Question of the Day: What Are the Best and Worst Car Names Ever?
A car’s name, while mostly immaterial to the merits of the car itself, often goes a long way towards determining how customers view the vehicle. So we ask you; what are the best and worst car names of all time? Give us your favorites and the ones you just can’t stand, in comments.
Comments
Timmy
Well, there is this Honda Fitta, which in Swedish (my own polar bear infested glaciere), means a more nasty version of vagina. Namely c*nt if it remains uncensoured.
Although here its called Jazz.
Cicero
Taureg and Tiguan are horrible names, and I think the Ford Flex needs a better name
Charles
Mustang is the best name !
Pontiac Aztek is the worst!
Llama Money
Best: Challenger, Charger, Mustang, Corvette, Tundra, Explorer, Continental.
Worst: Anything by VW, including the Eos, Lucerne, MKX, MKZ, Pretty much any of the random letter / number names.
chuck goolsbee
I've always felt like the Chevette was an awful name as it completely torpedoed-by-dilution the image of the Corvette. The Chevette was a eco-beater student car in my college days and virtually every owner (if it was a guy) would say "yeah, I've got a 'vette."
Ford had its own blunder with the "Mercury Merkur XR4ti"... say that three times fast.
VW's names are goofy, but at least they are CONSISTENTLY goofy, with the only derivations from the major themes over the past 30 years being the Rabbit, Dasher, & Fox. All the other goofy names were pretty on-theme: Golf, Jetta, Sirocco, Corrado, Passat, Cabrio, Caribe, Bora, Touareg, etc. I guess "Vanagon" & Eurovan would fall outside of that though.
--chuck
http://chuck.goolsbee.org
dierobotdie
any manufacturer that uses a number, not a name is worse, though Mazda Miata is pretty lame, as it's really a good car.
best names have always belonged to Maserati and Lamborghini
as an aside, some names used by Japanese manufacturers in the domestic market are unintentionally very funny, such as the Mazda Bongo, Nissan Cedric etc.
DanD
Just about any VW nameplate introduced in the last decade would qualify as a candidate for worst, with Touareg being THE worst of the lot. As for American cars, Edsel was an unfortunate choice by Ford that is hard to top even after four decades. For a runner-up I'd pick the more recent LaCrosse from Buick.
Best car name by a country mile: Mustang. Runner up: Corvette.
As for the alpha-numeric names, they are, for the most part just bad copies of what works well for BMW and Mercedes-Benz. That may be OK for the likes of new-to-market luxury and wannabee-premium brands. On the other hand, junking well-established and even historic nameplates from long-standing brands, such as Continental in Lincoln's case, and doing so in favor of alpha-numeric nonsense is just plain stupid.
turbomonkey
Subaru Brat
AaronM
I always thought the Mitsubishi Starion was hilarious. Either they thought it was a cool name on its own, or it was a BAD case of Engrish...
Patrick from Astoria
All-time worst: AMC Gremlin. I dare the collective reader body to find a single positive association for that word.
Best? If you'll put aside the varying quality of the cars that have worn the name, it's hard to top "Thunderbird" for conveying a kind of all-American power and glory. "Mustang" and "Cougar" come close. Ford usually does good with names, regardless of the cars.
Most appropriate: A yin-yang split decision between the Honda Civic, with its sense of neighborly good cheer and enlightened social responsibility, and the Ferrari 166MM (Mille Miglia), for pure appropriateness.
Steve
Best: Plymouth Fury
Worst: Hillman Minx
josh
I don't like most of the VW names, but it's hard to complain about the Jetta. The VW "Thing" is a pretty good name. The "Beatle" was an apt name for the car (and during the 1960's, it wasn't a bad thing to be associated with "The Beatles" in any way). They started to lose me with the Rabbit.
The Spanish speaking world really didn't like the Chevy Nova (No Va = no go in English)
As a Mustang owner, I'll give a vote to that being one of the best. I also like Corvette, and I think that "Trans Am" was a pretty bad-ass name for a car (much better than a wussy firebird). The Mercury Cougar wasn't too bad either (the name, anyway...not the late 90's ford probe replacement).
corco16446
Daihatsu Charade
corco16446
also, I echo the Thunderbird sentiment
Ford Thunderbird
Chevrolet Belair
for best
bmwloco
For those of you knocking VW names, maybe you should look closer.
Eos - Greek goddess of Dawn. A bit of a trap, responsible fo other Greek Gods as she slept around.
Touareg - nomadic tribe of Africa, they live in harsh terrain
Jetta - Wind Term
Golf - Wind term
Beetle, not "Beatle" - nothing to do with John, Paul, George and Ringo
I could go on, but the worst name of all time? Probably the Ford Probe, a car made to appeal to women. A probe? Yeesh.
94 Taurus owner
Routan.
Windstar
Freestar
Flex
Colorado
Compass
albinoboy
Worst:
Yaris
Prius
Avalon
Any VW with the exception of the Bug
Best;
Impala
Mustang
Cuda
Charger
Chevelle
Galaxie
Corvette
Viper
GTO
Cutlass
Wayne
Worst: AVALANCHE! Why would any car company name a vehicle after a NATURAL DISASTER ??? and with all the body cladding in the first series, I though it looked like one too!
Dane
Best:
Scirocco
Wort:
Camry
Dane
Or any Alfa name....
Rat-ta-tat-tat
Best: Scirocco or Corrado
Wort: (Hyundai) Scoupe - I know it's technically "S-Coupe", but come on...
retsel
Chevy nova..
in Spanish... it sounds like Cant go... lol
Bruce Williams
Best= Studebaker for Land Cruiser, well before the Asian cars.
Worst= Studebaker again for Dictator which carried that name into the mid 30's or so when it was deleted, for good reason.
Rudy
when I worked at a VW dealership, the Touareg was uneviably called the Toe rag. so i agree with the pic at the top of this post. I also agree Probe is really bad.
I don't think Avalanche is that bad a name for a vehicle. maybe other natural disasters will catch on.. Hurricane or Tornado (sort of already used.. Olds Toronado) sound cool to me.
i guess along this vein, Mudslide or Flood don't really sound good.
enthusiast
I'm surprised nobody mentioned the VW Thing...
X3 SoB
Really this kind of a stupid Question, as it depends purely on personal preference and each company's history. For example, at GM, Avalanche, Chevette, and Aztek are pretty bad. GM has a history of horrible and excellent names. Corvette, Camaro, Invicta, Cutlass, LeMans, Sierra, Eldorado are all good examples. Ford has some pretty bad boners such as Probe(wouldn't want to get rear-ended by one of those!) and good ones such as Mustang and Explorer. I could go on and on, but that would be just an exercise in belly button contemplation. Think harder, Seyth!
Cicero
Oh year, Ford Probe is terrible, I am afraid to go near one of those cars. Dodge Stealth is a good name, so is Ram for the truck (rams are a versatile animals)
Jason Salcido
There is a general concencsus coming to the forfront though. VW car names just sound worse the more times you think about them, regardless of what their definitions are.
The worst name? I vote for the AMC Gremlin. WOW, I'd like to know how the dumb ass who came up that one explained how he arrived at "Gremlin" How would you even present this to your bosses?
The best names of course the obvious: Mustang, Corvette, Camaro, El Camino, Supra, etc
But how about Lamborgini SUPERAMERICA!
Goose
As reported by Dave Letterman, lo these many years ago:
Chevy Junta
TBA
Any thing made by Ford
Palmer M
Pontiac TransSport was terrific. Sounded like "Trans Am" and looked like a Disney monorail train. Perfect "transport" for your arrival at EPCOT Center!
Camry has to be about the worst, but Cobalt is not far behind.
Lucerne, Riviera, Ventura, Invicta, Electra, ElDorado, Seville, Skylark, Park Avenue, Continental, Imperial, Catalina, Monte Carlo, Malibu, etc. are great car names.
CTS, MKZ, MKX, STS, SRX, G6, G8, G5, 300M, etc. are horrible.
I'm shaking as I write it, but maybe the worst one is the Cadillac DTS.
Kai
How has nobody mentioned Diablo yet?!
FPF422
Kia Pride.... What is to be proud about that ugly little car ?
Joshua
I think my favorite names to say are of the Fiat 500 (thats Cinquecento, not Five-Hundred) and the Maserati Quattroporte. Add four Italian friends with three bottles of Chianti and you have an anthem.
The Mini (BMC, not BMW) has to be the most brilliantly named car ever. It describes the car's stature, it delivers the cars zing and together became a world icon.
I'm not sure what the worst name is, but I too take issue with the Avalanche. In my case it has to do with a vehicle I abhor being named after MY hockey team. The Gall!
Wes
Worst: VW Thing. Mercedes Gelandewagen. Buick Invicta. Chevy Cobalt.
Best: Chevy Monte Carlo. Ford Crown Victoria.
Tim
I love those Italian names: GranTurismo, Brera, Spider, Gallardo... (I could go on and on, but simply put, Four Door has none of the class or beauty of Quattroporte)
Bad names? Those number ones for sure, the uber-long Renaultsport names, and many of those previously listed
andrew
Best:
Stutz Bearcat
Stratos
Countach (my favorite - it just sounds so cool)
Pantera
Thunderbird
Worst:
Impala
Chevelle
Chevette
XR4ti
Brett
I've long had a theory that car names that begin or end in a vowel roll off the tongue easier and are more pleasing to the ear, like say... Avanti. Discuss.
Jeff
Worst: The brief time when Caddilac was moving to letter designations while keeping the names:
Why repeat the name for gods sake...
Eldorado ETC and ESC
Seville SLS and STS
Deville DTS
Translated into...
Eldorado Eldorado Touring Coupe
Eldorado Eldorado Sport Coupe
Seville Seville Luxury Sedan
Seville Seville Touring Sedan
Deville Deville Touring Sedan
The only one they got right was the Caterra when it changed bodies to become the CTS or (Caterra Touring Sedan).
Oollyoumn
I see Nova and LaCrosse have already been mentioned, my choices.
Redshark
Any made-up nomenclature such as Camry or Cellica (is that spelled correctly? It doesn't look right.) I also hated Fairlane, Freestar and Windstar. I also dislike any alphabet nomenclature of more than two letters such as MKS, MKX, MKZ, CTS, GTS,....
A really good name that deserves resurrecting in North America is FORD FALCON, but it needs the proper platform. The same goes for AZTEC.
newguy
My dad always "loved" the name Mitshibishi Precis. To him it always sounded a lot like Feces.
Basically, a good name for a car can't fix a bad car. For example, Pontiac LeMans was a cool name for a cool car that turned in to the GTO. However, when Pontiac took an Opel and called it a LeMans, it killed it.
Of course, the opposite holds too. Make a good car and the name doesn't really matter after a while. Nova has been talked about. However, the late 60s to mid 70s Novas were reliable transportation and made good hot rods for limited funds. No one really thinks about the "no go" thing with them, they think about a good solid car that can go fast with a little green. Admittedly Chevy tried to kill the name, but at least it was a Toyota under the badge...
Brad
Worst to me was Toronado. Never could understand what it was supposed to mean.
Best ones: Charger, Challenger, Mustang, LeMans, Corvette, Barracuda, Grand Prix, among the domestics.
Best ones among the imports: Diablo, Supra, Carrera GT, anything by Rolls Royce.
JohnD
The word Camry is derived from kanmuri which is Japanese for crown.
CARSON 44
I think the worst mistake in naming was when Acura changed the Legend to the CL3.5 or what ever it is ,I really don't know. Everyone knew the Legend was an Acura and vise verse. But now? At the time it was one of the most recognized model names, Acura thought it was more recognized than the Acura name. That is rumored to be the reason for the change. A reporter at the time likened it to having two children, one of them smarter than the other. So to cure the disparity you beat the smart one over the head till the I.Q.'s are equal. The Honda group make few mistakes but this has to be one. Also liked the "Vigor".Car models should have names, leave the letters and numbers to the Germans, their less artsy and need that method.
JR
Carson44 finally mentioned it, but I'm surprised no one did earlier - the Acura Legend is a great name. Not really an Acura fan (save the NSX...R.I.P.), but Legend was a great name. Too bad they dropped it.
Carrera is also a timeless, iconic name that has come to be identifiable with only one thing in the world - a rear-engined Porsche. Can't get much better than that.
Aztek sucked. In too many ways to count.
Mark V
The Best: Eldorado, Fleetwood Sixty-Special, Seville, Continental, Coupe DeVille, New Yorker Fifth Avenue, Maverick, Thunderbird, Torino, Park Lane, Comet, Riviera, Park Avenue Limited, Cutlass, Toronado, Ninety-Eight Regency, Corvette, Grand Prix, Firebird, Fairlane/Fairmont Futura, Pantera, Cougar, Capri, Cosmopolitan, Malibu, Aston Martin Lagonda, RoadMaster, Banshee, The Thing, Scirocco, 900 Turbo, 9000, Versailles, LeBaron, Imperial, Prowler, Viper, Fury, Charger, Road Runner (BEEP! BEEP!), 'Cuda, x1/9, Corniche, Silver Shadow, Silver Spur, Silver Ghost, Bonneville, Fleetwood Brougham d'elegance, Camaro, Corvette. Did you notice most of these are real names?
The Worst: MKwhatever, whateverTS, whateverRX, Focus/Fusion/Frown Fictoria/Edge/Escape/Explosion, Mylan, Mariner, Tracer, MKwhatever, Fit, FORD, Camry, Tercel, Corolla, Versa, Any Hyundai/Kia/Subaru/Toyota/Nissan/Honda/Infiniti/Jaguar/Land Rover/Volvo, F-150,MKF-150, MKwhatever, astra, Phaeton, Passat, 9-3, 9-4, 9-5, 9-6, 9-7, MKtown car, nano, echo, Pontiac Gwhatever. Did you notice that these names are boring and uninspiring?
Scott
Lucerne has to be one of the worst. Who's the idiot that would name a car after milk products? Of course there's Lacrosse too - which means cross-dresser in Canada.
And well, VW names? Obviously no drug testing there.
Then there's Toyota's performance version "TRD" or "turd" as it's more commonly known.
Levi
Speaking of naming cars after natural disasters, anybody remember the Cyclone ? That was a cool name as is the Avalanche.
How about the Mercury Comet ? That was cool too !
One of the worst ? Yugo ! Also add the Pinto, Cortina and Omni !!
All VW names start out bad and then just get worse.....
ZeGerman
I find it funny to see how people appear to be forming their opinions... It seems to be the case that people are often choosing names they like/dislike based upon the cars which the names are assigned.
I had the unfortunate displeasure of owning a Ford Probe for a year a long time ago. It was handed down to me by my parents as a winter car. My friends never let me live it down, and rightly so. It's an awful name.
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