>>> Best/Worst/Oddest Car Names Ever <<<

[Rue]

The title says it all. Please add your own!

My native language is English and I'm sure some of the more exotic names evoke image of power, speed and luxury to speakers of that language, but they're somewhat lost on me. My loss, I know!

Some of the worst
Ford Mondeo
Subaru Forester
TVR Sagaris
Mitsubishi Starion
Panoz Esperante
Skoda Tudor
Vauxhall Cavalier

Some of the best
Ferrari Testarossa
Aston Martin Vanquish
Lamborghini Diablo
AC Cobra

Some of the oddest
Mazda Friendee Bongo
Daihatsu Naked
Rolls-Royce Phantom Playboy Roadster
Buick LaCrosse
GM Belly Tank Lakester
Jeep Willys
Plymouth Howler
Venturi Fetish

 

[BeN_SpeC2]

I always thought that car companies tend to give inappropriate names to their cars.

Example:

Dodge Intrepid - (intrepid means fearless, but why give that name to a tame, boring sedan?)

Dodge Neon - Ummm....Yeah ....you just named your car after a gaseous element 👍


Names I don't like:

Chrystler LeBaron
Scion xa xb tc etc...
Morgan
Volkswagon Beetle
TVR Cerbera
TVR Speed 12 (does it have 12 speeds? then why name it that?)
Mitsubishi Galant
Mitsubishi Lancer
Porsche Targa
Pontiac Trans Am
Ferrari ENZO
Audi (a6, a4, a8 etc)



Names I like:
Porsche Carrera
Toyota Supra
Nissan Silvia
Honda/Acura NSX
BMW M5 & M3
Nissan Skyline GTR
Chevrolet Camaro
Pontiac GTO
Dodge VIPER
Ferrari 360 Modena Stradale
Ferrari 575 Maranello
Lamborghini Murcielago & Diablo.
Jaguar XKE



Those are just a few...

 

[de1337ed]

daihatsu Move, daihatsu Midget , honda Beat, honda Dualnote, honda Insight..?¿
[The further text that once occupied this post has been removed for the topic of this thread’s sake]

 

[Mike Rotch]

i like your quote on the sig, BeN_SpeC2. i hope K. Gushi makes his way to the D1GP. he was awesome at the 3rd round of Formula D.

Lets save that topic for another day shall we.

What bothers me is how a lot of manufacturers are joining the "alphabet-digit" convention.

• BMW 1,3,(4),5,6 and 7 series. (way back)
• Audi A2, A3, A4, A6 and A8. (recently)
• Mazda3, Mazda6 (even more recently)
  

More escape me at the moment.

 

[eightfivezero]

Mazda really did a car which was named 'Friendee Bongo'? OMFG...

Anyways, these are some I like:

Lancia Delta Integrale
Fiat Uno Turbo
Ferrari Enzo
Ferrari 550 Maranello
Honda Joy Machine

 

[VIPFREAK]

so you don't like mazda friendee bongo but you like honda joy machine?

 

[DQuaN]

De Tomaso Pantera

One of the coolest names around

 

[Rue]

I think 'Joy Machine' was the phrase coined for the promotion of the HR-V (incidentally a car that itself sounds like a sexually transmitted disease)

 

[VIPFREAK]

or gay.....

 

[Famine]

Names I don't like:

TVR Cerbera
TVR Speed 12 (does it have 12 speeds? then why name it that?)

The Cerbera is named after the three-headed dog guarding the gates of Hades in Greek myth... Fairly apt.

The TVR Cerbera Speed 12 is so named because it has a V12 engine. This differentiates it from all the other Cerberas which don't. There's also a Cerbera Speed 6.

We tend not to refer to gears as "speeds" over here - saying that your car has 5 gears makes more sense than saying it has 5 "speeds" (presumably stop, slow, middle, quick, whoah).

But hey, if you don't like the name, don't drive the car. As a follow up, why do you dislike Audi (letter, number) but like BMW (letter, number)? What's the difference exactly?


Ropey names:
Skoda Superb
Proton Wira
Proton Waja
Mitsubishi Carisma (which has none)
Vauxhall Nova ("doesn't go")
Toyota MR2 ("em-err-deux" - merde (sort of) in French)
Mitsubishi Pajero (which apparently means... errr... "onanater" in Spanish)
Suzuki Swift (it's not)
Daihatsu Move (which doesn't)

 

[Danny]

The Mitsubishi Grandis.

It sounds like a disease.

 

[Danny]

The Cerbera is named after the three-headed dog guarding the gates of Hades in Greek myth... Fairly apt.

As was the Chimaera, Griffith (Griffon), and perhaps the Tuscan.

and speaking of TVR, the T350C.

Oh dear.

It sounds like a mobile phone.

 

[Party for GT4]

I've never heard of a mobile phone that goes vvvrwwworroaaarrrghhmmnnnninnggggggghhh! before.

 

[Carl.]

The new Buick Lacrosse had to be renamed for the Canada market. For French Canadians, crosse is a slang term for... pleasuring yourself.

Tiburon sounds awful too.

 

[Famine]

Do accelerating TVRs really say "minge"? Lordy!

Still, he has a point. Imagine an Eriksson T350C. Not hard is it? Works with BMWs too - Nokia 635i. Siemens 330d. And Lexus - Motorola SC430...

Speaking of car names, Ford set up a "Car Focus Group" in the early 1990s, to crank out names for their next models. The two names selected were "Ka" and "Focus".

 

[Party for GT4]

I realised that 'minge' bit after I'd written it but couldn't be bothered to edit it. Try doing the whole line of letters as one sound while gargling. Then you'll know what I mean. If you don't choke to death!
An, yeah, I knew what he meant.

 

[Innotech]

Mitsubishi Mini Active Urban Sandal
Subaru Gravel Express
Mazda Bongo Friendee
Daihatsu Rugger Field Sports Resin Top
Nissan Prarie Joy
Mitsubishi Delica Space Gear Cruising Active
Mazda Proceed Marvie
Isuzu Mysterious Utility Wizard
Isuzu 20 Giga Light Dump

and my personal favorite, Suzuki Every Joy Pop Turbo 👍

 

[Famine]

Wow. The Japanese make their names work hard.

Can they actually fit the name badges on the back of the Suzuki Every Joy Pop Turbo?

 

[Innotech]

Wow. The Japanese make their names work hard.

Can they actually fit the name badges on the back of the Suzuki Every Joy Pop Turbo?

I dunno. The base model is the Suzuki Every van, the package is Joy Pop, and theres a turbo installed so thats the full name.

Heres proof
http://www.prar.ru/car-359.html

 

[Innotech]

more:

Diahatsu Canterbury Winter
Hino Rising Ranger
Hino Super Dolphin Profia
Honda Acty Crawler
Honda Today Associe
Mazda Carol MeLady
Mazda Familia Interplay
Mitsubishi Aero Queen
Mitsubishi Mirage Cyborg R
Mitsubishi MUM 500 Shall we join us?
Nissan Alegria Cirque Du Soleil
Nissan Big Thumb
Nissan Leopard J Ferie
Subaru Bistro Vivio
Subaru Sambar Dias II Picnic car Astonish!!
Toyota Coaster Super Lounge
Toyota Estima Lucida G Luxury Joyful Canopy
Toyota Hiace One Day Trip
Toyota Mark II Navi Package
Toyota Tercel Joinus Extra

 

[The359]

GM Belly Tank Lakester

So named because it is a race car made out of the Belly Tank of an airplane and run on the Bonneville dry Lake. Very popular back in the 50s and stuff.

 

[Swift]

The coolest name for the worst lookng car has to be the Pontiac Aztek!

 

[MazKid]

The current good Mazda names are in Japan, Atenza, Verisa, Axela, Demio, etc.
Mazda also has the Titan name for trucks(except they are big trucks).
Mazda Navajo...that was an odd-ball name for a Mazda at the time. Plus I think the Mazda Navajos died out faster than the actual Indians(comparitively).
The Familia Interplay. Interplay itself sounds pretty cool, add that to Familia and it kinda sounds riskay.

Chevy Nova, in Spanish "Nova" means along the lines of "doesn't run".

 

[The359]

Jeep Willys

So named because the first military Jeeps were built by Willys-Overland, a normal car company who after the war just started building Jeeps and Jeep derivitives. It was later bought by AMC where the brand name was changed to Jeep, and then of course bought by Chrysler. So the Jeep Willys is a tribute to the original Jeeps.

There is also a Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland Edition.

 

[Steeda]

Did you know Escudo means shield in spanish?

 

[Duke]

GM Belly Tank Lakester

The Lakester was designed to run on the Bonneville Salt Flats for top speed. Bonneville is part of a large salt lake (like the Great Salt Lake) that dries up in the summer months, forming miles off dead-flat hardpan. Hence the "Lakester" part.

This car was actually fabricated using a surplus detachable external belly fuel tank from a P-47 for the body, because the smooth teardrop shape was aerodynamically smooth already, and surplus junk was dirt cheap after the war. Hence the "Belly Tank" part.

Jeep Willys

Willys was actually the name of the manufacturer. Willys designed the Willys Bantam, which was the ubiquitous "jeep" (for GP, general purpose vehicle) of WWII fame. After the war the name "Jeep" was more famous than the manufacturer itself, so when Willys began making jeeps and light trucks for consumer use, they changed the name of the company to Jeep. Willys made the early CJ line, as well as more carlike vehicles called the Jeepster.

 

[daan]

Nissan should just stick to using numbers.

200SX - good
240SX - good
240Z - good
300ZX - good
Fairlady - bad
Silvia - bad
Cedric - dad *
Gloria - bad


All TVRs with names are named well, with the exception of the Tamora. Sounds a bit girly.



* Misstyped, but I just thought it suited and decided to leave it.

 

[Jay]

Nissan should just stick to using numbers.

200SX - good
240SX - good
240Z - good
300ZX - good
Fairlady - bad
Silvia - bad
Cedric - dad *
Gloria - bad


All TVRs with names are named well, with the exception of the Tamora. Sounds a bit girly.



* Misstyped, but I just thought it suited and decided to leave it.

I actually prefer the names instead of numbers for the Nissans.

 

[Danny]

The Ford Pinto was laughed at in brazil when it was released. Pinto is Brazilian slang for a small penis.

 

[1X83Z]

But hey, if you don't like the name, don't drive the car. As a follow up, why do you dislike Audi (letter, number) but like BMW (letter, number)? What's the difference exactly?

I think in a lot of cases he likes the car so he claims to like the car's name. This seems to be happening to more than just him in this thread.

Mitsubishi Pajero (which apparently means... errr... "onanater" in Spanish)

The most unbelievable thing about this vehicle was that the Japanese name was sent to Europe, the Spanish name was sent to Japan and Australia, and the name of unknown origin (Montero - Spanish + Japanese? English + Japanese? Where do they come up with these stupid names?) came here.

Mazda Navajo...that was an odd-ball name for a Mazda at the time. Plus I think the Mazda Navajos died out faster than the actual Indians(comparitively).

Would that be because the Navajo are still alive and one of the largest indian tribes in North America?