Forbes Releases Top 10 Worst Vehicles on the Road

Forbes, the people obsessed with making top 10 lists about, well everything, has just released its list of the worst vehicles on the road. How do you make such a list without accusations of being biased or opinionated? Well with the way Forbes did it, they essentially compiled six studies done by Consumer Reports on the most reliable, best and worst safety, best and worst fuel efficiency, best and worst value, and highest cost of ownership. They then compiled a top 10 list made up of seven American makes, two European makes and one Japanese make.

The Cadillac Escalade embarrassingly took the top score for least value, highest cost of ownership and worst safety scores. I’ll throw in that the Escalade is probably the easiest to steal for good measure.

The Chrysler Town & Country took worst reliability and faired pretty badly for cost of ownership. The Jeep Wrangler and Liberty scored for poor reliability and fuel economy while the Dodge Nitro and Dakota shared in those honours failures as well.

Along with the Escalade, GM took some hits with the Aveo, Colorado and Tahoe Hybrid making the list. All got marks for worst reliability, high cost of ownership and worst safety results.

The two Euros to make the list were both from Mercedes-Benz. The S-class made the list for high cost of ownership and low fuel efficiency scores while the Smart Fortwo was dinged for poor reliability and value.

The lone Japanese vehicle on the list was the Nissan Titan for poor fuel efficiency, reliability and cost of ownership.

With the exception of the three imports which are low volume sellers, people still seem to not get that the above mentioned domestics don’t excel in much. Yet they still sell in large numbers. Are there just that many stupid people out there? But before anyone starts on an anti-domestic vehicle tirade, it should be noted that not a single vehicle from Ford made the list.

[Forbes]

Kobe Bryant & Smart Fortwo Brabus Save the Day

Ever wonder what would happen if you put Kobe Bryant in a Smart Fortwo? Well apparently they make a dynamic duo.

Smart is looking to up its sales in China so they came up with the odd combo marketing campaign. In the commercial, an art thief makes off with, um, art. A woman, presumably the owner or creator of said art chases him out into the street. It becomes painfully apparent that she’ll need some wheels to keep up. She then causes all traffic to stop and has a choice between a Chevy Corvette and a Smart Fortwo Brabus. Bucking the trend, she goes for…you guessed it, the Smart. Turns out, the driver is Kobe Bryant and she commands him to follow the thief. He does so, for some reason, and then we see a cool sort of chase throughout the streets of China. Presumably they used a stunt driver for most of these scenes. As you might have guessed, in the end, the thief was caught by Bryant in a way only he can do.

So I guess the point of this commercial is to bust the myth that Smarts are really small (inside anyway) since a major league basketball player can sit inside and that Smart cars are not boring city fuel misers.

Think it worked?

[Advertising @ Chinasmack]

Smart Move: Owners Would Not Buy Fortwo Again

The Smart Fortwo is truly a love it or hate it car.

While the micro two seater has enjoyed moderate success here in Canada (we love our small cars) the same can’t be said for our Amurrican neighbours.

Only 14,600 Fortwo’s were sold in the United States last year. Compare that to the 24,000 Smarts sold in 2008 – the first year it was available for sale in the States. For the few people that bought a Fortwo, it seems as though it was a decision that they regret.

A recent survey from CNW Marketing Research found that in New York only 8.1% of Smart owners would ever buy again. 8.1! Even Dodge would have a better customer return rate! And on top of that, the highest number of return buyers was only 19% and that was people from San Fransisco, unsurprisingly.

Could it be the Smart’s horrendous transmission? It’s shaky build quality? Or maybe its unusually bad poor consumption? I could go on. And I will in a future test drive! Stay tuned for that.

But in the meantime, Smart has some major work to do. much more than the slight revision expected for the 2011 year.

[MSNBC]

Oh Hi: 2011 Smart Fortwo

Even though our Amurrican neighbours haven’t quite warmed up to the little bug that is the Smart Fortwo, parent company Mercedes-Benz thinks a slight refresh will help boost sales.

Here in Canada, Smart sales have been better, but have trailed off a bit lately, so the refresh is a good idea.

Though you probably can’t tell by looking at it, the new Smart gets a slightly revised front facia, optional LED running lights (how Mercedes) and newly designed 15 inch alloy wheels. A new range of colours is now available too, not least of which is a matte finish option.

The interior is updated with new fabrics and a leather steering wheel is now optional.

The big news is the new power plant choices. Those in Europe still get the CDI diesel engine, however we still will not. Thanks for that one, America. You’re foolish habits keep affecting us. But anyway, horsepower will get a boost from 70 horsepower to 83. The Brabus edition will now be more than just an appearance package. Brabus editions will feature a 100 horsepower engine.

Now if only Smart could address the horrid automatic transmission of the Fortwo. It’s probably the worst I’ve ever encountered in any vehicle.

No word yet on fuel efficiency numbers. Mercedes-Benz has announced improved efficiency with the 2011 Smart now rated at 4.9 l/100 kms city over the current version’s 5.9 l/100 kms city. Better, but still not as good as the CDI’s 3.9  city rating.

[Top Speed]

Welcome to Canada, Scion

Canada’s newest car brand, Scion, has been confirmed for sale here this year. Toyota has decided to sell Scions here in Canada and they will go on sale this fall.

What can we expect from the supposed youth oriented brand?

Well the updated Scion TC shown above, pictured at this year’s New York Auto Show will be available for sale here.

The Scion TC is seen as a sort of successor to the Toyota Celica. It produces 180 horsepower and  173 pound feet of torque. Both a six speed manual and a six speed sequential automatic will be made available, though there is no official Canadian pricing yet. This should spice up the compact coupe segment a bit as the Honda Civic and Kia Forte Koup are mostly regarded as the front runners.

There is one other model confirmed for Canada. Find out what it is, after the jump

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How Are Car Makers Doing With CO2, Anyway?

Overall they’ve improved…slightly.

While most car companies have been focusing on fuel efficiency and pushing money savings as the main benefit to the public, the reality is they are all being forced to make better vehicles to cut back on Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions as well.

The overall improvement is 2.8% over the 2008-2009 year for the U.S. The study was performed by British Consulting Firm JATO Dynamics.

Any improvement is all well and good, but there needs to be significantly more change in this area.

Can you guess the car company that improved its CO2 the most? Find out which one after the jump.

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