TTAC's Ten Worst Awards 2008: Voting Still Open

Frank Williams
by Frank Williams

You’ve seen the list of TTAC’s Ten Worst nominees and discussed their merits or lack thereof. Our crack team of freelance writers have surveyed your list of losers and narrowed it down, from 119 crapmobiles to 23. (There was a four-way tie for position 20.) Make the jump to savor the list of finalists. And then, the moment of truth. Click at the link at the bottom of this post to select your ten choices for TTAC’s Ten Worst Vehicles for 2008. [Multiple voting or clever geeky cheating will result in a permanent site ban.] Other than not buying these machines, this is your best chance to send their creators a simple message, as espoused by Roomful of Blues: “that will never do.”

Buick LaCrosse


Cadillac Escalade


Chevrolet TrailBlazer / GMC Envoy / Isuzu Ascender / Saab 9-7X (GMT-360)* **


Chevy Aveo* **


Chevy Cobalt/ Pontiac G5


Chevy Colorado / GMC Canyon


Chrysler Aspen / Dodge Durango* **


Chrysler Sebring / Dodge Avenger*


Dodge Caliber


Dodge Nitro*


Hummer H2* **


Hummer H3 / H3T*


Jeep Commander


Jeep Compass* **


Kia Amanti


Lincoln Mark LT**


Pontiac Torrent


Saab 9-5


Scion xB


smart fortwo


Suzuki Forenza


Tesla Roadster


VW Routan

*2007 Ten Worst Winner


** 2006 Ten Worst Winner

This year’s choices range from the minuscule (smart fortwo) to the monstrous (Escalade, H2, Aspen/Durango). There’s high tech (Tesla), low tech (LaCrosse), no tech (Colorado/Canyon). Just to show that those who don’t learn from their mistakes are condemned to repeat them, every previous winner that’s still in production made it back for another round (save the Subaru Tribeca née B9). The Detroit Three seem to be getting their act together– or the competition is getting worse. This year marks the highest number of foreign nameplates in our third annual TTAC’s Ten Worst finals.

A couple of things about the list may catch your eye. First, the dismally Daewooian Chevy Aveo is listed, but the Pontiac G3 is nowhere to be found. That’s because the G3 won’t go on sale in the U.S. until spring of next year (if Pontiac lasts that long); it’s ineligible for this year’s award. Also, the Aspen/Durango Hybrids are combined with the rest of the Asparango lineup because they received about the same number of votes. Why choose between one or the other, when they’re both what the bull left in the barnyard?

The rest of the list is pretty straightforward. So which of these excrable vehicles deserve to be called TTAC’s Ten Worst of 2008? Click on the link below, jump to the poll and vote for your favorite (least favorite?) nominee. Voting closes at midnight EST Sunday, December 14th. The winners will be announced toward the end of the week. Thank you for your participation.

Vote here

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  • Alex Nigro Alex Nigro on Dec 12, 2008

    I voted. Where's my sticker to put on my cap? But seriously, the Aveo... I hope the Ford Fiesta is a smashing success and exposes the Aveo as the little NSFWbox we all know it to be. Who's with me on that assumption?

  • BlueBrat BlueBrat on Dec 15, 2008
    ferrarimanf355: Sadly, GM has improved the Aveo, believe it or not. Compare it to the Nitro which hasn't improved since it was debuted. I couldn't honestly check off the Aveo as a bad car because the Nitro sits on that list.
  • W Conrad I'm not afraid of them, but they aren't needed for everyone or everywhere. Long haul and highway driving sure, but in the city, nope.
  • Jalop1991 In a manner similar to PHEV being the correct answer, I declare RPVs to be the correct answer here.We're doing it with certain aircraft; why not with cars on the ground, using hardware and tools like Telsa's "FSD" or GM's "SuperCruise" as the base?Take the local Uber driver out of the car, and put him in a professional centralized environment from where he drives me around. The system and the individual car can have awareness as well as gates, but he's responsible for the driving.Put the tech into my car, and let me buy it as needed. I need someone else to drive me home; hit the button and voila, I've hired a driver for the moment. I don't want to drive 11 hours to my vacation spot; hire the remote pilot for that. When I get there, I have my car and he's still at his normal location, piloting cars for other people.The system would allow for driver rest period, like what's required for truckers, so I might end up with multiple people driving me to the coast. I don't care. And they don't have to be physically with me, therefore they can be way cheaper.Charge taxi-type per-mile rates. For long drives, offer per-trip rates. Offer subscriptions, including miles/hours. Whatever.(And for grins, dress the remote pilots all as Johnnie.)Start this out with big rigs. Take the trucker away from the long haul driving, and let him be there for emergencies and the short haul parts of the trip.And in a manner similar to PHEVs being discredited, I fully expect to be razzed for this brilliant idea (not unlike how Alan Kay wasn't recognized until many many years later for his Dynabook vision).
  • B-BodyBuick84 Not afraid of AV's as I highly doubt they will ever be %100 viable for our roads. Stop-and-go downtown city or rush hour highway traffic? I can see that, but otherwise there's simply too many variables. Bad weather conditions, faded road lines or markings, reflective surfaces with glare, etc. There's also the issue of cultural norms. About a decade ago there was actually an online test called 'The Morality Machine' one could do online where you were in control of an AV and choose what action to take when a crash was inevitable. I think something like 2.5 million people across the world participated? For example, do you hit and most likely kill the elderly couple strolling across the crosswalk or crash the vehicle into a cement barrier and almost certainly cause the death of the vehicle occupants? What if it's a parent and child? In N. America 98% of people choose to hit the elderly couple and save themselves while in Asia, the exact opposite happened where 98% choose to hit the parent and child. Why? Cultural differences. Asia puts a lot of emphasis on respecting their elderly while N. America has a culture of 'save/ protect the children'. Are these AV's going to respect that culture? Is a VW Jetta or Buick Envision AV going to have different programming depending on whether it's sold in Canada or Taiwan? how's that going to effect legislation and legal battles when a crash inevitibly does happen? These are the true barriers to mass AV adoption, and in the 10 years since that test came out, there has been zero answers or progress on this matter. So no, I'm not afraid of AV's simply because with the exception of a few specific situations, most avenues are going to prove to be a dead-end for automakers.
  • Mike Bradley Autonomous cars were developed in Silicon Valley. For new products there, the standard business plan is to put a barely-functioning product on the market right away and wait for the early-adopter customers to find the flaws. That's exactly what's happened. Detroit's plan is pretty much the opposite, but Detroit isn't developing this product. That's why dealers, for instance, haven't been trained in the cars.
  • Dartman https://apnews.com/article/artificial-intelligence-fighter-jets-air-force-6a1100c96a73ca9b7f41cbd6a2753fdaAutonomous/Ai is here now. The question is implementation and acceptance.
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