I just finished a week in the worst-named vehicle on the market -- the Subaru B9 Tribeca.

Not that the vehicle is the worst -- far from it, actually -- just the name. Colin drove the 2006 Subaru B9 Tribeca last year, and gave it a four star rating at About Trucks, and I think when my review is finished, I'll come to a similar conclusion.

But that name. Every time I tried to explain the name to a friend or acquaintance, they never heard it correctly the first time.

My favorite response from one of my New York friends: "Benign Tribeca? Seems like an oxymoron."

It made me think about other bad car names. Of course, the classic is the Chevy Nova -- a fine name in English-speaking countries, horrible in Spanish, where "No Va" translates as "Doesn't Go." "Vega" was rumored to mean something horrible, though I can't figure out what.

It seems as if the global economy may spell the death knell for great car names -- and that's a shame. It's hard to work up an emotional reaction to the "3," the "A4" or the "335i," no matter how nice the cars may be.

Photo © Jason Fogelson