I for one categorize the timeline of my life by the cars around me just as much as fashion, movies and music. I can’t go back nostalgically to a year, time or place without thinking about the music on the radio, what we were wearing, the political climate and what cars we were driving…

The 2000’s were definitely a hallmark decade for cars, we saw a lot of new advances in automotive technology (hybrids), and we saw a lot of junk and plain awful/useless trends too (SUV’s). Car companies sprouted and grew, and others faded away forever.
Here are my candidates for Best and Worst.

Starting with the awful things the automobile companies pawned off as “cars”.
The worst
Pontiac Aztec – One of the UGLIEST abominations ever produced without question. Too bad as a purposefully/utility vehicle it had some props that most would never get to find out, no one could look at it for more than a few seconds without their retinas burning…one of the nails in Pontiac's coffin.

Daewoo, ANYTHING with the name “Daewoo” on it – Daewoo took a page from Hyundai and Yugo to build a cheap, inexpensive car…all the wrong pages. Too bad they took all the wrong aspects of building a car, poor build quality, crappy reliability and fugly looks to boot. Great example of how not to build a car and car company…don’t believe me? How many of these cars do you still see on the road?

Chrysler Sebring – Perfect example of why the automobile manufactures got themselves into a situation were they needed billions of taxpayers dollars to keep them afloat. Poor design, sloppy build quality and uninspired everything else. Here is a car that lost 66% of its value, not when you drive it off the lot, but when it came off the assembly line. When you design and engineer a car “down” to a price point this is what you get. These are the darlings of the rental car agencies, no wonder why. No one else wants them.

Toyota Camry – I know, its a competent, reliable family car. No faults, very popular and a solid value, what’s wrong with that you say? Nothing, if you like vanilla, plain Jane sedans that make you fall asleep looking at them. No offense, they have their place. It’s a great “appliance”, it does exactly what you expect and not a thing more, which it the problem. The last thing I want in my music is boring, staid sounds. The Camry is the car equivalent to elevator music, does the job, but who wanted that job done anyway? Like most of Toyotas line up, boring to a fault.

Hummer H2 – Just a waste of space and gas. No reason for this to ever have been on the planet other that to prop up those with small genitals and bloated egos. People hated these so much they set them on fire.

Subaru WRX – Great rally inspired performance in a affordable package, AWD, quick and customizable. Just don’t like ‘em. Generalities thrown about, something about the backward cap wearing, Limp Bizkit listening crowd that drives them and ridiculously loud blow off valves (good name huh?) that makes me really dislike these cars.

Best
Corvette ZR1 – Blisteringly fast, slick, American take on a sports car with nearly 650hp. A great example of American engineering. Will embarrass a Ferrari, Lamborghini or any other supercar for 1/3 the price.

Cadillac CTS-V – Damn near same ZR1 engine into a sedan, scary fast, and for once can handle just as well or better than its European rivals. No excuses anymore, we can make them just as good as anyone else and cheaper too. One of the few cars GM did right.

Toyota Prius – Don’t like these “cars” one bit, (I think South Park hit the nail on the head for me as to why) but will begrudgingly give credit to Toyota for bringing hybrid technology to market in a excellent package for the masses. Not a “car guy” car to be sure, but for the public, a great example of what the current state of car tech is and what can be done.

Nissan 370Z – Great example of the sports car for a reasonable price ($30K if you keep your head about you). Fast, great handling, and gives all the sports car feeling & sounds too you expect from a sports car. Looks good doing it too.

Ford Mustang GT – Ditto above, but with a live axle and cheaper/better history and American flavor. Remember, Ford did this without asking for a bailout, and did it well.

Bugatti Veyron – No surprise, with 16 cylinders, four turbos, ten radiators, and 1001 horsepower. The car is the pinnacle of cars, any car. 254mph straight off the factory floor. Who cares if it’s really a high priced ($1.3 million) VW in disguise? When you say supercar, this is it.

What are your choices?

The Chrysler Sebring is the worst car of the decade(especially the 2007+, the 3rd generation of Sebring.) The 2004-2008 Acura TL is one of the best cars of the decade. The 2009+ TL I don't like the look of it.

Most improved cars of the decade: the 2008+ Chevy Malibu is a huge improvment over the 2004-2007 model which was competent but unspectacular. The 2010 Ford Tarus is drastically improved  over the 2005-2009 model which was formally called the Ford 500 and than renamed Tarus like starting with the 2007 or 2008 model year. The 2008+ Caddy CTS is hugely improved over the 2003-2007 model in terms of quality of interior plastics and driveability.

As for the Toyota Camry mentioned in the starter of this thread it least  the 2007+ model looks alot better than the 2002-2006 model. Toyota's sell on reliability not on style anyway.

The GMC Yukon Hybrid SUV.

What an abuse of technology.  This 5600-lb behemoth gets 22 MPG, a real gas pig.  But because it is a "hybrid" it makes its owners feel "green". ::)

My own 2002 Nissan for giving me a trouble-free year!

http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/13/icon_thumleft.gif

My own 2002 Nissan for giving me a trouble-free year!

http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/13/icon_thumleft.gif


Just make sure that Nissan name plate stays properly affixed, Max.

Underneath it says "Datsun" (a.k.a., "Rotsun" back in the day)  ;D