I'm sure that if you owned (or knew anyone that owned) any one of these you know EXACTLY why they are on the choices on this poll.

Most of these were miserable POS that just didn't work as a functional, reliable, safe automobile, they just didn't do the job. Others, well, sometimes worked, but were just miserable POS that you didn't want to drive, own, or be seen in and they had the driving dynamics of a wet noodle over a dry brick.

What's so more amazing is that this was the 80's, you'd of thought (thunk?) that both the US and other foreign car makers would of gotten their s**t together after the sad malaise era of the '70's. After such embarrassments like the Vega, the Pinto and the Pacers of the 1970's the car manufacturers would have figured it out. But alas, no, even in the dawn of the computer age we were saddled with these very sorry set of automobiles, engineered to fail and crap out within a few years if not sooner, and gone before the end of the decade. (Chevy actually sold a Shove-It Diesel, and people bought it?! There was a Escort and Tempo Diesel too!) No wonder you see none of these around on the roads anymore, not even at junkyards. They've been banished from the earth for being so awful.

What say you?
(you can pick more than one car, up to two)

I had a 1980 Chevy Citation that ran awesomely.  We drove it for a good 20 years or so, at least 15 anyway.  I must have had one of the few actual running ones.

I had friends who owned a Chevy Cavalier, Pontiac Sunbird, Chevy Chevette duting the 1980s.
The first 12-24 months were fine, nothing but trouble for them after that. They couldn't wait to get rid of their cars.

However, a girl I went to high school with had a Chevette ( bought in 1978 or 1979?) and it ran very well for her.

Most 80s cars were utter garbage...it's hard to pick just one. The Chevy Citation and its deriatives was probably the worst offender though.

My uncle had a 1980 Oldsmobile Delta 88 coupe that had more rust than paint, lost hubcaps so frequently that he used to buy them in bulk from the flea market before giving up altogether, and lost its rear bumper driving over railroad tracks. He called it "the eyesore". Finally got rid of it in 1995.

My aunt and uncle had a 1987 Plymouth Voyager that gradually lost every trim piece and started molting paint in chunks and then rusting. It was also loud as fukc. I found the "Voyager" emblem from the tailgate lying on the driveway and my aunt gave it to me. They had it until around 1999/2000.

My mom's 1988 Ford Tempo had its engine replaced when it was only a couple years old...the new one still routinely stalled, especially when it was cold out.

Yessir they don't make em like they used to!

Compared to the European Fords of the time (and even more recent ones from the 90's), the Ford Escort/Mercury Lynx duo was better tech-wise and even styling-wise. If it was crap to American standards, I guess most Americans have never driven a European car from the 80's or  the 90's. Also, the current Focus and Fiesta should be crap, too, because they're way worse than other European cars in their classes, yet the American buys love them for some reason. I am not American, yet I miss the times when there were American Fords (In my words, real Fords are American). I felt terrible when I saw Focuses and even Fiestas everywhere when I went to the USA for the summer. 8-P

I don't know about the worst, but I kind of like the square look of cars in the 80's. They just seemed to fit the landscape more, since buildings and road grids tend to be square and most things don't look shiny at least here in the USA. There's something off-kilter about the roundness and shininess of today's cars.

Probably Yugo was the worst car. Those cars didn't last long at all in terms of reliability.

Another thing I notice on his thread is the rust on 1980's American Cars. I thought that was just a problem on Honda's from that time. Guess not.

I knew a guy that had a 1984 Chevy Celebrity in 1999 and 2000. The thing still ran good after all those years!