WHICH Car Company Has Been The BIGGEST Letdown To You In The Past 25 Years?

This is hard to say - because most of us have knowledge of the product ebbs and flows - but it would take a real Automobile Junkie to know the management. Cars have certainly gotten far more reliable over that time - Transmission failure is now a rarity - where at one time it was much more common. Actual problems are now 1/3 of what they were before - for instance. Now - almost 95% of all automatic transmissions never fail - and are lasting twice as long as before as well.

I would have thought that Acura - which came out of the box strong -would have done a LOT better job of producing cars - they certainly had Honda - which 25 years ago was very strong behind them. But their offerings got progressively worse - often completely missing the mark. However - this is almost the same story of Infiniti as well - but Nissan also had its problems and it took Renault to right that ship.

However - I would have to point to Lincoln and Cadillac - as two brands that have really gone south. THey stayed with bad/old product for too long - and forgot who their market was when they produced what is supposedly good product.
Management decisions to go after German car manufactures with SMALLER and MORE NIMBLE product - were incredibly wrong - for the American and Chinese market (For Cadillac) - while Ford simply produced nonsense for no reasonable reason. Considering their place in the market years ago - both are way down - and the lack of proper management from DeNysschen is epic. I still have to believe that Lincoln would still be selling LOTS of Panther based Town Cars - because that market has never had a real replacement car. However - comparing the two - the management decisions at Cadillac - when you consider the successes at Chevrolet - are simply Epic. IT was a disservice to bring in an outsider who does not understand the American Luxury car buyer. Mary Bara will eventually have to bite that bullet - and eject him. Certainly as the American standard for the world - with the billions that GM has already spent on Cadillac - you would have expected a lot better - and while the cars are dynamically good - they completely miss the mark on packaging. Even the new CT6 - while a very good car - is a Tweener - competing against smaller E/5 class cars well - but certainly not against the S class or even the A8.

so easy...

GM being #1... taking taxpayers bailout money and then using it to pay for the ignition lawsuits. Never really paying back the taxpayers

@ TomM: agreed with all your points and analysis. However, I think the biggest disappointment is Chrysler. I thought the cab-forward design was very good, and the Intrepid was as good as any FWD from Japan. Too bad the direction with the 300 that geared toward the urban/gangsta types did it for Chrysler. Other than the Jeep - which in my opinion is still far behind from other competitors in refinement and handling - there is not many good things to say about Chrysler.

I still scratch my head about the government bailout - why not let it die and disappear from automotive history ?

From Asia, Mitsubishi is another one. It had some moments with the 3000GT and the Evo cars. Otherwise, its cars are crap.

All the cars I bought for my wife that she wanted and complained endlessly about after I did!

For me, Nissan. Somehow a company with sports cars (one of the most desirable in the Z), proper trucks and SUVs, and a promising luxury line with the G coupe etc., has turned into the least interesting brand out there. The Z hasn't been touched in over a decade. The GT-R is overpriced and long in the tooth. The XTerra and Pathfinder as we knew them are dead, and the former is super dead. Even the new Armada is a freaking joke and actually an old car. Don't get me started on their sad trucks. And honestly don't even get me started on Infiniti.

Nissan should be so much better than they are.

Tom mentions Acura. That's a good one. 25 years puts us in the 90's and what a spiral! Caddy is more on the 50-year letdown cycle imo. Letdowns nonetheless although new things point to a resurgence, design- and performance-wise.

Henry mentions Chrysler. I'd agree but also put them on the 50-year cycle with the cab-forward [borrowed] concept being a positive blip on the downward spiral.

Sciros mentions Nissan. Yep. Totally agree. Spot on with the 25-year cycle.

I might add two to the list:

1. Toyota: quality issues growing, excitement declining (gone?), design more and more bland. That is, until comes in Mr. Toyoda. There are signs of things to come. Perhaps.

2. BMW: driver-centric to volume-centric mentality. Designs have gone from attractive, to unattractive but daring, to bland. Quality has maintained IMO but driving dynamics have been altered dramatically, in a negative manner.

Porsche.

And yes Porsche makes competent cars, but.

When they decided that every model they made would be a caricature of the 911, that is where they stagnated.

Porsche bought into being a German wannabe Ferrari and prices climbed and climbed. The styling choice has boxed them in to the point that the only way the company is solvent is relying increasingly on SUVs for sales.

Gone are the days of the simplicity of the 914 and 914-6. Although both were before my time, the 914 is slow but it's a joy to drive and making it fast is pretty simple. The real 914-6s are amazing machines and converting a 914 into a 914-6 can be done in a weekend. Imagine if Porsche had such a machine that was no-frills, great handling, and VERY tunable.

Those days are gone.

I'm especially fond of the 944, which by today's standards isn't fast, but it is a tremendous machine that makes wonderful sounds and has great handling. Porsche is incapable of making a basic front-engined, RWD coupe. The 944 for its day wasn't cheap but it was not stupidly expensive for what you get like the Boxster and Cayman.

Porsche has nothing to draw young enthusiasts to it in such a way that those enthusiasts can become owners.

Porsche needs a renaissance and needs to build attainable vehicles in the 35-50K range.

As antithetical as this will sound, Porsche should do a hot hatch aimed at the Mini using the Polo plus the 2.0T to be as "step out" daring as were the 914, 924, 928, and 944.

I think GM has been the biggest letdown. In terms of resources (intellectual properties, engineering resources, market share, # of brands, market segments presence and political influence), they had the most to work off. I can still remember when Daimler bought Chrysler and was asked which company they "feared" the most (keep in mind this after Toyota and Honda had taken the world by storm), they said GM's technology resource was the most feared ... from Daimler !!! It's almost 30 years now from the late 1990 and if it wasn't for trucks and SUVs, GM has fallen behind on all counts (alternative technology, lost mkt share (all mkts), fewer competitive models in each segment (except for trucks and SUVs), fewer brands (even their acquisitions to gain mkt share didn't work out too well, political goodwill, etc)). The Acuras and Nissans didn't live up to their expectation but GM, in my mind, had been the biggest letdown.

First Place: Lincoln; just pathetic time and time again, missed the boat in so many ways. The fact that they dont have a solid Navigator in this era of SUV sales is just icing on the cake.

Second Place: Infiniti; mainly here because they had so much potential. Their designs and interiors were beautiful. They got on the AWD scene far too late and are too influenced by Nissan. Their lack of independence ultimately shines through and the consumer is smart enough to see it.

Third Place: Acura; design failure is eclipsed by product failure. The brand had cache in the 1990s and it was completely squandered. Aside from the MDX, all of their products are compromise vehicles that offer the consumer a cheaper version of something better from a better brand.

Fourth Place: BMW; sinking to a childish level of play, vying for sales dominance and complete brand dilution. By making too many niche cars that suit all needs, there now is no single BMW to lust after. The days of desiring a 330ci or an X5 4.4i are over.

Ferrari

I've waited 25 years for them to build a car I can afford.

GM, mainly because I took the risk with one (bought new and promising reviews)and found how bad a car could be. Chrysler is same situation. Agree that Nissan could have fared better, really has fallen behind Toyota and Honda.