My Jetta is in the shop for some work at VWs expence and they give me a rental unit. I am stuck with a Toyota Echo for a couple of days. I hate everything about this junker. It only has 20000 miles and I can feel this thing flex as I go down the road. It feels as though it wants to tip over all the time. Who ever designed this car needs to be floged and made to drive one all the way to hell

try driving a Fiat Panda....

haha, good one. ex-girlfriend of mine had one.

scary piece of crap ...
Andy

I thought he said, "Try driving a Fat Panda"....

Top three worst cars I've driven:

1. Ford Sierra 1.8, rental in London, late 80s. Worst, most rubbery shifter ever, gutless engine.
2. late 70s Chevy Vega, borrowed from a friend while my car was in the shop. It says something that the Ford was worse.
3. 80s Chevy Beretta, rental in the Bay Area, long before I lived here. Auto gearbox was always in the wrong gear.

Honorable mention: 90s Nissan Micra, rental in Norway. I expected no power (1.0 engine), but not truly evil handling.

And before one thinks all rentals suck, one of the best cars I ever drove was a 90s Renault Clio, rented in Spain and driven through Monaco to Milan. Marvellous, unexpectedly brilliant car.

# 3. 1958(?) Renault Dauphine
got spanked constantly by 2CVs

#2. Trabant "and out of the blue cloud..."
it wasn't any good but it was slow!
trade in value=one bottle of Warrsteiner Lager (small)

# 1. Volga sedan,
complete complete with ricer wing and fake Fuchs
hubcaps.
Please don't defame crap by classifying this thing as crap!

The fiat panda was the first car I ever did 100 mph in :-) I was about 8 - and wasn't driving

The echo's aren't great - they are really just powered shopping carts. There are worse cars out there though. Try a (pre-VW) skoda sometime.

Ford Tempo and Chevy Citation?

Personally I have flogged a LOT of rental cars and the Japanese are usually the BEST in the stripped-subcompact flavor. Yes they are boring and understeer like mad, but at least they are reliable, relatively quiet/smooth, and have meat-freezer A/C.

The smallest/cheapest American and "other" makes typically suck majorly (although the euro-influenced Fiesta and Focus may be exceptions).

When you get into the mid and larger sized cars, the equation typically tilts quickly back towards the big US and European makes IMHO. I must admit that in some road-trip situations a big effin' Mercury or Lincoln RWD sedan is not unpleasant at all.

My first car was an 81 Olds Omega... Iron Duke 2.5

Blech....

Tom

My Father - in law had one of these when he was a teenager. He liked it

My #1 POS was the 80's Plymouth K car. Replaced my 76 Nova after it was totaled by a driver in caddy that ran a red light

#2 POS, my 1990 Dodge Dakota 4X4. It was great when it ran but in 3 yrs had 2 trans, front dif, water leak around windshield somewhere, pwr steering pump, and the final straw was the head gasket. All this in the first 30k miles

My best so far (other than my 914) my 1996 F150 XLT with a 4.9L Straight six. Wasn't fast but I could pull a house with it. Would still have it if we didn't need the extra room with the kid. replaced it w a 03 Dakota Quad cab, I know but I figured in 13 yrs hopefully they have gotten better.

My #2 best was my 1988 Dodge Daytona ShelbyZ. Midnight blue and loaded. I should have kept that car

My 96 F150 the day I sold it In great shape for a truck that was never inside and driven year round in the land of salt & snow.