Worlds Worst Cars

The Dawoo Cielo takes our number 5 spot of Australias worst cars. Also known as the 1.5i between 1994 and 1995 the Cielo was Daewoo’s first entry into the Australian Market. Daewoo had a long association with GM long before it became part of GM in 2002 and the Cielo was no different. The car would be a familiar sight to any Europeans as it is based on the Opel Kadet E that was first sold in Europe between 1984 to 1991. So by the time it got to Australia it was over ten years old but despite its dated style and bad quality fit and finish they sold like hot cakes. Daewoo were quick to point out the engine was made by Holden and that their $14,000 was the cheapest in the market for this class of car. A face lift came when the car was renamed Cielo in 1995 that saw a smother looking front and rear end treatment so it no longer looked like a 1980s car, unfortunately not much was done to the 1980s handling or the build quality. Today you can pick up plenty of used examples of the Cielo for under $1000.  A similar Laser or Corolla of the era can sell for as much as $7000.

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Number 6 in our list of Australia’s worst cars goes to the Datsun 120y. Based on the chassis of the Datsun 1200 that was produced from 1970 to 1974 when the 120y was launched on the Australian market as its replacement. Both cars were known as the Sunny in Japan, but perhaps it was a good thing the 120y was not named this in Australia as it was a pretty dull car. Featuring a 1.2 L engine, dull breaks, a choppy ride and a sloppy gearbox, the 120y was surprisingly popular. We are not sure why that is as it was an fairly ordinary looking too. You could option up to the Japanese built 2 door coupe version that was a popular way to look sporty when you are taking almost 17 seconds to get from 0 to 100km/h. The 120y was replaced by the next series in the very dull Sunny line (and also now named Sunny) in 1978.

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Hitting our number 7 spot for Australia’s worst cars is the Holden Piazza. Launched in Australia in 1986 at just under $35,000 the Piazza hardly took sports car market by storm probably because of its huge price tag at the time and the fact that motoring journalists at the time gave it pretty bad reviews. The Piazza was made in Japan by Holden’s Japanese cousin Isuzu, based on a 1979 showcar designed by Italian design firm Giugiaro it certainly looked the part, but unfortunately underneath was the chassis of a 1970’s Gemini stuffed with a 2 litre turbo. This dated design made the car handle terribly and anyone who wanted to drop that much cash on a sporty hatch back at that time probably opted for much better handling Celica at a similar price. Holden tried dropping the price and later varieties had reworked suspension that brought the handling up a wee bit, but not enough to acquire many more sales. The Piazza was one of Holden’s biggest flops of the time and was killed off by 1988. Pictured above is the original press photo of the Isuzu version, the Holden version was identical except for the huge Japanese mirrors on the guards, a huge TURBO decal on the top back edge of the guard, slightly different wheels and Holden badges. 

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The Zoe Zipper was a three wheeled car introduced to the United States in 1983, produced by Misuoka Motors of Japan (a company well known for creating odd cars) it featured only one seat, a 50cc Honda motorbike engine and rather strange styling. The car surprisingly was not a hit with most people preferring two or more seats in their cars and more conventional design. It has been said that fewer of 50 of the cars were built with a sedan, a convertible and a type of mini truck all being available. Today the Zoe company is no more but Misuoka is still around in Japan creating cars based on small Nissan’s and Daihatsu’s with old world Jaguar front and rear end styling.

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The AMC Gremlin has to go down in history as one of the worst ideas in automotive marketing history, named after creatures that cause mechanical problems it was released on April fools day 1970. AMC had very little money to invest at the time so when they need a car in the subcompact market they cut the rear off their compact Hornet model and created this horrid looking box. It could come with either a 2l 4 cyl or a 3.3, 3.8 or a 4.2 6 cyl and a 5 lt V8 engine and this was in a market that was compeating against the VW Beetle, despite all that seems wrong on the surface the car sold well and was one of AMC’s largest production runs with just over 670,000 cars produced over 9 years. The car even has developed a cult following partly thanks to its over the top 1970s looks and the fact that the larger engine cars are resonable performers if not a bit thursty. But many think this along with a few of AMC’s other products are dogs and is probably the car that marked the start of AMC’s downfall.

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