Homegrown lemons: Australia's worst cars*
Tony Davis
July 15, 2011
Comments 42
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Worst locally produced cars
The poorly made and underdeveloped Austin X6.
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*Not by Ford or Holden. Tony Davis picks the 13 most questionable cars to have been built in Australia.
Having made lists of the least appealing Fords and Holdens and having been contacted as a result by a whole new collection of correspondents, some of whom can spell, it seems only fitting I complete the job.
Henry and the General aren't the only mainstream players to make cars here. What about Toyota, Nissan, Chrysler-Mitsubishi, and BMC-Leyland?
Yes, there's been a pox or two on those houses. Such as:
Austin X6
There were Kimberley and Tasman versions, depending on whether you preferred cyanide or arsenic. Cramming an optional straight six into this front-drive car was a brave but pointless move. It didn't help that the six was thirsty and unreliable, or that the car itself was underdeveloped and badly made. But you knew that - it was made by Leyland.
Morris Marina
Ohmigod! Who would have thought it possible to make something this odious using only metal, glass and plastic? It was meant to be a rugged and reliable alternative to the above but was neither. The only way to make things worse would be to add the P76's six-cylinder engine. So they added it.
Leyland P76
It could have been good. But it wasn't. We could go on. That would be more than most P76s did.
Chrysler (by Chrysler)
An early-1970s luxury car that nobody needed, built by a company that seemed to have lost all clue. The name was daft (by daft).
Valiant VH Hardtop
The heavy, thirsty, flabby 1971 Hardtop was bigger than the already obese VH sedan, for goodness sake. Yet rear legroom was close to zero. If you wanted a Valiant coupe, why not the vastly superior Charger?
Toyota Camry Hybrid
Built on the wishful principle that do-gooders want to do their good anonymously. If only they would put a windmill on the roof …
Toyota Avalon
A dated piece of droopiness aimed at the American market. Although no one bought it, it made the Camry look stylish.
Datsun 200B
People bought Japanese-sourced cars in the late 1970s because they were reliable, economical and relatively refined. No one knows, then, why they bought the 200B. Having fooled the public at first, Nissan Australia cranked up production just in time for the public to wake up. Oops.
Toyota Corona "Starfire"
Although unspeakably dull, the Corona was ultra-reliable. This attribute was comprehensively undone by installing a Holden Starfire engine in 1979 to lift local content. Toyota engineers made dozens of changes to this six-cut-back-to-four but it didn't help.
Austin Freeway
One of many pre-'76 attempts to build a local BMC/Leyland six. This dated, be-finned parts-bin special sold fewer in all 1963 than the EH Holden sold every week. Deservedly, too.
Nissan Pintara
Pintara is an Arrernte Aboriginal word meaning ''tedious, dated Japanese fare unconvincingly reheated''. In sedan form, Nissan Australia's 1989 effort was dreary but the locally developed Superhatch hunchback, sorry hatchback, was meant to bring to mind the Audi Avant. It did, as in ''get me an Audi Avant so I can get as far away from this thing as possible''.
Nissan Ute
Ford tried to flog a version of the Pintara, known as Corsair. The quid pro quo was a bog-standard 1988 Falcon ute with a Nissan sticker on the tailgate. If you didn't laugh at the silliness, you would have to cry.
Mitsubishi 380
It wasn't bad, just unnecessary. They built it (in 2005) in the vain hope the people would come. ''Hello … hello, is anyone there?''
Comments
A bit like this column, actually. You know, why did they bother?
perplexius | Ballarat - July 15, 2011, 10:47AM
Cannot agree with your nomination of the Mitsubishi 380. Not a lemon, more a frog looking for someone to kiss it! It handled well and the VRX and GT models actually were well fited out. I think it's place should betaken by the Toyota Lexen. It managed to truly demonstrate the feel and ride of Ben's boats!
Mini Mad | Doncaster - July 15, 2011, 10:50AM
Mitsu 380 - such a great drive but just so butt ugly.
Dave B | Melb - July 15, 2011, 10:57AM
My parents owned a yellow Datsun 200B we eventually had repainted sky blue. I also had a horrible poo brown 200B. They weren't that bad really. But once you did start having problems it was a fast downhill slide. But then so was my second car, a '79 Mazda 626...otherwise known as blower of head gaskets.
Sammy01 - July 15, 2011, 10:53AM
It looks like the size of the lemon is directly proportional to the amount of government interference in the manufacturing of the product. If they had left the car makers to build the cars then would definitely not have any Leyland Australia or the cross over Toyota- Holdens Ford-Nissan etc etc.
BernieC - July 15, 2011, 10:53AM
Why does rebranding a holden ute to another brand suddenly make it a bad car?
tango8 | Sydney - July 15, 2011, 11:11AM
And the Camira doesn't get a mention?
Seriously?
Bruce Banner | Melburn - July 15, 2011, 11:11AM
The ex-pommie designed rubbish like the Marina and the P76. Some bright spark thought shim adjustment for valve clearances would be a good idea. WRONG !!!
Bill Smith | Far North Queensland - July 15, 2011, 11:13AM
Mini Mad | Doncaster - July 15, 2011, 10:50AM
"Toyota Lexen. It managed to truly demonstrate the feel and ride of Ben's boats!"
What? Fast upwind?
Pete75 | Sydney - July 15, 2011, 11:20AM
Mini Mad - part of the fun on these comments is where we agree to disagree. The 380 is pretty damn ordinary. I had to put up with them as hire cars for years whenever I worked interstate. They go quick, have an ok ride, but they didn't handle (very front heavy leading to a fair bit of understeer), had awful uncomfortable seats and looked like a skip bin.
Correct me if Im wrong, but wasnt the Lexcen part of the model-sharing arrangement that Toyota and Holden had (ie. Apollo/Camry) where the Lexcen was just a VP-VR Commodore with a different interior and even worse re-sale.
BTW, the Avalon I understand was 'easy money' as Toyota Australia in fact obtained the production line from the US division for free (essentially s'hand), and were able to get a much of the Avalon componentry for free from the US via some tax loophole. So anyone who actually bought one was 'donating' all their purchase price to Toyota to a certain extent.
DJCJ | Melbourne - July 15, 2011, 11:20AM
@ Bruce Banner | Melburn - July 15, 2011, 11:11AM
There's a hotline that can help you Bruce.
1300 655 506
Pete75 | Sydney - July 15, 2011, 11:25AM
Has anyone noticed that you don't see any 380s any more? Its as if they all died of shame. OTOH, you still see a lot of late-model Magnas and that car still looks very nice (was the pick of the locals when it first appeared). If they had done a manual version of the AWD model, I reckon I might have been tempted - great engine, decent dynamics and a great looking car with a reasonably nice interior.
MotorMouth | Sydney - July 15, 2011, 11:32AM
I had a VF hardtop (I am only 33 and it looked cool) but the legroom was atrocious. dad has an avalon and that is standard toyota - i.e. very boring
Franky | Sydney - July 15, 2011, 12:00PM
It remains the national sport to bag the BMC cars because they challenge the Ford/Holden/Valiant psychology of aussie boguns. PS you forgot the 1800's, the 'holden/ford' of the UK during the '60's.
opinionator | Trafalgar - July 15, 2011, 11:52AM
MotorMouth, you don't see many 380s because most were bought on the cheap by hire car companies and have already run them into the ground. And not many were sold in the first place. Mind you, the 380 wasn't bad, just 5 years too late. If it had come out on the original timeline for replacing the Magna it would have been hailed as a wonderful car but instead is was too little, too late.
The Camry Hybrid isn't bad enough to be on the list as it's actually better value than a regular Camry.
The Lexcen definitely should be on the list. Poorly named and poorly built - Holden's workers did not care for the Toyota badged Commodores and it was reflected in even worse build quality.
And no washing machines on the list?
Michael - July 15, 2011, 11:48AM
Nice list - but can't agree on the Mitsu 380 entry. If that car had been sold with a Holden badge, would have sold in buckets.
cdinoz | Sydney - July 15, 2011, 11:48AM
Toyota Avalon. One of the most boring Toyotas ever made. I'd much rather drive a Corona Starfire. At least they were rear-wheel-drive and had a bit of character. There's nothing actually wrong with the Corona Starfire.
Johnny | Sydney - July 15, 2011, 11:47AM
Datto 200b? No way! Seems the guy who created the list is a bit of a Nissan hater... There are Pintaras that pull 10s and 11s and it is reliable enough (for the era and price etc).
There have been many cars that are rebadged, especially holdens - a current example is the range of Daewoos that Holden currently offer. I dont see why that automatically puts them on the worst Aussie built cars list.
I just wasted all that time reading this article and typing this comment that now I actually feel a bit foolish.
Rayo
Rayo | Syd - July 15, 2011, 12:04PM
I agree with the majority, but the 380 is/was a great car. You look for the same performance in a holden/ford of that era and you end up paying an extra $4k+.
SpeedRacer | Melbourne - July 15, 2011, 12:13PM
Has Tony Davis missed the mark here a bit. I think so. A "Lemon" usually refers to a car that is terribly unreliable and spends more time off road than on road, doesn't it ? I suupose it also infers cars that don't sell too well. Anyway, arguably the worst home grown cars of the last 40 years were the first V8 Commodore (was it the VB ?) and the notorious Camira. Mind you if not home grown the fist BMW X5's were shocking even if this column can't stop talking about them......
Platypus - July 15, 2011, 12:18PM
Didn't like the P76 six cylinder?
My parents had both, the 6 cylinder & the V8.
I quite easily remember on several occasions as an 18 year old dragging off many Commodore 4.2 V8s while driving the 6cyl P76.
Also remember the report of someone who replaced the std Auto in the V8 Targa Florio P76 with the 6 cyl version manual transmision & beat the GTHO over the 1/4 mile.
- & yes, 44 gal drum + wheat bag in boot was true & was great in the country.
They weren't a bad car for the time, but not being a Ford or Holden copped that Stigma.
Darren | Melbourne - July 15, 2011, 12:23PM
what a lightweight article - a more reasoned analysis would be really interesting - why were they crap, design, production what? what about current cars?
trego | thomastown - July 15, 2011, 12:24PM
Nice list Tony, I am a fan of your books as well. But how the Mini Moke did not get on this list is a mystery to me...
Also, I think the Chrysler honour roll should also include the Centura - what a shocker!
Jezza | Melbourne - July 15, 2011, 12:36PM
Hybrid Camry is a great car and a genuine step in the right direction. It's just a pity most motoring journos feel required to dump on aything that doesn't have a a V8, sports stripes or an exotic badge!
RR - July 15, 2011, 12:39PM
No mention of the Lightburn Zeta? You also forgot the HD Holden, you know, the one that rusted out before it left the showroom floor.
Sarty | Crab Nebula - July 15, 2011, 12:46PM
I'm glad that the Avalon is considered a lemon. When it was time to replace the 96 Camry back in 2008 we found that an 03 Avalon with all the bells and whistles was cheaper than 03 Camry. It's a great car for our family with plenty of room and rides well. I'm happy to suck this lemon.
Rick | Eastwood - July 15, 2011, 12:47PM
I was the proud owner of an 1981 Corona with the infamous 1.9l 'Starfire' motor. What an incredibly underwhelming vehicle. Heavy body and light on power so it chewed fuel like a six potter with the agility of a besser block.
A mate of mine had a datto 200B at the same time, which made me very jealous. Shows how ordinary the Corona was!!
Geoffro | Sydney - July 15, 2011, 12:51PM
Mr Davis - There is a significant difference in logic between isolating out a vehicle because of its poor design and poor manufacture - (such as the Marina) - and "finger pointing" a Valiant because it looks "big" on today's roads.
Your assertion that the Hardtop or the Chrysler by Chrysler (CxC) were somehow "bad cars" , is not even supported by your own article - The only fault you can find is that they are "big" and therefore somehow "bad".
Personal Luxury cars such as the LTD, Landau, Statesman and even the HQ LS Monaro were a reality of the time - the Valiant's not being any larger or any heavier than most I have listed.
1971-74 was a very different time to today - and large "personal luxury" cars were the norm in many countries that had a manufacturing presence. An XJS Jaguar in fact was heavier than either of the two Chrysler cars you mention.