..... was the car that made me promise myself I would never, ever, own an American car again.
For me, the Oldsmobile Skyhawk was the car that made me swear off GM vehicles. We later on bought a Ford Aerostar, it died on us at around 145,000 miles.
For me it was the Cavalier. Before that, when we were very poor, and Mr. Adler was not willing to buy a foreign car, we had a Chevette Oh, what awful cars both of them were.
This is a bit off topic because it concerns a dealer rather than the manufacturer, but when I was shopping for the Chevette, my older daughter was a baby. I was looking at a Chevette which, for some reason, had no backseat, just the front seat and a flat space behind the seat. The dealer told me I could just put the baby in the babyseat in the rear and drive around (how 'convenient' that would be, you see). I was absolutely appalled that anyone would advise someone else to drive with a helpless baby in a babyseat, completely loose, in the back of a vehicle.
This was way before all the regulations about (much better engineered) attached babyseats in cars, but I knew full well, that you didn't leave a babyseat loose; I did know enough to belt it in which was the only option at the time.
That one dealer was enough to put me off of General Motors cars forever, though we still did get the Cavalier, as our one, last Chevrolet, because Mr. Adler wouldn't consider a foreign car at the time. It still makes me angry when I think of it, that someone else would tell you to do that with your precious child, just to sell a cheap car.