99GS300

Driving to work this morning I saw what appeared to be a well maintained Isuzu Trooper from the mid 90's, but upon closer inspection, it was in fact the Acura SLX re-badged Trooper. That got me thinking about what are the worst "re-badged" vehicles?

I was almost to the office when I saw a late 80's Cadillac Cimarron, which I believe to be the best example of the worst re-badge ever....A Cadillac Cavalier/Sunbird?

Gekko

Chrysler's TC
by Maserati
"... a Chrysler 'LeBaron' with the Maserati touch!"

http://www.maserati-indy.co.uk/alfieri33.htm

flipspeed

wow i remember that car... i've only seen one or two in my lifetime. it was expensive back in the day.

flipside909

Isuzu Impulse ala Geo Storm.

Come to think of it, every Isuzu has had a rebadged sibling or vice versa.

mmarshall

Not sure if the Impulse-Storm comparo is a true rebadging, Flip. (Remember, we discussed these two cars about a week ago?). They DID share the same platform and chassis, but the bodies and interiors are much different on the 2 cars.

I agree with 99GS300 that the Cimarron was an awful car and and awful case of re-badging, but IMO it was exceeded by the original U.S.-market version of the Hyundai Excel...which was an almost identical twin of the Mitsubishi Precis which Mitsu also sold under their own nameplate.
I have been test-driving new cars for some 30 years and the 1987 Excel and the 1984 Pontiac Fiero were absolutely, without a doubt, the worst new cars I have ever driven, quality-wise.

MoogieBoogie

I believe the Excel and Precis were basically the same car. Hyundai relied on Mitsubishi for most of their drivetrain parts before they started making their own engines in the mid/late 90's. That pretty much explains the reason why Hyundai cars had such poor reliability following their introduction.

CleanSC

Oh that's easy.

The most offensive bastard of them all: The Toyota Cavalier.



Yes, that's factory. Yes, Toyota sold Cavaliers in JAPAN of all places. Yes, it was Toyota's most unreliable car.

Vladi

Daewoo > Chevrolet

... I do feel bad for Daewoo now

mmarshall

Give this man the prize....hands down. Almost nothing could be a worse rebadging than that.

And thanks for reminding me of this one, SC....I had pretty much forgotten about it.

mmarshall

Do you feel sorry for Suzuki? I don't. The Suzuki Verona, Forenza, and Reno are all rebadged Daewoo designs...and not bad ones at that. Suzuki IMO made a good move getting some good Korean products at low prices.

mmarshall

The Trooper / SLX was actually a very well-made vehicle, with an excellent reliability record....as good as many Toyotas of the period. Its Achilles heel, of course, was the tendency to tip way over inthe Consumer Reports' 1995 roll-over test, earning it a Not Acceptable rating.....and hurting sales. This was partly what started Isuzu down the road to the pitiful condition it is in today.

Your nomination of the Cadillac Cimarron gets an Honorable Mention, but the Toyota Cavalier takes the Worst-Rebadge prize hands-down....see my post above.

flipside909

You know what's sad? TRD Japan made parts for that POS. amazing.

got_trd

I htink AMG emblems on a non-AMG equipped Benz is pathetic..... Theres one right outside in the parking lot.. I should go take a pic

mmarshall

They weren't just over-the-counter GM Mr. Goodwrench parts with the TRD name stamped on them?

Koma

iTrader: (3)

Any fake BMW M, hate it, hate it, hate it.
or
Honda's badged with Acura. I can see the Acura badged with Honda because of the "JDM" aspect but Acura doesn't exist over in Japan...