Car Brands - Worst Brands of MY 1997

The Least Reliable and Durable Car Brands of Model Year 1997 by CR's 2003 List of Used Cars to Avoid

This page lists the worst car brands of model year 1997 by two measures, both of which employ Consumer Reports' list of Used Cars to Avoid. Both measures use the 1997 models on the 2003 list of Cars to Avoid, when the 1997 cars were about 5 ½ years old. 

1997's Worst Car Brands by Share of CR's 2003 list of 1997 Cars to Avoid

The 10 (11 by tie) worst car brands of 1997 by share of CR's 2003 list of 1997 Cars to Avoid are listed below, together with their corresponding shares.

  • Chevrolet line, accounting for 17.4% of 1997 Cars to Avoid in 2003
  • Dodge line, accounting for 14.5%
  • GMC line, accounting for 11.6%
  • Pontiac line (now defunct), accounting for 8.7%
  • Oldsmobile line (now defunct), accounting for 7.2%
  • Chrysler line, accounting for 7.2%
  • Plymouth line (now defunct), accounting for 7.2%
  • Ford line, accounting for 5.8%
  • Cadillac line, accounting for 4.3%
  • Audi line, accounting for 2.9%
  • Jeep line, accounting for 2.9%
The Chevrolet brand leads the list of the worst in model years 1985, 1986, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, and 2006.
 
The Ford brand leads the list of the worst in model years 1993 and 1994.
 
The brands that account for the remaining 10% of 1997 cars on CR's 2003 list are Isuzu, Volkswagen, Volvo, Buick, Honda, Mazda, and Mercury.
 
The following bar graph depicts each brand's share of the 1997 Used Cars to Avoid in 2003 at an approximate age of 5 ½ years.

This is a bar graph of the brand shares of the worst cars of 1997 by CR’s 2003 list of 1997 Used Cars to Avoid. Chart by James Benjamin Bleeker, 10 March 2012.

The Honda line makes the 1997 list of the worst due to its marketing of the Passport, a rebadge of a sport-utlity vehicle by Isuzu Motors Ltd, then an affiliate of General Motors Corporation.
 
Note that Ford's share of the worst of 1997 is small compared to Chevrolet's, even though it has more rated models.
 
1997's Worst Car Brands by Number of Brand's 1997 Cars to Avoid Divided by All of Its 1997 Cars Rated in 2003

For this quality measure, we divide the brand's number of 1997 models on CR's 2003 list of Used Cars to Avoid by the number of its 1997 models rated in CR's April 2003 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 (12 by tie) worst 1997 brands by this quality measure are, in descending order (worst first):

  • Audi line, with a quotient value of 2.00 based on 1 rated model
  • Plymouth line (now defunct), with a quotient value of 1.67 based on 3 rated models
  • GMC line, with a quotient value of 1.60 based on 5 rated models
  • Oldsmobile line (now defunct), with a quotient value of 1.25 based on 4 rated models
  • Dodge line, with a quotient value of 1.11 based on 9 rated models
  • Pontiac line (now defunct), with a quotient value of 1.00 based on 6 rated models
  • Cadillac line, with a quotient value of 1.00 based on 3 rated models
  • Isuzu line, with a quotient value of 1.00 based on 1 rated model
  • Volkswagen line, with a quotient value of 1.00 based on 1 rated model
  • Chevrolet line, with a quotient value of 0.86 based on 14 rated models
Note that all of the 10 Worst Brands by this prevalence measure have very high quotient values.
 
The brand quotients for model year 1997 are depicted in the following bar graph, with worst first.

This s a bar graph of 1997’s worst car brands by dividing the number of the brand’s 1997 Cars to Avoid in 2003 by all of its 1997 rated cars in Consumer Reports’ April 2003 Reliability Tables. Chart by James Benjamin Bleeker, 10 March 2012.

The Prizm, a rebadge of the Corolla, is not included in the above computations.
 
Note that the Ford brand's fraction is small relative to Chevrolet's.
 
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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