The 15 Saddest Looking Cars Ever Made

Are you tired of “The Top X Ugliest Cars Ever Made” countdowns? I certainly am, as there are just way too many of them. And they are all more or less the same! Depending on how much research the creator did, the ugliest car will either be a Fiat Mutlipla, a Pontiac Aztek (yes, with a “k”) or the Tata Magic Iris - a car which they never knew existed until they looked through various other ugly car countdowns to get “inspiration” for their list.

So, today I present you yet another Top X list focusing on car design - but for a change, it seems like it might actually be interesting: Here are the 15 saddest looking cars ever made. Enjoy!

1. Alfa Romeo 166

Even 20 years after its initial launch, the Alfa Romeo 166 is still a majestic looking car. The amazing wedge shape, the muscular sides and the thin lights all way round - it’s a great car to look at… apart from the front. For some reason, Alfa’s flagship model from the early 2000s looks really depressed, kinda as if it’s given up on itself. Luckily, in 2003 the 166 received a facelift, giving it the more visually pleasing front end of the 147, 156 and GTV which looks a whole lot happier.

2. Aston Martin DBS Coupé Zagato Centennial

The 100th anniversary of a renown British luxury car manufacturer has to be celebrated with a one-off masterpiece, right? For that reason Zagato came up with the Centennial, a grand-touring Coupé based on the DBS. Only one was ever made, alongside a convertible version based on the DB9 Volante. Awesome cars no doubt - but both share a big design flaw: The front end looks as if it’s about to cry. Why is the Centennial so unhappy about the 100th anniversary of Aston Martin?

3. BMW 7-Series (E65)

Chris Bangle is a car designer people just love to hate. One of his most questioned works is the E65 BMW 7-Series, with the boot lid that appears to have be stuck onto the back (often referred to as the “Bangle Butt”) and the headlights which appear to have eye bags or tear sacks. And whilst I personally really don’t mind the rear of the car, I have to admit that the weirdly-shaped headlights in combination with the flat kidney grilles make the E65 one of the saddest looking BMWs ever made. Also, I am not hating on Chris Bangle - apart from some indeed questionable cars he has brought us a lot of iconic and beautiful cars like the Fiat Coupé, the BMW Z3 and Z4, the E46 and E91 3-Series and the F01 BMW 7-Series.

4. Buick Skylark (1954)

The 1953, the name Skylark was first given to a special Convertible version of the Roadmaster Series 70, but one year later it became its own model. The 1954 Skylark was based on the smaller Series 40 and featured a different design than the first model year - a design that has A LOT of similarities to an ugly fish. No wonder it only lasted for one year before being reintroduced in 1961.

5. Casil Motors Edonis

It was big news on CarThrottle 2 months ago, when Casil Motors announced that the Edonis, a supercar built on leftover chassis from the iconic Bugatti EB110, would soon hit the road. And I can only agree to what CarThrottle editor Matt Robinson wrote in the final paragraph: “[…] is it just us, or does it have a bit of a sad face?”. I don’t seem to be the only one either - the top comment on this post is a picture of the Edonis with tears dripping from the headlights, and it has close to 200 upvotes. I guess it’s “back to the drawing board” for the design team…

6. Ford Fiesta MK4

“Fiesta” - that sounds like fun, right? The Spanish word for party has never been less fitting than on the MK4 Ford Fiesta, though - one of the most bland, boring and frankly saddest cars ever made. But maybe the “sad grandma” lookalike front end is one of the reasons why it’s such a famous car amongst elderly people…

7. Lancia Y (1995 - 2003)

On all of the sad front-ended cars in this list which we came across so far, at least the rear looked okay - and of the ones to come which have a sad looking rear end, at least the front is alright. So in a way, the Lancia Y is an astonishing machine, because it’s probably the only car in the world where both the front AND the rear look super sad. Seriously though, how did this design get approved for production?!

Fun fact: Yes, this car is indeed called “Y” - nothing more. It’s predecessor (which had a second identity as an Autobianchi) was called “Y10”, and only the successor of the Y was officially called “Ypsilon” - which is apparently how you’re supposed to pronounce it.

Another fun fact: The current generation of the “Ypsilon” was selling so poorly that in 2017, Lancia simply stopped exporting it - which means that now it’s exclusively for sale in Italy, where it is - believe it or not - the 2nd best selling car, being topped only by the Fiat Panda.

8. Mitsubishi Eclipse Concept-E (2004)

The Mitsubishi Eclipse is known for having one of the worst fates in car history. It launched in 1990 as a little front-wheel drive Coupé, but what got it most of its fame was the second generation which had a role in “The Fast And The Furious”. With the third generation, things went downhill, especially styling-wise - it’s one of the uglier cars we’ve seen roll out of Japan. And just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, Mitsubishi launched this concept car and then the 4th generation Eclipse (which sadly looked very similar) - the entire car looks like its swollen. But that’s still nothing compared to what they did to the 5th generation: No longer is it a small coupé, it’s now a fat SUV-Coupé that looks like a jacked-up Prius. No wonder the rear of this concept car has such a sad face.

9. Mitsubishi FTO

Moving on, we’ve got yet another sporty front-wheel drive Mitsubishi Coupé: The FTO. Luckily they didn’t treat it as badly as the Eclipse and just stopped making it in 2000, but it doesn’t look too happy either - it looks surprised in a really sad way.

10. Panhard PL17

And here we have yet another classic car that resembles a fish - but unlike last time, this one is French. It was supposed to be even more streamlined that its successor, the Dyna Z - which, to be fair, it is. The part where it didn’t achieve: Being “as elegant as a Citroen DS” - no, just no. No wonder it has such a sad look on its face.

11. Seat Altea XL

Let’s go back to modern(ish) cars for a second: The Seat Altea XL is one of the most famous sad looking cars, and it’s also the one which inspired me to create this post. Seriously, it’s depressing when that thing drives in front of you for 15 minutes… Luckily, production ended in 2015, and its little brother - whilst also not being a beauty - is not quite as painful to look at.

12. Siata 200CS

From modern and famously sad cars back to classic and unknown cars: This is the Siata 200CS, an Italian Coupé which - in my opinion - has one of the saddest looking faces in car history. What really surprised me was an article on Hemmings.com, a “car collector’s marketplace” site, which I am quoting right now:

“How is it possible that something as remarkably beautiful as this Siata 200 CS was made in such minuscule quantities? Surely, with lines like these, people must have been beating down the gates to get their hands on one. Amazingly, that was not the case, as Siata sold just 11 of these Carrozzeria Balbo-bodied coupes.”

Well, I certainly wouldn’t beat down any gates to get my hands on this car, but as a website which mainly focusses on flipping super rare and super expensive cars, I guess you can’t write that it looks downright depressing. What do you think then: Sad or beautiful? Comment below.

13. Suzuki Ionis Concept (2005)

When you look up “Suzuki Ionis” on the internet, Google auto-corrects your search request into “Suzuki Ignis” - which, I guess, would give this car a 1/10 in the “Importance” category of the DougScore. And that’s not the only minimum score it would get - “Styling” would have to be a 1/10 as well: Just look at that hilariously ugly face! (I’m serious, when I first saw it I burst out into laughter!). It does have a very quirky, 2005-sorta-futuristic interior though, so Doug might actually wanna have a look at it…

14. Tempo Matador

When you think of iconic German cars made after the 2nd World War, what’s the first thing to come to your mind? The Volkswagen Beetle, obviously. The Porsche 356. The Mercedes W120. These three cars have one thing in common: They all look better than this, the Tempo Matador. It sure has a more or less significant role in German car history, but they should have seriously placed the headlights a bit further down so it wouldn’t have had quite as sad of a look on its face.

15. Toyota FT-Bh Concept (2012)

And last but not least, we’ve got this Toyota concept from 2012. Not only does it look like a beached whale, it also has one of the saddest looking car faces ever. And that’s why it’s on this list.

Alright guys, that’s it for now! Sorry if you were expecting an April Fools Prank, I literally… erm… forgot about it. You can have a look at my April Fools Prank from last year though - which, as it turns out, might actually turn into reality now. Urgh.

Which sad cars did I miss? Comment below!
Tobi aka The Stig’s German Cousin

PS: Please Car Throttle team, let us create posts in the news community again… I’m running out of drafts!