The Worst Vehicles on the Road 2011 - According to Forbes

Forbes magazine recently released its "2011 Worst Cars on the Road" list, and while I wasn't surprised that American manufacturers got hated on substantially, but a couple others such as the Smart Fortwo made me laugh. Here is the full list:

•  Cadillac Escalade
•  Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid
• Jeep Wrangler Unlimited
•  Dodge Nitro SLT
• Chrysler Town & Country
•  Mercedes Benz S550
• Chevrolet Aveo
•  Chevrolet Colorado
• Nissan Titan
•  Jeep Liberty
•  Smart Fortwo

Whenever lists like this are compiled, its important to know the criteria. Forbes took many factors into consideration The Cadillac Escalade for example, although a symbol of wealth and class, topped the list because of its high cost of ownership, poor safety rating, and overall low value.

As I mentioned above, American vehicles are quite prominent on this list. Since Forbes derived its data from Consumer Reports, this is clearly because of low safety reports, low reliability, high maintenance costs, and bad fuel economy.

I can't say I agree implicitly with this list, but instead of ranting I'll just conclude by saying that Consumer Reports seems a bit biased. Luxury vehicles have an obviously higher cost of ownership, but that doesn't necessary make them "the worst vehicles on the road," does it? And not every manufacturer strives to make all of their vehicles the safest (substituting practicality and performance). So although I wasn't necessary looking to buy any of the vehicles on this list, the fact that Forbes proclaimed them the "worst vehicles on the road," does little to alter my thoughts towards them. If anything, I think less of Forbes for being a bunch of jackasses.