TTAC's Ten Worst Awards 2008 – Your Nominations Please

With all the industry news we’ve been covering, the Ten Worst Vehicles Awards got pushed to the back burner. But now that the meltdown is underway and seems to be running on autopilot, it’s time to take a look at the jaundiced jalopies that contributed to the fiasco formerly known as the auto industry. For those of you who are new to the site, the Ten Worst Vehicles is TTAC’s homage to excessively egregious examples of vehicular vomitus the automakers puked on the car-buying public during the year. TTACs Best and Brightest (that’s you) make the nominations, our crackhead team of writers narrow the field to 20 or so of the crappiest and then you vote on the top (or bottom) ten. Just to refresh your memories, here are the buckets of bolts you selected as the crème de la crap in 2007:

10. Saturn ION – Thankfully they finally rethinked this one right out of existence

9. Chrysler Aspen – A high-tech hybrid powertrain and massive incentives aren’t enough to revive this turkey.

8. Chevrolet TrailBlazer / GMC Envoy / Isuzu Ascender / Saab 9-7X – All but dead. Good riddance.

7. Hummer H2 – Sells so poorly the entire division is on life support.

6. Hummer H3 – That’s not an exhaust note, it’s a death rattle.

5. Chevrolet Uplander – Dead and finally gone. They even closed the plant.

4. Dodge Nitro – Fizzled like wet fireworks.

3. Chevrolet Aveo – The mouth breather grill won’t help this bottom feeder.

2. Chrysler Sebring – So bad even the rental companies aren’t buying it.

1. Jeep Compass – Jeep enthusiasts asked WTF and buyers agreed.

In case you’ve forgotten since last year, or you’re a Ten Worst virgin, here’s are the rules:

1. Any car or light truck offered for sale as a new vehicle in the U.S. between January 1 and today is eligible for nomination. I know those of you in Canada and other countries feel left out, but we have to draw the line somewhere to keep this under control. It doesn’t matter who built it or where, just that it’s sold legally in the States.

2. All nominations have to be justified. That doesn’t mean just saying it’s a POS car. Tell us WHY it’s a POS car. Nominations may be deleted unceremoniously and without warning for any of the following reasons: insufficient justification, excessive verbosity or pontification, foul language or patent absurdity.

3. All nominations must meet TTAC’s house rules on flaming or trolling (i.e., don’t). Offensive comments about other readers will be summarily deleted and the writer could be banned from TTAC. However, offensive observations about the nominees are encouraged.

4. Blatantly badge-engineered siblings can be nominated jointly if they all suck equally (see winner #8 above). Platform mates can be nominated separately, but may be combined at the whim of the editor for the final vote.

5. If we can wake them up long enough, TTAC’s writers will select 20 finalists from the nominees, give or take a few. The number of times a vehicle is nominated is irrelevant so don’t waste the pixels on typing “me too.”

6. Readers will vote via an electronic survey on the 20 or so finalists to determine America’s Ten Worst Vehicles. Multiple voting ain’t kosher so don’t even try.

7. Nominations begin today and will continue until midnight EDT, Sunday December 8, with the 20 finalists presented for voting a few days afterwards. The winners will be announced whenever we get around to it. We have nothing to give the winners but our disdain, so the winning manufacturers will find out about it like everyone else.

How do you decide what crapmoblies are worthy of your attention?

– Styling so bad it could even make Stevie Wonder look the other way.

– A market misfit that makes you wonder what the product planners were smoking, drinking, shooting up or otherwise self-administering.

– Engineering malpractice that makes the vehicle practically undrivable or so bland you wouldn’t want to drive it.

– Something that you can’t quite put your finger on but gives you the urge to regurge anytime you think about it.

So now it’s in your court. Make your nominations below and tell us which ones you think are really deserving of being named one of TTAC’s Ten Worst Vehicles for 2008.

Please note: Nominations will close at midnight EST Sunday, December 8.