Butt Ugly Buggies…
And now, for your viewing torture pleasure, CNET’s review of the 10 Ugliest Cars, complete with photos guaranteed to make you puke cringe. There are several that, in my opinion, should have made the top ten list — like the Toyota Prius. Is there a law that requires all hybrids by coyote ugly? Remember that this listing is for current models only, so the ugliest vehicle of all time, the 2001 - 2005 Pontiac Aztec, was not included.
It was a tough decision picking my personal nightmare favorite, especially since I’m a Subaru kind of guy. My present Subaru Outback H6-3.0 Wagon is the fourth Suby I’ve owned. The combination of pleasant styling, reliability, ecomomy, and practical utility keeps pulling me back for more. But as soon as the first Tribeca hit the dealer’s lot, I freaked out. Yikes! WTF is it? Get it off the Subaru lot before it infects the Outbacks! What’s that you say? It… it… IS a Subaru? The new Tribecca model, you say? No shit! Why did they do that? Had to be a design mistake born of an acid dream. OK, I don’t care if it is a Surabu, get that damn coyote ugly piece-o-shit off the Suby lot.
I have no idea what or when my next ride will be, but chances are it will not be one of this list of ten, and it sure as hell won’t be a Subaru Tribeca.
Can you say Butt Ugly Buggies 10 times in a row, rapid fire, without stumbling? How about twice?
12 Comments so far
Reckon I vote the Nissan Quest the pick of the bunch for ugliness. Looks like Nissan took the front half of the worst design they could come up with, and welded it to the back half of the runner up in the ugliness stakes.
I thought the Chevy HHR did have something going for it though. But maybe just I’m old fashioned and like retro chic
No, I can’t.
I sort of bleeped my way through the car talk. There’s only one car for me: my Beetle. Old school of course.
I’m sort of a form-follows-function sort of guy when it comes time to evaluating the “beauty” or lack thereof of inanimate manufactured objects. So, if I have needs best filled by a dump truck, it would have more “beauty” to me than the perenially-allegedly beautiful Jaguar.
So, to me a Prius is less ugly than, say, a Hummer or Escalade.
That said, I vote for that really odd-shaped sort of squared-off sportin’ type Cadillac–hit with an ugly stick, not much good for anything, and not elegant in an way.
Andy: I like that retro look also, and from everything I’ve read and heard, the HHR, as well as the one that started the retro craze, the Chrysler PT Cruiser, are fine little autos and fun to drive.
Liz: Nothing wrong with the Beetle at all. I had one a few years back and loved it. Some times “old school” is good.
Interesting that only my friends across the water have commented here…
Pardon, me Gerry, your comment got posted just as I was writing that previous comment. Me too. Function over form, that is. That’s why I like my Subaru Outback. The fact that it has what I consider nice lines is a bonus.
But I disagree with you on one thing. To me, the Prius is supremely ugly. I would like to have a hybrid when they no longer command a premium price, and maybe by then they’ll figure out how to make them less un-pretty. Hummer I like but would never own one because of cost of ownership and operation. Some guys I know at a local 4×4 shop also told me they are a piece of junk that is not reliable, difficult and expensive to work on. How about a small efficient ugly Hummer. They could call it “The Thing”. Remember those from VW?
I troubled myself to look at the “ugly car list” and there I spotted my own vehicle, Honda Element.
Truth is, I don’t rate cars on looks to any particular degree. So, the Element: I can flip up the back seats, and put two bicycles in standing up. Me and my honey like to take little jaunts to different places to ride our bikes. No rack required, and air-conditioned comfort for the bikes.
So, Prius just looks like a car to me, and I’m gonna buy one (but I ain’t gettin’ rid of the Element). You don’t want to know what we are getting rid of.
We think the boxy Element is ugly and oh so not aerodynamic. There’s a lot of them on the road though. I love the quote for it: and there are the realists who can plainly see that it looks like a cross between a UPS delivery truck and a garden shed.
We drive an ‘03 Chevy 210 Crew Cab and a ‘96 Subaru Legacy. Gets the job done without adding pain to the eyes.
The Tribeca is losing its B9ness for the new year and will get a new, less preposterous nose.
The Prius is certainly unattractive, but I wouldn’t call it butt ugly. A friend owns one, and the thing that gets me is riding around and hearing no noise. It seems unnatural, especially when accelerating. And the gloating over rarely buying gas (its most redeeming quality)… nearly makes me crazy, but she has a point.
And don’t even get me started on the Hummer. Living in suburbia, I wonder daily where my many Hummer-driving neighbors go that they would need the power of a Hummer. Maybe it’s simply to navigate their mile-long driveways! Maybe it’s because the local dealer lives in the neighborhood.
Sorry, Winston, but I’d have to vote the GMC Pacer as the ugliest car of all time, putting even the Aztec to shame.
Elsie: Are you talking about the AMC Pacer, as opposed to GMC? You may be onto something there. I had totally forgotten about that one, as well as a couple of other AMC models
Winston, I’m not sure. I just googled it, and both GMC and AMC came up. I don’t know that much about cars. I do know that when dad came home with one when I was a kid, all three of us kids started laughing. We used to say it was like we were driving around in a fish bowl. We still kid him about his lapse in judgment with this one!
Funny but I’ve always rather liked the Prius styling. And actually I would place the Element and the HHR among the more attractive of the current lot of vehicles.
Got to agree with you about the Tribeca and the Aztek though; i cannot imagine how any company could have thought that anyone would like those styles.