper and still a penalty box, but not as much as the Mirage. Every time I see a Mirage on the road I just want to pat the driver on the shoulder and say "there there, I've made bad life choices too..."

Especially when they are that gawdawful metallic pink