>>> Best/Worst/Oddest Car Names Ever <<<
- Thread starter Rue
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I just went through every car name in the last 22 years. It took 40 minutes, but I've found some interesting things:
- a letter followed by two numbers is popular. We all know Volvo's been doing it since 1998 (S70, V70, C70, etc.), but Infiniti also does it in several cases (M45, G20, J30, etc.), as did Chevrolet (S10, S15). Others include the Suzuki X-90, Ferrari F40 and F50, and Volkswagen R32. Likewise, two letters followed by one number is popular: Jaguar XK8, XJ6, XJ8, Ford ZX2, Suzuki XL-7, Jeep CJ-7, Aston Martin DB7 and DB9, GM EV1, Toyota MR2, Mazda MX-3, RX-7, MX-6, and RX-8, Infiniti QX4, Audi RS6.
- did anyone ever notice that the Ford F-350 and Ferrari F355 are merely five numbers apart?
- "Grand" is a popular prefix. Just ask the Plymouth Gran Fury, Pontiac Grand Am, Dodge Grand Caravan, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Mercury Grand Marquis, Pontiac Grand Prix, Suzuki Grand Vitara, Plymouth Grand Voyager, and Jeep Grand Wagoneer.
- "H" is an unpopular letter: in the last 22 years, just six model names have begun with H: Hummer H1, Hummer H2, Toyota Highlander, Isuzu Hombre, Plymouth Horizon, and AM General Hummer. Even "Q" is a more popular starting letter.
- Animal names are, of course, popular, particularly among domesitc cars and Volkswagen: the Volkswagen Beetle, Ford Bronco, Dodge/Plymouth Colt, Mercury Cougar, AMC Eagle, Pontiac Firebird, Volkswagen Fox, Chevrolet Impala, Mercury Lynx, Ford Mustang, Volkswagen Rabbit, Dodge Ram, and Dodge Viper are examples.
- Place names are similarly popular: Ferrari 360 Modena, Chevrolet Colorado, Suzuki Forenza, Daewoo Lanos, Pontiac LeMans, Chevrolet Malibu, Dodge Monaco, Pontiac Montana, Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Mercury Monterey, Chrysler New Yorker, Subaru Outback, Buick Park Avenue, Buick Rainier, Hyundai Santa Fe, GMC Savana, Chrysler Sebring, Kia Sedona, Hyundai Tiburon, Hyundai Tucson, Toyota Tundra, Suzuki Verona, and GMC Yukon are examples, and that's not counting imaginary place names like "Frontier", "Oasis", and "Horizon"
- "Con" is a good starting: Chrysler Concorde, Chrysler/Mitsubishi Conquest, Lincoln Continental, Bentley Continental, Ford Contour
- Mitsubishi plays off Lamborghini. Alphabetically, right after "Diablo" is "Diamante" and directly preceding "Gallardo" is "Galant".
- Numerically, the lowest-used number is 3 and highest is 9000.
- Alphabetically, the first is "A4" and last is "ZX2".
- Numberically, the first is "100" and last is "968".
- Several bad names deserve honorable mention: Isuzu I-Mark, Panoz Esperante, all names that people had to be taught to pronounce (Diamante, Scirocco, and Brougham, for instance), Buick Reatta, Isuzu Hombre, Amigo, and VehiCROSS, Audi demanding "Allroad" be un-capitalized, Mitsubishi Starion (only because of the supposed story behind it), Pontiac Trans Sport, Nissan Axxess, Pontiac Aztek, the combination of Plymouth Breeze, Chrysler Cirrus, and Dodge Stratus, particularly when you realise Chrysler probably actually did workshop "Plymouth Cumulus", the unbelievable combination of Oldsmobile Cutlasses: Cutlass, Cutlass Calais, Cutlass Ciera, Cutlass Cruiser, Cutlass Salon, and Cutlass Supreme, the full name "Daewoo Leganza", the Chevrolet Malibu Maxx, any vehicle with a number spelled out or the two named after a street, the Chrysler PT Cruiser, and of course, the worst offender of all, the Merkur XR4Ti.
- a letter followed by two numbers is popular. We all know Volvo's been doing it since 1998 (S70, V70, C70, etc.), but Infiniti also does it in several cases (M45, G20, J30, etc.), as did Chevrolet (S10, S15). Others include the Suzuki X-90, Ferrari F40 and F50, and Volkswagen R32. Likewise, two letters followed by one number is popular: Jaguar XK8, XJ6, XJ8, Ford ZX2, Suzuki XL-7, Jeep CJ-7, Aston Martin DB7 and DB9, GM EV1, Toyota MR2, Mazda MX-3, RX-7, MX-6, and RX-8, Infiniti QX4, Audi RS6.
- did anyone ever notice that the Ford F-350 and Ferrari F355 are merely five numbers apart?
- "Grand" is a popular prefix. Just ask the Plymouth Gran Fury, Pontiac Grand Am, Dodge Grand Caravan, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Mercury Grand Marquis, Pontiac Grand Prix, Suzuki Grand Vitara, Plymouth Grand Voyager, and Jeep Grand Wagoneer.
- "H" is an unpopular letter: in the last 22 years, just six model names have begun with H: Hummer H1, Hummer H2, Toyota Highlander, Isuzu Hombre, Plymouth Horizon, and AM General Hummer. Even "Q" is a more popular starting letter.
- Animal names are, of course, popular, particularly among domesitc cars and Volkswagen: the Volkswagen Beetle, Ford Bronco, Dodge/Plymouth Colt, Mercury Cougar, AMC Eagle, Pontiac Firebird, Volkswagen Fox, Chevrolet Impala, Mercury Lynx, Ford Mustang, Volkswagen Rabbit, Dodge Ram, and Dodge Viper are examples.
- Place names are similarly popular: Ferrari 360 Modena, Chevrolet Colorado, Suzuki Forenza, Daewoo Lanos, Pontiac LeMans, Chevrolet Malibu, Dodge Monaco, Pontiac Montana, Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Mercury Monterey, Chrysler New Yorker, Subaru Outback, Buick Park Avenue, Buick Rainier, Hyundai Santa Fe, GMC Savana, Chrysler Sebring, Kia Sedona, Hyundai Tiburon, Hyundai Tucson, Toyota Tundra, Suzuki Verona, and GMC Yukon are examples, and that's not counting imaginary place names like "Frontier", "Oasis", and "Horizon"
- "Con" is a good starting: Chrysler Concorde, Chrysler/Mitsubishi Conquest, Lincoln Continental, Bentley Continental, Ford Contour
- Mitsubishi plays off Lamborghini. Alphabetically, right after "Diablo" is "Diamante" and directly preceding "Gallardo" is "Galant".
- Numerically, the lowest-used number is 3 and highest is 9000.
- Alphabetically, the first is "A4" and last is "ZX2".
- Numberically, the first is "100" and last is "968".
- Several bad names deserve honorable mention: Isuzu I-Mark, Panoz Esperante, all names that people had to be taught to pronounce (Diamante, Scirocco, and Brougham, for instance), Buick Reatta, Isuzu Hombre, Amigo, and VehiCROSS, Audi demanding "Allroad" be un-capitalized, Mitsubishi Starion (only because of the supposed story behind it), Pontiac Trans Sport, Nissan Axxess, Pontiac Aztek, the combination of Plymouth Breeze, Chrysler Cirrus, and Dodge Stratus, particularly when you realise Chrysler probably actually did workshop "Plymouth Cumulus", the unbelievable combination of Oldsmobile Cutlasses: Cutlass, Cutlass Calais, Cutlass Ciera, Cutlass Cruiser, Cutlass Salon, and Cutlass Supreme, the full name "Daewoo Leganza", the Chevrolet Malibu Maxx, any vehicle with a number spelled out or the two named after a street, the Chrysler PT Cruiser, and of course, the worst offender of all, the Merkur XR4Ti.
GilesGuthrie
Staff Emeritus
- 11,038
- Edinburgh, UK
- CMDRTheDarkLord
Lowest number: Mini ONE.
It's a shame that VW didn't continue on their game theory, with Polo and Golf. They could have had "Football" and "Hockey".
Special Editions are often particularly woeful. My sister-in-law had a Citroen Saxo Mischief. You could find the optimistically named "Fiat Uno Start", and then the more realistic proposition "Fiat Panda Fire". I thought that "Nissan Micra Wave" was, phonetically speaking, rather unfortunate. There are the "end of line specials", where a make will try to dump stock of the outgoing model by accessorising it and flogging it off with a new name: Witness Ford "xxx" Flight, and VW "xxx" Match. Ford are currently selling the Focus Flight, and what's coming soon? The VW Match cars are usually the base model with alloys plus whatever the current must-have accessory is.
It's a shame that VW didn't continue on their game theory, with Polo and Golf. They could have had "Football" and "Hockey".
Special Editions are often particularly woeful. My sister-in-law had a Citroen Saxo Mischief. You could find the optimistically named "Fiat Uno Start", and then the more realistic proposition "Fiat Panda Fire". I thought that "Nissan Micra Wave" was, phonetically speaking, rather unfortunate. There are the "end of line specials", where a make will try to dump stock of the outgoing model by accessorising it and flogging it off with a new name: Witness Ford "xxx" Flight, and VW "xxx" Match. Ford are currently selling the Focus Flight, and what's coming soon? The VW Match cars are usually the base model with alloys plus whatever the current must-have accessory is.
- 1,803
- mr_pushrod
What about the A2?
- 3,401
- Pennsylvania
- Darkdeeds427
The ME412 (Chrysler, I believe.)
The Peugeot 4002 (A futuristic design exercise)
How about AZ-1 A spec.
Mazda Cosmo Type-E
Toyota Starlet
Honda LIFE-T
Honda Logo TS
Honda Beat Version Z
Suzuki Alto Works, Kei S, Wagon R RRwhen it's a van, Selvo mode, Wagon R Column FT
Renault Avantime
Fiat Punto GT. Sounds like a racer, which it certainly isn't.
Mitsu Minica Dangan ZZ
The Nissan Stagea.
Dihatsu Opti Club Sport....certainly not sporty here...
Why is it some automaker repeat the name of their vehicle? Ex. Datsun 240Z 240 ZG 1971 and Toyota 2000 GT GT 1968. WTH?
The Peugeot 4002 (A futuristic design exercise)
How about AZ-1 A spec.
Mazda Cosmo Type-E
Toyota Starlet
Honda LIFE-T
Honda Logo TS
Honda Beat Version Z
Suzuki Alto Works, Kei S, Wagon R RRwhen it's a van, Selvo mode, Wagon R Column FT
Renault Avantime
Fiat Punto GT. Sounds like a racer, which it certainly isn't.
Mitsu Minica Dangan ZZ
The Nissan Stagea.
Dihatsu Opti Club Sport....certainly not sporty here...
Why is it some automaker repeat the name of their vehicle? Ex. Datsun 240Z 240 ZG 1971 and Toyota 2000 GT GT 1968. WTH?
The359
I saw an Envoy XUV today, it's now the fourth one I've seen.
But I think the first and third ones may have been the same. Based purely on the fact that they were both Envoy XUVs. The second one was dark blue, the third one was red, and the most recent one was black. But I think the first one may have been red too, and how many red Envoy XUVs are there? In my opinion, just one. So, check that first sentence:
I saw an Envoy XUV today, it's now the third one I've seen.
The359
Folks! The lowest number is still Mazda 3! Even if we were referring to the world market, Mini One is not a number, and NSX Type-S Zero is a freaking trim level!
But how many of them were owned by people?
Of the three/four I've seen, I only saw the driver once; it was a woman. I just don't understand who would buy an XUV.
- 3,761
- Macungie, PA
- The359
M5Power
Actually if you want to be technical, it'd be Mazda 2, as the Demio is known in Europe.
And I haven't seen the owners with their XUVs, but I know we're selling them because we keep having to replace their spaces on the lot... They're not bad if you want an alternative to the Avalanche or H2 SUT.
The359
World market, though. Yeah. My post was a bit confusing, the first statement was supposed to be read as seperate from the second one.
I don't get it though - I would understand it if the base wasn't $31200 - for a 2-wheel drive base SLE model - but there are a lot of good crew cab pickup trucks with everything the Envoy offers for less than that. And people who have those needs seem, to me, to be 'pickup truck people' who'd rather have an Avalanche, which looks (and is) thougher even though it's marginally more expensive. The thing of it is, the XUV clearly is selling, even if it is marginally, so I'm wrong.
- 3,761
- Macungie, PA
- The359
None of the crew cab trucks offer covered beds though. That is basically the only reason people buy the XUV, so they can get the completed covered bed for hauling things that aren't tall, or are tall enough to fit inside the XUV but not a regular pickup truck bed.
The styling of the XUV is a bit off though, I don't understand the reasoning for putting chrome on TOP of the vehicle where it can't be seen...or why they had to change the taillight design altogether.
The styling of the XUV is a bit off though, I don't understand the reasoning for putting chrome on TOP of the vehicle where it can't be seen...or why they had to change the taillight design altogether.
But of course you could buy a camper shell - and isn't it an unbelievably rare event when you have to haul something too tall for the standard SUV? Like, XUV ads show XUVs carrying huge tree-like plants and bureaus - I imagine if I ever needed that done, I could rent a truck, or ask a friend with a truck, or hire movers - it still doesn't seem worth it. And of course if I had, say, a Colorado Crew Cab with a camper shell, if I needed to carry something tall I could simply remove the camper shell for that one trip.
- 1,795
How about the home-market name, Tuscani?jpmontoya
- 1,795
3 Questions:ultrabeat
How do you pronounce "Parisienne"?
What's this 'Luv'?
Why did pontiac steal a name from AMC/Nash?
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