VW beetle is named 'crappest car'

BBC Radio 2 - October 14, 2004

There is an audio file of the interview available on request

An author has risked the wrath of thousands of Volkswagen Beetle fans by naming the popular car as the "crappest" in Britain. Richard Porter, author of Crap Cars, says of the iconic car: "It's slow, it's noisy and it's uncomfortable".

The Austin Allegro, Suzuki X90, Morris Marina and Lada Riva make up the rest of Mr. Porter's "top twenty".
He said he knew putting the Beetle top was controversial, but the car was "a triumph of expectation over reality".

" In 1948 it was reasonably well built and reliable and sturdy and all those things people needed, which is fine - that was 1948," he told BBC News. "I think the mangle was a good way to dry your clothes in 1948, but you wouldn't use one now."

But London and Thames Valley VW Club chairman Trevor Wilson said many people would jump to the car's defence. "I suppose it's a bit funny, but a bit stupid - the Beetle was the biggest selling car ever," he told BBC News Online.

Mr. Wilson, 37, the proud owner of a 1977 Beetle cabriolet, said he liked the car's design, the way panels were bolted on rather than welded to make them easier to replace. "They were built to last and built to be easily maintained - that's a good design" he said. "It's individual - you can make the car your own, certainly if you are going to restore it you can do what you want. Modern cars are quite boring to look at and to drive."
Publisher BBC Books describes Crap Cars as "a celebration of the shoddy, the inept and the downright ugly".

Other cars it lambasts include the Trabant: "Had an engine so lame even the people who made electric carving knives deemed it feeble" and another motoring icon - the MGB - described as "spectacularly rubbish".

Bob Head, a Brit living in the US said, "How can a car that has survived nearly 6 decades relatively untouched ever be described as the worst car?"

Mr. Porter, a script editor for the BBC's Top Gear motoring TV programme, said he had only included cars that could be bought in the UK.

" I showed the book to a couple of friends the other day and the first thing they do is go: 'Oh, my dad had one of those, my uncle had one - they were awful', so it's a sense of nostalgia."

TOP 20 'CRAP CARS'

1: Volkswagen Beetle (Germany)

2: Austin Allegro (UK)

3: Suzuki X90 (Japan)

4: Morris Marina (UK)

5: Lada Riva (Russia)

6: Nissan Serena (Japan)

7: Bond Bug (UK)

8: Reliant Robin (UK)

9: Trabant (East Germany)

10: MGB (UK)

11: Seat Marbella (Spain)

12: FSO Polonez (Poland)

13: Suzuki SJ (Japan)

14: Aston Martin Lagonda (UK)

15: Datsun Sunny 120Y (Japan)

16: Yugo 45 (Yugoslavia)

17: Austin Ambassador (UK)

18: Ferrari 400 (Italy)

19: Daihatsu Applause (Korea)

20: Fiat 126 (Italy)

(Source: Richard Porter, author of Crap Cars)