Car Brands - Worst Brands of MY 1989

The Least Reliable and Durable Car Brands of Model Year 1989 by CR's 1995 List of Used Cars to Avoid

This page lists the worst car brands of model year 1989 by two measures, both of which employ Consumer Reports' list of Used Cars to Avoid. Both measures use the 1989 models on the 1995 list of Cars to Avoid, when the 1989 cars were about 5 ½ years old, i.e., in the age range 5-to-6 years old. 

1989's Worst Car Brands by Share of CR's 1995 list of 1989 Cars to Avoid

The 10 worst car brands of 1989 by share of CR's 1995 list of 1989 Cars to Avoid are listed below, together with their corresponding shares.

  • Ford line, accounting for 21.6% of 1989 Cars to Avoid in 1995
  • Chevrolet line, accounting for 17.6%
  • GMC line, accounting for 9.8%
  • Dodge line, accounting for 9.8%
  • Pontiac line (now defunct), accounting for 5.9%
  • Mazda line, accounting for 5.9%
  • Hyundai line, accounting for 3.9%
  • Volkswagen line, accounting for 3.9%
  • Nissan line, accounting for 3.9%
  • Plymouth line (now defunct), accounting for 3.9%
The Ford brand leads the list of the worst in model years 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 (a tie with Chevrolet), 1991, 1992, and 1994.
 
The Chevrolet brand leads the list of the worst in model years 1985, 1986, 1990 (a tie with Ford), 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, and 2006.
 
Note Ford and Chevrolet's neck-and-neck race to be the worst in the late 80s and early 90s, and their commanding lead.
 
Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Geo, GMC, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, and Saturn are lines of General Motors Corporation. Geo, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, and Saturn are defunct lines of General Motors Corporation.
 
Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, and Merkur are lines of Ford Motor Company. Mercury and Merkur are defunct lines of Ford Motor Company.
 
Chrysler, Dodge, Eagle, Jeep, and Plymouth are lines of Chrysler Corporation/Chrysler Group/Chrysler LLC. Eagle and Plymouth are defunct.
 
The brands that account for the remaining 14% of 1989 cars on CR's 1995 worst list are Eagle (now defunct), Jeep, Subaru, Acura, Lincoln, Mercury (now defunct), and Oldsmobile (now defunct).
 
The following bar graph depicts each brand's share of the 1989 Used Cars to Avoid in 1995 at an approximate age of 5 ½ years.

This is a bar graph of the brand shares of the worst cars of 1989 by CR’s 1995 list of 1989 Used Cars to Avoid. Chart by James Benjamin Bleeker, 20 March 2012.

Although Ford's share of the worst of 1989 exceeds Chevrolet's, Ford has made advances in quality improvement (relative to General Motors' Chevrolet). See the worst brands of 2006.
 
1989's Worst Car Brands by Number of Brand's 1989 Cars to Avoid Divided by All of Its 1989 Cars Rated in 1995

For this quality measure, we divide the brand's number of 1989 models on CR's 1995 list of Used Cars to Avoid by the number of its 1989 models rated in CR's April 1995 Reliability Tables. This computation is done with the intent to garner a rough estimate as to how likely a brand's models will be among the Cars to Avoid at about 5 ½ years.

The 10 worst 1989 brands by this quality measure are, in descending order (worst first):

  • Hyundai line, with a quotient value of 1.00 based on 2 rated models
  • Volkswagen line, with a quotient value of 0.67 based on 3 rated models
  • Chevrolet line, with a quotient value of 0.56 based on 16 rated models
  • Ford line, with a quotient value of 0.55 based on 20 rated models
  • GMC line, with a quotient value of 0.50 based on 10 rated models
  • Pontiac line (now defunct), with a quotient value of 0.50 based on 6 rated models
  • Mazda line, with a quotient value of 0.50 based on 6 rated models
  • Eagle line (now defunct), with a quotient value of 0.50 based on 2 rated models
  • Jeep line, with a quotient value of 0.50 based on 2 rated models
  • Acura line, with a quotient value of 0.50 based on 2 rated models
All of the brand quotients for model year 1989 are depicted in the following bar graph, with worst first.

This s a bar graph of 1989’s worst car brands by dividing the number of the brand’s 1989 Cars to Avoid in 1995 by all of its 1989 rated cars in Consumer Reports’ April 1995 Reliability Tables. Chart by James Benjamin Bleeker, 20 March 2012.

Mazda is occasionally among the worst and occasionally among the best by avoidance of Consumer Reports' worst list. Acura makes the worst list 3 times in its early history.
 
The Prizm, a rebadge of the Corolla, is not included in the above computations.
 
Note: A dash between engine sizes or a conjunction between drivelines doubles entry count in CR's April 1995 list of 1989 Cars to Avoid.
 
Worthy of special mention is that Hyundai went from one of the worst lines (the worst by this measure of quality) to one of the six best of 2006.
 
Additional Resources

Best Car Brands by CR's List of Used Cars to Avoid: 1985  1986  1987  1988  1989  1990  1991  1992  1993  1994  1995  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006 

Worst Car Brands by CR's List of Used Cars to Avoid:  1985  1986  1987  1988  1989  1990  1991  1992  1993  1994  1995  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006

Best Car Makers by CR's List of Used Cars to Avoid: 1985  1986  1987  1988  1989  1990  1991  1992  1993  1994  1995  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006

Worst Car Makers by CR's List of Used Cars to Avoid:  1985  1986  1987  1988  1989  1990  1991  1992  1993  1994  1995  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006

The Best Cars of Each Model Year by Reliability-Durability GPA: 1975  1976  1977  1978  1979  1980  1981  1982  1983  1984  1985  1986  ...  2004  2005

The Worst Cars of Each Model Year by Reliability-Durability GPA: 1980  1981  1982  1983  1984  1985  1986  ...  2004  2005 

The Best Car Brands of Each Model Year by Reliability-Durability GPA: 1985  1986 ...  2004  2005

The Worst Car Brands of Each Model Year by Reliability-Durability GPA: 1985  1986 ...  2004  2005

The Best Car Manufacturers of Each Model Year by Reliability-Durability GPA: 1985  1986 ...  2004  2005

The Worst Car Manufacturers of Each Model Year by Reliability-Durability GPA: 1985  1986 ...  2004  2005

For additional car quality information, visit www.AutoOnInfo.net and CarsOnInfo.net.

In particular, for additional durability information, see:

http://www.AutoOnInfo.net/SharesOfHighMileageVehicles.aspx 
http://CarsOnInfo.net/ToyotaAgeEquivalents.aspx 
http://CarsOnInfo.net/ToyotaMileageEquivalents.aspx 
http://CarsOnInfo.net/Top25OfAutoonInfosHighMileageRoster.aspx

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