Best and worst names for cars

[cros]

Ford got off to a good shitty start with Tudor and Fordor. Given how they pissed about with the Zetec moniker its a wonder there wasn't a two door Fordor.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

The wasted names annoy me, Avenger, Spitfire , Hurricane, Hunter etc.

These should be on big powerful, preferably British bruisers in the spirit of the Interceptor, Vanquish or Vantage.

 

Wouldn't a Bentley Avenger instead of Bentayga or Rolls Royce Hurricane rather than Cullian or whatever , sound better?

[mercrocker]

It's probably a generational thing...

 

And I'm fairly certain that "Utopian Turtletop" is the model name of one of those completely bonkers Japanese kei cars :

 

 

 

http://www.listsofnote.com/2012/02/utopian-turtletop.html

[Split_Pin]

Like :Phaeton. Its actually a horse drawn carriage but I think it sounds a bit like 'phantom' which I think suits the car rather well.

 

Mini, Maxi, Princess, simple and fitting names imo.

 

Dolomite, naming a car after any impressive natural feature is usually a good move. Fiat 131 Mirafiori. I know its only the name of the town it was built in but it sounds exotic.

 

Agree on old lorry and bus names, Mammoth, Octopus, Roadtrain, Clydesdale, Terrier, Seddon Pennine, Leopard, Tiger, Worldmaster.

 

Dislike, anything that is pretentious: Juke, Quashquai and Renault have had some damned silly names in the past too.

[Junkman]

I like how Rover used the average age of their target demography as model designations for a while - 25, 45 and 75.

 

Don't buy any cars that are sold in different "markets" with different names. They aren't cars at all. They are appliances.

 

The best car name of all of evah is obviously Invicta Black Prince Wentworth.

 

The worst one is Chrysler New Yorker, the English equivalent of which would theoretically be Hillman Milton Keyneser?

 

I do like cars named after exotic sounding places (until you actually visit those shitholes, that is), like Catalina, Ventura,

Monterey, Malibu, Monte Carlo, Cheyenne, Torino, Le Mans, etc. And yes, I've been to all the mentioned ones.

But this can also badly backfire, as Taunus, Hunsrück, Eifel, Rheinland and Anglia impressively attest.

[cort1977]

The whole 'BMW number not relating to the engine size any more' thing is vexing.

 

I like names that relate to the image the car has or is trying for so Mini, Carlton, Viceroy are all good.  The old Renault numbers were good too, start small with the 4 and work up to the bigger numbers for the bigger cars.

 

Some American names are good too - Continental, Imperial, Escalade, Caprice are all crackers.

 

My favourite car name story, which I'm sure is not true, is that the Mitsubishi Starion was supposed to be Stallion but the Japanese engineers had trouble with the L sound hence Starion.  This unlikely tale always reminds me of that film with Michael Keaton and a load of Fiats.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gung_Ho_(film)

[robinmasters]

All car names are silly.

 

Names are for people and pets. Cars are machines and as such should have model numbers.

As Mr Big said in Live and Let Die, 'Names is for tombstones, baby'.

[Junkman]

Some American names are good too - [...] Imperial [...]

The funny bit is that as long as Chrysler Corp sold Imperials as a separate brand, i.e. from 1955 to 1975, sales were rather disappointing.

For model year 1976 they scrapped it and sold the essentially unchanged '75 Imperial as a Chrysler New Yorker Brougham, sans rear disc brakes

and the optional anti lock. Well, sales went up from a measly 8,800 in '75 to 40,000 in '76 and over 60,000 in '77. They tailed off a bit in '78 to a

(still decidedly unimperially) 37,000, most likely because buyers anticipated the downsized '79 models and thus delayed their purchases.

 

So as far as automotive history goes, Imperial, as a brand name, was shit.

 

 

My favourite car name story, which I'm sure is not true, is that the Mitsubishi Starion was supposed to be Stallion but the Japanese engineers had trouble with the L sound hence Starion. This unlikely tale always reminds me of that film with Michael Keaton and a load of Fiats. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gung_Ho_(film)

That story is true.

 

That the actor's name, who played Michael Keaton's character's counterpart in Japan, is Gedde Watanabe, gave me a chuckle. Imagine they would have retained his real name for the film.

[PiperCub]

Wasn't Golf actually Gulf but the German for Gulf (the wind) is Golf hence the name? Someone then thought it would be so amazingly funny to incorperate golf balls.... probably the same type of person who is a closet fascist and thinks it's a great idea to hit silly white balls with long bats while wearing silly trousers I'm guessing.

 

The Nissan Cedric always makes me laugh, as an Aussie mate told me that a 'Cedric' is a term down under used to describe a less than masculine gentleman (see Jessie).

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Aaah, but VW missed that memo and proceeded to come up with special editions and spinoffs based on the game with little balls rather than a wind.

 

Ryder. Caddy. Driver. Awful Jumper.

(One of those is a lie)

 

And the Golf ball gear stick.  But that was a retconned decision...

 

If we're onto golfing stereotypes, 'Probably Racist'.

[Inspector Morose]

Best name ever? Easy. I bring this to the table:

 

The Tarpan Honker Baryton.

 

Game over.

[Ghosty]

Most modern ones are bad, really.

 

Nissan don't seem to have made a good one for a long time except the Z line, and that's because they date back to the '60s and '70s.

 

The incessant use of weird letters, especially Q, to make absurd made up words, or things that almost sound like words but aren't.

 

BMW's numbering system can fuck off, it makes no sense at all, with the core line being one thing, then disposing of 'coupe' nomenclature to change to a system that doesn't even make sense (the 2 series is two completely unrelated cars, one is a FWD MPV on a Bini platform and the other is a 1 series coupe), and then things like GT, Gran Coupe and the like needlessly overcomplicating things for the sake of slightly different styling? Face it, a 4 Series Gran Coupe is a roof chopped 3 Series. It doesn't make sense.

 

Cars with number names that once did, but no longer correspond to engine size (Merc!).

 

The worst ones for me are the ones with intentionally wrong pronunciation.

 

Ford EcoSport  = echo sport. Like anyone outside a Ford dealer has ever called it echo sport.

 

Kia Sportage = Sportâge. I daresay cortége is more apt.

[Junkman]

Wasn't Golf actually Gulf but the German for Gulf (the wind) is Golf hence the name? Someone then thought it would be so amazingly funny to incorperate golf balls.... probably the same type of person who is a closet fascist and thinks it's a great idea to hit silly white balls with long bats while wearing silly trousers I'm guessing.

Golf is indeed a play on words in German. Firstly it is the game played by people who don't have sex anymore.

Secondly, it's the German term for a large bay that is an arm of an ocean or a sea, Gulf in English.

This opened the doors for the subsequent models either named after ball games, or winds that originate from a gulf.

 

Meanwhile there is a term in Germany for people born since the VW Golf's inception: Generation Dolf.

"Dolf" is an amalgamation of golf and doof, the German word for daft.

[Junkman]

Oh, and Rabbit is just plain stupid, so it suits the septics well. Other VW models sold in Trumpreich were the Fox and the Dasher.

Naming cars after animals is incredibly weird.

See Impala, Panther, Jaguar, Gazelle, Cougar, Wildcat and Stag.

Or how about Barracuda, the fish that got trampled in the Ponycar stampede? Oh, Mustang. Well. If it weren't that hot I'd have my coat.

 

Other fishes available are Manta, Stingray, Marlin and Hai (the German word for shark). I'm surprised nobody made a Trout or a Carp.

 

On a different note, am I the only one who noticed that the Eldorado is the only Cadillac that deviates from their usual habit of choosing

model names with double consonants? Apart from the Calais, that is, which is in line with my love for exotic sounding placenames that

turn out to be utter shitholes once you visit them.

[Junkman]

And here is another one of my favourites: Mohs Ostentatienne Opera Coupe.

[PiperCub]

Isuzu BigHorn

 

For some odd reason, called the Trooper outside Japan................

[pshome]

My sister is a gynaecologist and she would never ever buy a Toyota Previa. Previa is something like the worst case scenario that can happen during a pregnancy.

[pshome]

I hate artificial names that are designed by some agency for the only purpose to have no actual meaning and infringe nobodies copyrights.

Unfortunately, Tagora falls into this category. The only consolation i have, is that they actually failed. Tagora is the name of deserted location somewhere in the Sahara and of a moroccan general who fought for the countries independence at the very same location the car was presented to the press later in history.

[DVee8]

I remember reading years ago that Nissan X-trail was/is should be Cross-trail,the X standing for cross.

[Timewaster]

Escort, Fiesta.

 

Other hedge find 80s bongo mags also available.

 

Also, I like the idea of a Mitsubishi Delicia Star Wagon Exceed.

Maybe in a head to head test with a Mazda Bongo Brawny Birdwatcher.

[MorrisItalSLX]

 

Holden has some crackers: Monaro, Torana, Camira, Gemini, Premier and Kingswood come to mind.

 

I really like names like Reliant Scimitar and Jensen Interceptor, they just sound like they means buisiness.

 

all the ones I dislike have pretty much been covered already in detail.

[loserone]

Surely the winner has to be the Daihatsu Charade TRXXR4?

[NorfolkNWeigh]

The funny bit is that as long as Chrysler Corp sold Imperials as a separate brand, i.e. from 1955 to 1975, sales were rather disappointing.For model year 1976 they scrapped it and sold the essentially unchanged '75 Imperial as a Chrysler New Yorker Brougham, sans rear disc brakesand the optional anti lock. Well, sales went up from a measly 8,800 in '75 to 40,000 in '76 and over 60,000 in '77. They tailed off a bit in '78 to a(still decidedly unimperially) 37,000, most likely because buyers anticipated the downsized '79 models and thus delayed their purchases. So as far as automotive history goes, Imperial, as a brand name, was shit.That story is true.That the actor's name, who played Michael Keaton's character's counterpart in Japan, is Gedde Watanabe, gave me a chuckle. Imagine they would have retained his real name for the film.

Were Imperials sold only in standalone Imperial dealerships? Or tacked on the side of other Mopar dealers, a bit like some Toyota places having a Lexus annexe and some as proper Lexus sites.

If the former, presumably being more widely available post 75 would account for at least some of the improved sales.

 

Also the famed Junkman aversion to Lincoln makes sense now we know you have a fear of being dissapointed on visiting exotic locales that gave their name to posh Septic barges.

[xkjagnz]

Worst;

Golf, Passat, Bora, Jetta, Vento, Scirocco, Lupo, Touran, Touareg, Polo, Up.

Someone's got a downer on Vee Dubs

[00833827]

Ssangyong Kyron - sounds like a 1980's Martial Arts Movie Star

[Supernaut]

Ford EcoSport  = echo sport. Like anyone outside a Ford dealer has ever called it echo sport.

 

What annoys me even more about this is that Ford have their range of EcoBoost engines. Pronounced as you would expect (i.e. not Echo Boost).

Thus, they use the same spelling and two different pronunciations, depending on what they're referring to!

 

It also doesn't help that the EcoSport (I'm not calling it an Echo Sport) is a hateful POS.

[treehugger]

Starchief (Pontiac) is a good name!

Galaxie

Crown

Regency

[Junkman]

Were Imperials sold only in standalone Imperial dealerships? Or tacked on the side of other Mopar dealers, a bit like some Toyota places having a Lexus annexe and some as proper Lexus sites.

If the former, presumably being more widely available post 75 would account for at least some of the improved sales.

 

Also the famed Junkman aversion to Lincoln makes sense now we know you have a fear of being dissapointed on visiting exotic locales that gave their name to posh Septic barges.

 

Imperials were not sold in standalone dealerships.

Chrysler/Imperial dealers merely had to remove the "Imperial" signs from their facades in September 1975.

I have no aversion to Lincolns. It's the Junkwoman who doesn't allow me to buy one before I turned 70.

[inconsistant]

Best:

Viva

Manta

Samba

Fuego

Superb

Stag

Alpine

Amazon

Hornet

 

Worst:

Premacy

Idea

Jazz

Arna

Prowler

Eclat

Cappuccino

Jimny

Paceman

Leaf

Vaneo

[JeeExEll]

 

(good name)