There’s no arguing about it, Ford has made some great cars over the years. Things like the Escort Mexico, the original Mustang and the F-150 Lightning all showcase the best the Blue Oval can muster.
But with more than 100 years of car-building history under its belt, not everything can be a hit, right? So we turned to you to help track down some of the worst cars Ford has ever built .
Click through the following slides to uncover your picks for Ford’s worst cars of all time.
“It’s probably the Model T, isn’t it? No knock against the Tin Lizzie, just that it’s likely objectively worse than every car that came after it (which, I suppose opens up how it compares to the handful of cars they built prior). It’s slow, kind of flimsy, and most people couldn’t just hop in and drive it without a lesson prior.
“Tomorrow’s question better be what their best car was though.”
You know what they say, first the worst.
“If you said anything besides the Ford Tempo, you just were never there.
“Pintos really weren’t that bad… certainly better than their Chevy Vega competitors, save for that whole combustible ‘73 thing.”
On sale between 1984 and 1994, the Ford Tempo was one of the Blue Oval’s early attempts at aerodynamically-designed cars. It was a bit of sales hit, with Ford shifting more than 100,000 units in the first year alone.
Suggested by: Joshua Baer (Facebook)
“The Ford EcoSport. An import no one asked for.”
Neither economical nor sporty, the Ford EcoSport was killed off in the U.S. last year after Ford announced plans to reduce its production in India.
“Basically every Taurus past the original, honestly.
“1st: revolutionary, really changed market
“2nd: essentially a refresh. Nothing terribly new
“3rd: ugly, weird. SHO had issues
“4th: cost cutting everywhere, rust
“6th: cramped mess. SHO not competitive with GM/Mopar”
A lot of suggestions for the Ford Taurus came in today! You didn’t like its engines, its stylings, or its interior across almost every generation.
Suggested by: @El_Grump0 (Twitter)
“Ford Focus with the dual clutch. You are pretty much driving around with a grenade for the powertrain. And when it goes... and it will... good luck fixing it or getting Ford to fix it.”
Codenamed DPS6, Ford’s dual-clutch transmission has proven to be a never-ending headache for the company. In 2019, the system even became the subject of a $4 billion lawsuit .
“I have had several cars in my time (I am 82) I must say the absolute worst was 1987 Thunderbird.
“I got this car in 1989 it had 19k miles on it, my first day driving it started to stall out, had a modulator replaced, then the battery had to be replaced, then I had every hose on that car replaced (leaking) the the transmission quit working, then the engine mounting blocks replaced, then it was the windshield wipers, absolutely the worst car ever.
“That was the last Ford I ever bought.”
Y’all might have disagreed with me on the 11th generation Thunderbird, but this 1980s example definitely deserves a spot on this list.
Suggested by: Terence J Langford (Facebook)
“Just based on the clientele who bought them, it has to be the Flex. An awful lump of metal, mostly driven by awful drivers, who are just awful people. The official SUV of ‘I want to speak to your manager’.”
To me, this will always be that weird-looking car Schmidt drives in New Girl. It does not exist outside the TV universe.
“There’s plenty of not-so-great ones but I’d say objectively the worst is the one that had a tendency to explode and killed dozens of people.”
In total, 27 deaths were tied to the Ford Pinto and its tendency to explode. that seems like a fair enough reason to count it as one of Ford’s worst cars.
Suggested by: @xtremely_normal (Twitter)
“It was dishwater dull to look at, wasn’t particularly fancy or budget-y, and most people would have no idea what it was if you asked them. The original Taurus was such a game changer, and even with that history, they made...this.
“I say worst because it was such a ‘meh’ car.”
Honestly, I’d completely forgotten about the Ford Five Hundred . It’s a dull car with dull looks and a dull name. Dull.
“For me, it has to be the C-Max – it is only beaten into second place as the worst car I’ve ever driven by the first generation Toyota Yaris, which actually made me feel motion sick when driving it.
“The C-Max promised so much but was a complete flop, not only was it heavy to drive and performed like a barge going around corners, it was unresponsive, fuel thirsty and had a totally uncomfortable driving position plus it was a complete b***ard when it came to cleaning it with lots of little slots and unnecessary cubby holes.
“Changed it for a 2018 Kuga and that has been a nice car in comparison.”
Most people that drive around in an SUV should probably be driving around in a minivan. Just, maybe not a Ford C-Max minivan.
Suggested by: Robert Isherwood (Facebook)
“Ford Aspire. No one, I mean no one wanted to buy this even if Ford made them for 4 years (or is it 5?).”
There is literally nothing aspirational about this car. Next.
“My first car was a 1983 Mustang GL I bought in 1991. Three-liter V6, automatic. Burgundy paint, burgundy interior. No power windows, no power locks, no air, no cruise, no tilt – a complete plain-Jane that was, at best, a mediocre imitation of a legendary make and model.”
We can all agree that the Mustang is an icon in Ford’s history . But this poster’s experience is proof that not every model has been a stone-cold killer.
Suggested by: @Seymour_from_GP (Twitter)
“The Mustang II. Sounded good at first... a smaller platform, less weight, potentially more nimble? Perfect for a sports car! But Ford based it on the Pinto platform. It came with a 4-cylinder engine making under 90hp. But you could get an optional V6 making just a hair over 100!
“They did eventually offer a V8 though. With a whopping 140hp.
“I was going to say a Honda Civic has better performance, but that’s too generous. To put things in perspective, the Mustang II’s performance was about on par with a modern-day Mitsubishi Mirage.”
And here we have yet more proof that not all Mustangs are created equal. The Mustang MKII was basically a re-bodied Ford Pinto, so brought with it further risks of combustion.
“‘75 Granada/Monarch. It took a special kind of talent and very precise engineering to wring only 72 horsepower out of a 4.1L inline six. The cars took 25 seconds to go from 0-100 km/h when equipped with an automatic transmission. They also rusted at the mere mention of road salt. These cars weren’t exactly worthy of the Falcon platform on which they were based.”
Ford’s attempt to take on the luxurious sedans coming out of Germany in the 1970s didn’t go quite as planned. At least we got some funny adverts out of it .
Suggested by: Chris Marsh (Facebook)
“The mid-80s Escort L that belonged to my first wife while we were still in high school (and the car was still relatively new). It would randomly stop running all the time. Middle of an intersection, stops running. Driving down the street? Stops running. Look at it funny? Stops running.
“After we were married, we pawned the Escort L off on her sister, but she was able to get herself a Pontiac Sunbird, so the Escort L was returned to us. Thankfully, somebody ran into the car in our apartment parking lot one day, and the insurance gave us enough to put a down payment on a better car.
“(And just to steal the joke: the worst part was that she got kicked out of her Escort drag racing club because she had the L model. It just wasn’t fair to the other drivers when she showed up in an L).”
When you’re thankful that someone has run into your car, you know it’s a bad one.
“Explorer. More than 200 deaths and 700 injuries in the US have been blamed on Ford Explorer rollovers on Firestone May-Pop tires.”
The early 2000s Ford Explorer and its Firestone tires proved to be a deadly combination. Rightfully, it’s regarded as one of Ford’s worst cars of all time.
“I’m not sure what I’m more surprised by: the fact that this is even a question when the Ford Edsel exists, or the fact that I haven’t seen anyone else mention it yet.”
Why does this car look like someone doing a bad goldfish impression?
“Ford Transits, nothing is good about them, the strut bolts sit under the dash, replacing quarter panels in them make you want to rethink your career choices and question life in general. Even makes you think on how In the hell did they hire the guy that designed it.
“The front door glass is just as dumb as the van itself they took what could have been a simple design and decided to overly complicate it. The turbos go out and idk why they decided to have two rebars upfront. And the hood hinges are a mistery to adjust when they get replaced.
“You’d be better off using a donkey and a wagon as a work van than the transit. More reliable, cheaper to run, and not as complicated.”