Even though Europeans are famous for building vehicles with a combination of engineering excellence, performance, and luxury, they've also had some ups and downs. Looking back on history, it's not hard to identify where the manufacturers dropped the ball.
On occasions, some cars single-handedly trashed the long-held belief that "Made in Europe" cars were better. They had problems like poor performance, pricing, styling, handling, etc. Even famous names like Alfa Romeo and Fiat could mess up, producing cars that a surprising number of buyers regretted buying. Thankfully, time has moved on, but memories of these cars still haunt enthusiasts.
10 Rover CityRover
The CityRover was a compact car in production between 2003 and 2005. It was a rebadged Tata Indica – a popular Indian-developed vehicle at the time. However, even with the rebadge, the CityRover had poor performance in contemporary road tests.
Besides being overpriced, the CityRover had poor road handling and quality. Most journalists termed it one of the worst cars of all time. Under its hood was an underpowered 85-hp 1.4-liter engine from Peugeot.
9 Austin Allegro
The Allegro is one of the cars that you'll frequently find most people complaining about. It was a small family car from Austin Morris. It was in production from 1973 to 1982. Innocenti also made the same car as the Innocenti Regent from 1974 to 1975.
During its ten years of production, the brand made over 640,000 models. However, it had plenty of issues, including a quartic steering wheel that critics considered four curves joined together by straight lines, like a television screen. The driver had little space between the steering column and the wheel. Besides, it had many design flaws leading to poor reliability and build quality.
8 Fiat Multipla
In the US, Fiat is synonymous with making the diminutive 500 and small convertible sports cars. However, the company has a wide selection of vehicles within the European market and the rest of the world. One of those cars is the Multipla.
It was in production from 1998 to 2010, but the first generation is one that most people regret buying. Fiat produced the first generation from 1998 to 2004. While the Multipla was a fine car on paper, in person, it looked like the designers had a small car in mind but, halfway through, ended up creating a minivan. The interior of the Multipla was full of cheap plastics and weird design cues.
7 Rover 100
The Rover 100 took over for the Rover Metro, also known as the Austin Metro. While the 100 was an upgraded Metro, it inherited most of its poor qualities. The 100 was in production from 1994 to 1998, and like the Metro, it had poor mechanics.
Rover "updated" the exterior to try and hide its aging styling. Like most Rover and Austin cars on this list, the 100 had poor build quality. It also had a poor Euro NCAP rating, with 1 out of 5 stars in the Adult Occupant section and 2 out of 4 stars in the Pedestrian section.
6 DAF Daffodil
The Daffodil was a small family car from the Dutch company DAF Trucks NV. It was in production from 1961 to 1967. At the same time, DAF had another model, the 750, a Daffodil with less exterior chrome trim and luxury fittings.
The Daffodil was among the first production models with a CVT, making it a pretty innovative car for its time. However, that's where the buck stopped for the Daffodil. The Daffodil had a 26-hp engine with a 28.9-second 0 to 60 mph time.
5 FSO Polonez
The Polonez was a Polish vehicle named after Polonaise, a Polish dance. It had a long life, being in production from 1978 to 2002. When launched in the 70s, the Polonez was the only East European vehicle built to pass the United States crash tests.
Despite being a safe and remarkable vehicle, the Polonez performed poorly. It also had an old Fiat design that made it lack any desirability. The demand for the Polonez rapidly decreased after Poland joined the European Union since the introduction of cheaper and tax-free cars from Western Europe replaced most models.
4 Rover 25
Most Rover cars weren't that great. With this being the third model in this list, it's a testament to what the brand had to offer. The Rover 25 was a facelift of the Rover 200. It was in production between 2000 and 2005.
However, unlike the Rover 200, the 25 had an upgraded chassis for sportier handling. It also received a restyled front end for a more corporate, executive look. However, even with all these upgrades, the 25 wasn't the best car on the market. It had a 3 out of 5 stars Euro NCAP rating for Adult Occupants and 2 out of 4 stars for Pedestrians.
3 Alfa Romeo Arna
The Arna was a compact car produced by Alfa Romeo Nissan Autoveicoli S.p.A. from 1983 to 1987. The brand was a 50/50 joint partnership between Alfa Romeo and Nissan. It had rear brakes and an independent rear suspension from Nissan.
Everything else was mainly from Alfa Romeo. Since it was a joint partnership, the Arna had the worst qualities of both companies. They included bad mechanicals and indifferent build quality. It also had insipid Nissan handling, frumpy styling, and a questionable body.
2 Citroën C3 Pluriel
The C3 is a compact car from Citroën. It has been in production since 2002 and still is even today. It has been around for three generations, with the third one reaching the mass market in 2017. When Citroën introduced the C3, there were three body styles, a three-door hatchback, a five-door hatchback, and a two-door convertible.
The latter was known as the Pluriel. Citroën produced it from 2003 to 2010 with five open-top variations. Despite its miniature state, the Pluriel had poor sales thanks to multiple problems, including leaking oil and gas.
1 Renault 8
The Renault 8 got into production in 1962 and was closely related to Dauphine. It had the older car's underpinnings and rear engine layout. Despite being longer than the Dauphine, these were the biggest giveaways to the R8.
Besides having a lovely French design, the R8 had many faults. Owners would complain of defects with brake pads and the fuel pump. Some cars also had minor build quality issues, like the windshield wiper stopping to work in the rain.